Private Radical Thaw

[Jend-Ro Quill]

"If you hate it, we don't have to stay."

Heartbreaking to say. Quill's soul soared as the ice fields of Hoth blurred paat the shuttle canopy. After a long and often painful few months away - much as he'd enjoyed teaching on Jakku - coming home to Hoth meant everything.

But even after conscientiously uncoupling from the Jedi, he still had responsibilities. He was still Tilon's guardian.

"Whatever you think is best, Master," said the scrawny little ex-Sithling.

Quill sucked his teeth in frustration and steered the North Ridge over the North Ridge. "Don't do that, and don't call me Master. If you hate it, we really don't have to stay. No guarantee we'll be able to, anyway. I helped out the First Order when they took this region from some psychopathic Knight of Ren, but I never exactly introduced myself." He squinted through the haze of constant snowfall and turned a lazy loop around Mount Ison. The sight of his old enclave warmed his heart. "Look, there it is."

The kid unbuckled and went right up to the bottom of the canopy for a better view. He was small for twelve. Whatever he thought, he kept to himself.

Quill toggled the comms. "This is the independent civilian shuttle North Ridge calling any local First Order command. Over."

 

[Resurgent Vignette]

It was quiet in the command center of the recently established North Ridge Cold Weather Training Center.

The First Imperial Navy seemed to keep things fairly stable. There were reports of occasional smugglers, but it was quiet lately. It was somewhat surprising to Lieutenant Becois when he received a hail over the local comms, from a shuttle identifying itself as North Ridge. Becois raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat, examining the protocol guidelines before answering.

"Independent civilian shuttle North Ridge, this is Lieutenant Becois, First Order Army, at the North Ridge Cold Weather Training Center. Please be careful to observe the declared no fly zone at the coordinates attached." He pinged the data packet along the same commlink lines. His tone was friendly but firm.

North Ridge, this is North Ridge, you are approaching North Ridge, North Ridge. Becois thought there was the capacity for major confusion, so he said: "I'll be Training Center for short. Long way from civilization, North Ridge; how can I help you today?"

Jend-Ro Quill​

 

[The Major]

MORALE: NEUTRAL
Jend-Ro Quill | Resurgent Vignette ​

Getting lost on Hoth, losing herself on Hoth, being dug out and repeating the process while on Hoth —this was all Sybil really did during any free time between Bureau operations. To her latest assignment's credit, there was a lot more free time than one might assume: the Security Minister, Delilah Graham, was already apt to run ops ceaselessly in the background. It was straightforward enough a process to simply allow the overall weight of the job to run where ever it had to go with minimal questions. And, with any luck, the home government wouldn't ask too many questions on why their asset was spending so much time on the ice world.

While sheltering in the abandoned remains of a pre-Sacking corvette, the Director was able to intercept communications between an interloper and the Cold Weather Training Center —already having the clearance level and access established previously. It wasn't everyday a run of the mill pirate actually hailed ahead of landing. Perhaps there something special to this particular encounter. Though, it was too early to get excited over. So, Shepard listened as well as one could with such ramshackle equipment while using a hot thermos of tea to warm her hands.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill altered course radically to avoid blundering into the no-fly zone. To his immense relief, it didn't include the enclave's little patch of Mount Ison.

There were any number of ways to approach this kind of thing. He usually defaulted to excessive honesty. In younger days he'd been known as the Order's worst sabacc player.

"Complying with the no-fly, Training Center. You can just call me Quill, I guess. I used to be a Jedi and the empty structure on Mount Ison used to be my place. My boy and I are hoping to move back in. Any idea who I'd need to talk to for that to happen?"

Looking up a Jedi named Quill on the HoloNet would turn up some EXTREMELY public spats over holding Jedi accountable for conduct of war. Or not holding them accountable, as the case might be. A basic search would also turn up plenty of action on the Bryn'adul front, including leadership roles in planetary evacuations. And farther back, a less prominent role against the One Sith for years and years.

Oh, and most likely the whole 'hermit of Hoth' thing.

Resurgent Vignette The Major

 

[Micah tol Powl]

E Q U I N O X​

"Independent civilian shuttle North Ridge, this is Lieutenant Becois, First Order Army, at the North Ridge Cold Weather Training Center. Please be careful to observe the declared no fly zone at the coordinates attached."

Hoth.

Of course. The dossier that he'd found on the man had indicated that he was something of a hermit. Still, this part of the Outer Rim wasn't what the Pantoran had expected. He'd assumed that the man was headed to Peace. Ilum. Tatooine.

Tatooine was supposed to be popular with Jedi exiles, right? It seemed like something that he'd read in one of those texts on Jedi history at the Silver Rest. Or maybe it had been in the Temple of Ilum, when Théodred Heavenshield and the boy had lived there under the Iron Empire.

That had been right after Theo had taken the boy from out of the FIrst Order. And now here he was. Back on Hoth. Back in First Order space.

The First Order. It wasn't a name that he'd expected to hear again. And, to be honest, he wasn't certain just how he should feel about it either. His life in the First Order had been the first step in escaping from slavery under the Sith. And then the Knights of Ren had separated him from I Irajah Ven

And then everything had just seemed to spiral into everything wrong. Everything turned upside down. Wrong was right. Right was wrong. It had been a lot to process. It was still a lot to process, even after years of Theo trying to make Boo into a Jedi.

Trying to make Boo into a better person than he was.

The small transport kept a low profile. Most of its systems were powered down to minimize its electromagnetic signature. A stygian sensor mask supplied a shield against conventional com-scan systems. He was a ghost. A shadow trailing behind Quill's ship.

Quill.

That was really all that Boo knew of the man. A name. Jend-Ro Quill. A Jedi Master, but it wasn't clear from the record what Order the man held his allegiance to. With the Jedi Academy Network seemingly vanished as a myriad of enclaves had begun to spring up, maybe that wasn't surprising. Whatever the case, Quill had been present at least once at the Jedi Temple on Commenor. And that was the event that the teen was hoping to ask the man about.

"You can just call me Quill, I guess. I used to be a Jedi and the empty structure on Mount Ison used to be my place. My boy and I are hoping to move back in..."

A lot of spy work was just listening to what people broadcast. You could learn a lot just over an open frequency.

Quill wasn't traveling alone.

Boo wasn't expecting to have a problem with the man, but he didn't know him either. Would he be willing to talk about Commenor? What was his connection to the Silver Jedi? The New Jedi Order? Something had happened to prompt the New Jedi Order to storm the council chambers. Boo knew rumor and gossip, but Quill had actually been there.

"Ar-Three, display Mount Ison," the boy uttered softly, leaning forward in order to study where it would be that they'd be landing.

He knew one thing. Quill had great taste in planets.

Particularly for a human.

Jend-Ro Quill The Major Resurgent Vignette​

 

[Resurgent Vignette]

Becois frowned thoughtfully in the communications center. Homesteaders on Hoth? It seemed unlikely. And yet -- there was no protocol in place to stop it. In fact, it had been noted in a survey that there was something there on Mount Ison. The occupant of the shuttle appeared to be cooperative; the shuttle shifted course to stay clear of the no-fly zone. He cleared his throat and opened the channel. "Roger that, Quill, thank you for complying. Give me a moment to confirm your request."

He muted himself and consulted with his immediate supervisor. He confirmed that there were no active prohibitions on homesteading on hoth, provided there were no concerns about smuggling. They agreed that given Quill's honesty it seemed unlikely that he was a smuggler. And being a Jedi was not a crime in these parts.

Not anymore, anyway.

A quick search turned up more about the man that suggested he was likely not to be considered a threat, at least to their operations on Hoth today. Becois sent the information to his supervisor for review. A few moments later, the instruction came back.

Becois opened the channel again. "You'll need to consult with the Homesteading Office to officially stake a claim," he explained. "Transmitting their network address now. Until then, you may take up residence at that location. Note that if there are additional claimants, all claims may need to be adjudicated prior to finalization of the homesteading claim. Please also note that Hoth is subject to special search protocols given its use as a smuggling haven in the past. You may be asked to submit to a non-invasive, warranted search."

Jend-Ro Quill | The Major | Micah tol Powl​

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill gave the comms a long blink. "That's wonderful news, and I've got no problem with inspections. I'll be sure to do all of the above and send you boys a nice frostfungus pie once I start cave-gardening again."

"It's a trap," Tilon mumbled dourly, strapping himself in again. The gorgeous white vista had failed to hold the scrawny ex-Sithling's attention.

"Sort of. It's bureaucracy." Quill arced the shuttle towards home.

The North Ridge settled down on the abandoned enclave's landing pad, high on a Mount Ison peak. Quill and Tilon bundled up and went inside.


The Major Resurgent Vignette Micah tol Powl

 

[The Major]

MORALE: NEUTRAL
Jend-Ro Quill | Micah tol Powl | Resurgent Vignette

That would suffice as a cue.

Quill....​

Cutting the feed once the exchange was complete, she took a long slurp from her hot tea before collecting some basic survival gear and the standard protective clothing to withstand the freezing temperatures one could enjoy planetside. In addition she first clipped two holsters for the twin DL-44s, considered if they both would be needed, and decided to leave one behind.

If there was any kind of severe trouble, she’d just improvise. Failing at that, then the ever flowing snow would make a quick bury of her corpse.

This unnecessarily grim thought prompted her to pocket a portable bubble shield.

Once that was all sorted the woman made her way out of the derelict, maneuvered to a rickety, heavily refurbished snowspeeder, and turned the sputtering engines over. As they warmed up, she remembered that her datapad was tucked in the rear pocket of her trousers. Over the course of a few minutes, she had to scoot and shuffle to fit her arm behind her back and under the overcoat until fished out the device.

Everyday, a new, tiny success.

Once the device was connected to the nav computer of the speeder, she punched in the coordinates for Mount Ison and engaged the autopilot.

One lurch and climb later, the Major was on her way.