Private The Die is Cast

[Lorn Reingard]

Following: The Sword Returns
Tags: Briana Sal-Soren | Rik Perris​

Dust clung to the cool air inside the main hall of Shiraya's Rest. Weathered stone floors groaned slightly underfoot, and cracked marble columns stood like old, broken sentinels holding up the sagging roof. Years of abandonment had left the interior buried under a thick gray shroud. Walking up to a massive tactical table in the center of the room, Lorn wiped his hand across the surface, sending up a small cloud of particulate into the sunlight.

Leaning his weight against the heavy stone edge of the table, Lorn crossed his arms and looked at the two seasoned Jedi who had followed him inside.

"Thank you both for coming," Lorn said, his voice raspy from the tension of the courtyard. "It has been far too long since the three of us have shared a room, but I am glad this cause has brought us back together."

A heavy silence settled briefly between them as Lorn pulled up a mental tally of the Jedi who had chosen to stay behind in the sand.

"We managed to secure some decent numbers out there," Lorn admitted, shifting his gaze directly to Briana. "But numbers won't mean a thing without standard supplies and operational equipment. How fares the Underground?"

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

Briana let out a long exhale once the doors closed behind them, reflexively pinching the space between her brows. From start to finish, the entirety of the meeting had barreled down a million miles a minute until it finally collided there at the end. Another meeting full of people she respected, pulling apart in different directions, just as it had a few years before with Romi. While she wished there was an easier path forward that'd ended in unity among them, it'd become painfully clear that the Jedi couldn't stand together until their true purpose, and what they were meant to stand for, was first reinvigorated. If they had to be the ones to light that path, so the rest of them could run, then so be it.

At least, she supposed, her siblings would be there by her side this time... even though Brandyn Sal-Soren 's demeanor seemed notably off, though given what he was going through, that was no surprise; and she couldn't even begin to wonder about what Vizion Trozky would think of all of this once she brought it back home to him; if he didn't hear it from Ala, first.

"Thank you both for coming," Lorn said, his voice raspy from the tension of the courtyard. "It has been far too long since the three of us have shared a room, but I am glad this cause has brought us back together."

Briana simply nodded, her lips pulling up at one corner, but staying otherwise silent. She wanted to hear what more Lorn had to say to them, before she began to put in her own two cents.

"We managed to secure some decent numbers out there," Lorn admitted, shifting his gaze directly to Briana. "But numbers won't mean a thing without standard supplies and operational equipment. How fares the Underground?"

"In other words, you're anticipating that even what we have, won't be enough." Briana put plainly. They needed the experience and wisdom from as many hands as they could get, and some of those had walked away. "More will come, given time. These type of things aren't built in a day, we just have to show them what's possible. People will follow actions, more than they'll follow words." She scooted until she could lean back against the closest desk, crossing her ankles and arms. "We've been building a steady but robust network," she explained, "And we found her, at last. Operations have been smooth, and like I said before - I've got some contacts within the Republic who've been helping keep us supplied with weapons and ships as we need them. What all are you thinking you'll need?"

TAG: Lorn Reingard , Rik Perris

Honorable Mentions: Bastila Sal-Soren , Romi Jade

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[Lorn Reingard]

Tags: Briana Sal-Soren | Rik Perris​

"What we have will never be enough if we try to fight a conventional war," Lorn agreed, acknowledging the reality of their situation with a grim nod. "We are heavily outmatched, so we must rely entirely on sympathetic ears and whatever credits we can scrape together. Armor, medical supplies, starfighters, and heavy munitions are our immediate priorities."

The conversation naturally shifted toward their scattered allies. Finding a secure line of support was paramount to keeping the movement alive.

"If you are still in touch with the Foundation remnants, we should quietly reach out to them," Lorn suggested, looking between Briana and Rik. "The enclave on Jakku might be willing to lend us resources or a few extra hands who aren't bound by the Council's hesitation. But we also have to face a harder truth. We cannot stay on Naboo much longer."

The threat of the High Council intervening loomed large over his old stomping grounds. Ala's warning had been clear, and it was only a matter of time before the official Order attempted to shut down their unsanctioned operation.

"The Order will resist this crusade at every turn," Lorn stated bluntly. "We need a headquarters far away from their prying eyes and political reach."

Reaching into his heavy tunic, Lorn pulled out a scarred datapad and placed it firmly onto the dusty table. A flickering, blue holographic projection of a lush, green world materialized in the dim light of the hall.

"This is D'Qar," Lorn explained. "An ancient, abandoned rebel outpost still sits deep in the plains. It is well outside the Republic's direct sphere of influence and completely secluded. It will give us the privacy we need to rebuild the Vanguard without a target on our backs."

 

[Bastila Sal-Soren]

Where else would she have gone?

Back to the Temple? Back beneath the gaze of those who would ask her to stand beside her own sister while condemning everything Lorn had spent years teaching them?

No.

That choice had already been made.

She had chosen loyalty. To her family. To the people who had stood beside her when the Order had demanded certainty instead of understanding.

And to Lorn.

Somewhere along the way he had stopped simply being her Master. He had become family. The closest thing to a father she had known since she had lost hers, save perhaps for Brandyn himself. Every lesson, every correction, every quiet conversation had shaped the Jedi she had become. If Lorn believed this was the path worth walking, Bastila needed little more convincing.

So she had followed them without question, leaving the Temple behind for another forgotten corner of history. Dust clung to the abandoned halls, the silence itself seeming to question whether any of them should truly be here.

It changed nothing.

Bastila remained unusually quiet while Lorn and Briana spoke. Normally she would have filled the silence with questions or observations, but today there was only reflection. She listened instead.

Briana spoke of the Underground. It was the obvious answer. Bastila still maintained ties through the network they had built after her sister stepped away from the Council, and she knew it now reached further than most realised. Her position as handmaiden to the Voice afforded privileges few Jedi enjoyed. She had attended briefings she was never expected to repeat. She knew there were influential figures within the High Republic quietly ensuring the Underground continued to survive.

Then Lorn spoke a word that shot across her like an assassin’s bolt.

"Jakku."

The breath caught in her throat.

A cold shiver crawled across her shoulders as memories she had spent years burying rose uninvited. Endless dunes beneath an uncaring sun. The lonely enclave. The beginning of everything she had become.

Before she realised she was speaking, the words had already left her.

"I can go to Jakku." Her voice was little more than a whisper, almost swallowed by the room. She doubted anyone had truly heard it. She looked up, resolve hardening behind tired eyes. "I need to go to Jakku."

OUTFIT: XoXo | TAG: Lorn Reingard Briana Sal-Soren Rik Perris EQUIPMENT:

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[Rik Perris]

SHIRAYA'S REST
NABOO

The gathering had gone about as well as Rik might have expected, much the same as every other one of its kind had proceeded in the few years since he'd come off the far-ranging wayseeking that had defined his second decade. Voices continued to dissent against the will of others to act and walk this path, at every. single. turn. Jedi voices that believed they still had the luxury of remaining moderate in all things. Peaceable.

Ignoring the writing on the wall, they had already reaped the consequences. The galaxy was the darkest it had ever been in all of his thirty-one years, the brunt of it as a Jedi, and yet Jedi continued to resist doing what was necessary. For what? Maintaining an image?

Others would come to see the light, or those here would simply be damned for what they do. He was willing to take that risk. Rik stood at one end of the table, arms folded over his chest, while the two former councillors discussed the Vanguard's starting position, his thoughts half on Oryn Selvar , the padawan he had started training only a couple of days before, and how he would handle bringing the young Nautolan into the fold of his ideology and the broader movement, after that didn't work out so well with his first student.

Circumstances beyond his control had a hand in that, more than his adjusting to a student far from his own wavelength did.

Ultimately, those were thoughts that shifted as he looked to Lorn, when Jakku was brought into the discussion. He'd never set foot on the world, but he knew both of its entrusted caretakers; one had begun to unravel the wariness of his heart, but her absence left him in a sort of purgatory he'd coped with by keeping himself busy—now he didn't know what to think. His brow creased faintly, and Rik willed himself to refocus as the discussion segued to the most pressing concern: they needed to move.

"That's some ways south of here," he spoke, finally, his tone broaching approval, "way I see it, Pubs have their attention focused elsewhere, the Order is bound to look in the same direction." Simple as, that was how allies often worked. "And it has no Jedi ties to speak of. Those have to be the first places they will think to look. Good call."

Setting up shop somewhere Jedi had history was going to paint a target on their backs all the faster, far as he could figure.

"But," he continued, turning to Briana, "Jakku I'm not sure about." He sighed, almost hesitant to say anything more, but he forged onward, "I... I've heard nothing from Lossa Aureus , lately," the concern was hard to keep out of his eyes or tentativeness of his voice as those eyes slipped from Briana, to Bastila, and back, "have you?"

For all he knew, she could have simply decided to cut him out.

Bastila Sal-Soren • Briana Sal-Soren • Lorn Reingard​

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

"Yeah, it's a smart play," Briana agreed, her gaze lazily drifting from the projection to Lorn. "The Republic's logistics lines don't stretch that far south either, and you're right that the Council won't likely think to look for a Vanguard presence in an old rebel graveyard."

There was a profound irony in standing here, actively plotting to subvert the very institution she'd poured her own blood and soul into founding before she finally stepped away. But the true, phantom ache settled deeper, tightening like a vice around her ribs. Vizion. The sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She would have to return home to her fiancé after this, look into his eyes, and potentially lie to him. The thought made her stomach roll.

Here she was helping to draw out battle lines, without a previous thought of the man she loved being on the other side of them.

"I'll be sure to get in touch with my channels." She continued, her throat feeling suddenly dry. "We'll start scrubbing the manifests for the starfighters and ordnance. It won't be overnight, but we can funnel it through the Outer Rim networks without raising too many red flags."

Her gaze shifted to Rik first, her eyes softening with an apology she didn't know how to fully vocalize. "As for Lossa and Jakku... I haven't heard from her either. Keeping the network running has been... demanding." An over simplification if there ever was one. "I've been so focused on keeping heads above water that I haven't reached out. I didn't realize until recently how quiet things had gotten on her end, and Romi Jade headed out that way to check in on her. I've been waiting to hear back on what's going on."

Finally, Briana turned to Bastila.

When their parents had died, she'd convinced herself that sending her sister to train at the Jakku Enclave was an act of mercy, and the best way to shield her from all of the fallout of their parents' sins. But time and hindsight had stripped away that comforting lie, leaving behind only the truth: a grieving, underaged girl had been isolated and forgotten in a sun-bleached purgatory, and whether Briana's intentions had been good or bad, they'd left a mark on her, and a permanent fracture between them.

The fiercely protective, maternal instinct flared up instantly, screaming at her to step in, to say no, to keep her sister safe under her own eye. Jakku was a massive question mark now; without recent word from Lossa or the enclave, she had no idea what dangers might be brewing there. But, as she looked at the hard, quiet resolve etched in her sister's features, Briana forcibly caught herself.

She couldn't keep treating Bastila like the broken child she'd marooned, trying to make up for a time they could never take back. Her sister was a woman grown, a capable Jedi who had carved out her own path and her own loyalties. To deny her now, to dictate where she could and could not go, would be repeating the exact same suffocating mistake that'd hurt her in the first place.

"If you feel you need to go, then you should," Briana said softly, her eyes searching Bastila's face, anchoring her gaze there. "I'll send a message to Romi that you'll be en route. But you need to be careful. We don't know what the current state of the enclave is, or what might be waiting for you out there."

TAG: Lorn Reingard , Rik Perris , Bastila Sal-Soren

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[Lorn Reingard]

Tags: Briana Sal-Soren | Rik Perris | Bastila Sal-Soren​

At some point, Bastila had quietly filtered into the meeting. Lorn did not mind her presence. She was his Padawan, and watching them navigate the messy reality of logistically organizing a war was as vital a lesson as any saber form. When she spoke up about Jakku, her voice barely above a whisper, Lorn turned to her with a curious look.

Knowing the Sal-Soren family had history on that desolate world was one thing, but he lacked the exact details of what had transpired there. Lingering doubts stirred in his mind. Was the planet safe? Did it make any practical sense to send Bastila out to the desert on her own while everything else was hanging by a thread?

Stepping forward to voice his objections, Lorn paused as he caught the intense look passing between the two sisters. A complex dynamic stirred beneath the surface, history he knew better than to blindly step into. Remaining silent, he listened as Rik and Briana weighed in on the logistics. The plan was solid enough on paper, even if execution would take time.

Briana ultimately conceded, granting her younger sister permission to make the journey. With the immediate logistical debate settling, Lorn shifted his focus directly back to his Padawan.

"What is out there on Jakku that you need to see?" Lorn asked Bastila.