Tarred and Feathered

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi threw a last, dejected glance at the colourfully painted monastery in the mountains behind her before she continued her way on the rabble road downhill.

She had ventured to the remote Halsoun Monastery on Bardotta in the hope of learning from the ascetic sages who resided there. They were reclusive and wary of outsiders, and skeptical of any who would learn their teachings. The abbot had nonetheless agreed to meet Amilthi, whose humble exterior had given him confidence. But he did not, it had turned out, speak a word of Galactic Basic, and one of the volunteer laymen who tended to the monks' needs had had to serve as a translator. Seeing the young Bardottan struggle for words, she had wished to alleviate his burden and had, though not an expert at the art, attempted to convey her thoughts through the Force for the abbot to understand. But this had proved to be a grave mistake, for the elder Bardottan did not appreciate her intentions. Their order, Amilthi had to learnt, disapproved in the strongest terms of all practical applications of the Force to manipulate the physical and mental world around the individual. The only permissible pursuit was the perfection of the self and the striving for insight. Concluding that Amilthi was inclined towards a more disruptive approach, the abbot politely declined to grant her access to the order's teachings and techniques.

Amilthi had known that the Dagoyan Masters, as they were called, did not engage in martial training, but had been unaware that they took their restraint to such extremes. It was a disappointment to have gone all the way to this isolated place to learn nothing but this lesson, but Amilthi had thought the matter through and concluded that there was no reasonable way she could have known this beforehand. She would not repeat the mistake, and perhaps other followers of the school, who did not remove themselves quite as much from the world as those who dwelt in this place, would even be less dogmatic.

The problem was to find and gain access to them. When the First Order had taken control of the planet, the practices of the Dagoyan Masters had not been forbidden, for they helped to keep the populace meek and peaceful, which under the circumstances was for their own good. But naturally the Masters had been dislodged from their position of political influence, and a human seeking them out might raise suspicion from natives and occupation forces alike.

There was no point in dwelling on regrets, and having reminded herself that there were still more possibilities, Amilthi soon felt lighter and happier as she focussed her attention on the rhythm of walking as she directed her steps towards the small village that lay at the foot of the mountain on which the Halsoun Monastery had been erected. From there she would find a way to return to a larger city.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

As Amilthi approached the settlement, she found that it was now crawling with First Order troops. They had established a perimeter around it, and a rifle was impolitely following the path of her thoroughly unthreatening figure as she neared it. So the First Order had either decided to commence some program of ethnic cleansing or they were here in search of a real or imagined insurgency. The Jedi's mood darkened, she had a sinister feeling about this.

A soldier, blocking her way, asked her for identification and her purpose when she reached them. "You don't need to see my identification and know my purpose", she said firmly, and after a brief second of puzzlement the guard dropped the topic, but continued to deny her way.

"You must not enter here, Miss. There are dangerous insurgents about. We are searching the place to keep your safety."

Amilthi looked at him quizzically and smiled, oddly enough. "You will take me to your commanding officer", she stated. The soldier hesitated, but eventually obliged her. As he led her through the village, it was conspicuously empty of natives and very silent. All of a sudden, an ominous feeling took hold of her, and only a moment later she heard the sound of a blaster shot and a scream. Then the silence returned. None of the soldiers seemed to take notice.

She was led to what seemed to be the command tent. The soldier exchanged words with the guard, who disappeared inside, to be momentarily replaced by a man in armorless uniform storming out. He looked over Amilthi, who stood there, her hands modestly folded in front of herself, calmly observing him, before bellowing at the soldier: "Graves, are you out of your mind? Why is this civilian here?"

"Sir, she asked to speak to you..." the man offered hesitantly by way of explanation. It dawned on him that that was not actually a good reason.

The officer pointed at the guard, who had reemerged from the tent. "Arrest this woman for interfering with a government operation!"

Amilthi focused her gaze on the man in front of her. His clothes had a vaguely military cut, but she did not recognise in them a uniform. And yet he had authority over these soldiers, which was odd. She felt a familiar coldness rising in herself.

"There are no insurgents here", she said. "You will leave this place."

The response came without a moment's hesitation: a forceful slap across her face. Amilthi did not dodge. The coldness had by now filled her entire being and gave her a clarity that led to an inevitable conclusion. If this man was some special operations officer who had undergone mental training and was firm enough in his resolve not to be swayed by the Force, then she was powerless to set these events on a better course. The thought of drawing her lightsaber briefly arose, as was natural, but it took little effort to simply let it pass by. Violence would accomplish nothing. The First Order was well-organised, and the disappearance of a force dispatched with a mission would only bring another one, in a fouler mood, and ready to bring even more harm.

"The First Order does not take orders from you."

Amilthi smiled sadly. She had not moved in reaction to the slap, even her hands were still in the same place, and she moved them behind her back without resistance when the soldier motioned to cuff them. She new that these people had no power over her - but the coldness was melting into sadness over the fact that she could think of nothing to do to better the locals' fate.

 

[Luther Lewis]

Luther strode into the command tent, tired and weary from his travels. He’d been tasked with overseeing several operations in the area. Anything that had possible ties to insurgency was to be investigated by an intelligence agent. Or so his superior had said.

He walked in to find the CO slapping a woman across the face. Luther paused, asking a nearby guard what had occurred before moving to intervene. “I’ll take it from here” he addressed the commander. The man looked familiar. He was FOSB, but Luther couldn’t remember a name. In fact, all he could remember was that the man was little more than a thug.

The commander scowled. “Luther is it?” he said gruffly. “I heard you were coming. You don’t have any authority here”. He very much knew Luther did, but petty men like him didn’t give up power easily. “Don’t kid yourself” Luther replied, moving over to examine the detainee. “As soon as your report mentioned an insurgency, you knew I’d be along”.

The woman was average height, perhaps around thirty years old and had startling grey-blue eyes. ‘Pretty’ Luther thought. ‘But that doesn’t mean she isn’t a troublemaker’. Luther turned to the guard. “Did you detain this woman?” Luther asked. “No, sir” the man replied, hesitantly. “She asked to see the commander, sir”.

Luther paused, bemused. “Is it standard protocol to allow civilians through checkpoints, soldier?” The man said nothing, and Luther let out a deep sigh. “At least tell me you searched her?” The man’s face said: ‘no’ and the guard moved to frisk her person.

“Apologies, Miss” Luther addressed the detainee now. “But you’ve wandered into a military operation. We’ll need your ID and purpose for visiting. And I promise no more needless violence”. He gave a stern look to the commander.

| [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] |​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

The proceedings were interrupted by the arrival of yet another officer without uniform. The man was tall and handsome and moved with an assurance that made it scarcely surprising that he turned out to have authority. Amilthi realised that she had got herself into rather an awkward situation, and was slightly irked by her lack of foresight. She had counted on being left alone in the care of rank-and-file soldiers who could easily be persuaded to overlook her lightsaber. The subtlety of a non-verbal suggestion was beyond her abilities, and she would not repeat the mistake of attempting to influence one of the First Order's trained operatives. It was of little use that, after the soldiers had held off while while the question of rank was being sorted out, she had her hands still free.

"It wasn't a military operation yesterday morning", she pointed out innocently, ignoring the request for an identification. "You're wasting your time here, these villagers work to support the local monastery and wouldn't think of giving up their peaceful ways." She spoke with conviction even though she was not in a position to know the truth of her words with such certainty, as she was not deeply familiar with the culture of the Bardottans, and for all she knew it harboured more violently inclined countercurrents under the surface. But she noticed quite clearly a discrepancy between what she knew and what she felt - that the First Order's presence here was incongruous and liable to bring about a bad turn of events, and that the individual who may have been shot mere minutes ago might be only the first of many unnecessary misfortunes. The immediate obviousness with which such intuitions appeared to her was still unsettling every time, and would perhaps forever be, but she reminded herself to do what she had learnt and trust it beyond reason.

The soldier, who meanwhile searched her, found himself ignored. She neither resisted nor assisted him. Only when he inevitably found the lightsaber hanging on her belt did she acknowledge his existence. "What's this?" he asked. Amilthi hesitated to answer. She had not had time to ponder the merits of deception, threat, or plain honesty. The soldier might not recognise a lightsaber and be convinced that it was merely an engineering tool of one sort or another, but his rather more efficient and competent-seeming superior might be better informed. Unexpected honesty, on the other hand, often put people off balance and made them stray from their purpose.

"My weapon", she stated eventually, and then brought herself to smile in a conciliatory manner. "Which you notice I have not used." A temptation had briefly arisen and passed away again to weave a threat into her words by pointing out that the men were alive.

[member="Luther Ando"]​

 

[Luther Lewis]

“It’s a lightsaber, private” Luther remarked. “Ha!” the Commander shouted. “A symbol of the Jedi! I knew I was right to detain her”. The guard paled at the mention of that. “A…a…Jedi?” he spluttered.

“Indeed” Luther said cooly. “Or a Sith. Or neither of those. We live in a strange galaxy”. He glanced back at the newcomer. “We are at war with the Silver Jedi Order” he said. “Therefore, I can’t let you leave immediately, not until I’m sure you aren’t some sort of spy”. He clipped the lightsaber to his belt. He came in close and held a small camera up. “You can tell us your name or…” there was a flash of light as the camera went off. “…I’ll just find out when I run your face through our database”. He sent of the file to the Bureau.

Luther turned back to the commander. “I want an update on the situation” he said simply. The commander looked at him warily. “In front of the suspect?” the commander said. Luther looked at the woman before turning back and shrugging.

“If she is involved, she already knows. If not, then she’ll be sworn to secrecy and let go”. Luther fatigue was really setting in. He didn’t feel inclined to waste time. He decided to take advantage of the man’s paranoid streak. “Besides, if she is a force-user, do you really want her out of your sight? With soldiers like him guarding the village?” Luther gestured to the private, who blushed brightly and shuffled on the spot.

| [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] |​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi followed her lightsaber with her eyes. As far as she was concerned, it was still within reach, which meant more reassurance to her than it ought to have. In a way it was oddly relieving that the agent before her was familiar with the concept of a Force-sensitive. He might have some understanding of what she was capable of, and what her motives might be.

A host of thoughts sprung into and out of existence without prompting any action, but for long enough to be caught by the trained meditator's awareness. Of course if there had to be war, she did not want it to end in defeat for the Silver Jedi. And if she were one of them, or to support their side with action, she might at this moment have to seriously consider depriving the First Order of some of its living assets. It was a luxury she had not to engage with this possibility.

"I have nothing to do with your war." The Jedi looked at the camera with some skepticism, as if not quite believing in the usefulness of such a device. "You can pride yourself in a new addition to your records, I'm sure. Amilthi Camlenn." Amilthi did not see any reason why the First Order should have had any knowledge of her yet. This was the first time she had entered their dominion, and she had not been involved in any conflict on a galactic scale, or any prominent order, in a decade.

"We have found the crash site of the patrol craft. The data analysis is ongoing, we're waiting for the report to know where, and from where, it was shot down. The locals are uncooperative -"

"They have nothing to cooperate on", Amilthi interrupted him sharply. "If you believe they are concealing something, you are mistaken."

The man was visibly exercising restraint, but continued, looking at Luthor. "Say they didn't see anything. No trace yet of the two disappeared patrol squads. We haven't visited the monastery yet."

"The monks are... peculiar. Peaceful and reclusive. You must know that it is they who sustain this planet's culture, and who are the reason you could occupy it without resistance." There was a tinge of reproach in her words.

[member="Luther Ando"]​

 

[Luther Lewis]

“Luther Ando” he replied, clicking his heels together and giving a smart salute. He mulled her response over in his head. '[member="Amilthi Camlenn"]'; so he had a name, that was something at least. He added the name to the device and had it cross-reference against any known Silver Jedi collaborators. But the way she denied her involvement, the nature of her appearance… ‘Could she really be guiltless?’ Luther thought, before shaking his head. He needed to be careful, he couldn’t make assumptions without viewing all the evidence.

“Very well, let’s see the crash” Luther said. The commander’s head snapped around. “What?!” he bellowed. “I’m sure you heard me” Luther replied sardonically. “Don’t make me repeat myself”. The man grew bright red in the face. “There is no need, Luther!” the man spluttered. “You have the preliminary reports, and the final document will be in shortly”. The man puffed his chest out. Clearly he was trying to regain any scrap of authority.

“My, my, Commander” Luther began, a mocking smile upon his face. “Don’t you want to get your boots dirty?” The man did indeed have suspiciously shiny boots. “Or perhaps is it that you’re stuck in a dead-end assignment, and you worry I might take anyway any prospect of promotion?” Luther smiled. The Commander didn’t.

Luther knew he was angry, but the man wasn’t bellowing and hollering. Instead he was dead quiet, burning with a deep-seated rage. Luther knew then he’d made an enemy of the man. “In any case” Luther continued. “We’re losing daylight. Onwards.” He motioned for the guard to escort them all to the crash site.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi's skirt and rough, flowing overcoat were attire singularly unsuited to venturing into a forest, which she had not had any expectation of being forced to do. This situation had developed to be curiouser and curiouser, she mused as she freed her robe, once again, from a knaggy root. This officer, who had had the courtesy to even introduce himself by name, seemed to be rather too clever to be naive about the danger he was putting himself and his company in by taking the Jedi with them into the forest. He must have correctly surmised that leaving her with ordinary soldiers would only make it more likely for her to escape. She considered this possibility only now, but was not very satisfied with the prospect. She did not wish to lose her lightsabre, and she was not sure that she could run through the forest quickly enough as she was, with half a dozen rifles pointed after her. And then there was another thing that held her back.

[member="Luther Ando"] behaved almost as if he expected Amilthi to assist him, despite her obvious disapproval of the First Order's occupation - and the irony of it was that, all things considered, she might still. It was a strange equilibrium they had fallen into, but it was not in immediate danger of being imbalanced. Rather, the agent appeared to be defending it quite fiercely even against his colleague. Perhaps she was engaged in wishful thinking by imputing such awareness and motives to Luther. Time would tell.

A soldier firmly grabbed her arm and pulled her in a different direction without comment. Absorbed in reflection, she had not been paying much attention to where she was going. The sergeant who led the group consulted his navigation pad. "This way, Sir."

It was altogether an hour's walk until they arrived at a spot in the forest where maimed trees, savagely ripped in half and seared in places, marked the site of the crash of a Predator Airspeeder. The vehicle had come to a halt stuck sideways in a tree, which was now buckled and precariously leaning over it.

"This is it, Sir." At a sign, the soldiers fell in position to secure the area, one of them remaining behind Amilthi with his rifle raised.

"Hope the eggheads can figure out where the shot came from exactly."

It dawned darkly on Amilthi that the unlucky local whose execution, or at least torture, she had heard had probably been found in the vicinity of this place, or perhaps in possession of a part of the ship after he had first found it. That would make sad sense of the First Order's behaviour - known, as she had gathered, for ruthlessness and general disregard for species and cultures unlike their own, but not, as a matter of policy, for the enjoyment of wanton destruction.

 

[Luther Lewis]

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. The air had that cool crispness you could only find in the highlands. He breathed in deeply.

It was a shame he had to spoil the moment with work. He turned back to find three faces staring at him. The commander was scowling, no doubt plotting the best way to undermine Luther’s authority. The guard switched from: bored, alert and worried in a number of seconds. Clearly, he’d never seen proper combat. He was most likely a minor noble’s son; assigned to quiet position in FO space. As for the Jedi…

The Jedi was an enigma, one that Luther would eventually have to solve. He had a healthy dose of caution for the force-users, and perhaps a little fear, but he didn’t hate them. They were misguided, sure, but in the end, they shared similar goals to the Order. Peace for the Galaxy, most often at any cost.

She had a rebellious streak, willingly interrupting him and the Commander while she was captive. This amused Luther greatly and he reflected that in different circumstances, they might have been friends. “We are nearing the crash site” Luther said to [member="Amilthi Camlenn"]. “I must warn you, I have good manners but little tolerance for troublemakers”.

He moved over and uncuffed her hands, prompting a long string of curses from the Commander. A risky move perhaps, but a Jedi could do plenty with or without cuffs. “These stormtroopers have my permission to shoot, should you try to escape” he continued. “And assuming you even did escape, I’ve been informed there is a Ren presence on-planet. I’m sure they would be happy to take time out to hunt down a Jedi”. Luther hated playing the ‘bad guy’ but he really didn’t want any issues with this assignment. Besides, the girl seemed smart enough to stay out of the morgue.

He moved into the clearing, taking in the wreckage. “You are well and truly involved now, Ms. Camlenn” Luther said, almost absently. “Have any thoughts on this crash?”

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi listened to Luther's warnings and kept her eyes on him steadily, her head slightly tilted, regarding him with a quizzical expression. She said nothing, and her thoughts were inscrutable, but one didn't receive the impression that she was being provocative. She was merely looking at reality... at an angle.

Put on the spot by Luther's question, she would have had to profess that her mind was rather blank on the subject at hand, but preferred not to answer at once. She overlooked the crash site, but it did not speak to her in any way. She idly strolled over towards the remnants of the vehicle and laid her hand on the cold metal. But no image or idea came to mind. She turned back to Luther.

"I don't -" She did not manage to say know. Her instincts screamed at her of the immediate danger. "Cover!" she yelled. The change in her voice was astounding. This was not the confident soft-spokenness with which she had confronted the First Order operatives - it was an imperious order given to soldiers. It was a long time ago that Amilthi had last spoken so, but now she would find it difficult to deny that she was not entirely a stranger to warfare.

She dropped to the ground, wrapped in her robe. Her attention abandoned her surroundings entirely and focused razor-sharp on only the edges of her own body, ready to receive and process an impending impact of energy.

The explosives with which the wreckage had been rigged realised the ultimate purpose of their existence.

[member="Luther Ando"]​

 

[Luther Lewis]

It was an old trick taught to Luther by a grizzled ex-agent. Involve the suspect in the investigation and watch them as they try to attract or deflect your attention. Did they point out any particular evidence? Or did they try to cover up some crucial details? Others member of the Bureau didn’t agree with such methods, but Luther usually found the suspect would leap at the temptation to hide something.

This didn’t seem to be the case with Camlenn. Maybe it was because she was a Jedi, or maybe she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. Perhaps she was innocent. In any case, Luther had work of his own to do. He motioned to a stormtrooper, indicating he should keep an eye on her.

He wasn’t particularly interested in the wreck itself. Anything there would have been a part of the original report. Besides, the most important evidence in a crash was found at the edges of the scene. He examined the furrows in the dirt from when the craft collided with the ground. They were about ten metres long and one to two metres deep. ‘Short and deep trenches’ Luther mused. The descending angle must have been steep then. Whatever caused the crash happened very suddenly, causing the vehicle to lose height almost immediately.

Camlenn was speaking, prompting Luther to turn to face her. “Hmm?” he said. “Cover!” she shouted. Luther’s muscles tensed but he did nothing, only looking on in confusion. He took one step forward before he was interrupted by a mighty explosion.

The shockwave knocked him back, the heat of the blast burning his front. Large shards of shrapnel flew past, one opening large gash on his head and the other embedding itself in his shoulder. He landed amidst gnarled tree roots, the force of his landing sending spikes of pain along his spine.

His former deathtrooper training kicked in and soon he was up on his feet, pistol drawn. He rushed back into the clearing, ignoring the pain pull from his shoulder.

| [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] |​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi keenly felt the heat and pressure from the explosion sweep against her side and over her body. But it is was in the face of this very awareness that it disappeared, leaving no trace in the physical realm, and only a dim memory of the sensation that soon flickered out of existence.

She remained lying on the ground, but stretched her neck to look up and survey the situation. The soldier who had been guarding her had been hit by a large piece of metal that had pierced his armour, and she could see the blood lining the edges of it. She didn't know whether he had survived. The other soldiers had managed to duck in time and had been spared from the worst by their armours. Luther turned out to be in quite a different spot from where she remembered him, and looking rather worse than before with a gruesome-looking wound on his forehead. But there he was already standing again, his pistol drawn. The other officer was nowhere to be seen.

One soldier coughed, and a gust of wind rustled the leaves above, but nothing else disturbed the silence - no sound of movement, no words, no blaster fire. No feeling of threat. Amilthi hesitated to trust her impression fully. But when after several seconds, still nothing was disturbing them, she eventually picked herself up from the ground, slowly and deliberately.

The soldiers in position to secure the area. Luther's colleague, if one wanted to call him so, lay on the ground still, blood coming out of the edges of his mouth. But Amilthi first walked over to the soldier who had been next to her and now had metal stuck in his chest. Kneeling down by his side, she extended her hand to feel his pulse. "Dead", she said tonelessly, looking up to Luther. She wasn't sure he would even hear her. One might have though her cold for how little the sight of death impacted her. It was as if a barrier had automatically been set up in her mind to prevent the occurrence of a death from impacting her, and it was this barrier that Amilthi herself noticed. She knew that she could remove it if she so chose, but she also knew what lay behind it and how difficult and exercise it would be to see it with equanimity. A worthy exercise in many circumstances, but right now there was no reason to expose herself to such strain.

She got up again, and looked over to the fallen officer. Only now did she see that he had piece of metal stuck in his side, but she did not approach him. Let the First Order take care of their own.

If nobody was attacking them now, the bomb must have been equipped with a proximity sensor, which meant that whoever had planted it was probably not planning to come back. If they had any sense, they would not endanger the village either by attacking the soldiers there. Without a clear purpose to it at first, the idea of returning to the monastery occurred to her. She pondered it for a moment and saw that what was behind it was perhaps a desire to understand how an insurgency could exist among the peaceful inhabitants of this planet at all. It seemed like the thing to do in view of no better options.

"I think you should go to the monastery tomorrow. You can go alone, but you might do well to take me with you - even though they don't like me very much, either", she said, quite aware of the oddness of her failure to acknowledge the present situation. Her voice was harder now, and her face a blank façade. The very perceptive might have seen a hint of tiredness in it.

[member="Luther Ando"]​

 

[Luther Lewis]

'This is perhaps the most unscathed I've been coming out from an explosion' he thought. There was something very wrong with that statement. People in his position were like flares. Bright, vibrant and exciting. But very short-lived. One of these days, he’d count one too many wounds and know he was about to be extinguished.

The Jedi had survived, which didn’t surprise Luther. She seemed the capable sort, and force-users were difficult to kill. Some of his men had been less fortunate. The closest one to Camlenn was very clearly dead, so Luther wasted no time with him. He was more concerned with the living. Hearing a groan issue from the Commander, Luther ran over to check on the officer.

The man was in poor shape. A large shard of metal protruded from his left side, leaving a red stain on the once-pristine uniform. Luther looked around to find the checkpoint guard standing nearby, unhurt but dazed. “Over here, kid” Luther shouted. The guard snapped back to reality and moved to Luther. “Give me your medkit” Luther said. The man fumbled with the pack, prompting Luther to roll of his eyes and snatch it away.

“N-no stop!” the Commander spluttered. Luther turned back to find the man was not only awake, but furious. “Seize that man!" he shouted, pointing at Luther. "And the Jedi!” . Luther moved back, sling the medkit over his shoulder and drawing his pistol.

Some of the Stormtroopers were looking around confused but, unfortunately, some were already moving towards him. “On what grounds?” Luther said, still moving backwards towards Camlenn. “Isn’t it obvious?” the Commander said. “He’s consorting with the Jedi! He shows up just as we arrest her, releases her from her cuffs and allows her to ambush us with a bomb!” The man groaned as he raised himself to a sitting position. “Look, both Ando and the Jedi are relatively unharmed! This is no coincidence”.

The muttered a curse under his breath. Luther had never particularly trusted the man, but he never assumed that he’d stoop this low. More and more of the troopers were approaching now, but they seemed hesitant. Luther backed up until he was next to Camlenn.

Gritting his teeth, he addressed the Jedi. “Don’t make me regret this” he said. He detached the lightsaber from his belt and chucked it to her.

| [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] |​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi was not bitter to find her words ignored over those of a dying man. If only there had been less madness in the latter. She listened with a disbelief that slowly gave way to annoyance. She was frustrated by the fact that for all the good intentions she had had, her entire involvement had so far served no end but to make things worse, and it was infuriating how even [member="Luther Ando"]'s reasonable presence was not enough to fend off the stupidity of those involved.

The Jedi stood where she was, her eyes wandering around from one person to the next as the tension grew. That Luther came closer, instead of distancing himself from her, was at once surprising and gave her an odd sort of satisfaction, and not only because it brought her lightsaber closer which at this moment she very much wished to hold in her hand. Before she could reach a decision about whether to retrieve it right now and risk escalating the situation further, the First Order's agent did the most astonishing thing. Her awareness had already been reaching out for the weapon, and when he threw it to her she caught it with ease.

The blue energy blade sprung into existence with a buzzing sound and the Jedi held her weapon ready by her side with both hands, pointing upwards. The young private whose mind Amilthi had manipulated at the beginning of this whole mess had his rifle pointed at the Jedi. His gaze darted between her and his fallen comrade and friend at her feet. "Don't", she said firmly. Her voice failed to sound conciliatory, her impatience was audible and infused her words with the faint air of a threat. "There is no need to -" She broke off when possibility became inevitability. The finger had not yet pulled the trigger, but was on its way unstoppably, as Amilthi brought her blade down and sideways in a decisive strike.

A blink of an eye later, the young soldier fell to the ground, hit by the very plasma bolt he had, half in panic and with little premeditation, fired. Amilthi was still holding her lightsaber with tight control in the precise spot where it had reflected the shot and didn't even spare a glance for the wounded man. Her attention was fixed on the others, the future still suspended. Either the confrontation would be over now, or all hell would break lose. Barely a second was left before the future would set on a determinate path.

 

[Luther Lewis]

A bitter taste flooded his mouth as he watched his own surround him and Camlenn. The tension in the air was palpable and Luther swallowed as he stared down the barrel of a blaster rifle. There were no shots yet, they seemed to have reached an impasse. ‘This won’t last’ Luther thought grimly, drawing his blaster pistol.

His prediction proved to be accurate; the bumbling checkpoint guard opened fire and Camlenn returned his bolt with a flourish of her lightsaber. The man fell, and chaos erupted. Most of the soldiers were very inexperienced, assigned to a quiet planet so they wouldn’t have to fight on the front line. The sight of Jedi already had them trembling and the activation of the blade caused panic to set it.

Blaster-fire erupted throughout the clearing, wild and inaccurate. Luther ducked low, taking cover behind broken fuselage. Gritting his teeth, he began to return fire. Luther wasted no time with trick-shots, instead aiming for the centre of mass. His own life came first, he wouldn’t throw that away with such mercies.

His Deathtrooper training took over. He would fire several shots at a target then whip the barrel towards another, not waiting to see if the previous shots connected. Even crouched behind his measly cover, he was more than a match for the squad. With Camlenn’s help, it didn’t take long to send the group into a full rout.

The clearing was filled with even more dead now. Luther felt the sour taste return. Why was the Galaxy filled with such needless death? Was this really what sentient life had devolved to? The questions didn’t inspire melancholy as much as they inspired rage. He wasn’t to blame for this…

He stalked over to the downed Commander and grabbed him by his shirt. He shoved his blaster under the man’s chin. “You karking piece of chit” he swore, punctuating his statement by pushing the blaster deep into his neck. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you?!” he shouted.

The Commander said nothing, only letting a gurgling chuckle. His laughter caused flecks of blood to splatter onto Luther’s face. Clearly the man didn’t have long anyway. Luther’s finger tightened on the trigger, but eventually slackened. He let out a growl and flipped his pistol around. Landing a solid blow on the Commander’s head, the man slumped over, unconscious.

He stood and turned towards Camlenn. “We’re in this together now” Luther said. “I won’t survive without you, and you need me if you want any hope of escaping the Order”. He looked down at the Commander. “And considering he’s in state to pardon us, we best find some evidence to prove our innocence”. He stripped off his First Order coat, leaving only a plain grey t-shirt and non-descript pants. “You mentioned something about a Monastery?”

| [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] |​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi remained within one step of her spot, right in the centre of the blaster fire, her lightsaber whirling around sending one shot after the other aside, and some back to their sources. Her concentration was intense, but it was not every individual action she was focussed on - rather, it was her state as a whole, a state in which the world seemed to slow down and her actions flowed effortlessly and naturally from her instincts without conscious guidance. This was the sort of confrontation she had grown familiar with in the wartime of her youth, and had found herself in more than once since. The lightsaber forms she had accordingly studied prepared her well for it. Her movements were lightning-fast and at the same time looked controlled and measured in a way that should have been physically impossible. It was only a few seconds before rebounding bolts and the shots fired by [member="Luther Ando"] had taken out the remaining soldiers. No body had been touched by her lightsaber.

The annoyance she had felt had fallen off as soon as the fighting had started, and she had snapped into a state of single-minded purposefulness, at the same time calmly resigning to the existence of the problem and furiously working on resolving it. She felt no inclination to yell at the commander as her companion of sorts, as he now was, did. He still seemed agitated when he turned to her and affirmed this alliance of necessity. Amilthi couldn't say that it wasn't welcome - but she wondered if he was thinking about this quite clearly.

"Yes, a monastery in the mountains." She looked vaguely in the direction. It was getting dark. "We won't reach it before dawn if we have to carry him, we might if not." She had walked the way already once today and wasn't exactly looking forward to a night without sleep, but it was certainly within the realm of possibility. There was no doubt that the First Order man, in good shape as he was, would be able to keep up with her. "But don't you outrank this madman? Isn't there some way you can report this, truthfully or not, that would smoothe things over? Would it help if any of them had lightsaber wounds?" She spoke oddly soberly and matter-of-factly, without either agitation or gravity.

 

[Luther Lewis]

“We are of equal rank, essentially” Luther replied, his voice lowing to a calm pitch. “But the point is moot. Many troopers escaped and will deliver a report of what they saw to those higher in the chain. The timing of the explosion and the fact that: not only did we fail to surrender but we fought back… Well that will not paint us in a favourable light”.

He looked back at the unconscious form of the Commander. “It would be more merciful to leave him here” Luther said, his voice monotone. “He would not survive the journey. If left, he may receive medical treatment”. At this point, Luther cared little if the man lived or died.

He considered his new companion. It was easy to dismiss her as no threat when he was surrounded by soldiers, but now he was alone with her. She could easily strike him down here and disappear into the wilderness. It would be a foolish course of action, but perhaps she didn’t know that.

And perhaps it was her who should fear betrayal. Incapacitating her would help his situation greatly. Deliver her to Order, use that as leverage. Oh, there would still be punitive measures, but he would survive. Probably spend several months on the desk or be assigned to Dagobah. She was facing away from him now; it would be so easy. One shot in the chest, one in the head. That was the best way to make sure Jedi were truly dead.

His hand tightened on the grip of his weapon, then slackened. “In any case, someone is playing us for fools” Luther continued, banishing the thoughts from his mind. “They must have some sort of access to the First Order. Which means I can’t trust my own men, even if they weren’t trying to kill me”. Luther paused, thinking, before adding: “And if we do surrender, there is nothing stopping an assassin from silencing us for potentially revealing the plot”. Perhaps he was overthinking this, but that was his job as an Intelligence Officer.

He stretched and loosened his muscles for the walk ahead. “Let’s not waste anymore time here, lead on”.

| [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] |​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"I see", said Amilthi simply, apparently satisfied with the explanation. At least this meant that blame would not fall on the village's civilians.

She clipped her lightsaber back to her belt and turned to Luther. She seemed quite unconcerned and smiled at him briefly before she looked in the direction of the monastery. "This way. I think we should see that we get onto the road once we're further away from the village and your troops. It'll take twice as long if we go through the wilderness."

Once they were on their way, Amilthi continued the conversation. "So what's your theory, precisely?" The man's paranoia was probably a professional prerequisite, but she really didn't quite see the point of it. None of what had happened required a conspiracy to explain. In fact, any conspiracy would have required remarkable and improbable foresight, because her own involvement in this whole matter was not an easily predictable occurrence. Insurgents of whatever nature, improbable as they were in themselves on this planet, who had shot down a glider and then, not incomprehensible, sought it out to rig it with a bomb, coupled with a single man's incompetence, seemed quite a sufficient explanation.

[member="Luther Ando"]​

 

[Luther Lewis]

Her calm demeanor did nothing to soothe his nerves. In fact, it made him feel even more on edge. ‘Bloody Jedi’ he thought. ‘This inner peace mentality must mess with their head’. He swore as he tripped over some underbrush and took more care to watch where he walked. “Roads sound excellent” he agreed. He could already feel the burn in muscles, signaling the need to take his meds. He only had one dose left however, so he would wait.

“It’s not so much a theory” he replied wearily. “As preparing for the worst. It just strikes me odd that a group would return to set a bomb in the crash”. He stopped to glare at the sun. His pale skin had turned into a reddish hue from its exposure to the sun. “I’ve run guerilla operations before” he continued. “You don’t do anything to overextend yourself. Shooting down aircraft is risky enough, but rigging it to explode later? That strikes me as far too complicated…”

They had finally reached the point to transfer to the road. His feet were already sore, and the smoothed tarmac was a blessed relief. “I’m curious” Luther said. “What was it that you were doing in the monastery?” His gut told him that he could trust the woman, but his training wouldn’t allow him to rule her out as a potential enemy.

|[member="Amilthi Camlenn"]|​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi chuckled. "You may well have more experience in running guerilla operations than anyone on this planet. Perhaps they thought destroying the remnants of the craft would be a good idea to hide traces and just happened to be too late. It's not a far-fetched idea to come up with, is it?"

"The monastery is the dwelling place of the most reclusive monks of the Dagoyan Order. Their tradition pervades the culture and is the reason why you found it so easy to acquire and govern it; they are quietists of a sort. They know the Force, but they are purely passive in it. And they kicked me out when I projected my thoughts into the abbot who had never bothered to learn another language. That's how quietist they are", said the Jedi, ending with a wry smile. Then she gave a shrug and finally answered the actual question. "I had merely wanted to find out if any of their meditative techniques were interesting for me and worth exploring."

It would be a long walk, and visibility was becoming quite poor as the sun set behind the mountains. She wondered if by any chance the agent had a flashlight with him - he probably did, those sorts of characters were always equipped for eventualities. Even so, it would be a taxing journey, and Amilthi felt her legs tired from the preceding days of walking. But rather than distract herself or ignore the sensation, she faced it head on, focussing her attention on it, and so, in following the sensation of every step, reached a state where the exhaustion, while present, somehow did not at all register as a reason for her body not to go on. It was simply a random experiential fact without import.

[member="Luther Ando"]​