Campaign Misplaced

[Arlo Renard]

Turns out Kai could drive, albeit very slowly and overly concerned with safety and obeying traffic laws. Jem clambered into the passenger seat, apparently having abandoned her attempt at freeing the prisoners, and ordered him to go, really meaning go faster.

He reluctantly began to press down harder on the acceleration pedal—only to be temporarily distracted by Dag’s message, snapping back to reality just in time to narrowly avoid a collision with another airborne transport. Slamming on the brakes, Kai winced as the two vehicles clipped each other’s corners, spinning wildly before coming to an awkward stop in midair, facing the wrong direction, alarms ringing and lights flashing.

Kai grit his teeth. Despite the flashing warnings, he spun the transport around, the dashboard compass swinging west, and floored it.

When he chose to hijack the transport, he had planned on bringing it to a safe, secluded area, then freeing the prisoners. But now they had a destination and a clock to beat. The prisoners would have to wait. Hopefully none of them had been injured. The durasteel shell of the transport should be able to protect them from any stray blaster fire, at least...

Zaka Dagon Kaze Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Creuat Viers Connory Valery Noble Mercy Pyrrah Tae​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

"We'll be fine but--" Dag picked the concealed hilt from the inside of his jacket and passed it on to her, "--I've become used to operating without it, so if you need it..." whether she took it or not, both hurried away from the alley.

His head darted left and right, looking for any means of quicker transportation until his eyes set upon an idle speeder. Engine so worn out, its noise rattled the whole Settlement.

"Come." the Jedi paced towards it, leaping into the driver's seat, "Well, so much for moving in silence." he murmured, loud enough through the noise for Aeris to hear. Time was running out and they couldn't really be spending a day window shopping for a family-oriented speeder.

"HEY!" was the cry they last heard as they left the former owner of the car in a cloud of stale tibanna smoke.

Jem, what's your ETA? his question would ring through the mental link. He assumed the two padawans were somewhere up ahead.

Then to the Jedi Master in their midst, Val, how's it goin' with the Administrator?

"Why'd you not tell him we're Jedi?" he glanced at his companion, bringing her back to the recent matter at the alley.
​

Valery Noble Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Arlo Renard Viers Connory Mercy Creuat Pyrrah Tae

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem clutched the dash, her mouth clamped shut as Kai spun out and found his footing.

If you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all.
If you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all.
If you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all.
If you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all.
If you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all.

Jem focused on the chant, deaf to Dagon's question as bad driver number 1 plowed them forward. That counted as an eta, right?

Jem grimaced as they left the town, the mountains ranging over them. And just ahead.... another transport spitting up dust. It went served faster when it saw them.

"Chit," she breathed. She unbuckled and clamored back through the hole in the cab, the force rooting her feet to the metal as they closed in on the slavers.

This time they were all hers. She jumped, summersaulting mid arc and landing on the glass. The shocked look on the slavers faces was almost worth it. She a small pull of the force yanked the keys from the engine and stalled it all out. Jem leapt back off the ship with a much large push of the force. The sudden cut in speed and direction sent the speeder in a sudden spin out-- end over end. Jem landed lightly and ran to catch up with it.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Assault, battery, theft, the charges kept adding up and Aeris hated everything about it. There was always time to discuss things, there was always a time not to be so short-sighted as to assume the man from whomst they stole the tractor-or-whatever from had no immediate need of what they had taken. Her stomach churled with an uneasy queasiness as she took her seat, a look of guilt set upon her entire being as she glanced back at the real owner's worried chase after them.

In the tower it had been so easy to remain ignorant of all this, to not know why the public perception of Jedi had dwindled so. But out here, witnessing the actions of a man that could arguably be called her best friend…

Her expression grew bitter as he questioned her, taken aback — no, almost insulted by his question.

"Are you serious?" She asked and looked over her shoulder again before she glanced back at Dagon. "You told me not to give it away on the ship. You told me not to scream about it when we split up. Yet you, of all people, have already given people enough reason to believe that we are with your little acrobatics display."

"If anyone saw us, that will spread like wildfire. Not that we are Jedi, because I fail to see the peace in any of this — but definitely that we are force wielders."

"Why did you steal this, Dagon? Why are you committing blatant crimes like this?"

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

"Are you serious?"​

"but--" you said if asked you would--

"You told me not to give it away on the ship."​

"I sa--"

"You told me not to scream about it when we split up."​

"but you--"

"Yet you, of all people, have already given people enough reason to believe that we are with your little acrobatics display."​

"no one sa--"

"If anyone saw us, that will spread like wildfire. Not that we are Jedi, because I fail to see the peace in any of this — but definitely that we are force wielders."​

"Hey, look, first - no one saw us and two--"

Dag wasn't catching a break, was he?

"Why did you steal this, Dagon? Why are you committing blatant crimes like this?"

"Why?? Oh, I'm sorry I missed the Settlement Express. I guess I should've wasted more time while a bunch'a kids are minutes away from being toast." he bit back, the frustration evident on the foot pressing harder on the pedal.

"On the street, you improvise, Aeris. There's never an optimal scenario." he glanced at her then back on the pacing horizon ahead. "Things never go by the book..."

"...it's always bad to worse." he adds, a hoarse note in his tone.
​

Valery Noble Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Arlo Renard Viers Connory Mercy Creuat Pyrrah Tae

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

"Not by the book? Oh f-" The tractor banged, loudly. "You, Dagon Kaze. You are acting like you never even read the book to begin with. The code isn't yours to bend and twist to fit your f-" It banged, hissed and whistled again. "-ing needs until it fits you. I saw how quick you were to resort to anger when you thought that thug was pushing you away."

She threw her arms in the air and looked away, this anger was unbecoming of her.

"On the street you still represent the Order, me, the people around you. Every single person who needs someone to look up to. If people think the Jedi consider themselves above the law and act like dime-a-dozen ruffians, then of course they will start to turn away from us."

"Stop acting like the idiot you have acted like so far and at least pretend to remember the code." She scoffed and crossed her arms and glanced out at the desert. "Or to put it in words you can understand: Get your head out of your ass, because you are talking a lot of sh-" Bang! Hiss…

…

Whistle.

 

[Zaka]

BLACKFANG - THE (NEW) JEDI vol. II
Issue #2 - Ponemah Forgotten

Threatening stares were pressing in all from all around him. He played the part of being as oblivious as any average cocksure guy. The difference him and them though, was that if it came down to it, he could back it up. The familiar feel of his lightsabres on his person were all the confidence he needed. And smiling outwardly as the chief guard closed the distance between them, Zaka watched as he froze.

Single voice cutting through the sound of grumbling guards, and Padawan pushed past the man.

"N'Jazaka," he answered, as honest as ever. He was one of the volunteers, and had even done his due diligence in seeing himself signed up. Without wasting a second, he stepped past the guard to stand out in the open for the Administrator. Waving a dismissive hand at the niceties, Zaka's features broke into a forgiving smile. "It'd be easier if I showed you what, uh, my issue was." Raising a hand to cover part of his face, the passing sandstorm had left a bright sun and a striking blue sky. For all intents and purposes, it was a nice day.

"Shall we go for a walk?"

He did not take his eyes off the man for a second. Internally, he wondered about the rest of the team and how they were doing. He thought about reaching into the Force, to feel for the mental link, but instead he kept his focus on the confrontation at hand. Dividing his attention could give away stealthy Master in the compound, and he needed to delay this man from going back inside.

Valery Noble Pyrrah Tae

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai watched as Jem leaped out of the transport while it was still in the air, slamming head-on into danger. <We’re already here,> he informed Dagon through the mental link. <We caught up to the transport before—>

He broke off as the slavers lost control, their vehicle spinning end over end in a spectacular action holo-esque fashion.

<Jem took care of it.>

Zaka Dagon Kaze Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Creuat Viers Connory Valery Noble Mercy Pyrrah Tae​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

"Not by the book? Oh f-" The tractor banged, loudly. "You, Dagon Kaze."​

Oh, so it's full names time. Okay.
"F-" another loud bang, "ME?! Oh yeah, f-" another bang with the gear shift, "-me for tryin' to help--"

"--acting like you never even read the book to begin with--"​

"--write me a speeding ticket next--"

"--code isn't yours to--"​

"--that's your problem, Aeris--"

"--to fit your f-" It banged, hissed and whistled again. "-ing needs until it fits you--"​

"--always on that damn high horse ever since we were kids--"

"--how quick you were to resort to anger--"​

"--always right gotta be always--"

"--when you thought that thug was pushing you away."​

She threw her arms in the air and looked away, while he muttered something incomprehensible in return. Kai's thought skipped past his mind.

"On the street you still represent the Order, me, the people around you--"​

"--there you go again--"

"Every single person who needs someone to look up to."​

"--this is somehow worse than Yula Perl goin' off on a--"

"--if people think the Jedi consider themselves above the law and act like dime-a-dozen ruffians, then, of course, they will start to turn away from us."​

"What the hell would you have me do??"

"Stop acting like the idiot you have acted like so far and at least pretend to remember the code." She scoffed and crossed her arms and glanced out at the desert.​

"--oh, brother -- "

"--or to put it in words you can understand: Get your head out of your ass, because you are talking a lot of sh-" Bang! Hiss… The tractor's engine was bust. They were cruising with the last of their momentum, gradually slowing down.​

So fixated on this verbal scuffle was he that he missed the wrecked slavers' transport with Jem and Kai beside it as they floated by like a resort yacht on a cruise.

"You're the one that's been stuck in the library day and night, Aeris, so don't give me this get your head outta your ass chit!" he raised a finger, his hands all but abandoning the wheel. "Come down from your damn spire in the clouds once in a while and you'll see things on the ground are way different!"

Valery Noble Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Arlo Renard Viers Connory Mercy Creuat Pyrrah Tae

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

"Oh, here we go again!" She exclaimed in a bitter mutter and vaulted over the edge of the tractor and down into the sand. "Always about the library, always about the archives. Always about how your distorted view on the galaxy only lets you see what your unquenchable desire to be the big hero lets you believe."

The room was dark. Smoke and dust intermingled in the air and made it difficult to breathe. For a moment the man managed the strength to grab his weapon and roll his way out of the ride. The sand scattered beneath his weight, the air in his lungs pushing past his lips to blow into the air as he stared up at the skies, blood rolling down the side of his temples.

"You keep forgetting that before I was in that library, I spent YEARS on the run." She said and began to approach the children, not giving a single ounce of care for what she was doing. "I have seen people get exploited, I have BEEN exploited. In so many ways."

"I saw things that NO-ONE should have to see, and I will keep those scars on me for the rest of my life — but unlike you I chose to take the path of understanding instead of violence and anger."

The noises were like mumbles. A groggy gaze made no clear picture of who it was that was screaming, just that it was some blonde woman. The man crawled through the sand, his shoulder to the ground as he raised his blaster and pulled the trigger.

"You see me in the same way that everyone else does — a harmless fu—" The sound of blaster fire roared into the open field. Aeris' hand rose without a flinch to intercept the bolt and send it back into the skull of her assailant without so much as a word on the matter as she continued her barrage. "—ing librarian. Some sheltered kid who will never understand the world unless I go outside again."

"But I do understand the world, Dagon Kaze. And I have no reason to believe a single word you say. I have seen where meeting violence with violence will take us and I know that I refuse to be part of that. I refuse to fall so low as to forsake the pursuit of peace, of serenity, of understanding and harmony just because someone came over and kicked my sand castle down."

"I swore an oath to uphold peace and harmony wherever I may be, and I will die before I give up on it."

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

"What exactly do you think my oath is? Huh? You think it's not the same??" his back bent into an unnatural arch to evade an upcoming shot; where Aeris would manifest the Force in a shape, he'd use it to enhance his own capabilities. Another injured slaver rushed him from the side and elbow met his face, knocking him out cold with blood spilling down from his broken nose.

Whatever Aeris was doing, whatever he was doing was simply background noise. All he could see was her voice, her words, and his retaliation in return. Somehow the mission had turned into a simple, run-of-the-mill extension of their muscle memory.

"How the hell could you be talking about understanding when you're dealing with pure evil, Aeris?? That REALLY went well for the Silvers, didn't it? A decade of napping. Of understanding. Really helped the galaxy find its peace, huh??" a blaster shot rang past his ears but another never followed as a kick to the head sent the assailant back to kissing the sand.

"We're on the same side, damn it!"​

Valery Noble Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Arlo Renard Viers Connory Mercy Creuat Pyrrah Tae

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

"I never said we were on different sides, you idiot." Aeris groaned and rolled her eyes. "Stop listening and try to actually hear what I am saying. I am not saying we hide away like the Silver, I am saying that by assuming only we as Jedi can fix it, we are actively making it worse."

"And really, I challenge you, suddenly I am like the Silvers?" She scoffed and dodged an incoming shot. "You sound just like Ryv, it's pathetic."

"You don't learn to fight something by just spillings its blood, you learn to fight it by at the very least empathizing with it. If the dark side feeds on dark emotions, why are they like they are? You find the frayed piece and unravel it."

"Honestly I am surprised. You yourself have tasted the dark. Are you also evil, Dagon?"

"Is that where all these frustrations are coming from?"

"Should we lock you up in the asylum too?"

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem ripped open the mangled speeder door, her saber alight as she came across the disoriented expression of the sole surviving slaver. Before understanding could cross his face, she killed him.

One clean stroke right across his neck.

Justice, in her book. Now no body could be hurt by him again. Like master like padawan, the temple-raised girl had quickly become hardened by her time in the streets. Jem turned from it all and jogged back to Kai and the transport ship.

"The children-- go!" She wanted to tell him to drive a little better, they were suppose to be saving people not breaking bones, but that would involve talking to Kai.

She buckled herself back in and braced.

 

[Arlo Renard]

By the time Jem returned to the transport, having slit a man’s throat in cold blood, Kai had not budged from his seat. The doppelganger had an odd look on his face, staring off into space with furrowed brows and lips pressed in a thin line. He was struggling to make sense of the chaotic mind link. Something was clearly going on with Dagon and Aeris, visible to him as a kind of frantic battle-dance between the two of them, but were they really fighting each other…?

Ignoring Jem, he slowly drove past the flipped, burning wreck of the slavers’ transport. There—two figures bathed in flames. He glimpsed the bob of a blonde ponytail and a flash of blue fabric. Even over the scream of blaster fire and the rumble of the repulsorlift engines, he could hear them, the sounds of their raised voices carried on a desert wind. He could feel their anger and annoyance and frustration.

Under different circumstances, maybe he would have found it amusing. But here, in the midst of all this death, there was nothing funny about it. He wanted to put an end to it somehow, to reach out and beg them to stop, but he knew it would be futile. While his mentor and… whatever Dag was to him now, be it a distant father figure, a friend he wished he had, or just the ghost of something that had been imprinted on his brain in a dark wood a few years back—were at each other’s throats, they were still fulfilling the mission, and so far no one else had complained about the emotional feedback loop filtering through the meld.

What were they arguing about, anyway? He listened. It was an old debate, one he could sense they’d had before. Jedi had been having this conversation since the stars were young. By this time they ought to have found a solution, but it was the sort of thing people had to puzzle out for themselves, whether they got the right answer or not.

A stray blaster bolt turned the sand in front of them to glass. Kai put the transport in gear and streaked past the smoldering remains.

The cove was next to a parched lake. He saw what looked like another transport already parked outside, living figures clustered around it.

<No more pyrotechnics,> he told Jem. <Someone could get hurt.> By “someone” he meant the kids, of course, but he was irritated with all the killing going on too. These slavers weren’t Sith Lords; they didn't stand a chance against the Jedi. <We could literally disarm them with a thought, as bloodlessly and efficiently as we could cut them down with a lightsaber.>

<It would be safer. Find their weapons with the Force before they start shooting and confiscate them.> He looked at Jem, not really expecting her to agree, but still willing to offer the suggestion.

Zaka Dagon Kaze Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Creuat Viers Connory Valery Noble Mercy Pyrrah Tae​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

Haytham Kaze, Solipsis, maybe even his own brother, "...some are beyond-- ... JEm!" he shrieked, voice strained like a broken string and blue eyes debauched with stupor. His lips had suddenly gone dry and the color on his face had all but drained away at the sight of his apprentice slicing the slaver's throat. Cold sweat washed over the warm droplets of blood splattered across his face. The grotesque scene before him cleared his mind blank, like a sudden shock of sobriety and clarity of mind flushing away the intoxicating altercation with Aeris.

She's... she's right.

Beyond right, even. It was not Dagon the victim of his own machinations, far worse - it had been his padawan. Jem. His apprentice. The one he had sworn to mentor, to guide to become a better version of herself, a better Jedi than he could ever be. He'd skirted the line so much in the past, he'd learned painfully well where exactly it was drawn but she... the shattered jaws, the broken limbs, the cracked ribs. This rougher justice he wielded to dispense upon evil - he stared upon its distorted reflection on a skewed mirror created of his own blindside. He'd spiraled into a tunnel vision, one born of good intentions - very much like the one that had encapsulated his senses and led to Ayana's untimely death on Ossus. It had spelled disaster then, it spells disaster now.

"W-wh... we don't kill--" his words mirrored Kai's. At first, they were shaky, worn out but as his senses began to return, his tone turned rough, heavy, "--not unless it's the absolute last resort." fists were clenched tight - there was no one to blame but himself. Whatever more the Knight wanted to say dissipated as he somewhat found his center and composure in the mission.

"We'll talk home." Dag added wearily, averting his eyes away towards the cove at the last remnant of slavers.

Felt like the longest day.​

Valery Noble Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Arlo Renard Viers Connory Mercy Creuat Pyrrah Tae

 

[Jem Fossk]

But it was too late-- Jem was already agitated , infected by the discord that had tainted the meld, and incensed even further by the response she received.

There was no peace, only frustration.

"What the Feth-- Are you high? They're shooting people, it is necessary. And I said stay out of my mind." She chucked the seat belt at Kai in retribution, dismounting from the vehicle before it hit or missed.

She stormed passed Dagon, a flurry of indignation and teen superiority.

"Since when are you on a high horse." She was the first to move in towards the cove, carrying a piece of all of them in her chest, ... and anger in her heart.

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

There were no victors in this. As the argument wound down there was a moment where clarity was achieved, not through words but with actions — Jem's actions. Aeris wasn't much taken aback by it, this was just par for the course of what she was trying to say and more than anything proved her point. Still, there was no point in continuing. She placed a hand on Dagon's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.

"As long as she is in this state she is a danger to all of us, especially herself. Let me show you how we handled uppity younglings when I was in charge." She said and raised her other hand towards Jem, placing a firm force barrier before her, just off the ground where her upper body would collide with it and her lower body would push onwards until they both toppled over into the sand.

Careful on the approach, she approached Jem and knelt down just within view of the sky above. If she tried to move she would find that the barrier had moved to envelop her and keep her pinned to the ground.

"Padawan Jem Gaelor." She began. "Take three deep breaths. Failure to comply will add another three for each word spoken. First we untangle this emotional knot we have tied, or we all die."

"Dagon?" She glanced up at Dagon to let him say his piece. It was his apprentice after all.

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai batted the seatbelt she flailed at him away with the butt of his palm. He knew just from the shock and horror reverberating through Dag that Jem was already in a great deal of trouble. As Aeris forcefully stopped her, the doppelganger tried—rather unsuccessfully—to hide his smile. The result was a smirk that betrayed his delight at seeing her finally disciplined.

<We don’t have time for this,> he remarked, gaze sliding over toward the slavers and their one remaining transport. <Just knock her out and lock her in the back.>

Zaka Dagon Kaze Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Creuat Viers Connory Valery Noble Mercy Pyrrah Tae​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

​

"What the Feth-- Are you high? They're shooting people, it is necessary--"​

"--necessary? Jem--" she was already out of the vehicle

"Since when are you on a high horse."​

"A high HORSE?!" whatever he was about to stay was interrupted as Aeris took matters into her own hands.

"Dagon?"​

"Huh? Oh..." he blinked. For a sharp-minded investigator, Dagon sure did lag behind what was going on presently. He knew there was a lot he had to say, a lot to explain, a lot to teach but the words were impossible to find.

<We don't have time for this, just knock her out and lock her in the back.>​

"Kai's right, Aeris--" his friend gave him the glare in reply and there was no escape. Sighing, he conceded, "Fine, I'll... talk with Jem. Go with Kai and deal with the slavers..." Aeris didn't move an inch, "I will! I promise." and she was off, throwing one suspicious glance back before focusing back on saving the day.

"Jem--" the Knight began, trying to find both composure and words but was never allowed to continued.​

Valery Noble Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Arlo Renard Viers Connory Mercy Creuat Pyrrah Tae

 

[Jem Fossk]

Mortification was tainting everything, the padawan practically seeing red as she strained to push the force away from her. She couldn't. Master Aeris was unmovable, along with Dagon too.

Throwing them got her no where, no where but further anger when Kai spoke up. She hated him, she hated that smug look, she hated how he never listen-- Dagon swam back into her view.

"Let me up," she hissed, some of that anger turning into baffled pleas. "This is crazy-- We have to help the children-"