Relighting the flame. (SJC)

[Caltin Vanagor]

He had been in the Jedi facility. Was it a Temple? Was it an Enclave? Anyway, he had been in the facility for a couple of days, talking with most of the staff, reassuring the medical droids that he was okay, which physically, he was. To be sure, the massive Jedi Master had been frozen for over 800 years, his body was sore with every step he took and his connection to the Force was steadily returning to form. On the surface, Caltin was fine. So what was wrong?

What was not wrong, is the true question.

He had spent much of the trip from Rhen Var catching up on his time away in general, but what about specifics. He had the Temple on Yavin VIII he watched over, he had his long lost sister and family. They were but memories, whispers in the wind that was history. He had his place in the galaxy, but that ended in the ambush. What was his place now? Did he have one? The was not one Jedi Order now, there were three. This was a good thing or were issues of jurisdiction prevalent? Were they Jedi, or the rumored Darksiders on the planet Ruusan? He had always had his suspicions about that planet, but that was in the past.

No pun intended.

Even the most faithful of the Lightside would have trouble coping with what Caltin had to deal with laying in front of him. He was never much for “talking it out”, not like most Jedi, truth is, it annoyed him, he hated being doted on feeling like more deserving should be instead. Now it might be a bit late, but it was a fresh start, so why not just do it, right? It would be a test for those around here as well. They mean well, all of them, but he was pensive about what could be brought up.

When the medical staff finally let him walk around the compound, not that they really could have stopped him, Caltin decided to walk around. No purpose, no reason, just explore and maybe make a few new friends, as he had with N’yssa, Jon, Ala. Ala, his adoptive “little sister”, what happened to her? Dwelling on it might be a good thing like he was doing right now. The big guy was wrapped up in his own little world of a galaxy lost when he almost tripped over a couple of Aak-Dog pups running around playing. They were friendly enough as they looked up at him, tails (if that is what you want to call them that) wagging.

A rare smile crept across his face as he knelt down to pet them, offering his hand for their inspection first of course. He could use the Force to keep them calm, but Caltin always had a way with most animals.

Why hello, little friends.

Then he noticed a few individuals who were noticing him,

Hello to you too.

 

[Zak Dymo]

[ panini ]
​

The boy's head-tails bounced wildly.

Zak had been returning to Silver Rest after getting sent on yet-another-gorram fetchquest for Master OldDude.

No, that wasn't his name.

Yes, Zak should know his name.

Everything that Master OldDude said was boring though. He said hello and already Zak's attention span was elsewhere. Master OldDude kept saying that he was going to teach Zak blah blah blah patience. Something something something respect. And then there was a bit about the Dark Side..? Maybe..? Who knew, Zak had stopped listening by that point.

Whatever the case. Master OldDude had sent the Nautolan to fetch the Shroud of Ashla, which sounded really cool but was actually the soiled loincloth of someone who may, or may not, have been some random Jedi living on Ahch-To at some point or another. Except, before Zak could get the sacred dirty laundry of the Jedi, he had first help the caretaker by getting some self-sealing stembolts. So that had been yet-another-trip. This time to go find Matsu Ike in order to ask what the Hutt a self-sealing stembolt even was.

And then she'd sent him on a quest to Binaros to get them, which had turned out to be a prank because Sasori makes them and they were actually on Aisle Five of the local hardware store the whole gorram time.

Also, if anyone in the Kathol Outback asks about that Jedi interceptor that outran the speed trap in the Binaros sector, Zak has no idea who this Jedi pilot mnight have been. Or even if they had been Jedi. Who said Jedi? Did you say Jedi? Because Zak certainly wasn't going to admit to anything.

Anyway. Zak had finally gotten the self-sealing stembolts, traded those for the Holy Underwear of Ahch-To, and then when he thought he was all set to travel back to this Old Fether on Kashyyyk, his starfighter had a blow out on the hyperlane.

Luckily, he'd been near enough to get a tow to the local Jedi Temple. And fortunately there had been a Jedi Temple in towing range, because Zak totally hadn't registered for AAA like Jerek Zenduu kept telling him that he needed to.

So now, there he was, thousand year old dirty laundry in the back and a starfighter up on blocks, the canopy cracked open as the young padawan blasted what might have passed for music in a Zeltron nightclub. The bass reverberating from the Corellia Digital subwoofer that the Nautolan had installed was sending tremors outward.

A toolkit on the ground, the Nautolan paused his work to pop and lock as he broke it down when the song hit an instrumental bridge.

Did he know what he was doing? Ehhhhh, that was questionable at best. He thought it was the hyperdrive motivator. But, it might have also been the fuel pump.

Okay, he had no idea, all right? He was a Jedi GUARDIAN not one of those Sentinel-technicial-handyman whatevers. Ask him about lightsabers. He knew lightsabers.

Did he know how to repair lightsabers? No. But he knew how to smack Sith in the face with lightsabers, which was real Jedi Guardian chit.

Where was Nefertari Sovint when he needed her? She'd totes know how to heroically dial up the local starfighter body shop like a true Jedi Champion of the Light! In the meantime, Zak was kind of faking the funk.

Well, he wasn't faking the funk. The funk was the easy part.

About the time that the boy had transitioned from out of the Droid and into the Funky Wookiee, he looked over and saw a swole dude with some puppies.

THAT was something that you just didn't see everyday.

Tossing the wrench that he'd been using to probably do more harm than good, the young Nautolan crossed over toward where Han Swolo was occupied with Aka-Pups. "Sup, brah," the Nautolan greeted the man cheerily.

"Uh, would you happen to know the comm frequency for the local chop shop?"

Caltin Vanagor​

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

Raising an eyebrow at the comment of a chop shop, he wondered what a kid like him would need with a chop shop, Caltin tried not to judge. He said nothing because he did not know for sure if a “shop” here was the same as his time. It probably was, considering where the boy was approaching from, he looked to be one who thought that he could fix something and was probably wrong. Caltin was that way when he was the boy’s age, but he learned over time, soon
He became more and more capable. No, the Master was not an expert himself, but he could confirm his assumption.

Having trouble? Perhaps I could help?

No, he did not introduce himself yet, he would let the boy do that first. Besides, Caltin wasn’t sure who he was in the world of the Force yet anyway. Maybe “Bruh” was this generation's term of respect now, and not the generic phrase of kids like it used to be. Boy did Caltin feel old, and it was hilarious.

 

[Zak Dymo]

[ afterhours ]
​

"Having trouble? Perhaps I could help?"

Should Zak have noticed the raised eyebrow? Did this boy have any sense of manners? Did he even think to introduce himself?

In no particular order, the answer to that was, and I quote: No. Nope. Nah.

​

What did register was the word help. Did Swolnan the Barbarian do starfighter repair? "Sweet as, brah!" the Nautolan chirped, the stubby head-tails bouncing as the boy seemed to perk up at the assumption or inference that, just maybe, dude was this mega bombad Jedi Mechanic.

Maybe that's how he got ripped? Curling astromechs and benchpressing starfighter engines?

Spinning around, the Nautolan gestured over to a Jedi interceptor that may have looked rather shockingly familiar. After all, the Santhe Corporation had patterned this particular model on the Eta-2 Jedi starfighter design that had been used by the Old Republic during the Separatist Crisis.

It was also cranking out quite the mixtape of music.

"I got on the hyperlane and opened it up to point-five past lightspeed and WHOOSH!" the boy explained, gesturing with both arms to help articulate just how, like, big said whoosh had been at the time. "The hyperdrive totes chit the bed and the sublight was cack all for thruster response," the young Nautolan remarked candidly, standing there, regarding the busted starfighter with a rather disappointed look on his face.

But, hey, the radio still worked.

...even though the occupants of the Jedi Temple probably wished that were not the case.

"I got towed here, but I maybe, possibly, kinda-sorta don't know what to do next."

Caltin Vanagor​

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

"Brah", "Totes", "Chit", the language was indeed evolving over the years. Perhaps they were terms of endearment? It didn't matter at the moment as there was a challenge ahead.

Let's take a look.

The fighter was something to be seen, a student of history, Caltin looked at this as not only a repair but a lesson. He pictured himself flying in the middle of fleet battles over Coruscant, Geonosis, Muunilist, zooming in and out of lanes, dodging battledroids as he looked over the machine. It did not dawn on the massive Jedi Master that not only was the language evolving, but mechanics as a whole until he looked over the damage. The engines were like nothing he had ever seen before, sleek and streamlined, but the general premise was the same.

He may not be able to fix it completely, but at least Caltin will be able to see what was wrong. Taking out a few sply lines, and re-seating a bypass relay he leaned back to show the boy what he was doing.

This isn’t so bad. This sub-light engine was connected incorrectly and caused a short in the lateral motivator. In short, the sub-light motor blew out the hyperdrive.

Taking the parts out, he looked over the freshly open space and thought that he could take a crack at repairing it himself. Waving over an astromech droid, he reached out through the Force and pulled a toolbox to him. The droid seemed eager to help as it noticed the damage as well, of course, it did not know who he was and was suspicious, so Caltin had to explain.

Do not worry, little friend. I belong here. I am new, but I belong here.

He had been “good” with droid-speak his entire life, so it was like second nature to him to just talk to droids. The fun part is, it was probably freaking the kid out by now. Speaking of the kid, Caltin addressed him directly, it was his ship after all.

May I? Or would you rather Temple staff repair her? She’s a beauty.

Still no introduction? That's okay.

 

[Zak Dymo]

[ infected ]
​

Zak knew plenty of people who talked to droids.

Nefertari Sovint had been fluent in droidspeak and tried to teach it to him. Zak, however, couldn't even speak Basic very well. Similarly, Matsu Ike seemed to know what droids were saying. Jerek Zenduu seemed to have something of a clue. At least, more than Zak did when it came to all that beeping and chirping.

So, instead of finding it strange, he was impressed at the fact that Han Swolo seemed able to manage a conversation with the droid. Only Master Nef had demonstrated that level of fluency.

More importantly, this Dank Lord of the Swole seemed to know where the what went where in the starfighter engine.

Being as small as he was, particularly in comparison to Arnold Schwolenegger, the Nautolan couldn't see all of what the man had done. Craning his head around, standing on his tip toes, and then crawling up on the starfighter chassis, the youth tried to follow just what the man was pointing at.

It was a bunch of wires, going into a bunch of mechanical-y stuff, and then more wires.

That was all he got out of that.

"May I? Or would you rather Temple staff repair her? She’s a beauty."

In most humanoids, the pupils of the eyes would betray the nervous reaction of not knowing what to do when faced with a decision. Had Zak been human, his eyes would have tracked to the right, looking away from Caltin rather than be honest that Zak wasn't sure. Being a Nautolan, however, the large, abyssal eyes were instead merely a flurry of motion as the swirls and cloud-like formations within just seemed to swim in a sea of black while the boy stammered, "Oh, uhh..."

"Can you fix it?"

Caltin Vanagor​

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

The droid began asking him to identify himself specifically, still rather suspicious of who the man might be. So Caltin used a trick that he had learned from Master Beltrak, so many centuries ago. Telepathically he reached out to the droid, some were able to receive this type of communication, some could not. It depends on what circuits and receivers you touch and how they are aligned.

<Am I reaching you this way?>

The trick worked, as the droid responded immediately.

[Yes, I understand you.]

<Good, I am Jedi Master Caltin Vanagor. Forgive the deception, but I want to give this young one a chance to be himself and show his true personality without pretending to be something he is not.>

[Forgive me, but I have accessed holonet records and cannot find a “Caltin Vanagor”.]

<Forgive me as well, look in the historical records.>

As he conversed with the droid, Caltin was indeed watching the Nautolan boy ponder what he was doing. It was a little amusing as to how he was looking over the ship and not really understanding it. Oh well, not every Jedi was a mechanic, but every Jedi is good at something.

<Accessing. A “Caltin Vanagor” went missing over Rhen Var 852 years ago.>

Caltin turned to the droid and winked.

[Will you help me repair this ship?” I understand the basic principle, but need a voice to walk me through it.]

<Affirmative. We will work together.>

Turning again to the young one, judging by the brightness of his aura, possibly a Padawan he winked to him too with a smirk.

My friend. I would not have offered otherwise. It is your ship though and I would not disrespect you without asking.

 

[Zak Dymo]

[ fire ]​

"My friend. I would not have offered otherwise. It is your ship though and I would not disrespect you without asking."

The Nautolan's head craned to one side, a quizzical expression plastered across the boy's face as he looked over at Swolnan the Barbarian.

Was that a yes?

Was that a no?

It was a lot of words. And something about respect. Because Jedi were always circling back to respect. Which, what did respect have to do with a busted starfighter?

The droid was chirping and Han Swolo seemed like he knew what he was doing, so that was a yes, yes? "Oh," the boy uttered, as his large, expressionless eyes just blinked. "Okay?"

Was that a question? Zak wasn't sure.

"Where... like, where did you learn about, like, starfighter repair stuff?"

Caltin Vanagor​

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

It would take some time, but the droid was walking him through the repair. As he was beginning to check connections and replace parts, he inwardly marveled over how technology had changed over the years but remained pretty much the same generally speaking. The problem for him was that Caltin’s hands were just too big to get into some of the tight spots that he was working on. That is where the astromech came in and, the droid quickly obliged, explaining what it was working on while completing the time. This was as good a time as any to answer the boy’s question.

Well, I am more or less self-taught. This came from a long time of being on my own, and then, well, the Force came into play.

He could not hide who he was forever, it would not be right, besides, the massive Jedi Master had learned all he needed to about who Zak was. He could converse with him without pretenses. This task took more than he originally thought, he would need a few more parts. Pulling a cart to him through the Force, he looked over some of the parts and began to pick out what he needed, the droid offering advice of course.

This is going to take a few days, are you going to need one to borrow? Transport? I’m sure that I could make arrangements for you with other Masters, maybe the Council if there is not something in place already..

 

[Zak Dymo]

[ blinding light ]​

Since Zak was considerably shorter than the man, and brah's arms were as thick around as Zak's head, the young Nautolan had to find a good vantage point from which to try and see what the man was doing into the engine compartment. The boy eventually settled on part of the starfighter wing, dropping into a cross-legged seating position that allowed him to see some of what was going on.

"Well, I am more or less self-taught. This came from a long time of being on my own, and then, well, the Force came into play."

"Cool," the boy breathed. The smile could be heard in his voice. It was no out of hand remark, but rather a genuine admiration at the talent that was displayed, both in making the repairs and in discussing whatever-was-being-discussed with the astromech droid.

It struck the Nautolan that this swole brah would probably like Master Matsu Ike as the two seemed to have a lot in common when it came to droids and knowing which end of a spanner you held (which was the part where Zak got confused -- especially the ones that had one part at the end, but then a socket at the other end... what was that?)

"This is going to take a few days, are you going to need one to borrow? Transport? I’m sure that I could make arrangements for you with other Masters, maybe the Council if there is not something in place already.."

"What?" the boy chirped, having completely forgotten the what, when, or why he was on the current planet to begin with. Why would he be in a hurry? "Oh," Zak uttered next, as a proverbial light bulb began to dimly illuminate over the child's head.

Should he be in a hurry? "Hmmm..." murmured, as the Nautolan dropped into serious thought.

...Caltin might need to be patient. This was likely to take some time.

"I don't think there's any hurry," the youth offered finally, looking up from his self-reflection to explain, "The masters just sent me to get, like, this piece of cloth from Ahch-To."

"I think it was really just to get me out of the temple."

For those padawans about to rock, the Jedi Council was not going to salute you. Zak had learned this.

Well, Zak had experienced this. Learning and Zak were mutually exclusive concepts.

Caltin Vanagor​

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

Okay, well good.

Going about the repairs, Caltin was reminded of his ship and how he enjoyed working on it. The VX-100 was no doubt a relic now, but if they could remake an “Eta”, he could fix “The Carcharadon”. That was becoming more and more of a good idea, a good hobby in his downtime. There was no way he could fit in a fighter, and he wanted a ship that he was familiar with. There were only so many times one could be a passenger in Caltin’s case, he was just too handsy.

Then there was this assignment that the boy was on, Ahch-To was an interesting destination.

So tell me about your assignment. What is this piece of cloth? What is so special about it?

Judging by his natural train of thought, the kid probably did not pay much attention. It was a good reminder to him though as to the planet itself, a lot of Jedi history, a lot of water. There was a dangerous cave that was often used for the Jedi trials, he had sent one of his Padawans there, it was a shame as they fell to the Dark Side sometime later. No regrets though as though he failed the Padawan, everyone has their paths to walk. As the droid began to test the connections on his work, Caltin began work on bending back some of the sheet metal before taking a welding torch to it.

The droid seemed to be satisfied in telling him that other than a few parts that would need to be imported, much of the ship was on its way to being fully operational.

 

[Zak Dymo]

[ pop/stars ]
​

"So tell me about your assignment. What is this piece of cloth? What is so special about it?"

"It's called the Shroud of Ashla," Zak said, then paused for a moment. Was he certain? "I think."

No, he was not certain.

Had he been listening? At the time, maybe. Probably. Perhaps.

Did he remember now? That was questionable.

Sitting upright, the boy used both hands to gesture and accentuate his re-telling as he spoke. "It's, like... It's this, like, this piece of cloth that's super mega old and, like, before the Gulag Plague or whatever," the Nautolan tween noted. Which was not at all how it had been described to him. Except, those descriptions had been boring, which was why he hadn't been listening. "They say it belonged to some Jedi Master who lived on Ahch-To or something."

Which, there were like Jedi Masters all over the place.

Even this swole brah had said he was a knight or master or Jedi Swole -- was Jedi Swole a class? That should definitely be a Hero Type of Jedi! -- and so Zak didn't really understand what was so special about a piece of cloth that supposedly belonged to one.

"I don't think it's, like, special or whatever. It just... is."

It existed. It was a thing. And it was in the back of his starfighter cockpit smelling like it hadn't been washed in a long time.

Unless that was Zak. Which was another possibility.

Caltin Vanagor​

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

Interestingly, the only Master Ashla I knew was, as a youngling, famous for helping locate Kamino.

He knew Master Ashla, she was a Togruta and truly sweet, not just for a Jedi, but in general. It was good to know that she appeared to have survived the purge, but surprised that she went to such a planet to hide. She was of the “Sentinel” type and they did not converse much but when they met she always had a kind word and seemed to know what was going on in his life. He did not know how to appreciate her methods at the time, but Caltin could see the value in them now.

The thing about “special” is that it may not be valuable, or look like much to you, but if it tells a story of our past as a whole then that is important. For example, talking to you, I can tell that you’re not much for reading and long conversations. Are you?

Not waiting for an answer, he continued…

There is nothing wrong with that. That tells me that you are definitely a Jedi Guardian, one of the three distinct types of Jedi. I would in fact say that you will make a pretty good Peacekeeper. I consider myself one, along the lines of Master Windu.

Yes, it was rather bold of him to claim this, but Caltin was indeed all about combat in his time, proficient in Teras Kasi and Broken Gate, and every lightsaber form he specialized in “tanking” or drawing the attention of multiple foes so his compatriots could choose their targets. Was he still like that? Could he be? Only the future will tell.

I see you as a young Bao-Dur. Now HE was tough, he was as fast with his feet as he was with a lightsaber, or so the holo-records explained.

He was probably boring the kid as he worked, but he felt good in passing on this tidbit about the past. Besides, what was so interesting about bending sheet metal and then flushing a manifold? The kid barely held his attention at the moment as it was. That was alright though, they still had yet to truly introduce themselves to each other anyway.

It is important to have links to our past. You can learn so much about yourself just by reading about the exploits of others. Ever heard of Master Vanagor?

Okay, now this was a little mean on his part, but if the kid could have nicknames, he could have his fun.

 

[Zak Dymo]

Tucking his legs so that he was seated cross-legged on the wing of the starfighter, the Nautolan listened as the Jedi Swole talked and worked

Most of it was not interesting. But that seemed to come with adults in general. Something about Ashla and then a bit about being special. The boy's head-tails perked up with mention of his being like a Jedi Guardian came up, but that was to be expected.

"...along the lines of Master Windu."

The boy's head immediately tilted to one side. Blinking, the youth's hands shot out, waving as he motioned for the dude to stop for a second. "Wait, wait, wait," Zak uttered, the words tripping over each other as he spoke quickly. "Brah's name was Windu? Like, for real, for real? Was he called Windu because he was full of hot air?"

It had been the first thing that had popped into the boy's head, so of course he'd just blurted it out. Because Zak had no filter.

Then he wished that he hadn't, because a better one popped into his head a moment later. "Or, wait, wait, wait, I've got it! You had to watch that you didn't stand down wind from Windu!" the tween uttered, starting to break into a giggling laugh at his own joke at the punchline.

"I see you as a young Bao-Dur."

"Bao what?" the boy chirped. Were these people he should have heard of? "He sounds like he could be a total bro," the boy offered with a large smile. "Like, BRO-Dur. The Jedi Brah!"

"Ever heard of Master Vanagor?"

First Windu. Then BRO-Dur, son of Brah. Now it was Vanagor? Zak's skepticism was triggered.

"Okay, you made that last one up," the Nautolan uttered, looking up at this swole dude.

Caltin Vanagor​

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

Okay, this was getting hilarious now as Zak Dymo was completely enthralled in the conversation. Caltin continued his work and while there was a lot left to do, he and the droid were making good progress. He went on to explain, in short, attention-catching phrases, that the Masters that he spoke of were not ones that he had met himself. Caltin made the point that he had read about them and seen holo-videos, how one did not need to stand downwind from everyone, but was once a Master of the Order, only answering to the Grandmaster, so to speak, and was versed in multiple forms of combat.

Caltin then went to clarify that his comparison was because he could see the well-rounded capability and “never say die” attitude that the Guardian ancestor was known for and was displayed, at least in the big guy’s eyes. The kid did not see it, but Caltin could sense a lot more in him than he thought. Perhaps if he was approved to take students, no, do not get ahead of yourself. Caltin openly laughed at the last remark about how he made up his name. Sometimes he wondered himself if fate had a sense of humor, he knew that the Force did, but he had yet to meet another “Caltin”, let alone “Vanagor” other than his family. Maybe there was some kind of ancestry he could look up.

Gewgul it in the archives. It should come up.

As the astromech perked up and beeped a conversation, offering not only a tablet with the information but its confirmation, Caltin could not help but smirk. Looking at his chrono, oddly enough, the one he wore in his time and surprised that it has lasted all of these years, he sighed.

Well, I need to get to a lightsaber training class. I am not the instructor, I want to sit in on it and get my thoughts back on the subject. Perhaps a demonstration if asked.

Getting up, he offered a handshake.

It was nice meeting you, I will return here tomorrow to continue the work. Oh, I nearly forgot. Master Caltin Vanagor, at your service.