The Show Goes On

[Jamie Pyne]

LOG 3246.23
------//
It has been three days since I escaped him...Three days since Aela rescued me.
Three nights I've been awakened by the image of their faces.
Sieger Ren. Castor Ren. The red haired woman.
Both Naboo and the Alliance received word that the transmission forwarded to them had been altered.
My family knows I am safe.
Kurt doesn't know anything yet.
Aela saved my life again. I can't thank her enough. Sometimes I wonder if she tires of it, of me.
I don't think I am a very good Jedi Knight. I try my best, but I wonder if she thinks the same.
Maybe I should return home permanently.
Something to think about...
------//

The datapad with her musings was left on the table beside her awaiting further entry. As of late Jamie had begun jotting down her thoughts more frequently than in the past so that she could reference her state of mind at a later time. Whereas in the past she had written down her thoughts as more of a personal diary, these were more than simply boy crushes, fights with her parents, and wishes for grandeur. What she wrote now was tangible, measurable thoughts, things that actually held merit and meaning.

Things had been quiet thus far, since leaving Hoth. Sleep was difficult to get for a myriad of reasons. Restlessness had become a problem, coupled with the constant images of the Ren each time she slept made it difficult to feel rested. The ship hadn't a water shower on board, much to Jamie's dismay, but the sonic did its' job well enough that she felt clean. Her hair, what remained of it was tied back behind her head in a haphazard bun to avoid the embarrassment of its' unsightly looks. The bed was made, though she had opted to curl herself into the lounge chair on the opposite side of the room in an attempt to further rest. The only light within the room was that of the dim screen beside her.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela had been concerned about her padawan, mostly because she had no idea how to help her. Shed been caught by enemies plenty of times, but never had she actually been taken anywhere by them. Jamie had twice now suffered that injustice and the Jedi Master knew that it was likely weighing heavily on the girl.

The former Marshall wandered down the halls of the ship.

They were heading towards Naboo. There had been a few outcries to debrief Jamie before anything else but Aela had insisted that she be allowed to go home and spend time with her family. She had enough pull with the New Jedi Order and The Alliance that it had been allowed, and thus they were now only a day or so away from actually arriving on Jamie's homeworld.

”Jamie?” She called out as she knocked on her padawans door.

Aela had left the girl to do most of her own things over the last few days, though of course she had been there whenever Jamie had needed it. Aela understood this would likely be something Jamie worked through with time.

One did not get over a kidnapping in three nights.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Blue eyes cracked open by the sound of the knock and the call of her name. She wasn't asleep, or at least she didn't think she had fallen asleep. If she was, it was a brief period, and her body had already used the energy she had regained from the small slumber. Searching for a moment for the source of the light within the area with only her hand she eventually felt the datapad, to which she quickly pressed with her thumb to sleep the screen.

Quietly she chirped a small response. "It's open, Aela."

Jamie wasn't one for locking her door, not unless she was back home at her family's estate, where her mother would frequently barge in unannounced, or someplace where she didn't feel safe. On board a ship with a dozen 5th legion soldiers and someone she felt close enough to consider a sister to her she hadn't the need to lock a door.

"Come in."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela slowly stepped inside, sliding the door open for just a moment before closing it behind herself once again.

There was a quiet lull throughout the ship that came from the sound of the engines. The corvette wasn't massive, and thus it was easy to hear the constant drone of the reactor as they plowed through hyperspace. The 5th Legion Soldiers said that it was comforting, Aela disagreed.

The Jedi Master moved around for a moment, then plopped herself down on the bed.

”How are you doing? She asked Jamie, not trying to pry but clearly still concerned about her padawans wellbeing.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I'm sore still."

The medic had stitched the wound on her hand, that had been painful. The gashes across her back and chest from Krisgaldr, the Ren's sword, were deep, would likely leave everlasting scars. Bacta patches had been applied to those to minimize the visibility of the future marks. The bruises were bright, obvious now. Her arms were covered in them, legs too. Those were just the ones easy enough to see. Her back was nothing but a purple blotch. Perhaps luckily her face, save for the raggedy hair was relatively fine. No bulging black eyes or cheeks.

Aside from that, her muscles ached as they healed the strain and damage and abuse done to them.

"But I'll make it I think. The doctor said they didn't find anything in the scans."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

It was at least a small measure of relief that the First Order hadnt tortured Jamie.

In truth she had expected them to.

From the live holofeeds of what they had done to their soldiers after Skorr she had expected the worst of the worst when getting back Jamie. In a weird way she had been pleasantly surprised when her Padawan had not come back a broken and bruised mess. As odd as it seemed to even think of that.

She frowned for a moment. ”Im glad you're safe.”

Aela really was.

”Need a better tracking device for you.” She flicked the bracelet. ”These things arent super accurate.”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie broke a small smile. "But accurate enough." Aela had been able to find her in the end, just as she had with Vrak. Twice now the bracelet had saved her life through Aela's intervention. "I don't need a leash, you know." Briefly she stuck her tongue out towards the other girl. "Thank you though. I didn't know what they were planning on doing with me, but when the Alliance arrived I took the chance to escape. I didn't know where I was going, or how I was going to get away, but I had to try. Thankfully you were there. Maybe that was why I knew I had to try."

She sat quietly for a moment or two longer, before sitting up in the chair with a loud, resounding crack in her back upon stretching her arms and legs as far as they would cooperate.

"I saw him, face to face...The leader of the Knights of Ren. He told me that unless the Alliance brokers peace the Order will march on every world they hold."

Naboo may have been on the fringes of Alliance space, but it was still a member of the alliance all the same. That meant her people were in danger as well.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela let out a sigh.

Peace. Peace was hard, especially with someone like the First Order. Apparently most of their worlds were treated well, their civilians werent enslaved or taken to camps, but...she had seen their atrocities first hand. Nerve gas, decimation, a dozen other barbarian tactics such as crucifixion. It was terrible, horrible.

Did the Alliance really want peace with people like that? Aela didnt know. ”Well.”

Aela began, her tone an odd sort of melancholy.

”They can march all they want, doesn't mean they'll win. We beat them back at Skor.” She explained. ”And it wasn't just me at Hoth. The Alliance was invading, Bespin and Anoat too.”

She frowned. ”I dont know what the Alliance will do even if they win. Sue for peace on better terms or just keep going.

The Jedi Master frowned, clearly unable to decide if there even was a good choice.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Something about him..." A long pause lingered, her index finger and thumb moving to rub the corners of her eyes. "Was unsettling."

The way he commanded obedience from those around him, the way the Ren seemingly obeyed without the slightest of question. It was as if they were a hive, where all beneath him were the worker bees of the colony, with himself at the helm, all working to further his goals. Unfettered loyalty and devotion. At his every beck and call. Was it fear that commanded them? Had he blinded them? Promised them things? Outmaneuvered or overpowered them? How did he gain such unyielding devotion? Jamie understood the Sith, at least somewhat. The Ren were an anomaly that she couldn't figure out.

"My home is quite far from First Order space, yet I still feel strangely unsafe."

Naboo had a modest security force, a small fleet of fighters and a dozen or so cruisers, but nothing comparable to an army or armada that the First Order commanded. The only deterrent at present was their distance in space. That was hardly comforting to Jamie. Would the alliance be able to muster a defense in time, if such a bold move was made? Jamie was but one Jedi Knight, and in her own eyes, not a great one. She knew she would stand and fight for Naboo, but she also was not so naive to believe that she would single handed defend the world from invasion.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"The darkside." She began simply.

Aela knew well enough the sensation that Jamie was talking about. She had been around enough powerful people to know that oppressive feeling that one got. She often wondered if it had been worse around The Dark Lord of the Sith, the one that the One Sith had all knelt to.

By all accounts the man...creature, whatever he had been had been powerful enough to make even the strongest Sith Lords kneel. Compared to that...the Ren seemed like nothing. She frowned for a moment, then slowly patted Jamie's leg, attempting reassure her.

"His mind has been bent, broken." She told her. "It is the way of the Sith."

Whatever the Knights of Ren called themselves, they were still Sith, that much was clear to her. "Naboo is safe. They would have to travel through most of the Galactic Alliance to reach it, or the ORC."

That much at least she was confident in.

"Though perhaps you can convince your world to better prepare." It was a small suggestion, and in these dark times probably a necessary one.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Perhaps."

To her knowledge, Naboo had never had much of an army. Bolstering their forces would not be a process completed overnight, but a long, arduous one over many years. It would need to be pledged by the people, voted by the council of advisors, and signed by the crown. No single step in the process would be one of overnight success. Even if it were, training and providing for such a force, once that could reasonably defend against such an invasion would take longer than Jamie felt there was really time for. But it was a nice sentiment of reassurance nonetheless.

"I'm still not quite certain why Castor kept me alive. Back on Mustafar, I was well and certain I was dead. Instead?"

Her hand flicked up towards her shortened, disarrayed though now clean, blonde hair.

"Instead he takes my weapon, cuts off my hair, and dragged me to Hoth as a hostage for Force knows what reason."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

The Jedi Master shrugged. "I'm not sure."

Who knew what went on in the minds of Sith. Aela had often wondered why they had done what they did in general. The first time Jamie had been taken it was for revenge. Nashar wanted a piece of her for imagined slights, this time around? Well it seemed to have been political leverage, a way for the First Order to put a stop to the war. It made no sense really since they had been the ones to start it in the first place, but the minds of some were unreadable.

"Politics." Aela suggested quietly. "Maybe they intended to manipulate you, induct you into the Knights of Ren."

That seemed likely. Jamie was well trained in the Force, knowledgeable about the Alliance, Naboo, and even SIS Operations, perhaps their intent had been something along the lines of conversion. That too wasn't uncommon within the Sith. She frowned, then glanced at her apprentice for a moment.

Aela ran a hand through Jamie's, following the padawans own fingers. "Doesn't look too bad really, though I think you might want to visit a stylist."

She smiled though continued to speak.

"There's no telling what they wanted, no telling what they still want." She paused. "For all we know there will be peace soon."

Or at least a ceasefire.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The girl's nose scrunched in tandem with her glaring eyes towards Aela.

"It looks awful." She had seen herself in the mirror to know how bad it looked. "You know it looks awful."

Every intention was there to have her appearance fixed upon returning to Naboo. Be it hair extensions or a professional cut. It would be fixed. Castor would not leave his degrading mark on her any longer than was absolutely necessary. He'd done enough. The marks across both chest and back were testament enough to that.

"I don't believe they are after peace. Not the kind where we all live together happily. Their idea of peace, from what I gathered during my interrogation was that they intend for the Alliance to kneel and integrate, not live in parallel."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She smiled again. "I've seen worse."

True enough, like when her little sister had attempted to cut her own hair with a pair of kitchen scissors. Maleah had never really been one for outside logic, and she hadn't wanted to go anywhere, thus she had attempted to do everything herself.

It hadn't worked out well.

"They don't have the military strength." Aela said quietly, frowning for a moment. It wasn't a topic she really wanted to discuss anymore, she had pushed herself away from the fight for a reason, but she was here for Jamie, to reassure her. "Even if they beat us back from Bespin and Hoth, they're tired."

Yet so was the Alliance. "War is grinding, painful. Their loss at Skor was a turning point for them..."

She trailed off for a moment, frowning. She didn't want to introduce Jamie to what had happened after the attack, but she thought it important.

"They used nerve gas during the attacks." Aela frowned. "Apparently against the orders of their commanders. Afterwards their soldiers were punished with...barbarity. Decimation. Their own soldiers were forced to kill one another."

The words stuck in her throat. "A military can't sustain itself like that, not for long anyway."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Her eyes lowered, head following as low shake in remorse.

"Castor tried convincing me that they aren't villains, or monsters. Kept trying to bring up Kaeshana and what happened there. Kept trying to tell me that it was the Alliance committing atrocities. I told Sieger that war requires two participants. I also told him the things you heard in that transmission. Things he intended to be directed towards the Alliance by manipulating my words."

Jamie hadn't seen or heard what had happened on Anoat, or Bespin. She hadn't known that the Alliance launched a full scale attack on the system.

She hadn't known what happened at Skor.

Now she did, and it didn't bring her any comfort.

Aela was uncomfortable discussing what had happened, an so she thought it best to change the subject before the air stifled. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I had only meant to travel to Mustafar for some research. I didn't mean for, well," She gestured to the general area around her. "All this to happen." All she wanted to do now was go home. That was it, just go home.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"It's alright." Aela said quietly.

In truth she would of course have much rather stayed on Wroosti, she had been teaching the younglings there, her apartment now had furniture, and she had even bene putting together a little garden on the second floor.

But Jamie was so much more important than all of that.

"You were in trouble." Aela said with a smile. "I'll always be there to help you."

Of course she hadn't originally come to Mustafar to save Jamie, she hadn't known she'd needed to, but after her capture Aela had worked tirelessly to get her padawan back. She hadn;t been home to Wroosti since Jamie had first been taken. It seemed like forever now, though in reality it hadn't been that long. "You should try to relax for a bit, maybe take a small vacation."

She smiled.

"You can come stay with me on Wroosti." A small gesture.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

A fragile smile broke free beneath the sullen expression, deep azure ellipses shifting from down in her lap to Aela.

"Thank you." She said that a lot. Perhaps too much. Maybe it was the upbringing, or just that she was truly grateful for everything she had done for Jamie. "I'm fortunate that you don't keep a running tab on me. I can't imagine how much I'd owe you." That same smile grew a bit wider, allowing a brief moment of soft laughter. A nod followed a hand to brush away the strands of hair still long enough to fall over her face. "Someday I will find a way to pay you back." Just how she would was still to be seen, but she would see to it regardless.

An escape from the galaxy seems nice...

"I wouldn't want to impose on you. You're liable to sicken of me sooner or later."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"If it was an imposition I wouldn't offer." She stated plainly. "My apartment is big enough for the both of us."

She hadn't really thought about that when buying it, but she did have an extra bedroom, that plus the loft section could be turned into another sleeping area. She frowned for a moment and thought back to just how much the place had cost. Her parents' financial adviser had given her a rather stern look when she'd told him the price. Of course he had eventually dubbed it a 'good investment' but what the heck that meant Aela had actually no idea. "You can meet some of the younglings."

Aela told Jamie.

"Most of them are very good." She frowned. "A few brats among them though."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Sure you would." She said with a smirk. "You're a nice person behind that resting queen face you show to the galaxy."

A small snorted laugh was involuntarily expunged as she leaned back into the pillow behind her shoulders, half expecting the girl to return a slap of some sort in response. In the time they'd spent away from one another the one thing Jamie took to missing more than anything else was the closeness of a sibling, even if they weren't actually. And while she did have a sister of her own, it wasn't the same. The age difference between Jamie and Mariya was rather extensive maturity wise, at least for the next few years.

"But sure. I'll go with you. Maybe I can save them from your torture a bit longer."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela narrowed her eyes.

She knew that in general her expression wasn't a welcoming one, but so far all of the younglings had taken quite a liking to her. Perhaps it was because unlike the other teachers she regaled them with stories of actual missions, told them about Coruscant and other places. She was comparatively exciting. "They like me just fine, thank you. There's no torture in my classes."

Just some lecturing.

She frowned for a moment more, glancing out of the door before looking back towards Jamie. Aela wanted to make sure that they got everything in order first, and part of that would be going to an actual hospital just to get her padawan double checked. She also wanted Jamie to go home first, show her parents that she was okay.

"We'll take you home first." She said, somewhat in thought. "Then we can head to Wroosti from there."

The younglings weren't going anywhere after all.