Private Missing for a Mistake

[Kaia Starchaser]

Something was definitely wrong. Her father always reported in when he returned from a mission. She could go to Celeste to see if she had sensed anything, but… well, Kaia was smart enough to not bother the twins, or the Master Healer, she wasn’t sure how her speaking could affect them in the Force. And Kaia was perfectly capable of finding where her father was. But… she didn’t think that was the first step.

Hence why she had come to Commenor. The Warden and sometimes teacher at Kattada had landed her YT-2400 on the capital world of Commenor with the goal to not see the Jedi but to see the politicians. She was a child of the ORC and that meant very few, if any politicians. And the ones that were there, many came from the Old Alliance, that respected her father, and didn’t make a move against the goals of the Jedi.

But first, she was going to need some help.



Kyra, can we meet up on Commenor? I need your help – K



Simple, maybe a bit too cryptic, but she did include her landing bay. Hopefully it would work.

@Kyra

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra did not know what to expect.

K. Kaia. Her sister. She knew of her, but they had not had the proper chance to meet. How could they? The galaxy was a mess. Kyra couldn't fathom what the girl would want now. Bonding time? The concept made her mouth sour, her thoughts still lingering on the one sister whose blood might be on her hands.

Kyra nearly didn't show, but the concept of family bore deeply into her principals. She came because Kaia, her sister, asked her to, and nothing more. She couldn't... offer... anything more.

She arrived in Romi Jade 's old bomber jacket, the woman's scent long faded out, but she liked to sniff it anyway. Rumor had it Romi had woken up, but she was a face that Kyra was too ashamed to face. So she didn't. She clung to the clothing as if it was the woman herself. Hands in her pockets, Kyra leaned against the temple's steps.

She would wait precisely 15 minutes, then leave.

Kaia Starchaser

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

She hoped it reached her sister, half, but still sister, still descended from the Starchaser legacy, whether the half-Zeltron liked that or not. Her and her brother, they had their own time to learn and deal with Coren’s legacy and his quests. He had grown, Kaia would give her father that, and the way of the Tide of the Light was changing her opinion on a lot of things. Coren was being a hero instead of a crusader, and for Kaia, that was the better.

Maybe he had learned from her. The Mirialan hybrid could only hope she was able to give back to her father. And now? He needed even more. Word was he hadn’t come back from Korriban. In one of the old jump suits the Alliance Jedi used, dark leather, and padding, Kaia made her way to the Temple steps. She had her Warden’s cloak, navy blue, over the outfit to keep too many eyes from becoming… wandering.

On this world, Kaia was safe to be Kaia and she smiled when she sensed, and saw, her sister.

“Kyra!” She called out and offered a wave, her droid Drifter ever at her back.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra turned slowly, relying on sight as she scanned for the speaker of her name. She met Kaia's gaze, unresponsive for a moment. She swallowed hard, then nodded. She pushed off the steps, steeling herself as she took them two at a time.

Kyra remained closed off as she approached, body and mind void of energy to read. She was no longer an open book, but it was better that way.
She skidded to a stop at the final step, her arms crossing as the half-zeltron tried not to act winded.

Through no fault of her own, Kaia received nothing more than a once over and a stiff, "Hey." She couldn't help but look for signed of herself in Kaia, her attention lingering on the cheekbones... the jawline-- Stop.

It didn't matter.

"You need something?"

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia was not necessarily one to stand out in the crowd. She had recently been debating dying her hair red, but would it contrast with her green skin too much? He dark black hair was long and as always, a mess, but well, it was how it worked with her. Drifter was following not too far behind her as she approached Kyra. Her hazel eyes, a mix of the brown of her mother and the blue of her father, met Kyra as the other daughter of Coren stepped towars her.

The Warden smiled at the other Starchaser Hybrid and nodded to the hey. “Hi Kyra.” It came off as almost fake sounding, but Kaia was trying. She grew up her whole life with just Jared and herself, and now there was this one. Not that it was a problem.

“Dad hasn’t come home.” She wasn’t even sure if Kyra called Coren dad, but Kaia sure as hell did. “From Korriban.” Hopefully Kyra was following up on the news holos.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra heard something crack deep within herself, the meaning echoing through the parts of her that were whole enough to feel. What pink she had coating her skin bleed away, a pale, wavering girl somehow growing smaller on that temple step.

"No," she croaked, her voice cracking as she rejected the news. Her thoughts raced, trying to connect the dots. She had felt him on Korriban. He had helped her, his energy kept her strong-- he was why she was here. And she didn't notice that he wasn't? Her guts coiled in on itself, the faultlines along her mind deepening.

"No."

She burst forward, shoving past Kaia in a sudden mission. Her ship was nearby. She would hop on and- and-

She wasn't thinking that far ahead.

Kaia Starchaser

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

She wasn’t sure what Kyra was thinking, Kaia wasn’t one to really dive into telepathy as a process for… well, anything. She could tell that her younger sister, yes sister, she’d call her that if anyone ever asked, including herself, had gone pale, the Zeltron pink running away. At least with her own Mirialan complexion, it was easier to hide.

Was Celeste Rigel really just human? That didn’t seem like the Alpha Starchaser’s type. Not that she didn’t adore what Celeste was doing for her father.

Seeing the wheels turn, she watched Kyra start to step ahead. Tossing a look over her shoulder at her droid, Kaia followed. “Where are you going?” Was the Perl about to go take on Korriban herself? If so, Kaia was going to be there, but she had more of an issue of screaming until she was blue as a Chiss at the Master’s Circle.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Where do you think?" Kyra snapped, fear biting at the corner of her thoughts. She gained speed as she found her pace, taking stairs two at a time.

"When's the last someone's heard from him? Has anyone else noticed? Why am I not hearing about this until now-- Has there been a search party for him yet?"

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

“Well, I am guessing probably Korriban, but woefully under staffed. I can get us a ship, and a strike force. Dad’s friends, my family.” She shrugged. She was meaning the Dawn Treader and the families of Force wandering paramilitants that crewed it. They had TIEs and X-Wings and even Prebirds. They had snipers and Forcers who weren’t afraid to make someone bleed.

“I don’t have any reports. There was the engagement on Korriban, but he normally reports in square away after.” She was keeping up with her sister. “My ship may be faster.” She said, totally on board with going to get her—their – father back. It was going to be risky, but she knew enough to keep them both alive.

And if they got help from her teachers? She didn’t think Jared would be able to respond in time.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

"No time," she dismissed, her voice tense with worry. "If Dad's down there he needs help now-- Take us to your ship, quickly." She gestured for Kaalia to move on ahead, trusting the woman to know what she was talking about. She was a Starchaser after all. One that had noticed her father was missing.

Her gut boiled with stress and heart burn, unable to catch her breath as she followed the elder to the shipyard.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia was keeping up with her sister and nodded. She understood. She could make a call before they jumped to hyperspace. She looked to her sister for a second and was about to say one thing, but then realized that Kyra was right. “Drifter, go on ahead, get the Pulsar warmed up, let the Treader and Oasis know we may need an escape route.” Neither were traditional war ships but they mounted warriors, and that was all that mattered.

Her small probot sped on ahead as Kaia pointed down a different road. “This way.” The Mirialan was agile and through the Force had a knack for navigating anywhere she was, mostly the stars, but it worked well in the wilderness, or the lower streets of a world. She lead Kyra through some of the back alleyways, and soon they were looking at the Corellian Bloodsteel plated hull of the YT-2400 Pulsar.

The ship’s engines were already humming with life as Kaia ran up the ramp and to the cockpit, tapping a few manual controls and readying for lift off as soon as Kyra gave her the affirmative.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra sat herself in the copilot ship, her legs jittering as she impatiently waiting for Kaia to start them up. Kyra only vaguely recognized the controls, a fact which would no doubt drop her father's expression into one of disappointment.

Or pain.

She was failing him. She stared numbly out the windows as they hit hyperspace, her waterline building with moisture as everything felt still.

Fragile.

Like a single breeze would leave her to crack.

Not her dad.

She took a deep breath in and pushed this all away, straightening in her seat.

"How long?"

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Drifter came back up to the cockpit as the probe droid plugged into the ship’s droid slot. It was similar to the how their father’s astromech plugged in to his own freighter. The vessel here was hers and she knew it better. Kaia ran her hands over the controls, launching the ship out to orbit. She spun in her chair to the hyperspace terminal, knowing that it was a trick Kyra was capable of but sensing her younger sister was probably not versed in it.

Yet.

Kaia fell into the Force, something that eventually became second nature to her. Like her father, and her older brother, she was the type to play with the very nature of the Force. Not what it meant to be a Jedi, but to connect to the Force. Through the connection, she was smoothing the waves of hyperspace, feeling the energy and picking her path through it, how to bend the path, and when. As she was ready, she pressed her ship forward, and the freighter jumped to lightspeed.

After a moment, she collected herself and nodded. When she heard her ask how long, Kaia smiled and looked to Drifter who unplugged and decided it was time to busy himself with some of the sensors array… not in the cockpit.

“Not long. Two hours. I used one of Dad’s routes, but tried to trim it. I’m not sure it’s going to make us faster, but it won’t slow us.”

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra gave her a curious look as she felt her dip into the force-- not her business, she didn't care!

And yet she couldn't help but to feel the ripples of Kaia's energy as she worked. Kyra rubbed down the hairs in her arms, the sensation ringing a faint bell.

"You were on Yurb," she stated, her voice soft as she looked away. Kyra had felt many things that day. It was the first time she had truly accepted her father. And the last time she had her right arm.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Looking at Kyra, she for the first time realized just how similar their names were. Granted Kyra fit the scheme of Nida and Yula, Kaia was just… Kaia. She didn’t have a sister until recently, the twins counted, even if she was older than they were, and well Kyra was here now. Maybe the pair could start to actually be more sibling like. But Kaia was willing to start being more big-sister, and teach Kyra what she could be capable of, from their father’s side.

Kaia was looking out through the waves, like her father, she saw the Force as a stormy sea. And what she was doing was moving that into hyperspace, and smoothing out the ripples, finding the clearest and most direct path, and where possible making it. It was a gift from their bloodline, and one she had seen in the Merrill clan as well.

When Kyra mentioned being on Yurb, Kaia nodded. “I was. I’m a Jedi, being where we are needed is part of the gig.” The dark haired woman ran a hand through the thick hair. “Even if I’d rather be… not on the battlefield.”

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra massaged at her metal limb, phantom pain flickering down it at the reminder. They could do many things to restore her, but they could not erase that.

"Oh," was all she said, once more not wanting to dip closer into it. It wasn't that she didn't care. She did, even if she wasn't ready to admit it. She was just so tired. Her emotions had been bled out of her and its its place was lethargy, and now stress. She stared at the stars around them, her vision blurring as she easily fell into the fears of what they were to face. Korriban again, so soon. And hours of awkwardness in the unknown.

She stood up briskly, moving to leave. "I'm going to meditate," she uttered, groping desperately for something that could prepare her. The homeworld of the sith wasn't easily conquered.

She would look for him. "Let me know-," she rasped, turning quickly away.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

The metal limb, yeah, Kyra was definitely a Starchaser. Their father was like that, and she was pretty sure her brother had come close too many times. Kaia, well, for all she was a Jedi, she kept her distance from combat most of the time. She could tell the Zeltron didn’t want to talk too much and was going to let it be. She had a ship to maintain and wanted to make sure the guns and shields were in perfect working order. No doubt Drifter was already at work, but well… It’d keep her occupied during the trip.

But with Kyra here she wanted to be… okay, she was going to meditate. Fine. Kaia was going to busy herself with the repairs.

--

And while they were doing their respective forms of meditation, Kyra meditating and Kaia yelling at Drifter and her ship, they made their way towards Korriban. It wasn’t long before Kaia was in the cockpit again. “Okay Drifter, boot up our stealth systems.” The real space reversion alarms sounded and Kaia quickly put them to silent. “And link me the guns.”

She grabbed the intercom. A soft ding-dong started first “Kyra. We’re entering Korriban.”

Kyra Perl

 

[Elise]

.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra swallowed hard, her eyes snapping open.

So they were.

The last dregs of her force signature cut off as she composed a wall of steel around her mind. She had not felt her father on the journey over. The concern she felt for that faded away, soothed by the realization that maybe he was hiding too. The sith no longer controlled this space, but that did not mean they were gone.

All she could do was hope her father had survived these days in the wasteland following the war.

If he had even survived it for long.

"I don't know where to start," she admitted to Kaalia, donning on a pack as the ship doors opened before them. The planet's energy buffered against her. Her skin prickled as she forced herself to step down.

Kaia Starchaser

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia was not really a warrior, she knew enough and she had seen her fair share of battle excitement, but running right into Korriban, to extract her father? That was not really a battle, so much as it was a suicide mission with impossible odds and a need to be stealthy and avoid being seen as the best answer to survival. She was feeling in the Force, the space around her, her sister, but also not her sister… She was doing something while she was meditating.

As they entered the air space of Korriban, Kaia was seeking her father, where there had been Light and where it was being pushed away. The shadows crept and moved, like the seas, and tracing them, seeing where they crowded back in, to wash the darkness over that which was exposed. She was landing nearby there, and moved her ship to a location that seemed just off the beaten path enough.

Looking to Kyra, the Mirialan nodded. “There is a current to the Force, you can tell where the battle was and where … someone was running. I think it has to be him. But…we need to be careful not to track too heavy in the Force.” Darkness was all around them, but they’d stick out. She pulled the dark hood of her Warden Cloak up over her head and reached out in the Force again, trying to keep as neutral, pulling from the ambient, as she could.

“Th-this way. I think.” She said, pointing to the ruins of a small town.

Kyra Perl