There Is No Try [Valae Kitra]

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Planet Voss
The Silver Temple
Training Grounds

Since his return to Voss after having picked up [member="Valae Kitra"] on Tatooine by a chance encounter - or perhaps a fateful one - Thurion had officially taken the young woman on as his padawan by appearing before the Assembly and declaring his intent. There had been no objections, as there were few cases where they would deny the training of a padawan. He was actually a bit worried when realising she was to be his first-ever apprentice, doubly so considering she had no-one left to turn to. Failing her was not an option. He also feared his fatherly instincts could potentially get in the way of a master-apprentice relationship, but so far she'd reacted well to it. Perhaps it is nothing to worry about.

Wandering the halls of the Silver Temple, he made for the outside Training Grounds where Valae would be busy attending a class with some fellow padawans. Seeing how she had just begun her training and lacked much in understanding the core concepts of the Force, they had to start from the beginning. The art of meditation was the foundation on which to build your relationship to the Force, as meditating would cause the strongest connection and bring you closer to understanding the essance of the Force. For someone who was just starting out, this step was crucial. It paved the way to self-discipline and patience, some of the most important virtues of a Jedi.

The Grandmaster stood off to the side and observed Valae trying her best; just the fact that she was wholeheartedly trying was more than enough for him to know she was well-worth the effort to train her. Then again, a wise Jedi Master once said: "Do, or do not. There is no try." Whether or not he agreed with this statement remained unknown, even to himself.

"Master Wynn, would you mind me borrowing Padawan Kitra for a bit?" he finally asked, stepping into view of the group sat in the soft grass. "By all means, Grandmaster."

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Life had been a whirlwind for Valae since arriving on Voss, the winds having brought her a completely new life. No longer was she a salvager at a failing family scrap yard, she had now stepped into the role of Padawan, and was just beginning to learn what this entailed. The world opened up by the force was mysterious and deep with knowledge; she was only scratching the surface of understanding. There was much that she would need to learn. Attending classes and applying herself to practice was not one of her strongest suits. Back on Tatooine, Valae had only completed the minimal amount of work to get by and never went on to further her studies. However, now that [member="Thurion Heavenshield"] had been named as her Master, she was determined to make him proud.

Valae settled onto the grass, seated with legs crossed and hands folded in her lap. She listened to the instructions that Master Wynn provided to them, and she tried her best to follow along. Letting her eyes close, she began to try to quiet her mind, a task that was easier said than done. Every sound drew her attention: the call of wildlife, the breathing of the student next to her, the beating of her own heart…it was all very distracting. Valae shook her head slightly and drew in a deep breath as she tried again. This time the quiet lasted longer, but she was still having trouble focusing. She opened one eye slightly, just enough to get a quick view of the other padawans… she wondered if they were having as much trouble as she was.

She let her eyes open when she heard a familiar voice, and looked to see that her Master had come. Valae noticed that a number of the students had also broken their concentration and smiled greetings upon the Grandmaster. When she had received permission to leave, Valae stood up and took quiet steps to the edge of the courtyard. “Good morning, Master.” She said, bowing respectfully to Thurion.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"Good morning, Val," he happily greeted her, returning her bow. "Sorry for interrupting your class," he spoke as they left the scene, now wandering through the busy courtyard. Everywhere you looked there were groups of younglings or padawans listening to the words of wise masters, newly-promoted knights who eagerly honed their skills on their lonesome, or military personnel in the form of the Antarian Rangers. "Now that I've rescued you from Wynn's important - and somewhat tedious - lectures, what say you and I go get ourselves in some trouble?" he winked at her as they made for the Temple landing pad.

"The Assembly received a transmission earlier this morning from an unknown source somewhere along our Western border. I'll let you listen to it once we're aboard the ship. Now, normally we'd let the Ranger border patrols handle this sort of thing, but I took the opportunity to make it part of your training." Just as they set foot on the wide-open area of the landing pad the Oathkeeper descended from the skies. "Perfect timing, Teetoo," he spoke into his wrist communicator. Turning to Valae at his side, he presented her with a blaster pistol. "If we run into trouble you need to be able to defend yourself. I know we've yet to go over the basics of lightsabers, so I had this brought from the armoury. Just point and shoot, and you'll be fine."

As the ship landed before them, he checked Valae over and settled a hand upon her shoulder. "Jedi robes suit you," he smiled before walking up the ramp.

[member="Valae Kitra"]​

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

As she walked with her Master through the busy courtyard, she couldn’t help but smile. There were now reasons to be happy again, and one of them included being able to leave her meditation lesson early. She knew that this opportunity would be no excuse to slack in her studies, and made a promise to dedicate some time to practice later. Her brows rose with curiosity as they walked towards the Temple landing pad. “Trouble?” She repeated, tilting her head to the side. “This should be interesting.”

Valae listened with interest as her Master outlined the situation briefly, and she was excited to get a chance to have some hands-on training. As Teetoo skillfully set the Oathkeeper down, she looked down to see that Thurion was holding out a blaster pistol. With a bit of hesitancy she reached out to retrieve it, taking a moment to familiarize herself. Her eyes met Thurion’s blue gaze and she realized that if there was a chance that she would need to defend herself, this was not going to be like any other lessons she’d attended before. She nodded a couple times to indicate that she understood. The thought of shooting someone was a bit frightening; she really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

“Thanks!” A smile broke onto her face when Thurion complimented her robes, and she holstered the pistol beneath their folds; out of sight but still easily accessible. Valae caught up to him as he was walking up the ramp. “Does this sort of thing happen very often?” She was eager to hear the rest of the details.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

When they entered the Oathkeeper the astromech droid was there to greet them with a friendly chirp, only to return to his duties as they prepared for takeoff. Thurion wasted no time in stepping towards the bridge to assume his seat in the Captain's chair. "Occasionally," he casually replied while punching in the proper coordinates. "Like I said, a lot of these sort of things are handled by the Rangers who then report back to the Assembly. Sometimes it's a probe droid sent to spy on us disguised as floating debris, and sometimes it's just floating debris that happens to look like said probe. It's pretty much a 50-50 probability of it being something in need of attention, which means we'll check it out every time just to be sure."

"Then of course there's the occasional pirate raid on trade vessels that the Rangers are tasked to fend off, but those are far and few between," he assured her. "They always attack in groups, however, while this one is all alone. They generally don't send us transmissions letting us know where to find them, either," he added with a smirk. With the engines prepped and ready for action Teetoo's beeps and boops sounded through the intercom to give him the all-clear. "No, worst-case scenario it's nothing at all, which means more meditation lessons for you, my dear. Let's at least hope it's something a bit more interesting than nothing."

The ship took off, leaving the Voss Academy behind as they ascended through the clouds. Once free of the atmosphere Thurion made the jump to lightspeed, blasting them through Coalition space heading towards where they'd picked up the transmission. With some time on their hands, he turned to [member="Valae Kitra"]. "Now then, let's see what you can make of it," he told her before the broken audio recording started up.

"Th- *inaudible* i- *inaudible* ensig- *inaudible* ...roe aboard t- *inaudible* We've suff- *inaudible* ...gnificant dam- *inaudible* Send help...!"

As the recording ended with static noise, Thurion eyed his apprentice. "'Send help'," he repeated the last bit. "That's about all we got out of it after doing what we could to clean up the audio. Now, it could just be an elaborate trap set by raiders, or worse, but we'll have no way of knowing until we check it out for ourselves. Hence the blaster," he told her while making a finger gun out of his right hand trained at her.

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Valae narrowed her eyes as she listened to the audio recording, trying to distinguish the words behind the static. Already her mind was alight with images of a ship crashing, the frantic crew scrambling, and the source of the lone voice coming through the recording. She too had picked up on the words ‘send help’, and her index finger tapped lightly against her chin as she considered the possibilities.

“It definitely sounds like a distress call to me.” Valae nodded. “I think they need our help.” She said in a cheerful tone of voice, ever the optimist.When Thurion mentioned the blaster again, her gaze shifted down towards her hip. A memory flashed before her eyes: a pair of thieves had entered the Kitra Scrap Yard, attempting to steal their once in a lifetime haul. A teenage Valae had gone running out to stop them, but quickly found herself on the ground. The next thing she remembered was a wild Atticus brandishing a blaster rifle, and proceeding to fire haphazardly into the air. The thought of her father ‘in his prime’, brought a smile to her face.

“To be honest, I’m a little scared to use one.” She said, patting the blaster beneath her robes. It was lucky for her that there was little skill needed to use one, the only obstacle was the will to pull the trigger.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

When her answer came, Thurion fired off his finger gun in her direction, adding a tiny *pew* sound followed a chuckle. "That's what I wanted to hear," he smiled. Then came the part of her being afraid. "It's a perfectly natural emotion, Valae. Fear is not something to scoff at or think lesser of than any other emotion. It's an instinct meant to keep us alive when danger approaches, and sometimes it is good to heed its advice. Not a single day goes by without me fearing something is going to happen to those dear to me, and it is thanks to this fear I have that I am willing to fight for their safety." Thurion placed a hand upon hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He then spun around in his seat to face the stars zipping by at lightspeed, propping his elbow upon the armrest to rest his head in the palm of his hand. "Go ahead and explore the ship," he told her. "You'll spend a lot of time on it if I have any say in it."

An hour later...

"Val, come see me on the bridge. We're about to exit hyperspace," the Grandmaster's voice blared through the intercom to make sure she would not miss it. By the time Valae reappeared on the bridge they were all set to arrive at the last known location of the transmission. "Here goes nothing..." Before they could begin exiting hyperspace, however, red warnings lit up across a nearby screen. "Oh, poodoo! We're on a collision course!" Alarms sounded all around them, only adding to the chaos. "Buckle up," he told Valae. "It's going to be a bumpy ride!" As soon as they left hyperspace they were met with large pieces of debris which Thurion proceeded to dodge and weave through long enough for them to drop speed. The Oathkeeper rumbled and creaked until finally they came to a standstill, and suddenly it was very clear where the transmission came from.

"It's a derelict ship, and it's been blasted to pieces."

[member="Valae Kitra"]​

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Hearing Thurion’s advice about fear made her feel much better, and she smiled when he squeezed her hand. Valae was more than thankful that her master was so patient with her, and that he was there like a pillar of strength to offer reassurance. It was the kind of relationship that she’d always craved from her father, but never received. It was becoming obvious to her that her master would play a large part in her life from now on, and that he was quickly becoming very important to her. When he invited her to explore the ship, she stood from her seat and nodded. “I’d really like that.” She smiled when he mentioned that she may be spending a lot of time on the Oathkeeper.

Valae exited the bridge and began to make her way through the ship; she’d never had the chance to take a self-guided tour through such a vessel. By the looks of it, she guessed that the Oathkeeper was not only used for short trips, but also equipped to handle longer journeys. The padawan paused to peek her head into a number of different rooms, so far having found the galley and medical suite. She then entered what appeared to be training room, and she made a note to herself that she needed to make time to work out. She picked up a small hand weight and did a few curls, before hearing her master’s voice on the intercom.

With a spring in her steps, she made her way quickly back to the bridge, just in time to see red warnings light up around them. Her brown eyes went wide and she looked to Thurion. “Collision course!?” Valae repeated, immediately took her seat and fumbled frantically with the buckle before hearing it snap into place. As they came out of hyperspace, she looked to see the black open up before them, littered with debris. Valae gripped the armrests tightly, as they weaved to and fro, until Thurion’s piloting skills had brought them safely through. She finally exhaled, having realized that she’d been holding her breath.

“I know it’s in pieces, but was this a military vessel?” Valae asked, still looking out the portside window. The padawan's heart sank as she gave a thought to the voice on the audio recording. "I wonder what happened..." She said quietly.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"I don't think so," he spoke, eyes trained at the floating pieces of debris, unable to make out what it had once said on the side of the ship. "If it is, it's not a model I am familiar with, so it can't be one of ours. They were probably attacked around the time we picked up on their transmission, which means the vessel was functional at the time," he deduced. "Which also means whoever did this might still be around. Keep an eye out." While they examined the ship, the Oathkeeper was brought close enough to dock with the still functional airlock. "We've got to make sure whether there are any survivors on board, or any of their attackers for that matter. There are still parts of the ship untouched by the explosions, and judging by the readings life support is still active." He clicked out of his harness and got up, stepping away from the Captain's chair and off the bridge towards a wall-mounted locker right next to the exit.

"Just as a precaution we'll use these breathers. Let me help you..." Thurion, with her permission, placed the breather apparatus over her mouth and tightened the strap around her head. "This will let you breathe should life support be a no-go, and will filter out any harmful particles," he told her while strapping on his own breather. "Take a couple breathes so you get used to it." Thurion then settled the palm of his hand against the side of Valae's neck, both to make her feel at ease but also to quickly feel her pulse. "Are you ready, Padawan?"

[member="Valae Kitra"]​

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

The thought that whoever damaged the derelict could still be lurking, brought an uneasy feeling into Valae’s chest. She took a deep breath, letting the tight feeling loosen into a mere tickle of anxiety. Thurion was with her, and there was little to worry about in his presence. If there were sections of the ship still intact and operational, there was always the possibility that the ship would attract other undesirables. There were always those that looked to profit from situations like this. During her time as a salvager, she’d taken no pleasure in breaking down crash sites, few that there had been on Tatooine.

Valae unbuckled her harness and followed Thurion towards the exit. She allowed him to place the breather over her mouth and bowed her head slightly as he fastened the strap. Her first breaths through the breather came with a slight feeling of struggle, but it became easier with each inhale and exhale. Valae focused on Thurion’s hand that was placed gently on her neck, and let herself become still and calm. Her dark eyes turned upwards to meet his, and she nodded a few times.

“Yes, Master.” She smiled beneath the breather. “I’m ready.”

The padawan followed after her master, curious to find out what awaited them on the damaged ship. She only hoped that they were not walking into some sort of trap. Valae tried her best to keep her thoughts light, it would not do her any favors to dwell on the horrors. Though she let the presence of potential danger heighten her awareness and keep her senses alert.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

He gave her a nod before releasing the airlock on their side. The two stepped inside the chamber, and when the door behind them closed shut a loud hissing noise accompanied the gas which filled the tiny space. "Don't be alarmed," he comforted her. "It's just the decontamination process doing it's thing. Quite harmless." After a few seconds the loud noise ceased and the remaining airlock creaked open, as if having been rusted shut. A broken automated welcoming message sounded through a nearby speaker. Everything was pitch black save for the few emergency lights still in effect. "Stay close to me," Thurion told her as he reached for her hand to make sure she followed. With his right hand he then retrieved a small flashlight from his utility belt. It wasn't much, but it was far better than stumbling blindly into the darkness.

The sound of creaking metal would echo through the seemingly empty hallways, and every little sound they made was enlarged by the total desolation. "Hello? Is anybody there?" he called out to no avail, his voice carried through the empty void. "This is the Silver Sanctum Coalition. If there's anybody out there who can hear me, make your presence known." Total silence, apart from the mechanical noises. "No good," he told Valae, attaching his flashlight to the side of his breather. "Let's make for the bridge and see if we can scrounge up any logs of what happened to them. If the bridge still exists, that is."

Following the signs pointing the way up towards the bridge, Master and Apprentice carefully made their way through debris and the occasional deceased crewman. "Val, you holding up okay?" he asked her, always making sure she was with him and feeling alright. "Let me know if you need to stop or return to the ship."

[member="Valae Kitra"]​

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

After they had stepped into the chamber, Valae jumped and spun around when the door shut. Her nerves were still stretched taught when the loud hissing filled the space around them. Thankfully, Thurion’s words put her to ease, and caught her before the fear had a chance to escalate. The padawan’s eyes were still adjusting to the surrounding darkness, and for a few moments could only catch quick glimpses in the flickering illumination of the emergency lights. Shadows up ahead made her pause, but she felt her master’s hand upon her own and she did as he asked. Valae certainly wasn’t looking to get lost in an unfamiliar place.

As they made their way further into the ship, she listened to the echo of each step and then the sound of Thurion’s voice calling out. She listened closely, but felt her heart drop when they were met only by silence. When they neared the bridge, Valae’s attention was drawn to a dead crewman near the entrance. “It’s okay, I’m doing fine.” Valae said with a nod, but she was starting to feel uneasy. She took a few steps closer to the body on the floor and looked him over. There was blood covering his front, so it was difficult to distinguish exactly what had caused the fatal blow… but she noticed that his weapon was clutched close to him.

“His weapon was drawn…” Valae said quietly, stepping closer to Thurion, as she ran through several scenarios in her mind.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"They were boarded, then," Thurion concluded as they stopped by the dead crewman. He crouched down by the man to try and discern what killed him. "These are not blaster wounds; blasters don't shred flesh like this, nor do they leave such a mess." Reaching for the crewman's lifeless face, he recoiled when noticing the other side of his face was missing. "Ugh... Definitely not blasters." Thurion stood up and told Valae to keep moving. The bridge was just up ahead.

Once there, however, another pair of corpses lay still in their pilot seats. "Shot in the back of their heads. This was an execution." Such a grim fate, and still no hints had been given as to who these men were or what they came from, but what puzzled him even more was whoever had orchestrated this slaughter. Whoever they were, it seemed they were long gone. "No good - they've deleted all the logs," he told her after checking the ship records. Turning to [member="Valae Kitra"], for once Thurion was unsure of how to proceed. He scratched his golden beard while pondering. "The trail's gone cold, it seems. They made sure to cover their behinds in case someone would come across the ship."

"It seems we have a choice, Padawan. We either delve deeper into this floating tomb, or we mark it for the border patrols to clean up. What's your take, Val?"

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

As she made her way to the bridge with Thurion, she tried to get the image of the dead crewman out of her head. Once they arrived, yet another grim sight awaited them. Valae set her gaze onto the pilot seats, where the two were sitting still, slightly slumped over. It was very clear that these deaths had been intentional; there had been no accidents here. The consoles appeared to be untouched, save for the fact that all of the logs had been deleted. “Who could have done this?” Valae wondered aloud, a frown etched onto her face. However, they had no further clues to go on.

Valae listened to their two options and she looked up to Thurion as she thought. She felt as though it would do them no good to venture further into the ship, if everyone was dead. There wasn’t anything that they could do for them now. However, she wanted to know if there were any other hints to find. If they could find out why this had happened, it might bring them some closure.

“If we can get to the cargo bay, maybe we can figure out what sort of ship this was.” Valae said with a nod. As a salvager, she’d always made sure to empty out the cargo bays of her crash sites, provided the goods were still intact. “What do you think?”

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

He was pleasantly surprised by [member="Valae Kitra"]'s resilience to such grim sights, and her determination in wanting to see this through as best they could. To let her know she'd made the right choice, Thurion settled the palm of his hand against the back of her head before briefly pressing his forehead against hers. "That's my girl," he added with a proud smile on his lips. Leaving the grizzly sight of the executed pilots, master and apprentice made for the cargo bay going back the way they came.

About half-way there after having to take various detours due to blocked passages Thurion's flashlight suddenly got into its head that it needn't function any longer. "Ah, great..." he let out an annoyed sigh as he tossed it. Their surroundings were now completely dark. "Guess we're going to have to go with old faithful." With its familiar snap-hiss the blade of his lightsaber awoke from its slumber, lighting up the narrow hallway they were in with its azure glow. Just to make sure, he reached back for Valae's hand before resuming their journey through the bowels of this graveyard-of-a-ship.

When they'd finally reached the cargo bay entrance, they discovered it to be sealed by an emergency bulkhead. Thurion gestured for Valae to stand aside as he began to cut his way through the thick metal door using his lightsaber. Once half-way done, he stopped and deactivated it only to present it to his padawan. "Here. Give it a try," he told her with a smile. "Use both hands to find a steady grip, then just squeeze your thumb against the red button when you're ready."

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Valae was very happy that her decision seemed to please Thurion, it was encouraging to know that she was moving along the right path. As they moved out of the bridge, she was thankful to leave the grim scene behind them. The padawan was quiet as she snaked their way through the maze-like passages of the ship, and she gave a slight gasp when their light went out. Valae stayed still as they stood momentarily in the darkness, and she watched with interest as her Master ignited his lightsaber. She squinted for a few seconds; her eyes adjusted to the dim light, and saw their surroundings bathed in blue. Her hand remained in Thurion’s grasp until they reached the entrance to the cargo bay.

Valae stepped aside as she was instructed, and she watched as the blade of light cut swiftly through the metal door. Despite the thickness of the door, the lightsaber seemed to make quick and easy work of it. She was surprised when her Master stopped halfway and held the weapon out to her. Hesitant hands reached out and grasped the lightsaber, for a moment just feeling the weight of the hilt. Valae gripped the lightsaber with both hands, her hands wrapped around it tight.

“Okay, I’ll try!” She nodded and squeezed her thumb against the button.

Her eyes lit up with wonder as the blade ignited, the energy was humming, and the sound was strangely calming. Valae approached the door and let the lightsaber pierce the metal door, amazed at the power held within her hands. She raised the saber in an arc, connecting with the cut made by Thurion. Valae’s work reflected her lack of experience; the cut was not smooth and easy like that of her Master. However, she knew that such skills would come with time and practice. The metal piece fell away and landed on the ground with a loud clang.

The padawan peeked her head inside the cargo bay, and then handed the lightsaber back to Thurion.

“It looks like someone’s been here…”

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Valae's handling of the lightsaber was as could only be expected by someone who had never even heard of the Force a week ago. Her movements somewhat insecure, a bit clumsy, but endearing to no end. It made him wonder what it must be like at her age, just starting out. He had been eight years old when he first began lightsaber training back on Tython, and with his son having been born into a Jedi family Théo had inevitably begun his training at an even younger age. Part of him would've rather they held off on introducing their children to the Jedi lifestyle until at least adolescence, to give them time to actually be just kids for a while longer. They seem happy enough, in any case, and what's done's done. He always did have a bad habit of lingering on the past.

As the massive metal door came crashing down when Valae connected their efforts in cutting it open, the loud noise echoed through the seemingly deserted cargo bay. The place was surprisingly well-lit, so Thurion simply clipped his lightsaber back onto his belt before stepping inside, following his padawan. "This area looks relatively untouched. It even has enough power to keep the lights on," he thought out loud as they searched the large area. "I think you're right about someone having been here. It looks way too pristine compared to the rest of the ship, which means they purposely didn't fire at it. They then boarded the ship and went down here to find something, killing everyone on the way. When they left they made sure to seal the bulkheads to cover their tracks." Upon checking the many storage containers, all of them had been broken into and left empty.

"Whatever they were looking for, it seems they found it." Thurion turned to Valae, a proud smile on his lips despite the circumstances. "Good job, Padawan! Your instincts serve you well."

[member="Valae Kitra"]​

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

The cargo bay was quite a strange sight compared to the rest of the ship. Valae moved slowly between the few storage containers, lifting the lids and peering inside. Each one had broken locks and empty insides. The padawan frowned; whatever had been contained in the crates had been stolen away. It offered them nothing in the way of additional information about the ship, but now they did have a motive. Whatever this ship was transporting must have been prized by someone, enough so that they had been willing to destroy the ship and murder the crew. What a disaster they had left in their wake. Valae made her way back to Thurion’s side, listening to his deductions about the scene in the cargo bay.

“And whatever it was, they must have really wanted it.” She said sadly, shaking her head.

The padawan turned to her master, pleased to hear his words of praise. It wasn’t always easy to follow one’s instincts or intuition, but Valae was glad that she had done so this day. Even though their search had ended without an answer, she had valuable experience and the encouragement needed to continue her journey into the world of the Jedi.

“Should we go back?” She asked, looking up to Thurion.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]