Private Hope You Brought Casseroles (Zark and Coren)

[Jend-Ro Quill]

After an extremely public protest against the Galactic Alliance's friendship with the New Imperial Order, Jedi Master Jend-Ro Quill was attacked by a Padawan who believed him to be a Sith sympathizer. Seriously injured, he retreated into the Jakku desert. Now Romi Jade has issued a public letter and the New Jedi Order has converged on the Jakku Enclave. Quill, however, is elsewhere: an empty stone hermitage in the Valley of the Eremite. Using Solitude Stones, Jedi Masters Coren Starchaser and Zark San Tekka have contacted Quill and found his hideout.

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Evening had come, so the desert was cooling and Quill was just waking up. He'd gone nocturnal since moving to Romi's Jakku Enclave. Today's chores involved going for water and gathering stringy roots from the watering hole. His left hand still killed him despite various bouts of Force healing; the saber wound to his shoulder was gone, but the damage to his hand went deeper. He kept it tucked in a sling that used to be part of his outer robe. And he'd seen ships coming down from orbit toward the Jakku Enclave, just over the horizon. He wished Romi luck.

Not a great day, all told - but Zark and Coren should be arriving soon, and that ought to help.

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Twin Veil speeders scythed across the desert. Around here they were a peculiar sight and their Jedi riders no less so. Still it was a bit more incognito than parking a starship outside the wounded Master Quill's safehouse for everyone in the valley to see and hear. Not that there seemed to be any sign of life in this desolate region at all. San Tekka could just barely make out what looked like a small structure in the distance but it was the only visible landmark as far as the horizon in every direction.

"Looks like we've found the place!" Zark shouted over the wind to Coren Starchaser . He checked his star compass just to make sure. It was attuned to the coordinates Jend-Ro Quill had supplied.

His armor was still being repaired aboard the Prosperity but today Master San Tekka would have no need of it. Instead he wore a light grey tunic of a similar cut to the black ensemble he'd chosen for the young zeltron's trial where they first met. He unclipped the crossguard hilt from his belt and secured it on board his idle speeder before climbing off. He could not bring himself to leave it behind completely but more armed company was probably the last thing Quill wanted to see right now.

"You weren't kidding when you said he takes his poverty vows a little seriously."

Quill's Eremite hermitage barely looked habitable. It seemed abandoned but Zark knew that even a wounded Jedi of the Jakku recluse's talents could hide himself easily enough. Cautiously they both approached a ramshackle wooden board that seemed to pass for the structure's front door. He considered knocking but worried that it would cause real property damage.

"Hello there!" he called out instead, "Master Quill?"

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Jakku, a world where the galaxy was changed, and now the home to the Enclave of one of his former partners. Well, Romi Jade would always be part of his clan of Jedi. The fact that she was leading her own Enclave was definitely a refreshing feeling. The fact that someone with Quill’s reputation was there? That was another good feeling. Coren and Zark San Tekka had been making the move to Quill’s abode.

“Yeah, looks like!” He shouted back. Coren was in dark brown Jedi leathers. Akin to spacer leather, but with a bit more pomp and circumstance on the tunic.It was the standing of a Jedi Master, but of course that was under a lighter jacket, to help block the sand out from his gear. On his hip was the golden blade lightsaber, the other was on his chest, the green blade, his first blade. He looked to Zark and nodded, taking his sabers from his person. He had the Force, that was more than enough weaponry.

“Quill is a very… specific Jedi. I have a lot of respect for him.” He followed Zark before taking a look back at his speeder. Tightening the pack, he motioned for Zark to lead on. If Quill was going to be out here by himself, he was going to need more food stuffs. What did he even do on Hoth?

Reaching out in the Force, he was looking for Quill. “Just us, Master.”

Jend-Ro Quill

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Zark San Tekka Coren Starchaser

Quill came around the hermitage with a pole across his shoulders and two sloshing stormtrooper helmets hanging therefrom. "Perfect timing," he said. "Just came back from the watering hole." The load was awkward given that his left arm was still in a sling made from part of his outer robe.

He opened the door with a glance and went in sideways. A similarly deft use of the Force eased the burden off his shoulders without spilling. He poured both stripped-out helmets into a larger container that had been the bottom half of a gonk droid. Taking a well-deserved drink, he sat down at a ramshackle table and offered his guests a seat.

"I got a glimpse of the Enclave on my way back," he said, tapping his temple. "Saw fighters coming down too. A lot of anger. How bad is it?"

 

[Zark San Tekka]

"A Jedi's anger is never a trivial concern."

Zark took a seat across from Jend-Ro Quill after cautiously entering what looked more like a condemned building than a Jedi Master's abode. Still the old hermit had fixed up just enough inside and added a few personal touches that, once he was sure the roof wouldn't suddenly come crashing down on them, gave the place an oddly rustic flair.

"I don't think there will be any more stabbings today," he offered Quill a gloomy smile.

Tracking the inbound New Jedi Order signals had been a surprise to them as well. He and Coren were here visiting Quill as a personal matter. Master San Tekka also bore fresh scars but his wounds had been bacta treated for the war effort. His face looked weary like he wasn't getting enough sleep. Recovery from Sith torture on Korriban was still taking its toll.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Well, that was a sight that he wasn’t expecting. Quill was a Jedi Master, sure, a hermit, but he was a Jedi Master. There were older tales of Master Skywalker looking similar, when he was found in hiding on Ahch-To. That was, of course, just stories in a holocron or another. Starchaser was doing his best to learn where they had come from to see where the Jedi were going after all. But he nodded as he followed the older Master inside.

“Well, the kids… was I that bad?” He laughed as he shook his head, taking a flash of Corellian whiskey, offering it to the others. “They seem to want help. Or to find help. I’m still not sure. Its… like looking in a mirror, however distorted it could be.” The Corellian shook his head.

“There is a definite split. I can feel it.”

Jend-Ro Quill Zark San Tekka

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill raised a finger. "And," he said, "that split is a false dichotomy that some of them have worked very hard to popularize. It's subtler than 'with us or against us' - it's 'the only real fighters are those who fought alongside us' coupled with 'our war is the only war that matters."

He poured some of the water into a pan made of an Imperial tactical droid's inverted head. A full portion of gray-green polystarch puffed into a bog loaf. He tore off a chunk and offered the rest to his guests. They'd come a long way, after all, and these were hungry times.

Zark San Tekka Coren Starchaser

 

[Zark San Tekka]

"So many fragments of the truth," Zark murmured, "No complete picture. Which is more frightening than the whole truth could ever be."

He accepted the meager offerings provided by Jend-Ro Quill more out of the symbolic act breaking fast together represented than self indulgence. Master San Tekka considered both their words while he ate.

"You and I dedicated our lives to reuniting our religion," he addressed Coren Starchaser at last, "We built connections between the orders. We even dreamed of searching for the old enclaves. I will not succumb to factionalism now."

Zark inclined his head at their host in a gesture of respect.

"The Jedi have always needed wayseekers to light a new path. They may not value your wisdom now but one day they will. Failure is the greatest teacher."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

“Its not much more subtle.” Starchaser mused as he shrugged. There were issues with it. When he and Omai Rhen and later Zark and Coren had taken to the Order, the other Master was correct. They worked on uniting. Their iteration of the Jedi did the fighting so the Silvers could be the humanitarians. And once the One Sith were fractured, not much larger than the Sith Empire was now, he and Zark did indeed work to the unification.

“I am on the same page as you. I feel I may have been a shatterpoint here, not standing with the Concord and the Sith, but…” He offered a weak shrug as he pulled a piece of the bog loaf off. Breaking it in his hands he waved one piece around. “I was hoping it could be used to strengthen us. Not this.”

Coren lacked much of the requirements to be one of the Jedi Seers, he was moving into the arcana, the deeper mythos of the Light, but how it could serve in combat and helping defend those he cared for. Taking a bit of the loaf he nodded. Zark’s words struck deep.

“I’m living proof of that. I just hope maybe we can light their way before burn it all down.”

Jend-Ro Quill Zark San Tekka

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill rubbed his face. Sand trickled from his facial hair.

"In principle, sure. If you know what the feth we do about it that won't backfire hard or bind us to marching alongside stormtroopers, I am-"

He worked at his ear with a fingertip to dislodge further sand.

"-all ears."


Zark San Tekka Coren Starchaser

 

[Zark San Tekka]

"The darkside clouds our path forward."

While Coren Starchaser was still exposing himself to the Force's higher mysteries for a Jedi like Master San Tekka with natural gifts of second sight there was almost no other choice. If anything they were like mirror images of each other. Even as a Knight he'd never been a worthy duelist but now the sage felt more confident with a lightsaber than ever.

"Politics," Zark exhaled in tired frustration.

He frowned at Jend-Ro Quill . It was the first trace of inner conflict on an expression normally carved out of serene resolve. Feeling suddenly restless San Tekka rose from his seat at the table. A Jedi's responsibilities were not always clear. It was times like these when the burden of his faith weighed heavily upon him. Pacing over to a window he rubbed enough dust clear to check on their speeders and briefly take in Jakku's desolate horizon.

"I must ask you both to forgive me," the Jedi faced them again and when he did the resolve had returned, "I will see this war through. They need guidance. That can only be accomplished from within the Order. This new Imperial alliance greatly disturbs me...but they are not wrong about the danger of powerful Sith institutions. Obsession with vengeance and ancestral Jedi causes has blinded the Core to all other threats. These I must leave to you."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Running a hand through his dark hair, Coren was listening to the others. There were a few issues of politics, that was for damned sure, out there, in the Jedi. He knew that it was a fragile process going forward and when Zark spoke up, Coren nodded. “Zark is right, it is clouded.” Rage, aggression, and incorrectly directed purpose.

“I wish it was as easy as back out of Sullust. But the galaxy was different back then.” Starchaser rubbed his thumb and middle finger over his eyes, rubbing the sand from them, and just wipe the thought of the headache that politics and faith caused. Coren was a Jedi, first and foremost. It took him years to get here, but this was where he was. He was a Master, a Crusader, and now a student of the greater mysteries.

Looking to his brother-in-arms, he was partially surprised by the moment, but he wasn’t. “I understand that, Zark. They need someone to direct them.” He took a second, and the Force felt a bit more gloomy. “I do not think I can join you on the front line. Not in the way I have… Not after Coruscant.” He was seeing more of himself in the new Jedi. “What I can do is advise, and smuggle folks around, watch the Imperials.” And learn.

Jend-Ro Quill Zark San Tekka

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

"There's nothing to forgive, Zark, and I can't fault you." Quill held up his hands, palms upturned like a set of scales. "Jus ad bellum, jus in bello. A just war needs to start and continue for the right reasons, and be conducted rightly. The first part was never in doubt. The Sith need to go.

"One request for you, though, before you get back to the front. Imagine the Sith are broken, the New Imperial Order is stronger than ever, and stormtroopers and Imperial Knights come to take Eshan or another tasty Silver Jedi border world on some pious pretext. The New Jedi Order members take...which side? Their fellow Jedi, or their trusted comrades in arms?

"The future's always in motion, but you know I dabble in probability. My prophecy, you could say, is that we see this outcome four times out of ten within the next few years. I'd call that a serious reason to keep your eyes open."

Zark San Tekka Coren Starchaser