Campaign Holojournals: On the Cresh of the Stellar Wave (RTL/GA/SJC/Praxeum/Scar Worlds)

[Cotan Sar'andor]

OOC/ To participate, just post a picture or two (sourced) - maybe stock images or something from Artstation or Deviantart - and add some in-character commentary. No posting order, no pressure, toss in a picture and some thoughts whenever you feel like it.

More OOC: Hey hey people, Elijah here. Thanks to Jend-Ro Quill for letting me steal his ideas once again for a thread. This time, the goal is Companion Cresh. If you're not part of one of the mentioned factions up above, feel free to shoot me a DM with a pitch as to why your character would go along, and odds are I'll say yes; those are really just the only groups that Cotan would've informed before setting off. Also: Okkeus Dainlei Lief Atlas Drake Tiland Kortun @anybodyelsewhomightbeinterestedineitherpostingorjustreadingtagyourselvesiguess @yescampaignihaveideasforthisafterthisthread

IC:

(source)​

Y'know, it might not be a Corellian freighter, but this gunship I got from REC is more than modular enough. Since Quill said he wanted to come along, after the Life Day party, Kiss and I got busy rearranging things. Figured it'd be nicest to give the old man a side of the ship all to himself, given his troubles around people. Even if it is just going to be me and Asha for a while.

Of course, Asha might be a little annoyed at how I messed up the arrangement of her plants, books, and all, but she'll learn to live with it pretty quickly. I imagine she'll like Quill quite a bit. Besides, it makes the common area feel a bit more lived in, moving a lot of the books to the shelves in there. After that, it was a pretty simple matter of taking down some walls and raising up others. There'll be a few difficulties, of course, can't move every room around that easily, but it'll work well enough. When's the last time we needed the sick bay, anyways? After we accidentally got Rhia sugar-drunk because I never realized she was Zelosian?

...I still feel kinda bad about that one.

Anyways, after that I picked Jend-Ro up and we headed back into deep Firefist to pick-up Asha. The Nagai she'd spent the last couple weeks with were sad to see her go (but not as happy as I was to have her back), but this expedition to Companion Cresh was partially her idea anyways. Not entirely sure how to describe it—it's not quite instinctive astrogation—but she's got a great ability to listen to the Force when it's calling out to her from afar, stronger even than what I was listening to the first time I came to Firefist. Luckily enough for both of us, she hasn't managed to get trapped in an ancient tomb through it all. But, now there's something like that calling to her from Companion Cresh, so we're going to be heading out there.

(source)​

I pulled the old Blockade Runner that Jorus built me out of the docks at Tribunal station, too, and put some droids that Kiss and I have befriended through the years piloting it as our pack mule ship. Had to put limiters on its hyperdrive so that it didn't outrun us at every turn, though. Still, though, we need more than just the cargo space on the one ship to carry all the supplies we're going to need. It's going to be a long trip. Firefist is already about one-hundred-fifty-thousand light years off from the main galaxy, and Companion Cresh is even farther. No known colonial or exploration efforts before now, not even probe droids. Do I really think we're the first? No, not really. The chances of that are ridiculously low.

But I guarantee we're gonna be the first that the home galaxy knows were crazy enough to fly so far out. I made sure to send the news out to the people and networks I knew for sure I could trust to follow in good faith, including the specific coordinates and bearing we're starting out from. Can't guarantee that nobody else picked up on the signal, but, well, that's just the risk in the system, isn't it?

Just to give anybody following us a chance, though, Kiss and I whipped up some quick and dirty miniature hyperspace beacons. No need to go for the massive, nearly space-station sized beacons of millennia past anymore, especially not when this is going to be a straight-line trip, not some big interconnected network (at least, I hope so; chances are high that Cresh has life just like the Rishi Maze and Firefist, and they'll have their own hyperlanes set-up once we get there). Nope, each of these has a simple set of ion thrusters and a sail to let them maintain their position relative to main galaxy, closed-loop power packs that barely expend any energy, extremely-high-efficiency solar panels to pick up on what light does come out to them and make up for the loss, and a droid brain.

With small HoloNet transceivers to let them connect sequentially to each other. One for the connection to the previous, one to establish connection to the next. They'll store each-others' coordinates along the line, transmit them to ships that follow behind us, and let the more adept trailbreakers behind us get the real hyperlane developed.

(source)​

Of course, we did make sure to test them earlier to make sure they worked. I'm not always the most faithful in my tinkering ideas, although with Kiss helping me, it's rare that I'll ever fail. Now, time for the first jump; I'll make sure to add to this once I'm sure we're not going to run into a black hole or some sort of strange gravitic anomaly on the way to our first deep-space stop.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

(source)


I took some pills and bought some esoteric supplies in a shadowport at the edge of Firefist. That one visit was more than enough hustle and bustle for me.

Cotan wasn't exaggerating: it's nice and quiet out here. By which I mean there aren't many people, no crowded passages on the ship, no frantic meetings, nothing to set off the Odion Syndrome. Being in space, on a lightly populated starship, is almost as relaxing as a proper hermitage. I keep my room a hair above freezing, both for my comfort and to discourage visitors from dropping by.

Last time I went along on an extragalactic expedition, I encountered...well, I don't remember exactly, but all manner of refreshingly alien Force traditions and relics. I'm hoping for similar experiences this time around, a little pilgrimage of my own.

 

[Okkeus Dainlei]

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The Blue Lightning was most definitely not in the best of shape to make this long of a run. But I don’t know when an opportunity like this would come up again. Cotan and Jend-Ro are two people I haven’t interacted with much, but they both know more than I do about traveling to satellite galaxies.

I received Cotan’s message a few days prior detailing the trip to Cresh. Being smack-dab in the middle of Alliance space already made me behind them. My troubles on the Imynusoph Run were only going to make my ship fly slower, so I had to leave pretty quickly.

(source)
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One last-minute supply run later and I was finally off. I sent a request to Cotan for their cords, hopefully they aren’t too far out for my message to send. Those hyperspace beacons they are laying should at least guide me in their direction. Who knows what lays out their in Cresh. Hopefully some interesting stuff. Maybe the force is guiding me out there for a reason.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

I risked another market excursion, a little trading post on a sleepy world at the edge of Firefist. I'd been here once, years ago on the last S.S. Gossamer expedition, and met someone from a deeply alien Force tradition.

​

No such luck this time around. I did, however, pick up a unique Force-attuned ring whose form defies explanation. I can only wear it occasionally. At times it slips off its chain around my neck. Its function escapes me to a comparable extent.

​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Well, now I've been having headaches again. Asha says it's because I don't get enough sleep. She always says that. I think it might have something to do with that new—amulet? Ring? I don't even know what it wants to be at any given moment—that Quill brought on board. Looking at it is bad enough, but sensing it in the Force, constantly around, makes me wonder if this isn't what it's like for Quill trying to deal with large groups of people.

But what do I know? It certainly isn't bothering either of them. Maybe I'm still a bit too literal, not quite mystical enough, for my brain to just accept that thing.

(source)​

We made it to our first deep space stop today. I dropped the first beacon, one of the two that's meant to connect to something other than just the other beacons, and it had no trouble connecting back to an old, Nagai-make hyperspace beacon in the system we jumped from last. I guess they keep a lot of those old things active in Firefist just to be safe, similar to how we do with the ones that are still around back home.

There's also this nebula out in the distance from that stop. Intergalactic nebulae aren't an impossibility, of course, but they're rare...and yet here one is, so close to where we came out of hyperspace. It gives me the creeps. It looks like there's this ghostly figure rising up out of it, staring at us with one bright, starry eye. But, it's worse than that. It doesn't just...look that way. It's like I'm getting warning bells. There's something about it, it feels...malevolent, somehow. Very dark.

I'm glad we don't have to try and fly through it, even if all it's doing is watching us.

 

[Okkeus Dainlei]

Today I was greeted with a group of Purrgils as I woke from bed. They must have caught on to the ship’s energy signature and started to follow me through hyperspace. Had to power down and coast for a little while before they finally got bored and left.

(source)
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Maybe it’s just me, but these Purrgils didn’t seem like the ones I’ve seen closer to the Rim worlds. It’s almost as if they are more…hungry. They crave energy to feed off of, and that’s why they are even more attracted to ships out here. If I get some time on the way back I’ll definitely stop and study this.

The map says I’m only a few hundred lightyears out from the beacon Cotan planted, so they aren’t as far ahead of me as I thought. I’ll probably link up with them at a dueling station.

(source)
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Just passed by the first beacon. I did a quick stop to check it out. Ever since my stop at Tatooine I’ve been more and more interested with figuring out how space and hyperlanes and all of that sort of stuff works. Who knows, maybe I have a deep memory locked away that I could somehow force myself to remember.

One thing that I will remember is the eerie glow I saw while stopped at the beacon. It looked like a deep red star burning off in the distance, but it felt more alive than that. I’ll be taking the route far away from that star on the way back.

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I had to do a scan on this ship when I flew by it. A few seconds later my suspicions were confirmed: no signs of life onboard. The ship looked like it had been there for quite a while now. Best just to let it rest. And besides, I don’t want stick around and find out what damaged a ship that badly.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

A sacred place, raised by alien hands for unknown reasons on a moon whose name I'll never know. Not a soul remains, just the echo of a pain I can't ease.

This deep in the companion galaxies, all too many civilizations have taken the dark forest approach to survival. First strike, annihilate or risk annihilation. Planets are such fragile things. Such soft and easy targets. I can understand why technocrats like Matsu Ike build megastructures as shelter, regardless of whether I disagree with the resource allocation involved. In a universe where worlds can die and frequently do, we all crave assurance that our people will endure. And we all go too far.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

The floor of the dark forest, you might say: wrecks abound. I see them daily, drifting in space or alien seas. At times I hear an echo of their final moments.

 

[Okkeus Dainlei]

(source)​

Had a bit of a scare today when this large vessel appeared out of nowhere. One minute I was cruising along, taking in the sights, the next I was engaging my shields in preparation for what might come.

Thankfully nothing happened. The large ship didn’t even try to hail me down, so we both just continued on our ways. Maybe it’s just a group trying to main their way to our galaxy from Cresh.

(source)
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Got the chance finally to put my feet on some non-Durasteel ground. I don’t know how, or why, a space station got out here, but I’m not complaining. Gave me a chance to check the outside of the Blue Lightning. No real damage, just a couple of new scratches.

It’s nice making this trip out to Cresh. Gives me a chance to get away from all the issues and responsibilities back home. Feels…refreshing.

Cotan Sar'andor | Jend-Ro Quill

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Spent a few hours wandering a derelict station that Okkeus Dainlei found in deep space.

There was someone onboard, an acolyte of the Slaine, a strange dark side sect I encountered in Firefist years ago. Instead of dominance, they draw their power from submission, even parasitism, a relationship with un-dark Force users of various kinds.

As far as my old Nagai translation droid could figure out, this Slaine adept greatly wanted to be my servant and take me as his host or master or something along those lines. Instinct suggested I not let him aboard Cotan's ship. The Slaine did not come aboard.

(source)
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Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Okkeus caught up to us without too much trouble. He was very interested in the details of the micro-beacons I've been dropping, so I had Kiss send him over the schematics. Honestly, though, I was just glad to leave that nebula behind. I feel a lot better without whatever-that-was breathing down my neck. No, blasting into a star cluster orbiting the galaxy just to find an old derelict space station was much nicer.

I think it was made by a group of Tof that were exiled from Firefist, oh, about two or three hundred years ago, if I remember my reading right. Tried to influence the rest of their species towards a more peaceful outlook, and tried to cooperate with the Nagai and the Maccabree. Their fellows didn't take kindly to that and sent them on their way. I can't be sure, but the size of things on the station lends credence to the idea, and some of the writing I could find looked like it might be a Tof dialect.

Meanwhile, while Quill went exploring, I helped Okkeus load up some supplies from my other ship onto his. Journey's too long to be going along with a single ship.

I thought I sent that in my original message.

Must not have. Oh well.

Anyways, we're back in hyperspace. Asha made breakfast alone this morning, because I forgot to set an alarm and she didn't have the heart to make me wake up when she did. Apparently, from what she was telling me, she got sidetracked at one point and burnt the toast. Kiss, of course, was trying to be helpful, so he took the toast for her.

And put it right on a serving plate, and buried it with the un-burnt toast.

(source)​

I noticed at breakfast when I saw one corner peeking out under everything else, and decided not to say anything. Got up to help Asha with the dishes while Quill was finishing eating, and once I came back, the last of the toast was gone. I don't know if he ate it or not, but old men always seem to love burnt toast, and he's an old man, so...

I told Asha my theory. She's absolutely mortified.

Asha Hex Jend-Ro Quill Okkeus Dainlei

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Cotan Sar'andor and Asha Hex have made this a more comfortable journey than I expected. They've gone out of their way to preserve my solitude. Heck, they've even started making toast the way I like.

This little star cluster — a major waypoint between home and Companion Cresh — reminds me of the expedition to Cosm's Well almost a decade back. Old stars with half-exhausted fusion cycles, silent planets that lived and died a million years ago. The drifting wrecks I spot are ancient. If I was more of a salvager or archaeologist I'd be in my element. I'm documenting what I can — coordinates, dimensions, snapshots — in hopes someone may find it useful.

 

[Jorus Q. Merrill]

Cotan's flying a nice old REC gunship that hits Class One stock, and his Pau City blockade runner has a limiter, but catching up wasn't trivial. They'd made it halfway from Firefist to Cresh on the intergalactic straightaway. I took the Torrential Burp, the breach point there, and skipped Firefist to catch up with a long cold jump at a merciless point four.

Juno Sabat is doing great so far — first time outside the galaxy. Jaxton taught her well.

Didn't take the Gossamer for a bunch of reasons. I had a Reclaimer-class in the hold, a second-hand Subach-Innes corvette-scale space train that Alna designed from the ground up forty years ago. She's specced for repair and salvage, lots of arms and tools, decent addition to Cotan's little flotilla. The registration calls her the City of Nar Shaddaa. I replaced the Class Four with a serious FTL engine ages back but even so, like I said, catching up wasn't trivial.

(Source)​

Cotan Sar'andor Asha Hex Okkeus Dainlei

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

I decided to test my theory a few days later. A few pieces of thoroughly blackened toast, just for Quill.

I was right. He ate the burnt toast happily.

I'd say Asha owes me five credits but we all know I'll never make her pay up. I'd also say Coren owes me five credits now that Jorus has decided to show up out here after all, but, well...

It's Coren.

He's not good for bets, and beyond that, I'd only accept cash from him, purely to mess with him, but he's I-don't-even-want-to-think-about-how-many light years away right now.

Speaking of light years, we passed the edge of the cluster a few days ago. Or at least, what I'm calling the edge. How do you define the boundary of something that's held together by gravity, anyways? Everything is pulling on everything. There's some atom out all the way across the universe from me that has been floating, alone, in one luckily very empty void, for billions of years, and it's still pulling on me. In a few billion years all of these sattelite galaxies will have merged with home, not to mention where the Yuuzhan Vong came from and how that galaxy is still moving towards us on a path to a merger.

This cluster isn't even stable anyways. It's old, and a lot of the orbits of the stars within are noticeably decaying. Really eccentric too, some of them.

Oh, speaking of the Yuuzhan Vong, though...

(source)​

I found the core of an ancient worldship. It looks like it had to shed a lot of extraneous mass over the years to try and stay alive as long as possible, but even then, its age is sill noticeable. Discoloured dovin basals, holes in the outer skin, you can even see the myogen growths from outside. So, of course, I had to go exploring, to figure out just what was up with this. Even with how much it had shed through the years, it still dwarfed the entirety of our little flotilla, so I let the others know I was going into it, let them decide to explore their own spots.

Not that Quill or Asha had much of a choice, considering that they were on my ship.

The place was a complete derelict. No real signs of life, except for the worldship itself, barely clinging on. Yuuzhan Vong corpses all throughout, dead amphistaffs lying around, and a few puddles that I think were blorash jellies at one point. Those, well, those I wasn't willing to step into to see if they were really dead. They're caustic enough even after death, I didn't want one to actually still be alive and start trying to eat my leg.

I made my way straight to the core where I found the rikyam. Woke her up, and...yeah.

(source)​

Neither of us could really figure how long she'd been asleep for, but she came along with the initial invasion fleet, and she was already fully grown back then. Approaching the age that the Baanu Miir was back then, and she knew she didn't have very long left. From what she said, she got caught up in one of the internecine conflicts just before the invasion, some shaper virus was let loose within her and she was left for dead. I can't imagine how lonely it's been.

She seemed happy for one last conversation, at least. I let her know about Zonama Sekot, and how the Yuuzhan Vong eventually managed to integrate into galactic society, rather than trying to subjugate it. Called the others in, in case they wanted to talk with her at all. She went back to sleep as we were leaving, and I think she was probably gone by the time we all jumped back to hyperspace.

I sent a message back towards home, for Coren or Romi to pick up, with the coordinates. Maybe they can let everybody on Zonama Sekot know, and they can come take her back, give her...whatever is a proper, respectful way to send off a worldship. It just doesn't seem right leaving her floating out here like that.

Asha Hex Jend-Ro Quill Jorus Q. Merrill Okkeus Dainlei Coren Starchaser Romi Jade Juno Sabat oops

 

[Okkeus Dainlei]

Thankfully even with Cotan’s gear onboard things haven’t gotten too snug. Looks like I’ll still have some room to buy some stuff from Cresh when, well, whenever we get there.

As I was organizing some new X-Wing parts I purchased I was apparently greeted with a new friend.

​

(source)
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I have no idea where it came from, or why it is onboard, but I guess it’s here to stay. I’m not going to just send it out of the airlock. Something tells me that Cotan didn’t leave this thing onboard. They probably would have eaten it, especially when I heard some talk about burnt toast.

Whatever it is, it’ll be staying onboard till I can think of something better to do with it. Here’s hoping that it won’t hatch then try to eat me.

​

(source)​

So apparently THE Jorus Merrill is flying with us. He is pretty much a legend. I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news over the comms. This was the only picture I could take before his ship jumped to hyperspace.

Call me a fanboy all you want, but this man is the reason I want to explore space so much.

When I finally caught up with the group they were all stopping at a, how did they say it, “Yuzang Vawn worldship”? I had no idea what they were talking about. Maybe it’s because I’m like at least 10 years younger than everyone here.

(source)​

Anyways, we all went onboard together. There was a bunch of dead aliens everywhere, which only increased the creepiness of this place. We then went to the heart to talk to it, and it actually talked back.

Cotan had a small conversation with it while I just stood there, mesmerized. Minutes ago I didn’t even know stuff like this existed, and know I’m here listening to it speak it final words.

I asked it if there were anymore like her out there, to which it replied yes, deep, deep, deep in space. Then I asked if it was possible to make the journey to where she came, and she again said yes.

Looks like I know where I will be heading in the future. Who knows the last time someone was out there.

By the time we left the heart had gone back to sleep. Hopefully it rests well. As for me, my mind was left to wander about what else was out there.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

I borrowed a shuttlepod from Jorus Merrill's repair ship and stayed behind on the Yuuzhan Vong derelict for a day or two. Catching up afterward was simple enough: he adjusted the shuttle's drive to 0.8.

The derelict dated from the times when all Yuuzhan Vong were separate from the portion of the Force that Jedi and Sith understand. Staying here in the intergalactic void, walking the halls of the worldship, gave me a couple of days of beautiful silence. No Odion Syndrome background noise whatsoever. I know there's a way to feel the part of the spectrum that the Yuuzhan Vong engaged with — 'vongsense' is the term — but it requires partnering with some of their creatures, Lambent crystals for example. I don't have that and it was wonderful. The silence was pure.

Source: Prometheus​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Quill decided to stay behind on the dead worldship full of dead Yuuzhan Vong and dead Yuuzhan Vong biots for a couple days.

Whatever charges his hyperdrive, I guess.

 

[Juno Sabat]

The trip ExGal has been quite a learning experience. Jorus says I'm dgoing well, but I can't help wondering if I'd be here without the Force. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about hyperspace navigation and ship repair as possible to compensate.

I'm not sure how we did it, but we seem to have passed Cotan Sar'andor 's vessel by a day or two. I had a feeling there was a habitable planet nearby, so I convinced Jorus to let me scout ahead with the Mark 32. Pika and I made a jump in the space suit a little off our path, and by golly I was right! Not only was the planet habitable, it had a trading post. I commed Jorus Q. Merrill and he picked me up and we landed to stock up on supplies and chart the new world. I could almost hear a smidge of happiness or pride in his voice.

Source

While on world I met a number of interesting new species, but the most intriguing was an arachnoid creature who I could actually talk to. I thought she might have been from our galaxy the way she spoke basic, but she was actually a forcer who somehow pulled Galactic Basic from my head to talk to me. Seems useful. I made a note to ask Jorus about the technique. Seems up his alley.

The arachnid woman was part of a force tradition that viewed the force geographically, thinking the Force came through vergences or 'intersections of the web'. This particular arachnid was part of the explorer corp, tracking new vergences to find "the origin of the web'". She had found one on world she called 'the temple of the forgotten'.

Source

The temple was old, older enough that no one knew who built it. The vergence was like a suped up version of psychometry or flow walking. I brought Jaxton's Holocron and was able to view in perfect detail him constructing it. Apparently if you bring another willing person the two can share memories, and this is used by the sector as an exotic marriage ritual. I told what I found out to Jorus and let him visit or not on his own time. The memory was intense, so I figure Jorus's memory, or his friends, were best traveled alone.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

I love languages. You'd think my distaste for conversations and people would win out, but there's nothing I enjoy more than sharing a slow, quiet chat with an elder over a cup of tea. I travel with translation droids, and fifteen years back the Gutretee taught me how to share languages mind to mind.

Jorus Merrill is traveling with a young Twi'lek named Juno Sabat . She's ranging out around and ahead of the flotilla. She passed back word of an arachnoid Force practitioner with a talent similar to what the Gutretee elders can do.

The practitioner and I rendezvoused at a place called the Temple of the Forgotten, a unique Force nexus. Just a marvelous place for reexamining and sharing memory. While I can't perceive the Force quite like these 'web-tracers' can, I shared a good deal of memory from my various pilgrimages. Perhaps she'll find the information useful on her quest.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

First it was the Outer Rim, then it was that last bit, the Unknown Regions, and the Netherworld, and the hypergates, and now? Now the final frontier wasn't even in the galaxy. It was the companion galaxies. Sure, Coren had been out to the Rishi Maze, enough times for any normal person of the galaxy, and a fair amount for the ones who were wayfinders and trailblazers. He'd made his trips to Firefist when he really needed to lay low, and following the collapse of the Alliance, and a few times whenever Coren disappeared from the galaxy, or Corey the writer stepped away from the site, it was fair to assume that Coren was out finding the next frontier.

And with the set up of the newest Pathfinder rolling off the line, the Vagabond Parade, Coren had loaded up his freighter into the larger vessel, to log what the Pathfinder found into the Tachyon Rising, and then into Shortfin and his prospective Sekot shuttle.

The ship did a bit of refueling in the Rishi Maze, a spot Coren was regularly familiar with when he was out there. Then the next jumps would bring them out to Firefist. But that wasn't before they had seen the undetected object. "We should probably check it out, at least to log it for the next team." He knew that Kaia and Jared had plans to make it out to the Companion galaxies, and the amount of raw resources here? Maybe he should drop a ping over to Aeshi Tillian too…

(Source: No Man's Sky)​

As the Vagabond Parade entered real space, Coren nodded. "Yeah, that is… an object." Coren ran a hand through his hair as he looked around. A few other rocks, and bone… but it didn't seem completely calcium based. "Log this, take some holos, and I want the data sent back to the Chaser for Kaia. Understand? I'm going to prep our next few jumps."

The Paths placed before him, by Jorus, and Cotan, and Jend-Ro, and even some of his own, were great, but space was always moving, and that meant he had some times where he needed to readjust them. "We're heading for one of the trading posts in Firefist, hearing they have some interesting items.

Coming for you Cotan Sar'andor .