Private Hopes and Hutts

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Location: Randa, refugee camp (ancient Rebel base)

Purple-hued Keshiri, long-snouted Kubaz, stalk-legged Pa'lowick, Toongs, Ciasi, Twi'leks, Rodians, Humans - they all had packed what they could and either taken their own ships or booked passage to flee a menace that was spreading from the Unknown Regions. Nobody knew with certainty quite what it was: the Sith, a new predatory alien species, or the cosmic apocalypse that their local cult had been proclaiming imminent for a hundred years. But word, and panic, were spreading, and many were trying to move westwards towards the Mid Rim, where, they had heard, the Jedi were protecting people.

The problem was that this meant crossing Hutt space, and much as they would have wanted to help, those famed Silver Jedi, while having made some forays into that region, were not all that adept at dealing with the Hutts and their henchmen on their own turf. The Hutts, meanwhile, had proclaimed that refugees were prohibited from entering, ostensibly on the grounds that agents of the Black Sun, as well as everyone's least favourite bounty hunters, were supposedly hiding among them. Consequently, black market trade in stolen or manipulated transponders, only a fraction of which worked as advertised, was rampant, and smugglers had high season ferrying people. The Hutts didn't mind - they were making money from usurious prices, and word had it that those who had the bad fortune of being caught on a smuggler's vessel usually ended up as slaves - just like those that the sector's many slave traders picked off raiding the camps where the hapless refugees had gathered and were trying to find solutions to their situation.

Like the proper Jedi master she was, Amilthi had arrived neither too early, nor too late, but just in time, to shoot some pirated-turned-slavers out of the sky over Randa. Her piloting skills were mediocre, but they'd certainly sufficed for that, assisted by the fact that her starfighter was equipped with military-grade stealth technology - even though she had a suspicion that the absorptive plating needed some maintenance.

A small, ancient base, probably centuries ago a military outpost of some sort, of one faction or the other, had been converted, by volunteer helpers and refugees themselves, into a camp, though already the number of people exceeded what could be housed within its bounds and makeshift shelters were being put up in the surrounding forest using the surprising amount of supplies that had weathered time in the storage rooms of the base.

A corner of the mess hall after lunch was as secluded form the bustle of the camp as one could find during the day. There, just short of a hundred people of various species had gathered and were seated cross-legged, or however else their species could sit comfortably, arranged in a neat grid, tightly spaced but not touching each other, on the floor, on whatever cushions or blankets they could find. Some of them already seemed familiar with the procedures, others were new and had been attracted by curiosity or boredom.

In front of them sat an unassuming human woman. Judging by her attire alone, she might well be one of them: coarse fabrics, a grey-blue skirt, a washed-out rosé shirt without buttons, held together by putting one side over the other and belting it with a sash, and a comfortable-looking, roomy grey coat with a hood. The skirt, and modesty, prevented her from sitting cross-legged, but she appeared to experience no discomfort sitting on her heels, knees closed, even for a prolonged period of time. Her spine was scrupulously upright, and she carried herself with a calm, quiet confidence. This could be no ordinary refugee. Displaced nobility, perhaps - or not one of them at all.

Amilthi was trying to decide what to do. She had some ability to protect these refugees from raids and exploitation, she could let herself be smuggled with them to prevent them from being being discovered, she could see what was to those rumours of disagreeable agents hiding among them and, if she could catch some, use that as a chip to negotiate with the ultimately business-minded Hutts - but she couldn't do all of that at the same time. While she was sorting out the possibilities, and waiting for one of them to suggest itself to her as the right one, she wanted to give these people a gift that would serve them not just right now, but for the rest of their lives. Those in hardship needed it the most. She was teaching them to meditate, so that they might more equanimously meet the vicissitudes of life.

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

The Jedi Master moved with a quiet regard for the many refugees, displaced by any number of evils that transcended the galactic coil. It’d been years since The Republic or The Jedi were truly able to stave off these advances, and it’d done a toll to those of little means. That much was evident by the sad, the forsaken, the cold and hungry that surrounded him now.​

​

He could feel their pain, sorrow - it tore at him, made his own heart quake. Wyatt had spent so long opening himself to the Force, their emotions felt like his own - and were it not for his control, he very well may have fallen into the same depression that consumed them. An emotional black hole, and he could feel himself sucked in - but he had purpose among them, a Jedi Master rumored to be teaching, protecting those of the forsake masses.​

​

The group in question was meditating, surrounding Amilthi with their own closed eyes - some with forced expressions, while others seemed calm; and while they could not sense the force, Wyatt was sure they could feel it, calming them.​

​

“Meditation…”, he said with a light, cheerful tone. His hand brushed across and rested on the Jedi Master’s shoulder, and he offered a gentle, rolling smile.​

​

“It’s a good thing to teach, Master Camlenn.”​

​

Wyatt let her have a chance to stand, to take a step away from the lesson to not interrupt it before he continued;​

​

“My name is Jedi Master Wyatt Morga. I was hoping we could discuss the Jedi Order, and the Force, would you be willing.”​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

A gentle touch on the shoulder, a quiet word, the waiting for a reaction - it was the exact way in which it was proper to disturb a meditator. Amilthi had had no premonition of an intrusion. This one was benevolent. She opened her eyes, turned her head and looked up at the man. She smiled briefly before her features returned to the somewhat severe, but calmly neutral state they had been in during meditation. Slowly, she rose from the ground and led him some metres away to listen to him.

Hearing his introduction, she gave a slight nod of acknowledgement. "Afterwards", she said quietly, throwing a brief glance at the meditators. She owed it to them to give them her calm and steadfast presence. It was more than an empty ritual for the teacher to meditate with his students in the occasional group sitting. The presence of other beings, even if they weren't actually observing, always had an effect in social species, and to know that the teacher was indeed sitting perfectly still in meditation for an hour served both a simple proof of possibility and as inspiration. And then, afterwards, one or the other would come to her and ask questions, would want to have this or that concern alleviated. Mostly they talked about irrelevant trivialities that had nothing to do with actual meditative experiences, and it was Amilthi's responsibility to reassure them and give them guidance as to all the things that weren't actually important at all. She would have hated to have to cut the conversation with Wyatt short to return to that responsibility.

She gave him another brief, gentle smile and then returned to her seat in front of the group to sit down and close her eyes once again.

***​

There were still people waiting to speak to her, but Amilthi always a point of limiting the time she spent answering questions after a session. She wanted them to think about whether it was really necessary, and sometimes it was good for them to be forced to deal with issues on their own. Many questions simply dissolved upon reflection, were found to be unimportant even without any nudge from her. Lot of people could figure out by themselves that they were not, in fact, going to learn to fly or move object with their mind this way.

Master Morga had waited patiently in the background until Amilthi finally approached him and greeted him with a smile. "I'd much rather talk about whether you have any ideas about what ought to be done here", she remarked with a wry smile and possibly a hint of self-deprecation about her own powerlessness in the face of the situation, "but very well." While her words by themselves might have been taken to be somewhat hostile, her tone was gentle enough.

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

There was no reason for Wyatt to argue, his discussion and needs could wait. Refugees in these situations always came first; and while he hoped to help them, it would take far longer than he perhaps had to offer. He sighed, nodded to Amilthi, and took a step back -​

​

“Please, take your time, Master.”​

​

Wyatt idled far behind the group, found a comfortable place to sit against, and began his own meditation. It wasn’t the same perhaps, instead he spends the time within his mind studying the distance he had travelled from the Core, finding where his other Jedi were - what they were doing, and while he couldn’t see it outright, he could feel that they were safe. At least for the moment.​

​

It brought comfort to him before he opened his eyes, with Amilthi standing before him, almost scornfully asking for his help with the refugees that had taken hold of the base they stood in. He knew it wasn’t directed at him, but he could feel the ever so slight anguish she held for it -​

​

It upset him, but he held back showing it.​

​

“I’ve… spent a long time fighting, and running. This requires building, perhaps - a new life, somewhere with hope. Where that is, I could not say; but I hear good words of The Republic, the Outer Planets Alliance, Silver Jedi - all would take them, I’m sure.”, he said with an endearing smile, one he hoped would offer her a moment of reassurement.​

​

“Whatever you help them decide, know you have done your best. The Force will guide them, so long as you let it guide you, Master Camlenn.”, and with that, he rested a hand on her shoulder, squeezed for the confidence it would impose, and then retracted.​

​

Wyatt stood tall for a moment, stretching from his moment of meditation. He wasn’t old by any means, at least in Morellian years, but sitting for far too long still seemed to put a tiredness in his bones he didn’t care to admit. He wondered for a moment if stress were the cause, but pushed it aside just as quickly - he didn’t have time to be stressed, not now.​

​

“Master Camlenn, in truth I came for your opinion about the schism that strikes our Order, of the Orders that exist, and what your theory is behind the Force, how we as Jedi should interpret it.”
​

It was alot to take on, but it was the best he could hope to offer her; to lay it all out in front of her, to ensure transparency was chief among his concerns. Wyatt pulled his hands together, shrouded by the loose robes, and looked to her with a withheld concern;​

​

“I hope that isn’t too much, Master.”​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"No, I mean much more immediately... Hutt space is a hostile environment to put it mildly", clarified Amilthi, but then seemed prepared to drop the topic. To have her shoulder touched again felt unfamiliar, it wasn't something she was used to, and she observed, though did not act on, an urge to flinch away.

"Come", she said, beckoning Wyatt to follow her. "When did you arrive here? The forest is nice, there's a sort of rear exit that leads right into it." They strolled through the corridors of the base, in an area where it was mostly volunteer helpers rather than refugees that bustled about, and quickly reached a fortified door that slid open sideways with a hiss.

They stepped outside directly onto the soft forest floor. If there had once been a path leading somewhere from this door, it was long gone, and their robes touched bushes and small trees. Nobody was outside on this side of the base.

Amilthi folded her hands in front of herself. "I'll be honest, I'm not good at belonging to groups, committing to them, sticking with them. Now I teach on Svivren. It suits me - the Enclave is small, life is simple, there aren't so many people and I know them and I don't disagree with them about everything", she said, at first looking to the ground before her, then turning to Wyatt with a wry smile.

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

“Then moving them immediately may be the best route.”, he said with an idle fancy as she brought them on a path.​

​

He watched those around him move about with purpose, boxes and food set aside for rationing - while others still looked for medicine, some weapons, and clothes for the various impoverished around. There were many here, he imagined, who were once rich; who lost everything they owned in the grand schisms that rocked the galaxy. It almost choked him up, but he wasn’t sure if that was pure empathy - or the Force’s influence on him, blackened by the immense sorrow so many felt.​

​

“I arrived here only a few days ago, it took me far longer than I thought to find you among the crowds. The Force only told me so much…”, he mused with a gentle smile.​

​

Branches tugged at his robes as he stepped through the brush, and the path that once lay there now seemed ancient. Nothing was left of it, and trying to find it was nigh impossible - so Wyatt instead followed Amilithi to wherever she planned on taking them.​

​

“Svivren Enclave…”, he said with an fancy.​

​

“In what ways do you disagree with other Orders?”, he said with a cock of his brow.​

​

He would have to ask her of the Enclave, where it was and who he might speak to there; but for now, he kept quiet. She’d have to trust him long before he’d ask such a thing.​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"For example, I don't like it when people speak of the Will of the Force. There is no such thing, and it's a metaphorical way of speaking so typical of sentients and prone to misleading their minds. Some argue this way of speaking and thinking supports humility, because we conceive of ourselves as servants of something greater. But I disagree. I think it serves to elevate us, flatters our sense of importance, and distracts us from the fact that it is other beings whom we are to serve. It is so easy to fall into the trap of dismissing others' concerns because, after all, the 'Will of the Force' is paramount. I don't think it's a good direction to develop oneself in."

The forest floor was punctuated by the occasional rocks and boulders, overgrown with moss, grass sprouting from little veins of soil in the cracks of the larger ones. The terrain was sloped slightly upwards, and in the distance between the trees, they could see a rock formation rising. They were leisurely strolling in its direction.

"If one takes this too seriously, one is liable to end up like Greyson. Provided he's even serious and genuine - maybe he's just a perfect cynic, just trying an experiment. But I don't think so. I knew him ten years ago, he was... intense in his peculiar way already then. So he's probably serious. But, well, as long as he doesn't get people killed..." She gave a shrug to punctuate her words, as if to sap out some of the gravity from them, and then briefly, almost coyly smiled at Wyatt as if she were worried that she were taken too seriously.

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

The Jedi Master strode along quietly, and let Camlenn speak her peace. She spoke of the Force as a tool used by Jedi to feel superior, and that alone forced a frown upon his face - How disparaged was the Jedi Order? With so many broken sects, it was reasonable that many became self philosophers, but Wyatt himself subscribed to the ‘Force’ as a guiding entity; though it seemed not all did.​

​

With pierced lips, he nodded, listening to her comments about Cedric Grayson - who despite it all, was still one of the most influential Jedi in the galaxy. Though, truth be told, Wyatt himself worried about his aggressive stance - though he wanted more clarification from the Galaxy at large before he chose to speak out.​

​

“I would… Disagree.”, Wyatt offered slowly, trying to think his words through as best as possible.​

​

“For example, the writings of Satele Shan have helped implicate the Force does have a will - though it must be guided. Myself, I see it guide me through the Galaxy - to you, for example; though I understand how you may see that as a placebo.”​

​

Wyatt spoke slow, carefully. He came to learn, and while he could certainly discuss the Force and its machinations with the Jedi Masters, he had to be careful not to offend. Some took the Jedi far more spiritually than others, and others more physical. He felt like he knew what side Master Camlenn sat now -​

​

“Consider this, Master Camlenn, that Jedi have for many years skewed what it means to use the Force, notably without a centralized Order. I would agree that many have used it as a means of elevation, to lose themselves in the power of the Force; but I would say that it is simply a matter of teaching. There is a point where one can find ‘The Will of The Force’ present to guide them, and understand their true purpose is to respect and serve the living beings of the galaxy - after all, The Force is no more than the gestalt consciousness of all those around us.”, he said with a quick smile - appreciating the fact that even the trees around them were the Force, in one of its many forms.​

​

“Interpretation of the ‘Will of the Force’ is… perhaps harder than I admit though. It can be vague, surely, and certainly confusing. Meditation, as you had shown, seems to help with such issues.”​

​

Though with that, Wyatt slowly came to a stop, and glanced to Amilthi, a bit more concern weathering his face.​

​

“I am curious however, you say we shouldn’t take this ‘seriously’. What do you mean by that? What about taking it seriously would become like Cedric Grayson, and what would it mean to become like him?”​

​

For despite his goals abroad, P Placeholder 0128 as he had come to be known, was still his friend; and someone he continued to guide through the years. He only hoped that if he was truly on a dark path, that Wyatt could return, to help and guide him through it before he reaches an apex he cannot return from.​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"I do not mean to say that there is no such thing as guidance from the Force, nor that no course of action is better, more wholesome, than another", said Amilthi neutrally. "I merely object to the conceptualisation of it as the 'Will' of anything - precisely as a question of teaching. That conceptualisation, that manner of speaking, carries dangers with it that I think are unnecessary and can easily be avoided. Besides, one can't shake the feeling that the Force gives guidance to the Sith as well. Does it not know what it wants? Does it want for us to be locked in eternal struggle? If so, we should perhaps reconsider obliging it. Or are the light side and the dark side of the Force two separate things, each with their separate will? Then why is it better to serve one over the other? Suddenly the appeal to a higher Will loses its force - once there are two of them."

She was looking at the path before them, slowly walking on, as she spoke. Her gaze brushed over the leaves on the ground, the twigs of the brush, the stones and pebbles - all that constituted their path, decomposed into its separate parts.

"All these problems dissolve once one lets go of the notion of a 'Will of the Force' as an inadequate metaphor and takes the guidance, the hints and nudges we receive, as the bare phenomena they are. It's a feature of sentient minds to seek agency, an intention, a will behind everything that happens - but it's sometimes misguided. I don't see any useful practice that cannot be maintained without that concept. Gratitude, for example, can just as well be practiced without an object - one does not need to be grateful to some agentive force, one can just be grateful for something, simpliciter. It works just as well for cultivating a wholesome disposition."

She suddenly turned to Wyatt an smiled warmly. "Mind you, I'm not saying that everyone who operates with the concept of a Will of the Force is somehow misguided or on a dark path, or even at risk of such. The majority are not, I'm sure. But as the numbers get larger, small differences in risk start to matter."

"As for Grayson", she explained, turning serious again, "you quite misunderstand me. I meant whether he is serious about the beliefs he professes and has his 'church' proclaim, or whether he is merely performing a social experiment."

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

The Jedi nodded, and continued forward - step by step through the forests that surrounded the base. They were well hidden, a manner of such that made sense to have refugees here - it’d be difficult for any opposing force to find them, to run them out. Whoever made that choice, Wyatt felt, had made a good one.​

​

“Take no offense, Master Camlenn, but I believe you may… Misunderstand the polarity of the Force, and how the Dark Side comes to fruition.”, he said with a furrow of his brow, trying to find a way to word it.​

​

“As Satele Shan said, or even Kreia, the Force has an idea; a way it moves the worlds, galaxy, and people within it. Yet, it is powerless - so long as it has no outlets. The Sith don’t sense its guidance, listen to its needs - they bend and twist its immaculate form with their own strength, their emotions. It is… a form of release for them. Freedom through power, and the Force is their tool. The Force in its darkest forms has no voice, just pain - as it is twisted, malformed into means of personal gain.”​

​

He seemed to sigh as he glanced to the trees ahead of them, memories of his time fighting the Sith flooding back in droves before being pushed back.​

​

“The Force has a balance, a base line that the Jedi have listened to for millenia. So long as we are open, its guidance pushes us through the Galaxy on a whim to find that balance - for its peace, for the Force to avoid that pain. If you’d like evidence of the Force’s ability to feel, simply look at the quakes and shivers present in war - after genocide, destruction, or even the Dark Side en masse.”​

​

Wyatt continued on,​

​

“I believe that losing that spirituality, to negate the will of the force and to picture it as a mere tool only drives the order closer to a place the Sith have long since been in. Even the use of The Force should be tempered - lest one become too reliant, abuse its nature too much, and fall as so many others have.”, he said with a slow and tempered exhale.​

​

“Understanding that the Will of the Force, the dreams, premonitions, prophecy it offers is something the greatest of our Order have confirmed time and time again. Yoda, Obi-Wan, Skywalker and others; all have helped us further understand the depths of The Force and what it needs to survive.”​

​

Slowly, he stopped speaking, and simply shook his head with a weak smile;​

​

“I apologize, I’m an echo of old teachings. I’ve found guidance for over a hundred years in the Force, and through the teachings of others who did much of the same. I don’t mean to come off… aggressive, Master Camlenn.”​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi chuckled. "Did I give you the impression that I'm not used to being disagreed with?" she asked quizzically.

"I think the Force is not a feeling entity, it is not even an entity at all. It is just a way things are, everything else is metaphor", she said lightly, still smiling. "And I think I might be seeing the legacy of the Masters Jinn, Yoda, and Kenobi in something entirely different than you do. But fortunately, none of that matters in the here and now. None of what we differ on, I expect, has any influence on how you are disposed to behave, for example, in this situation concerning the refugees who have gathered here."

They reached the rock formation that rose quite steeply out of the forest. But a few deft steps put Amilthi on an upward-sloping ledge on which she could ascend, walking to one side, and soon reach the height of the tree tops. A few metres above, she sad down, looking over green forest that was flowing over the hills. The clearing before the refugee camp was visible here, though not the base itself, but its location was given away by a ship that departed. Who could know where to - perhaps it had delivered a few more desperately hopeful people, or perhaps it was taking them away on a further uncertain journey.

"You see, getting them out of, or rather through, Hutt Space is precisely the problem. Because the Hutts have prohibited the ferrying of refugees. I'm sure they see some of the money that the smugglers make from this, they also catch a number of them and sell them as slaves... All of this under the pretext of preventing undesirable elements from entering their space disguised among the refugees. Supposedly a group of bounty hunters who crossed an influential man on Sleheyron are hiding among them. There is also talk of Black Sun spies. But it's a preposterous pretext even if true. I'm of a mind to find those people and call the Hutts out on it."

"The Silver Jedi Order has made some forays into Hutt Space and has quelled their influence, but that has come to a halt, and the parts of it that still operate largely as they have been are still large and... rather in the way", she said with a displeased expression.

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

Wyatt simply nodded, residing himself to a more passive nature. In truth, the debate of a ‘sentient’ force was not exactly why he had come - but it did make him curious if others of the galaxy had truly thought the same thing.​

​

“You are right, our debate offers nothing to them.”​

​

It was true, for all the good it did to believe in the force as a religious entity - it was hard to rationalize just how directly that affected the life of the common man. Perhaps, even if he didn’t believe it was a tool, she had a point - that philosophy in itself distracted from the righteous need for charity, for selfless action. If one becomes too distracted with the ‘if’ they forget the actuality…​

​

Wyatt looked over the picturesque landscape Amilthi had hoped to show him - and while he could see the ship depart, he seemed to draw his gaze slowly back to her. She had concerns, and the Force around her was disturbed - if only slightly. The Jedi Master couldn’t help but sigh, and lower himself to a squat as they spoke;​

​

“Criminal elements are a constant threat to the life, liberty, and happiness of the common man - and the Hutts have always been the historic progenitor of those woes for the Outer Rim and further.”, Wyatt said with a shake of his head.​

​

“Its… a difficult question. Hutts are powerful, influential, and the single greatest form of control and order in this part of the galaxy. Besides a more organized Jedi response - what do you think would alleviate the situation, Master Camlenn?”​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"Perhaps I was wrong, perhaps our different outlooks do cause our dispositions for action to differ", said Amilthi pensively, resting her elbows on her thighs and leaning forward, looking down on the treetops below. "You first thought is concerted, large-scale action, of the Jedi, no less. You look to others, look to the Force, an entity you see as requiring your support and giving you its own. You live your life embedded in a web of other people, or wish you did." Her words may have been provocative, but they were spoken calmly, gently, neither belittling nor accusing.

She turned her head to Wyatt and smiled wryly, more about herself, it seemed, than him. "How wrong am I?"

"I was wondering why you are really here - merely to add me to your cabinet of curiosities encountered? But a Jedi helping refugees is not a curiosity, she's a very mundane occurrence. But that's not it at all. The fact that the Jedi are not unified, the fact that we are scattered across the galaxy, with all our different views and methods and shorter-term objectives, bothers you. Why? Does not the Code rightly say: chaos, yet harmony? Why do you long to eliminate the chaos?"

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

“Large scale action, to settle the issue for the future.”, he said with a small smile, glancing to the Master near him.​

​

“You are right that I am here for something larger than you or I - for the Jedi Order as a whole. Perhaps, in a way, that means I do seek to be embedded in a web of people; at least in a certain way.”​

​

Wyatt forced himself to stand once more, letting his legs stiffen under him. A small flex, helped to reduce some of the pain in his joints - travel had been hard on him, and the fact that he’d been hiking the last three days to get here was no great relief. He sighed as he moved to speak once more -​

​

“Eliminate the Chaos…”, he said idly, “Would you consider this chaos, yet harmony?”​

​

Wyatt motioned to the camp that stood far below them, shrouded in the trees and ancient ruins of a base long forgotten about. Men, women, species of every sort milling about in idle fancy, or working themselves to the bone to support their fellow downtrodden - a mix of fear, anger, and sadness emanating from every being.​

​

“The Sith, The Eternal Empire, the Confederacy - all unified forms of the Dark Side, all pressing onwards to destroy the hope the Republic once stood for.”, he almost seemed to shiver, wrapping his arms around each other as he glanced towards the base.​

​

“I seek unification for the same reason, to see the Force, and the people of this galaxy have a chance - not to fear what planet next that will be genocided for speaking ill of the Emperor, or massacred by orbital bombardment for nothing more than holding a political opponent. The Silver Jedi hope to hold back that tide, but they’ve failed before - and I fear they may fail again.”​

​

His gaze slowly turned to Camlenn, but it was more solemn than before.​

​

“I seek unification for the strength to hold our Orders together. That the next generation will do better than us - to be strong enough to stand together, and fight back the Dark Tides on the edges of the galaxy.”​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"Hope..." mused Amilthi. "Hope can be had for a human lifetime, perhaps. But what of those who can see beyond? How can we have hope, knowing that as the galaxy is, it has always been? Those before us had the same hopes - and they were not fulfilled, so we know that ours won't be, either. If we are to have hope, it cannot be for victory in this struggle that you speak of, it must be for something else."

She looked into the distance and fell silent for a few seconds, almost seemed to start speaking again once, but stopped herself. Then she turned to Wyatt, looking up at him from her seated position. A soft smile flashed on her face once again, but only for a moment. "That is not to say that I am urging you to give up and surrender, or even that I would not raise my lightsaber by your side should it be necessary. But I have seen this notion that we are somehow soldiers in a struggle in the service of the Force destroy a generation of Jedi. Many still suffer in its clutches."

Amilthi looked away again.

"We can live beyond opposites, beyond contradictions. We can do things even as we recognise them as futile. Perhaps that is what you are doing, and you're just not saying it. I'd like to hope that it is. Perhaps this is the right kind of service for you to develop yourself as you need. But that next generation you have such hopes for... they will crumble."

She shook her head slightly, then rose to her feet.

"Have you, incidentally, considered the fact that the Confederacy is doing more than anyone else in the galaxy to save lives, by making its armies of steel rather than flesh? The significance of the personal misbehaviour of its leadership pales in comparison to the impact of that."

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

“An efficient war machine does not make it merciful.”, he said with a shake of his head.​

​

Wyatt glanced to her with a cock of his head, considering her words carefully - but at the moment, he considered his own more. There was things he wanted to say but couldn’t, and things he couldn’t say but had to - so he carefully prepared every syllable before speaking.​

​

“Were the past, and the future all appearing bleak drive us to surrender - would it make a difference for you now if the Refugees died? If you truly see no future in the betterment of these things - what purpose does saving them serve? For your own comfort - to feel as though you live up to the Code of the Jedi without truly embodying tangible changes?”​

​

He simply shook his head, and couldn’t help but smile -​

​

“No, Master Camlenn, I don’t believe you think that. That fighting for futility is more comforting than fighting for the future, for purpose, or for something greater. Truly, I believe you’re simply being contrarian to be so - but I’ll oblige regardless.”​

​

He inhaled before looking back to her -​

​

“There have been a thousand and one dreams in this Galaxy, and most die - their flame cut short long before they could rage into a fire. For better or worse, perhaps, but they died - and yet, things have changed. The Galactic Republic saw five thousand years of prosperity - would you consider that worthless because it eventually fell?”, Wyatt said with a cock of his brow.​

​

“You would be right, after so long it did fall… And yet, there were hundreds of generations that avoided death on a large scale, avoided The Dark Side and its constant push towards darkness, even lived a life of relative peace. Yet, I wouldn’t call its eventual failure reason enough to doubt it should have existed at all -”​

​

Wyatt smiled, though slight as it was;​

​

“On the contrary, I believe its failure taught us a lesson. That eventually the lessons we learn will surpass us and our measly lifetimes - so that the next generation will eventually never ‘crumble’. I have hope in the future, and I would hope in time you do too, Master Camlenn.”​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"You shouldn't go around cursing people like that", quipped Amilthi mischievously. "Hope is the cause of so much suffering. Those who are driven by hope are apt to succumb to disappointment, frustration, despair. It is a dangerous path, not to speak of unpleasant. I don't have these problems and I'd rather keep it that way."

"See, I've come to think life is a much simpler, less grand affair than the cosmic struggle you make it out to be", she said, smiling.

"Five thousand years of peace - were they worthless? Is that a relevant question? They are past. If they weren't worthless, were they worth it - the struggle, the wars that came before? Who could tell. I wouldn't know. If five thousand years, some billion lives are enough for you - how low are you willing to go? Surely some trifles are too small to bother with?"

"Oh, and those droids... I don't know why you think this is about efficiency. The Confederacy is saving countless lives just by having nobody die for them. Or perhaps those aren't lives worth living, worth saving, anyway? How much is enough?"

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

“Enough is balance.”, he said with a nod.​

​

“And yet - The ends do not always justify the means; as I’ve heard from the propaganda of the Sith Empire before. That their genocide, their authoritarian regime - that it may be costly, but it is for the sake of stability. The Dark Side has a way to corrupt intent… That while you may hope that your sacrifice will lead to your initial goal; the power… the intoxication of potential, it drives you down…”​

​

He sighed at that, before shaking his head -​

​

“I know that better than most. Even still, if you’re asking if I think your goal here - to save the refugees is worthless, I do not. Sure, I could agree that its macro effects on the galaxy are minimal - but that doesn’t mean not doing them is the better option. On the contrary, I think its every individual's duty to assist where possible - and you embody that better than many Jedi I’ve met.”, he said with a quaint smile, acknowledging her selfless approach to charity.​

​

“But an Order is the culmination of the individuals, and only an Order can truly make those efforts that'll change the foundational problems that cause… This.”, he said with a motion to the refugee camp before them.​

​

“For the Confederacy - let me ask you a question; If the lack of a ‘mortal’ army ensures they save half the lives that usually happen in a battle, but wage twice as much for that efficiency gained, what is the net loss of life? Who in truth do you believe suffers the most in war? The soldiers, or the citizen’s whose homes are bombed, families destroyed, and way of life unsettled?”, he said with a cock of his brow.​

​

“Would you like to ask the refugees in the camp what their answer to that will be?”​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"The Confederacy has not proven as belligerent so far as you might thing, and I'm not sure droid armies are all that efficient anyway. But that's not the point. Why is it that the Silver Jedi Order, or for that matter Grayson's people, still rely on warm bodies? I wish I could ask them for the answer, but you may have noticed that I'm rather the wrong person for that", she said with a wry smile. It was deplorable, from that perspective, that Valae Kitra had departed from her role as grandmaster of that order. Amilthi had been on decent terms with her and could perhaps have had that conversation - not it was certainly an impossibility. Not to speak of Cedric Grayson. "Perhaps you are, or know who would be", she said with a shrug.

She turned to make her way down the ledge they had come up, apparently tired of the view. "Come, let's go annoy some Hutts", she said mischievously.

She jumped down from the lower end of the ledge directly onto the soft forest floor, and they walked back to the base at a more regular speed. "You should talk to Master Starchaser, by the way. Coren Starchaser. Look for him on Sullust", she said casually. "You'll find his outlook and goals rather more germane to your own, I daresay. He's done much to foster collaboration between the orders, at least - I think he's given up the idea that they could soon be unified again." Her voice sounded light and warm, there was no mockery or derision, not even dismissiveness in her tone.

Wyatt Morga

 

[Wyatt Morga]

“If you believe the use of robots would help the loss of life, or collateral, then I implore you to speak to those factions; let them hear your words.”, he said with a small nod.​

​

He followed quietly behind, his steps silent as the Force helped to silence his actions. It was minor, but it helped him to hear the forest and its noises - animals calling, and the soft sound of wind rushing through trees. It forced a smile on his lips -​

​

“Thank you, I had him on my list - but I wasn’t sure where he was. I suppose after this, Sullust might be my next goal…”, he chuckled.​

​

Amilthi Camlenn​

​