Private There's No Place Like Home

[Lief]

"Here she is..."​

​

Two arms of the Besalisk crossed against his stomach, while one of the other set gestured toward what could only be described as a literal scrapheap of a ship. How it was held together was anyone's guess. Its hull was rusted and patchworked together, so much so that it was nigh on impossible to deduce specifically what ship it had been originally. Some sort of freighter perhaps? It definitely seemed to have a sizable underbelly, though without stepping foot onboard he couldn't say for sure whether it was all cargo space or not. In his mind, there was no justifiable way in which the ship could fly... Yet Ensiss assured him it would.​

​

No doubt his skepticism was written all across his face, because Siss quickly piped up. "What'd you expect, kid? With as few creds as you've got you're lucky the rustbucket'll fly. And it will. If there's one thing I'm known for lad, it's my word. You ain't thinkin' I'm some sorta crook are ya? Don't do me like that. I've been good to ya, I have..."​

​

In the weeks following the crashlanding, Ensiss and his lowly crew of scavengers and smugglers had indeed been good to him. They'd taken him in when no one else would, secured him work enough that he could afford the hunk of junk before them now. Soon enough Eliphas Dune would be on a course back to Empress Teta, and the nightmare that was his current predicament would be well and truly over. The ship's destruction had no doubt been recorded, along with the passing of its crew. Such a mighty fine vessel did not go dark for long. Had they already had a funeral for him? Buried an empty coffin, or burned an effigy?​

​

That didn't bear thinking about. If he allowed that thought to continue he'd just end up back in the dark place Siss had dragged him out of. ​

​

"Of course not," he finally said, with a shake of his head, "I'm sure she's more than enough to get me back to the Core. Thank you, Ensiss, truly. I'll never forget all you've done for me."​

​

The Besalisk patted him on the shoulder with the hand which had previously been gesturing, then led him toward the vessel proper. The boarding ramp lowered with a clunky hiss, and the lights inside flickered at an unstable rate. "Just knock the paneling every now and then, I found it helps," he stated, as he guided him through the center of the ship toward the cockpit. Along the way Eliphas was making a mental note of all the red flags, things he'd have to work on along the way if he had any hopes of it staying in one piece for the entirety of the journey.​

​

Part of him wondered if it was even worth taking the ship. What if it fell apart? The Atale had been a wonderful ship, with state of the art technology, and it had still crashed. Still to this day he couldn't even make sense of how it had happened.​

​

"... and here's the control systems, Somethin' else, ain't it?"​

​

Suddenly aware that he was missing a boatload of context, having drifted so heavily into thought that he hadn't heard whatever Ensiss had been saying just now, Eliphas simply nodded his head so as not to be rude.​

​

"Well, I reckon we're all squared up now kid. I gots errands to run, busy man you know how it is. Why don't you settle in, then later we can take her for a spin?"​

​

"Yeah... Yeah I'll see you later, Ensiss."​

​

Later never came.​

​

It didn't occur to him until the stars began to shine high above that he'd been ditched in the hangar. He'd already brought his things inside, and tried to organize what few things he had into their relevant places. He'd checked out the engine, it was in one piece, then the hyperdrive... That was something crazy looking. Probably old. Eliphas had never worked with super old ships. It seemed to be in working order though, insofar as he could tell.​

​

When day broke and Ensiss still hadn't returned, Eliphas turned his sights to the cockpit. It was only now that he was focused that he realized its layout was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Most of the buttons and switches he'd come to expect were missing. In fact some of the consoles were entirely blank, or just screens which wouldn't respond to his touch or gestures. He pressed a bunch of buttons, nothing. He flipped some switches and toggles, nada.​

​

Then he hit the empty console.​

​

"Eliphas, you karkin' moof-milker!" He sat down in the captain's seat, and dropped his head into his hands. All that work, everything he'd done, was for nothing. The ship wouldn't even be worth its weight in scrap, he had nothing left. Ensiss had taken it all, and with it any remaining scrap of dignity he'd had.​

​

For the first time in a great many years, his eyes began to well with tears he couldn't hold back. "How could you be so stupid?" he asked of himself, though the words came out muffled by his palms. "I just want to go home... Is that too much to ask?" He lifted his head, gaze upward toward the ceiling of the cockpit though in many ways he was looking beyond it. "I want to go home!"​

​

For his efforts the lights all went out, leaving him in the dark. If there was some sort of all-seeing entity out there, their graces had not fallen upon him that day. In his mind he kept relaying that small mantra over and over. Home, he thought... I just want to go home... ​

​

Who knew how long the boy sat there for. Certainly he had nowhere else to go. By now Ensiss Kruch would be systems away, laughing with the crew over the stupidity of the Coreworlder they'd conned. What was a boy to do?​

​

Then slowly and without warning, the cockpit began to light up. Piece by piece the various monitors and terminals blinked into life, and the ship's engine began to purr. He couldn't make sense of the language upon the screens, nor did he know what was happening as various systems began to boot themselves up. Before he could fully react the ship began to lift up and out of the hangar, and all he could do was sit and stare.​

​

"Wait... What? What's going on..."​

​

He reached out to try and stop the ship, to gain control over it, but it was as though it had a mind of its own. Then a voice rang out over the ships intercoms. "Autopilot: On. Destination: Home."​

​

"Home?!" he blinked, and tried yet more buttons which failed to make a difference. "But I haven't even told you where home is!"​

​

The ship didn't listen, or if it did it didn't care. It was quick to break out of the planet's atmosphere, and faster still to reach hyperspace. But something about it felt off. The way the ship rocked, the way in which the stars shifted and changed until what lay in his viewing port appeared more like a wormhole than quickly traversed space. He felt pressure in the cockpit, and for a moment it was as though his whole body might burst under the weight of it.​

​

Then it stopped. Boy and ship were spat out of whatever route they'd traveled, and the scene before him was peculiar to say the least. A void sprawled out ahead of him, though there were no stars to be seen. The ship continued to make its way forward, until he slowly became aware of the presence of something else. A vessel of sorts, though like nothing he'd ever seen before, it appeared all at once before him like an obelisk that defied the laws of physics.​

​

Much to his horror, the ship was headed straight for it...​

​

Kal ​

 

[Kal]

Swirling lights coiled inwards in non-euclidean ways, straining against the force that sought to bring them together...

Torn from his reverie by the respectful whisperings of the Great Prime that presided over the station, Kal had every right to be annoyed, but he had never been able to resist a good mystery. It was not every day that a vessel lost with all hands came flying back. Part of it, anyway - if their sensors could be believed only 21.7% of the original vessel remained intact.

Leaving the project in the capable hands of the presiding Sorcerer, Kal's form fell in on itself and reappeared elsewhere.

---

Whatever arcane mechanism Dune had triggered continued to ignore any attempt at diverging from its set course, the Ugly-by-any-other-name making its way towards the station with as much grace as it could muster.

On the final approach, its engines would disengage, a tractor beam taking over. A gaping hole would open in the obelisk's windowless hull, revealing an unlit hangar. Only when the vessel was safely landed and the hangar shut would lights burst to life around it. Whoever resided within seemed willing to go to truly paranoid lengths.

---

From the airlock came the tap-tap-tap of polite knocking, only audible thanks to truly inhuman strength.

Its source was Kal, or rather Kal in a body that resembled a fit humanoid male with blond hair, friendly green eyes, and an escort of faceless warriors in weirdly-organic suits of armour, long ceremonial-looking staves in their hands.

"Why, hello there. We have been expecting you, Eliphas."

They had not, in fact, been expecting him - but his ship was eager to 'talk' to their station.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Oh, come on now, stop. Stop it!"​

​

The ship would not, in fact, stop it. No matter what button he bashed, or what word he used, the ship just continued on its merry way forward toward the stark black obelisk. It was certainly not 'home' as the voice over the intercoms had tried to claim, nosiree. Just looking upon its abominable hull, suspended in the center of his viewing port as it was, made him shiver right down to his bones.​

​

"Please," he whined, as part of that obelisk began to open, revealing a pitch black interior. The ship seemed to listen to him then, for the engines silenced... It was a short lived victory, however. Soon enough the higgledy-piggledy piece of scrap was caught up in a tractor beam, and therein its movement toward the obelisk was completed at a far hastier pace.​

​

As he stared down that void in the most helpless of fashions, Eliphas began to wonder if he had indeed died with the others. Was this how the afterlife was, in truth? Had Ensiss been some kind of gatekeeper, intent on making him work for his ferry to the new beyond? Had Yara faced a similar fate?​

​

The ship settled down within some sort of hangar space with an unceremonious clunk. For a moment nothing happened, and then all at once the hangar came to life with previously neglected lights. For his own part the boy simply sat there in the Captain's seat, looking a little unhinged. Were it up to him he would not have moved for quite some time, as his brain fought to process it all and bring him up to date.​

​

A pounding at the airlock door denied him such luxuries.​

​

I can ignore it, right? he tried to delude himself, maybe he could pretend that the ship had in fact been empty? Then came the words of those on the outside, and with them came a cold dread.​

​

They knew his name. They had been expecting him?​

​

Maybe this truly was the end after all.​

​

Gulping down every instinct which bade him to freeze up or flee, Eliphas Dune stood up from the seat and approached the airlock. Would that it were death on the other side, he'd face him unflinching.​

​

Though the boy had no clue how to open the doors or lower the boarding ramp, the ship seemed to respond to his approach and opened the way for him. What stood before him were a handful of beings, all of whom looked decidedly odd and inhuman, despite seemingly best efforts to appear at least somewhat human in nature.​

​

Was that... Was that clay?​

​

Kal ​

 

[Kal]

The airlock slid open, revealing a young man that looked as if he was bravely facing a firing squad.

Perhaps he had oversold the ominous introduction. "You look terrified. Wow. Relax, I'm no executioner."

Strolling onto the ramp as if he owned the ship, which in a way he did, Kal seemed determined to have a look inside, but not before practising his politeness. Talk about a captive audience. "You don't mind if I take a look around, do you? Always interesting seeing how the seedier elements of society can mangle an elegant design."

He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the lack of a uniform paint job, of all things.

That had to be the simplest possible issue to resolve, but noooo.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

The one who approached him once the door slid open and the ramp descended was the only one of them which looked more or less real. There was still something slightly off, the way in which Percival and his companions had seemed off, but it wasn't anywhere near as noticeable as the others clad in robes. It made it a little easier to look upon him as he approached.​

​

Was this it?​

​

No. No it was not. The being remarked upon how scared chitless he had been, no doubt taking in his overly pale skin and horrified expression despite his best efforts to appear stoic in the face of death. It was as his father would no doubt have wanted, after all, lest he sully their good name even when the end came.​

​

In the wake of the beings words, Eliphas was once again cast into a confused silence. He'd been told to relax, but how could he? He had been kidnapped, by a ship of all things, and brought to Force knew where, with Force knew what kind of creatures, in an inky black abyss that only slightly resembled space if one removed all of the stars which made it so. Relax... What a ludicrious notion.​

​

The boy stepped aside as the others made to enter. Though he had purchased the vessel, the way in which it had immediately homed in on this place made him assume that in some way it belonged here. At least, once upon a time. Why else would this have been 'home'?​

​

It took him a moment to realize he hadn't even responded. "Oh, uh..."​

​

He took a second to try and compose himself, to shake away the dread which had gripped him so fiercely moments prior. "Of... Of course. Go right ahead..." Something told him that even if he had said no they would have continued on all the same. Naturally he turned to follow, most of his actions being done out of instinct at this point.​

​

"I'm sorry, but who exactly are you?" He gave it a moment to be polite and afford the being time to answer, before hastily moving on to the more important question that persisted in his mind. "And where have all the stars gone?"​

​

It might have been more prudent to ask where he was, or why they'd tractor'd him in, but nope. He couldn't get over the sight of a starless spacescape.​

​

Kal

​

 

[Kal]

"Kal of Masque. No surname, my kind aren't born, per se."

Glancing accusingly at a particularly glaring health and safety violation - even he could tell that the electrical protection on that panel was downright criminal in its absence - he strolled towards the cockpit. It seemed as good a place as any.

"Oh, I imagine they remain where they've always been." That was not what Eliphas had been asking and they both knew it. "Best not to worry too much about where you are. It tends to unnerve organics, in my experience."

Giving the utterly alien consoles an affectionate pat, Kal sat down in the captain's chair, steepled his fingers, and willed the systems online. The ones that remained functional, anyway. As it turned out long-range comms were fried and the transrelativistic sensors absent in their entirety. No wonder it had been unable to return home on its own.

"The Navbrain is dead, more or less. I'm surprised you made it in one piece."

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Masque?"​

​

Eliphas had never heard of any place called Masque. Maybe it was a City? Most gave the name of their planet, not their city, there were far too many of those to be remembering. But the way in which he explained that he wasn't born quickly overtook any curiosity his name had held within him.​

​

"Wait, you weren't born?" he peered a little closer, eyes squinting as they boarded the vessel and the stranger - Kal - began to assess the damage on the interior. "Are you a droid?"​

​

He'd met droids before. HRD's to be precise. They'd saved him from the crash, then handed him a weapon and led him deeper into danger. That had been a recurring theme as of late...​

​

Into the cockpit they headed, where the man vaguely replied to his query on the stars. He used the phrase organics, which only gave further fuel to his theories. If not a droid, and not an 'organic', then what?​

​

"But there are none outside" he stated rather plainly, as though perhaps Kal had not noticed, "So how can they be where they always are, if they're not?" A frown pulled at his lips as another thought came to mind. "Unless I'm not where I was..." Not in the Galaxy? What a ludicrous idea that was! He hadn't even been traveling through hyperspace for particularly long.​

​

He felt rather foolish for even speaking such a thought.​

​

Watching as Kal assessed the starship, he was more and more aware of just how familiar the being was with it. Definitely back where it belonged, then. Drats, he supposed that meant he'd have no way back to Empress Teta then. A stolen ship was a stolen ship even if someone else had bought it after the fact. What kind of upstanding citizen would try and claim otherwise?​

​

Certainly not a Dune.​

​

"Yeah, well, the ship had a mind of it's own," he said with a huff, "I couldn't even get it to start..."​

​

Kal
​

 

[Kal]

"Don't worry, few of your kind know of the Great Shifting Bazaar."

Humming contently, Kal almost seemed to be communing with the ship, though no words were uttered. He even closed his eyes for a little while before resuming the conversation. "You have a lot of questions, which is only fair. Let's see here."

Raising three fingers, he seemed intent on answering them in order - before new ones were raised.

"Please, I'm not a soulless hunk of metal. You wound me, my good sir. I'll have you know I'm all soul, no metal." One finger down, two to go. "Realspace, despite its name, is not the only real space. You're elsewhere." Chuckling his own joke, he lowered another finger only to eye the last one thoughtfully. His eyes flickered to Eliphas, assessing.

"Finally, one for you. You say you could not start the ship, and yet it was your presence that made it return 'home', so to speak. Why do you figure that is?" It was clear that Kal had his own thoughts, though he did not voice them.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Great Shifting Bazaar?​

​

Somehow, some way, those three words tore his mind away from the turmoil of the present and into a world of contemplative thought filled with curiosity. Was that perhaps the name of some great fleet of ships, wandering the Galaxy in search of goods to buy and people to trade with? Maybe it belonged to one planet, like a roaming band of Jawas? Kal didn't seem like a Jawa, though.​

​

"It sounds fascinating" he retorted with great sincerity, pausing only in his hunger for knowledge when he saw the man's eyes close in focus. Far be it for Eliphas to disrupt the work of another. Whatever that work might have been... It didn't much look like he was doing anything more than standing there. All the same, he waited patiently, as though quite forgetting that this was his ship. Sort of...​

​

Thankfully he was not made to wait long, before his former queries were answered. Not a droid, a ... spirit? "All soul," he reiterated with something of a perplexed mumble, "Wait... You're not, uh, dead are you?" Did ghosts even exist? Was that a thing which lingered in the universe after death? Eliphas had never been taught one way or the other, he had no idea what happened once you were dead.​

​

He realized he was asking more questions than could be as swiftly answered, so he held his tongue until Kal had finished with the rest.​

​

Elsewhere... Realspace? What was Realspace? And what was Elsewhere? Had he somehow pierced the edge of the Galaxy, and been flung forth into another one? There were plenty of them out there in the Universe, it would be foolish of them indeed to believe theirs was the only one. But that didn't make much sense to him, because again the journey had not taken very long at all. Surely a journey that far would have taken a long time!​

​

Then came perhaps the most mindboggling statement of them all. He'd caused the ship to go?​

​

Eliphas shook his head.​

​

"You have it wrong, I tried to make it go and it wouldn't..." A look of dread set over his expression as his brain whirred, trying to recall exactly what had happened before the vessel had set off. "I only wanted to go home, but I couldn't make it happen... And this isn't my home, so it couldn't have been me could it?"​

​

Somehow all talks of Realspace and Elsewhere had quite skipped his mind for now, though it lingered on the edge of his thoughts waiting to arise once more.​

​

Kal ​

 

[Kal]

Kal gave Eliphas a look in response to his assumption. Clearly, it was not the first time he had been called a ghost. "Hah. Force no, I am not some glorified remnant. I am and always was a spirit." Waving a hand towards his current body, he rose from his seat, but not before glancing at a few displays. "Albeit one who wears a body when convenient."

Raising a single eyebrow at the young man's denial, Kal did not immediately respond. Instead, he eyed him thoughtfully, a flicker of white light in his eyes as he began to look past the flesh and bone to the presence beneath.

"You gave a poorly formulated command and it responded appropriately. Mere words would not have awoken it."

Reaching out towards Eliphas' mind, Kal found exactly what he had suspected - a lack of training and understanding. <This is our preferred medium. Mind-to-mind. Telepathy. You do not seem the innately telepathic sort, however.>

A smirk on his lips, he observed the man's reactions curiously. <That leaves a Force Sensitive.>

Mere Attunement was another option, but the details would surely be lost on the Tetan.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Okay... So 'Spirits' were a thing now... That was good to know, he supposed. In a Galaxy filled with living-plants, crystals with sentience, and reptilian humanoids, he couldn't say it was the furthest thing from being believable, but it was still enough to leave him momentarily stunned. There was so much about the Galaxy that he didn't know about, so much he didn't understand. But he supposed that had to be how everyone felt, surely? Nobody could know everything!​

​

Okay... Spirits. Realspace. Elsewhere. No stars here... Nope, none of it was making any more sense to him. Maybe he'd just fallen asleep and this was some grand dream he'd conjured up.​

​

Felt pretty real though.​

​

Kal's next few words confused him all the more.​

​

"Wait, but if words couldn't have caused it then---"​

​

A voice permeated his mind, and left him slack-jawed. It reminded him slightly of the voice he'd heard aboard Essis' ship when they'd helped to reel in the space-floater. That had been a little harder to comprehend, scattered. This though... This was fully fledged, right there in his noggin'.​

​

"How are you..." Eliphas couldn't finish the sentence, but his mind filled in the blanks all the same How are you doing that? Just a thought, not intended to be projected, just a thought...​

​

Yet his thoughts were seemingly not his own in that moment.​

​

Then came the real flooring moment.​

​

"Excuse me, what?" Force Sensitive? His immediate knee-jerk reaction was to deny it wholeheartedly. But those words never left his mouth, instead he stood and stared at Kal as his mind whirred a mile a minute. Almost immediately he was flung back to when he first met Starlin Rand and the odd ways in which the other referred to him. He called him his Padawan in passing to others, something Eliphas had regarded as just a joke. Which it was... But maybe he'd chosen that for a reason?​

​

Maybe it was a coincidence.​

​

Maybe Kal was wrong?​

​

"I... Are you sure?"​

​

Kal ​

 

[Kal]

To Kal, it was borderline mind-boggling that one could be Force Sensitive without knowing it, but perhaps it felt different to beings of flesh and blood; to him, that great universal presence was always at the edge or centre of his perception.

Truth be told, he struggled to understand how not having it there would even feel.

"Reasonably so. A high degree of Attunement might be sufficient, but it seems unlikely." Eyes glowing brighter and brighter until they resembled twin pinpricks that gently illuminated Eliphas, Kal continued to scrutinise him, nodding thoughtfully as if appraising a painting, or perhaps analysing a complex piece of machinery.

<Tell me, have you ever been aware of more than your peers? Have your surroundings ever been affected by your needs and desires?> The 'speech' was accompanied by a gentle prodding against the edges of his mind.

Kal had never been one for Midi-chlorian tests - so impersonal, so boring.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Eliphas felt as though he was under the scrutiny of a scientist peering through a microscope, just some slither of bacteria upon a petri dish. Kal's eyes glowered, small pinpricks brightening and casting a light over the boy. The starship was momentarily forgotten, all of its imperfections cast to the wayside as their metaphysical conversation reached its peak.​

​

He was given another possibility, mere attunement to the Force that he couldn't readily draw upon, but even as that was said it didn't feel inherently... right? As much as he wanted to deny it, as much as he wished to reject the conversation entirely, his mind was already pulling small memories which had sunk beneath the surface. Moments in his childhood where inexplainable things happened, the way in which his senses spiked and prickled moments before danger arose, how he always seemed to know when someone entered the room despite how quiet they might have been...​

​

All things he'd tried to talk away over the years. He just had better ears, he had more of those animalistic instincts tied within him...​

​

Almost as soon as those thoughts arose Kal asked questions pertaining to almost exactly that. He could feel a light prodding on the edge of his mind, the way in which he had after they'd tractor beamed the spacewalker on Esiss' ship. Something of a test, no doubt. What was Kal finding there?​

​

"Yes," he finally admitted, accepting that which he'd spent so long trying to deny, "All of that, and more..." He swallowed a heavy gulp, and turned his own scrutinizing gaze over to Kal. Obviously the spirit was sensitive also, of that there was no doubt. His mere presence still confused the boy though.​

​

"How are you doing that, in my head?" he inquired, eyes beginning to squint as he tried to push his own thoughts toward Kal to no avail. It was harder than the spirit made it look, that much was for certain.​

​

Kal ​

 

[Kal]

Kal could feel the moment uncertainty gave way to realisation and it was delicious; he was no emotional predator, but he was a sucker for that sort of thing. He could not imagine being bored while watching individuals uncover the truth.

"It is an easy thing to overlook. More people by far erroneously think themselves Sensitive than the other way around."

It was so easy for the average humanoid to think themselves extraordinary, which in turn made it easy to doubt.

"I am extending my mind as you would a limb, prodding yours to test your sensitivity." Feeling the Eliphas' tentative first steps towards understanding, Kal switched to telepathy to encourage him - and hopefully provide a thread he could follow. <It is natural to my kind, but difficult for many of yours. Perhaps relaying simple emotion might work?>

Telepathy was eternally underutilised by the Galaxy's major traditions, in Kal's opinion.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Eliphas couldn't imagine presuming to be something so fantastical as Sensitive to the Force, and wondered how it was that individuals could believe themselves to be such without any sort of empirical evidence. Having seen first hand the strange feats made possible by such a connection, it seemed strange that anyone could mistakenly paint themselves in such a light. Even now, having been told point blank that he held the secret ingredient to such within him, the boy was having a hard time believing it.​

​

He didn't think that doubt would wane until he did something fantastical of his own.​

​

Kal began to explain how it was he was receiving the spirit's voice within his mind, and even took to communicating that way once more. It was a strange sensation, but not inherently unpleasant. In a way it was nice to share his headspace with another, having spent the last sixteen years of his life alone with his thoughts. Extending his mind, the spirit stated, as one would a limb. That didn't make it any easier for him to comprehend.​

​

Still, the idea of just pushing forth a single emotion seemed much more doable.​

​

He let out a small sigh, and made to close his eyes in order to focus. That didn't last long though, and instead he decided he'd look upon the spirit in order to better project his thoughts to him specifically. Who knew if that would help? Certainly not Eliphas. But he tried anyway, attempting to mentally push his feelings of doubt and uncertainty toward Kal.​

​

After all, in that moment there wasn't many other emotions readily available for him.​

​

Kal​

 

[Kal]

As far as starting points went, telepathy was a much better choice than levitating rocks - or so Kal was convinced.

Aware of Eliphas' surface thoughts as he was, his attempts were transparent, but not immediately experienceable. That was to be expected. Rather than offer further advice, Kal waited, honed his senses... and there it was. A doubt that was not his own. It was fairly faint - more communication than the blunt instruments of coercion many Force Users favoured.

It was, all in all, an excellent starting point - the tentative 'first steps' of a Force Sensitive.

<Very good! It is easier with fellow Sensitives and doubly so when telepathy has already been used, but the base principles remain the same. You have probably heard of the 'Mind Tricks' favoured by Jedi? They too work similarly.> Only the Sith and spirits such as he tended to properly push their way into the minds of others.

<I can read your surface thoughts, but try to clarify and project them.>

That sort of 'vocalisation' was a helpful lesson, of sorts.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Time stretched on as he grappled with the task at hand, but whether his perception of it was skewed or the shadow was unexpectedly patient he could not say for sure. He was too lost within his attempts.​

​

Truth be told, Eliphas didn't even know that he'd succeeded until Kal's voice occupied his mind once more. Therein he was presented with further information as to how this strange new ability worked best, and other variations it took. Mind tricks? He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about such coercive measures, even if they were just a matter of influencing another as opposed to outright forcing their hand. It seemed immoral.​

​

Not that he'd have to worry about such. Where in the Galaxy would the likes of he learn such a trick anyway? That thought brought him right back down to reality all at once. He was lost in the Universe, doubly so now that he was out of what the spirit had referred to as Realspace. He couldn't even make his way back home, much less capitalize upon this discovery!​

​

Focus... He needed to focus...​

​

"Okay," he retorted, all too aware of how one sided their conversation had become. What could he add to it, though? He was a fledgling bird, barely able to even flap its wings. There were no insights he could bring to the table beyond an eager fumbling, and that was presented without vocalization.​

​

This time he did in fact close his eyes. He took a moment to ponder a word, and though there were a nigh on infinite amount of words to choose from he initially drew a blank. It felt like a lot of pressure, to decide upon the first word he'd try to project into the mind of another. Did he go for something simple, something expected?​

​

Once again his mind was drawn back to one of the biggest sources of confusion he'd felt since the ship had spat him out in this place. He focused on his own mind, then he focused on the spirits, and slowly but surely Eliphas Dune attempted to project one solitary word through the distance between them over and over with patient consistency.​

​

<Star> he thought, hoping to fill the void left behind by their absence. <Star...> he tried, though to what end?​

​

Kal ​

 

[Kal]

Time was only a secondary concern to the Shadow; he would happily spend however long it took to teach Dune the basics of telepathy, if nothing else then because it was an entirely new experience. He had yet to be a teacher.

Besides, as an organic he was liable to collapse from exhaustion far before Kal got bored.

The word was immediately perceptible, but only as a surface thought. Projection was another matter entirely. Still, the situation made it far easier than it would otherwise be; a necessity, since this sort of communication rarely came naturally to those of flesh and blood. Close bonds or specialised training was usually needed.

Star.... ---... Star... Star... Star...

Whether due to proximity and the presence of a preexisting link of-sorts or because of a talent or inclination in that area, Eliphas had succeeded - albeit under much, much simpler conditions than in the field.

<Good, very good. Still concerned about their absence?>

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Was... that it?​

​

Eliphas would be lying if he tried to claim he knew the exact moment it had worked. He'd be lying if he said had felt any change at all where it was concerned. He expected it might take longer. So when Kal spoke up again he was taken by surprise. Heck, he jumped even.​

​

Blinking himself back to reality, he opened his eyes and glanced around the cockpit. For a moment there he'd quite forgotten where they were and why. He reacclimatized quickly though, and managed a slightly meek smile.​

​

"I did it?" he asked, wondering if it had somehow been a fluke. Should he try again? That would make for a very, very lengthy conversation, of significantly few words. But he'd gotten the idea of it somewhere along the way. Focus and project... It had helped to visualize his target, he supposed, even if he wasn't looking directly at him.​

​

Boy, this Force thing was tiring wasn't it? He felt hot and breathless.​

​

"A little bit, yeah," came his confession of the stars, but after a few seconds he sort of just shrugged his shoulders. "Not so much now as before, I guess. Even you can admit it's a little weird though, no?"​

​

Probably not. This seemed like the norm for him.​

​

He wondered how much time had passed. Then wondered why it was he didn't much care about the answer. "Oh, right, you were inspecting the ship..." he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, then stepped aside in case he wanted to get back to work. Eliphas probably should have been in more of a hurry than he was, but frankly what for? He'd get home eventually, and in the meantime he was already MIA. They probably already believed him dead. Did a few hours make any difference?​

​

Maybe...​

​

He didn't know.​

​

Kal ​

 

[Kal]

<Weird from your perspective, certainly, but there were no stars where I was born.>

His recollection of that remained somewhat fuzzy, unfortunately. The perfect memory was a later development. He could not remember everything from the very start, but he could remember the climb towards awareness. The rebirth into clarity. The day he became 'Kal' - and for that matter a 'he' - on a whim more than anything else.

Having seemingly abandoned verbal communication in its entirety now that he was sure Eliphas would not complain, Kal's lips quirked upwards at the same time as he responded. <I was, yes. The parts that were ours, anyway, some of this is entirely alien to me. Would you happen to know who acquired our vessel and how?>

He had enough evidence to dispatch Ush'kradatii, but more was better.

Lief​