Faction Icebreaker on Hoth: Sith Hate This One Weird Trick! (Open to Jedi/Lightsiders)

[Jend-Ro Quill]

HOTH JEDI ENCLAVE

The premise of the meeting was simple enough: come meet other Jedi, and show them something strange or unique you've learned about using the Force. The far-flung Jedi Order encompassed more diversity than anyone knew for sure. Thirty temples, wildly divergent traditions and priorities and allegiances and life experiences - and abilities too.

Much as Quill H A T E D having company, this seemed worth doing.

"Alright," he said to the circle of gathered Jedi. "All I know is I'm not going first. Who's got something unusual to share? Anyone learn to shapeshift with the Force yet? Always wanted to see that."

There were, of course, comfortable chairs and hot drinks and a fireplace. He was a hermit, not a barbarian.

 

[Wyatt Morga]

Wyatt cleared his throat as he glanced around those in the room and took a step forward - scratching as his facial hair in a nervous twitch. Jend-Ro had sold him on the idea of ‘showing off unique abilities’, but Wyatt’s wasn’t easy to show -​

​

It wasn’t flashy at all.​

​

“I… Have the refined ability to fight with my lightsaber through sheer reaction than conscious thought.”, he offered - to minimal applause. He actually received more confused expressions, which only drove a slightly red blush to his cheeks.​

​

“Or I can teleport!”, he stifled out, and he did just that.​

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To the back of the room, where nobody would look at him.​

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Jend-Ro Quill​

 

[Shira Varanin]

Wyatt Morga teleported. Shira promptly spilled her caf all over the stone floor.

"What the feth was that karking dren!?"

If he'd thought nobody would look at him after that, just because he was at the back of the room, his judgment lagged a couple notches behind his abilities.

Amid general impressedness, Shira got up and went for the napkins. That and a refill on the hot caf. Fireplace or not, this place was cold enough to spiderweb the edges of her spill.

 

[Auteme]

It was kind of annoying when Auteme's personal space was invaded. Really, all she was there to do was take notes, learn a bit about the Force and figure out if anything was missing from her own knowledge. A variety of Jedi had already been gathered, and though they were few considering the size of the Hoth enclave there was surely much to be learned. She had her notebook and pencil out, watching intently as... Master Morga embarrassed himself, and subsequently teleported right beside her.

He had quite clearly warned everyone, but it was still a surprise. Probably being the least experienced with the Force in the room, Auteme nearly hit the ceiling as she jumped out of her seat. Anyone else could've just sensed it earlier... the padawan felt as embarrassed as Master Morga, and she hurriedly picked up the things she'd dropped. "Sorry."

There would certainly be a lot to take notes on.

Wyatt Morga Jend-Ro Quill

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

A sort of a hush fell, punctuated only by young people dropping things and Shira Varanin cussing the air blue as usual.

"Well," Quill said after a bit, "I can't really follow that, but I've got a couple of...let's see."

He pulled out a pair of dice and tossed them on the floor. They came up snake eyes. Then he did it again, and again, and again - ones all the way.

"No telekinesis involved. It's Suerton probability manipulation. Auteme here helped me with the research to figure it out. The trick is you have to not really care if you win, or at least not think about it in the moment, so you'd imagine it's not going to make superweapons misfire anytime soon. Handy for little things where telekinesis couldn't do the same, though - card draws, blaster misfires, making sure a bloodshine blade doesn't break your lightsaber. And here's..." He focused again. "...a memory-sharing technique I got, uh, forcibly given by a Gutretee elder on Isis."

He shared the memory of how to do the probability manipulation with Wyatt Morga and Auteme , but that was as far as he could get. Tricky stuff, memory sharing.

 

[Griet van Vliet]

"Sorry if I didn't inroduce myself earlier. I'm Griet"

Also, considering the Hoth enclave was small, and the regulatory environment on Hoth was next to nonexistent, the enclave could make do with a compilation, especially since the Hoth enclave had few financial statement users, nearly all of them still feel that the engagement team's responsibility not to be associated with misleading or fraudulent accounting information is enough "assurance" for them. That, even though the notice to reader that usually prefaces such financial statements clearly state there is no assurance whatsoever. And with compilation clients, there usually were less issues with providing additional financial services, such as bookkeeping, AR/AP, and even outsourcing all the financial responsibilities outright if the Hoth enclave was determined to be utterly unable to assume them internally. In fact, many of the clients that only needed the assurance level of a compilation (they usually perceive a set of compiled F/S prepared by a duly chartered accounting firm to at least provide some assurance, beyond what it actually provides) were small entities that had few F/S users. But before Jend-Ro Quill could even think of a compilation, she missed Wyatt Morga teleporting, and Auteme seemed startled. However, Griet knew that she would need to tread lightly if she wanted to share Neural Storm, while also sensing that there was some memories being shared between these people. And with all the pitfalls she knew about memory sharing from her time at the Circle, before there even was an accounting business to speak of. The need to take into account the mental bandwidths of the people one wanted to share memories with being the primary one.

"Maybe I could use some memory-sharing techniques as well; the one person I know was able to do so, unfortunately, uses a technique that, while painless under certain conditions, and also allows for memory alterations and removal, requires the dark side" Griet spoke up after the memory sharing was underway between the other two.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

"Well...feth, we can't have that. No Dark Side here. Ah, let's see, what can I..."

Quill focused again, this time to transfer the memory of the memory-transfer technique itself, directly to Griet van Vliet . He sat back in his chair after a minute, breathing shakily.

"There you go. Gutretee-style memory transfer, all yours. I haven't explored it much, don't know if you could extrapolate from it and use it to alter or remove memories, but it definitely doesn't require the Dark Side. Maybe consider visiting Isis and talking with the elders; they're better at it than I am by a mile. Hope that gives you something better to work with, Master van Vliet."

The Hoth Enclave was a small, largely forgotten site and Quill its only permanent occupant. Apart from a tattered notebook and a small stack of receipts, it had no accounting whatsoever. Quill had been quite happy to hand all that over to Griet.

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Jend-Ro Quill Auteme Shira Varanin Wyatt Morga Griet van Vliet

Red sat in a chair in the Enclave. He was wearing his armor, as it was climate controlled. Hey, Hoth was cold. His helmet sat on the floor next to him. Red looked around at the others. He didn't recognize any of them, but now if he ever saw them again, he would recognize them.

The old one, Jend-Ro Quill started the conversation, asking who had something to share. Red did, but he was beaten to the punch by Wyatt Morga . The man teleported across the room, and Red fell backwards. "Son of a-!" Red cursed as he fell to the ground. He was rarely impressed, but that... was very hard to not be impressed by. Even Red was astounded by this. A couple of the others reacted in different ways. One of them dropped their drink and swore. Another jumped to the ceiling. Red got back up in his seat and clapped lightly. "Alright, you got me. That was pretty awesome. I'm not easy to impress, but that was amazing." Red admitted.

"Well, I have a lot of abilities, per say. I have the ability to read the personality, attitude, feelings, and thoughts of 97% of all lifeforms, through both the Force and my enhanced senses. I'm a genetic experiment, so I have obviously been amplified. I was born this way. It's hard to explain, but that's the general explanation. I also have the ability known as Psychometry, or Sense Echo. I can view the information about the object, including any people, places, or events involved with it. I can view the entire history of the object." Red told them.

 

[Griet van Vliet]

Janick hardly infused anything onto me beyond Force Imbuement, she was regularly downloading knowledge from me and I never suffered any ill effects from it, but now I know how it feels to be infused knowledge. Now I fully understand why Janick seemed to treat Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge as something so under-appreciated in the dark-sided world. Neural Storm, however, is the sort of power that is safer to teach by infusion, she thought, now that Jend-Ro Quill infused Gutretee memory sharing into her. He also tacitly acknowledged the compilation engagement of the Enclave by handing over the last period's financial documents, as well as the value of the Enclave's premises, forming up the majority of the Enclave's plant, property and equipment. It proved to be as simple as compiling financial statements for a mom-and-pop business dealing in custom services. Few transactions, and, of course, few PP&E assets. The income statement contained one line item of revenue and four for expenses: supplies, utilities, depreciation and other expenses. The balance sheet contained very limited cash, no inventory, no AR, the only AP (and liabilities) being utilities, so the Enclave had mostly equity, but the equity, made up entirely of retained earnings, was tied up in illiquid fixed assets. With the arrival of Subject 73 Red , she tried to get a feel for the other attendees' minds, such as Auteme , and Wyatt Morga , to determine at what speed memory sharing could happen and whether her own mind was fast enough to infuse it to all of them at once. Sure Griet's mind wasn't quite as fast as Janick's, but she was still an intellectual person in her own right.

"If anyone wishes to learn Neural Storm, which is a non-lethal method to cause extreme but momentary disorientation, while at the same time disrupting thought patterns, and that memory sharing isn't counter-indicated for you, step right up!"

 

[Shira Varanin]

"No worries about explaining it," said Shira as she sat down again near Subject 73 Red , fresh cup of caf in hand. "Made sense to me. I've known Umbaran and Lorrdian Jedi who got complimentary benefits from the Force and biological or cultural traits - both in the realm of reading people, just like you."

Shira perked up at Griet van Vliet 's offer. Teleportation was beyond her, probability manipulation...ehhh...but the ability to disorient people, mess with them nonlethally? "That could be really karking useful, Master van Vliet. I'd love to learn, at least the basics. How does this neural storm thing work?"

 

[Bernard]

An Arkanian in very untraditional attire was sat close to the caf machine. Having spent a majority of his life on planets with similar temperatures to Hoth, he knew the value of warm drinks and soups. Though he was working his way through this particular beverage. Caf’s unique taste was overbearing compared to the Jedi’s usual drink of choice, herbal tea.

As he watched the displays of the Force before him, however, he realised that he might just be able to add something from Arkania’s hidden temple to the exchange, even if it was a very small and negligible contribution. The room’s attention seemed to yet be focused on others, however. It wasn’t much in his nature to force the spotlight. He’d bide his time until the gathering's attention was open to be given again.

 

[Griet van Vliet]

"There are two ways to go about brewing a Neural Storm: you either infuse psychic energy to excite a neural network or you use the Force to cause the neural network voltage to go up. The latter is more dangerous but less energy-intensive; in either case, it messes up with people in non-lethal ways"

Griet's medical knowledge is actually quite limited, but if the power level is lowered enough to avoid overloading the neural network, it's entirely possible that one could, in fact, enhance one's short-term memory or other mental attributes. Or so the last person that learned Neural Storm from her was led to believe. Enhancing one's cognitive attributes isn't the most glamorous use one could think of using the Force, but as far as I knew FUs, I am led to think that flash is, among themselves, very important, to the point of overshadowing the potential uses, she thought. But sadly, that person died in battle. All the more the reason why Griet was interested in Shira Varanin: she could count on one hand the number of people that could even use Neural Storm under that form. She just needed to finalize the statement of cash flows for Jend-Ro Quill and the resulting notice to reader before leaving the place, however, the arrival of Bernard of Arca would give her pause.

 

[Zak Dymo]

The young Nautolan had a warm cup of cocoa in his hands and a pair of headphones on his head.

Head-tails bounced from side to side, as the small, green boy bopped along to the synth-pop that was currently being piped right into his brain. From beneath the helm of the thick parka that he wore, his feet could be seen shuffled around as the youngling danced in place. The only time that he wasn't in constant motion were the moments when he'd take a sip of cocoa. Other than that, it was difficult to imagine any situation in which the Nautolan would be still.

To be honest, he'd kind of tuned out the adults.

It wasn't until the cyborg lady spit her caf that Zak had even taken note of all the people who'd gathered there. He'd gotten himself lost in the music, eyes shut and his mind free to wander down the paths of light and color where the melody would take his imagination. Now, abyssal black eyes swept through the interior of the hermit's hovel.

Zak didn't really have anything special to show. Not Jedi stuff, anyway. He'd picked up some sick moves and developed a couple of astral techniques for taking his street dance routine to the next level, but he didn't imagine anyone here was probably interested in any of that.

Jend-Ro Quill Griet van Vliet Wyatt Morga Subject 73 Red Bernard of Arca Auteme​

 

[Shira Varanin]

"Now that's fascinating. I'll have to take a shot at learning it."

Shira sat back in her chair and nursed the mug of caf.

"Me, I'm pure vanilla. Core powers all the way. There's only one unusual thing I know, and it's not even unique in the room." She glanced at Wyatt Morga . "Master Morga and I were part of a Jedi visit to Gargolyn Four. A Cor elder needed us to power up a ritual for laying monsters to rest. Binding them to the site as long as Cor live there. I sort of adapted it when I was enteched at Atrisia - it let me put a big knot of enteched spirits to rest - me and some other enteched Jedi."

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

The invitation had been hard to ignore for the Jedi youth who craved learning new things about the Force, but as he sat among others showing off their talents, Jerek felt more and more like he didn't belong. What did he have to show or share that would impress a group full of masters and knights, who had surely seen the techniques a padawan could have to share.

If anything, Master Quill's request for shapeshifting seemed to make him certain that his place here was ill deserved. If anything, there was a Dathomiri boy who would dazzle the likes of those assembled here, that was who deserved Jerek's place.

Oh, true, there were other padawans here. Barring one, they were mostly ringing the edges, keenly observing or even taking notes. Or...dancing? The gyrations of the green amphibian boy, his tendrils swaying as his head shook to a beat only he could hear through his headphones, was certainly a different talent to showcase for the proceedings. Master Kortun would probably disapprove, but Jerek thought the dance had potential for a new form of Moving Meditation.

His eyes cast downwards again as the boy considered his options. His thoughts come and went, and in between Jerek let his eyes wander across the fabric of his outfit. Fingers picked idly at loose threads, or some pilling that had balled up on the surface of his layered outfit against the cold. Then his eyes wandered over the lump above his breastbone, and he fished out the objected attached to a cord around his neck.

The crystal had been a gift, meant to keep him safe. The facets of the crystal reflected his face back at him, but it was no mirror. The reflection twisted and leered his way, a haunted visage made manifest by the darkside energies trapped inside. A gift from the one who cared for him most.

Pulling the cord over his head, Jerek held up the crystal so it could be seen, explaining, "I have a crystal meant to trap and contain the Dark Side, like attacks or ill-effects of an artifact. It was made with the Force, if that counts."

Jend-Ro Quill Wyatt Morga Shira Varanin Auteme Griet van Vliet Subject 73 Red Bernard of Arca Zak Dymo​

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Jerek Zenduu

"Very nice." Quill closed his eyes and felt the crystal's nature in the Force. "A remarkable tool. It feels like it..." He trailed off. "A trash can. Yes? A safe place to keep bad things. Eventually it fills up and needs to be disposed of safely. Elegant work. Can I ask where you got it, who made it? If it was made at all, I mean."

 

[Griet van Vliet]

"Infusion in 3, 2, 1..."

Griet needed to keep a close watch on her mental throughput to ensure the speed at which the memories of the use of Neural Storm would be shared would not exceed Shira Varanin's ability to absorb them (the "student's mental bandwidth" as Janick always called it), out of caution and not wanting to cause undue pain. But she had enough experience of Janick downloading knowledge from her to tell how much mental bandwidth she herself had, and it would be enough to contemplate sharing memories to multiple people at once going forward. However, even though bandwidth considerations were the most important considerations (the Fundamental Inequality would hold over a wide variety of methods), and her bandwidth could, to other people, appear to be pretty fast, her mind had a finite bandwidth. Yet, on her next trip to Isis, she knew what questions to ask the elders: would memory sharing be used for downloading knowledge from other people, would it be used to alter memories (here taken to mean mostly repairing damaged or incorrect memories) or even delete them? Deleting memories, in Griet's mind, should be used only for other curative purposes.

 

[Shira Varanin]

As Griet van Vliet counted down, Shira hastily put her mug on the floor lest she spill again. Her fingers dug into the arms of the chair. Ideas and concepts exploded across her mind, almost but not quite too much to handle - Griet had judged that factor appropriately.

A Neural Storm was a telepathic ability that involved using psychic energy to overload a victim's neural network, causing extreme but momentary disorientation.

Shira found herself breathing hard as it clicked, all of it, in short order. Enough to give it a shot in controlled circumstances other than these.

"That was something. Feth." She picked up her caf again and took a long drink. "Thank you. Can't wait to try it. Stang me. Feth."

 

[Auteme]

Well, this was getting... weird.

Everyone was talking, particularly the blonde woman. It seemed like she was sensing Auteme, which made her mildly uncomfortable. A super-soldier, too? Was he even a Jedi? And he could read her just as easily... not like her nervousness and embarrassment were too difficult to sense, but she hoped there were enough other people around stay beneath notice. Master Quill didn't seem too troubled by the small crowd, so she didn't have much to do aside from take notes and avoid notice. She didn't have much she found 'special' that she might be able to share with the group.

Neural Storm... she knew about that. Auteme theorized it was close to Malacia, considering both powers caused disorientation. She'd have to continue her research on Oppo Rancisis' various texts on the ability; thus far she'd only learned the basics. Not like she had anyone to practice on back on Peace, so her ability was choppy at best.

Still, she had other powers. Nothing flashy or special, but little obscure things. While everyone else here was dressed for the cold, Auteme simply wore her thin Jedi robes. Tapas was such a simple power she was surprised none of the others were displaying the skill -- perhaps she could teach it to the group? To be fair, clothes were easier. At least Auteme would never overheat or freeze. It was good practice to keep her focus on the Force.

There wasn't much else she could think of, and Auteme was still intimidated by those who'd already shared their special abilities and stories. For now she moved around, finding a seat near a young Nautolan and getting her notes back out.

Zak Dymo

 

[Zak Dymo]

Target approching: Chick Jedi class.

Most Jedi were only worried about the Dark Side, the Sith, and whoever it was that kept tearing off the labels on the pillows in the Jedi Temple that said do not remove under penalty of law. Seriously? It was his pillow! But I digress...

Few knew of a threat that was worse than the Dark Side. It was the Slightly Darker Side, the collective evil that was otherwise known as Girl Jedi. You always knew when you were dealing with the Slightly Darker Side because they tended to all smell like fruit. Fruit scented shampoo. Fruit scented lotion. Fruit scented lip balm. You get the idea.

So, when this Dank Lawd of the Chick just came strolling over, the Nautolan was totes skeptical. Was she making a move on this sweet cocoa? Because say what you will about Jend-Ro Quill being a weird snow hermit dude with total ax murderer vibes, the dude could make cocoa like nobody's business!

...no, seriously, Hoth? I mean, brah could have done the hermit thing on any number of ice planets and he picks Hoth? Totes had something to hide. Were the bodies in the basement? The attic? Could he have ground them up and used them as a secret incredient in his cocoa?

That was it, wasn't it? Zak was sipping on chocolate sweetened with the crushed dreams of countless lives cut short by a madman with a lightsaber! The horror!

He was totally getting a second cup of this now.

Wait, the Chick Jedi had something in her hands. Were those the Deathstar plans? The agenda for the next meeting of Cauldron Stirrers Anonymous? Recipe of Stir Fried Nautolan?

This required investigation!

And, so, retrieving a second cup of steaming cocoa, the young, green Nautolan casually slipped closer to where Auteme was reviewing her notes. With all the stealth of a wompa in a china shop, the boy's green head jutted into the woman's field of view, as his abyssal eyes tried to peer at what she had in her hands.

"What'cha workin' on?"

Zak Dymo: Smooth Operator Extraordinaire. Jedi Shadows could only wish they were on this level.