Private Jedi Business

[Aayla Shan]

As far as missions go, that one they had come from was good. Maybe even better than good. No blood, no hitting, no death that she was present to observe. Usually when she told Kadan that something was going to be a walk in the park there was a hump. Some manner of complication... Ditto for him. So what was this suddenly? Was it a break? For once they didn't have to fight some psychotic Sith Lord, or perhaps some rampaging over-sized Forest Beast, or Lake Monster? No? She hadn't even told Kadan that she had an ulterior motive to visit this sector. Luckily he was content to not ask too many questions. On their way back from Orondia, they had to make a stop in Nal Hutta; probably not all too welcome to their guest who only seemed tagging along with them because of their affiliation. All the same, he didn't register to the pair as a threat, so they agreed to take Kahlil Noble along with them for a ride.

She was currently sitting in the laboratory, reading some information from the database aboard the ship. Orondia might have been under Bryn control, but as it wasn't terraformed just yet, there was still much to learn there. It was in this light that Kadan and Aayla had deciding to go Tomb Raiding here, ignorant of the potential Bryn'Adul threat. Aayla in particular wanting to do it sooner, rather than later. She needed to free herself from any apprehension of them. They had caught her, they had tested her, and ultimately they had again tried to kill not just her but anything that wasn't them. Sylok. That was a creature she wouldn't mind cutting into....

Though her current task required no cutting, threatening or bludgeoning Aayla was trying to open a message from an unknown contact; though when she tried her holo-pad simply froze up, And she eventually had to restart it. Oddly enough, this time the message was gone; and in its place there was just an empty template of a message. She would have to get her holo-pad sent it for some service perhaps. In reality however, there were other forces that had found interest in tracking her down. Well, in actuality, they were interested in Kadan Scipora . She just happened a face commonly seen beside his.

Aayla put aside the holopad, going to finish up the required reading on the Bryn'Adul's latest toy. Force knew they used weapons of Mass Destruction as such.

"Your second servomotor is a little too loud for sneaking bud..."

Aayla said to R2-4U who had been sneaking up on her consistently. Force knew what the diabolical little rust bucket wanted this time. Kadan was blissfully unaware he had gotten his droid from the wrong side of the scrap heap, but she didn't blame him. Oversight at times could be good.

There was a series of agitated beeps from the droid, which caused Aayla to freeze up, and dead-pan the little hellion on wheels.

"I would say that's rude to talk about, and I would also remind you that I know where the restraining bolts are kept' you just keep it up."

A briefly worried tone was adopted by the astro-mech, rocking violently for a moment, while sputtering out beeps, whirs, and whistles.

"Alright, alright... Sorry, Leave it to you to be sensitive... I get it though, no I wouldn't want someone to put a restraining bolt on my brain Artoo..."

She responded, closing what she was looking at on the terminal, and spinning to the little droid.

"To answer your question, little droid. I will when I'm ready to do so. There are no chains on me, just like there are no chains on you. You aren't wearing a restraining bolt like you said, right? If I want to do that, I'll do it... And why are you reading our messages"

She briefly ran both palms down her eyes in a long swipe of frustration.

"They're like... Personal, you know. As in between two people, hence I sent the message with a basic encryption... Which you of course used Kadan's decryption key, because you help him with GrandMaster Ayres work... Wait, how much of Kadan's personal correspondence do you snoop about in?"

She asked in an interrogative manner, sliding from the chair into a kneel on the tips of her feet, allowing the droid to maintain a level height differential.

It seemed taken aback, but loosed a small series of beeps and boops at her question.

"What? W-.."

She wasn't even sure how to respond to that... All of them? R2-4U had read every electronic communication Kadan had sent or received? There was definitely something she could have asked there, but wasn't bold enough to go behind Kadan's back for the answer, not when she could've asked him directly...

"Stop reading our messages, or I'll sell your to a junkyard on Nar Sha-"

Right at that moment, the Vanguard's sensor array began to ping a contact out in space. Her eyes were the first to react to the sound, and brief blue flashes of the lighting system. Then she rose and began to walk towards the bridge.

"Come on, I'm not done with you yet... And you've got actual work to do."

Kahlil Noble Kadan Scipora

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Was this really a good idea?

Kahlil idly pinched his brow as he found himself overhearing quite the argument between the pilot and her droid. Her droid? Her.. Friends maybe? He only got bits and pieces, but it was pretty obviously a conversation he shouldn't of listened to. Wasn't his fault, though! He just happened by. And was curious. Okay, slightly his fault but he didn't know the ship or the people on it too well.

If it wasn't for there obviously being something important pulling Aayla Shan towards the bridge he might of just gone back to his room and pretend he heard nothing. But there was something to it. The Force pulled at the edge of his mind. Whatever it was, it was important. He'd make his way after her, rubbing at the back of his neck. Well, after a couple moments so it wasn't obvious he was just there around the corner.

"Somethin' going on? There's a slight.. Pull I guess?"

Kadan Scipora

 

[Kadan Scipora]

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JEDI BUSINESS​

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Perhaps he was a bit perturbed by the recent occurrences. Aayla's illness had strained him, emotionally and mentally, then his master had taken ill roughly at the same time. To say it had been a stressful time was perhaps an understatement, which was why he wasn't with his Aayla at current. Rather, he was in his quarters, locked in meditation.​

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Lately, he had been thinking of home, his thoughts drifting towards his mother, his sister, and the world he had left behind so long ago. He took in a breath, his mind slowly drifting about the ship, idly monitoring the comings and goings of those on board. He felt the stranger they had take along with them, moving towards Aayla, seemingly perturbed about the squabble between the droid and padawan. He smiled at that, catching only the faintest glimpse of the pairs banter, but just from the glance that Aayla had 4U had irked her greatly, which was a reminder that he needed to set the droid straight one of these days. Least for Aayla's sake, before she went through with her threats and sold him off for scrap; as amusing as that might have been, he was rather fond of his droid after all.​

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Having done the meddling mental exercise, he felt warmed up to begin what came next. His hands felt the cold metal of the helmet, that which once his mother wore, the aged Beskar armor was chipped, far from it's prime. Yet, beneath it all, it had been part of his mother, and in that way, had a thread that he could still tug upon. There was an echo of the past that had been forged into this armor, and one that had given him a glimpse of her fate before; one that made him question the fate of his mother since then. He had read that there was a way to see into the future, or even the present of those connected via one of these threads. It was perhaps a bit of a gamble, but, he had wondered if maybe, just maybe he could answer a question that had long since stewed within the back of his mind.​

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He focused his energy upon the chipped mask, the echo that resided within the steel, the phantom history that had been scarred into the surface. He could hear the murmurs, the voices of strangers, and finally hers. He focused on it, focused on her image, and held it, feeling the echo become louder, louder, the vibrations of sound pounding against his body, the padawan fearing for a moment that his very bearing might be broken by the force he was feeling. A picture began to form in his mind, the echoes pressed on all sides, ungodly music pounding in his eardrums, blinding lights burned through his clenched eyelids, and then he heard it:​

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'"You're out, on that job... '​

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It was a voice he didn't know, one that he couldn't fathom. He tried to open his eyes, bright lights burning into his pupils now, as he could see two figures. One, was a tall woman, pale, colored light played off her face, though she seemed entirely bored by the conversation she was having. His vision flashed, his mind pounding, as a splitting headache struck at the base of his skull and drove upwards. He strained, trying to hold on as the echos were pushing him back, trying to see the other woman as she turned her head to face him, and then he saw it. Only for a moment before the vision was taken from him, but there was no denying it.​

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He had seen his mother. But...was that the past, or present?​

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Gasping aloud, Kadan toppled over, body drenched with sweat, his hands grasping the sides of his head as the pain began to withdraw. His mind still bubbled with the new revelation he had felt, and what it could potentially mean. He took several breaths, confusion and excitement blending in his gut, trying to process if he was going mad or not.​

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Was his mother alive? Or was it merely an force induced vision?​

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As the padawan began to steady himself, moving to meet with Aayla, he would be left to ponder that which he had seen.​

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Aayla Shan Kahlil Noble​

 

[Aayla Shan]

Aayla was met with an immediate surprise upon leaving the laboratory. Their passenger was up and about. His proximity to the doorway giving her reason to wonder if he had heard ant of what her and R2 were going back and forth about. Well, he wasn't her superior, in any case. Aayla offered him a brief bow of her head, acknowledgement if nothing else.

"Ah you're up.. I'm not sure yet, I didn't sense it..."

Aayla extended an open palm towards the bridge, maintaining eye contact briefly and taking stock of the other. Aayla herself definitely seemed a little less regular as the days passed. Ever since she had stepped into the other side The Nether was something she hadn't even remotely begun digging into, but that time would come.

If Kahlil took kindly to her offer regarding heading to the bridge with her, she would placed her hands behind her back, walking alongside him with R2-4U rolling along slowly behind the pair; of course listening in intently on whatever it is they would discuss.

"If I had to take a guess, most likely refugees from the affected systems. You can never really know nowadays though. Surprises and Danger await those that walk in the light at every corner these days."

Aayla said, eventually walking into the bridge, and scanning to note Kadan wasn't there yet. She wondered what he was doing, but didn't press into their bond to glean that information. Instead, she would allow him to have his privacy for now. Force knew it was bad enough she was able to see his thoughts most of the time, it must have weighed on him somewhat knowing he had to guard his thoughts, and feelings lest she was able to read that as if they were her own.

"An S.O.S beacon... Like I thought, must have been refugees from the conflicts. Artoo, set a course; and send a message to the nearest Silver Fleet to push a Task Force our way. We don't need the bells and whistles, but it would be nice to show up with some muscle in case things get dicey"

She added, obviously making educated guesses, but still a ways off from the full story behind the mystery S.O.S from out in the cold of space. In any case, R2 would make a note to remind Aayla he didn't work for her, but still acquiesced her orders.

With that, the ship itself would run into the ghost signal within the hour; all that was left was to prepare for what they would find, and of course get to know each other better.

"So, Kahlil. You are a Jedi Knight; what do you think? Should we wait until we've confirmed reinforcements, or get there first?"

Aayla asked the other. Their decision somewhat decided already, she would ask only to see the situation from another perspective. In the end, the 'ranking' Jedi on this endeavor was technically Kadan, but she saw no reason to not accept the wisdom of a more experienced Jedi.

Kadan Scipora Kahlil Noble