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The galaxy was always in a state of flux, wasn't it? His father had fought the Sith, and thought he had removed them from the galaxy, yet they were still there. His sister was out restarting the Wardens of the Sky, and had pulled him into that fight. It wasn't really a fight so much as it was an approach and something he was doing already. But he took it a step further. If he knew the Sith or an Imperial warlord was out pulling strings, he'd chase that lead down like the Jedi Sentinel his father had raised him to be, but without the whole 'what is light' conversations his father found himself asking more of as he aged.
No, Jared was more like the New Jedi Order that his father was a part of on Sullust, here to make a bang and help those however he could. Skills grew in the Force, Jedi with a smattering of Allyan Magick and whatever else he could learn in the more uncivilized areas of the galaxy. But today he was just doing what his family was known for. Wandering.
And responding to distress.
The Nova Starcutter he had named Tequila Sunrise was making jumps ahead of the larger ship he had, the Cipactli-class Proteus. They were a bit out towards the region of space formerly run by the Levantines, out along Wild Space. The call had been in a system that was known for gravity anomalies, and had a moon that seemed to be the problem.
Jared wasn't about to bring a limited run ship into a problem situation. But his smaller ship did revert into real space and he saw that the coordinate seemed to indicate the problem was on the moon.
Wonderful. Well, at least the moon was jungle and not frozen.
Nathan had been chasing a lead on possible Cultists in this system. Whenever he got even a whiff of a rumor as to their whereabouts, he chased it. He knew he could never be as reckless as his first assault on them ever again. They would be prepared for shock assaults like that.
His mission, instead, had been to scout the sector. A jungle moon with gravitic anomalies nearby had seemed the sort of world they favored and he had piloted his way to it carefully. His intent had only been cursory scans, but a distress signal had caught his attention as he flew over the jungle moon. Reluctantly, he had descended to investigate, setting his best up looking Aurek Fighter down in a small clearing, quietly got out a medkit in case he had to treat injuries after landing, as well as a shotgun and ammo belt.
In the Jungle itself, Nathan started to hear the threads of life all around him whispering to each other as he headed in the approximate direction of a signal.
The whispers in his skull, from the life all around him began to aggravate and confuse him, pulling him in one direction, slightly off the path. He wasn't sure why he obeyed the impulse. Only that he did.
His detour carried him off to something that was very, VERY unsettling.
It was a chapel of stone. He scowled in pure animosity at the sign of the Ashlan Church. He was tempted to leave altogether but for the innate tugging sensation.
He turned away...then turned back, walking slowly to the partly collapsed front entrance, slipping in through a gap, not sure what he would find.
He was not prepared for what he saw on the other end.
He came out to a stone platform around which four statues that were particularly ancient depictions of the Goddess Ashla. The air twinkled with seeming glitter in an otherwise black void.
A figure dropped to the center of the room. He tensed, stepping back, then he grew more concerned seeing who it was.
It was an elderly Elaine Tear, not as young looking as her Sith Self, The Battalion
, dressed in a formal, hooded green ceremonial gown, armed with a single, blue bladed Lightsaber, the design having an exposed crystal chamber.
"It would have been better had you simply beheaded me in my sleep then leave me to the Cult." Elaine sneered at him, levelling the point of her blade at him.
"You're an illusion. This is all an illusion..." Nathan told himself.
"Keep telling yourself that." Elaine snapped, dashing towards him with a deadly swipe that he only evaded at the last second.
"You were too afraid to face me yourself. Too scared to do your own killing. So you left it in the hands of practiced executioners. (Zanti Misfits: 90 XP)" Elaine hissed as Nathan fired a shotgun blast only for her to pause the projectiles with the Force and dash towards him with another slice from her blue blade.
"How many have suffered, Nathan, how many have died for your one moment of spite?" she questioned as he barely managed to get his arm up in time, the mild Cortosis weave plating in the arms of the jacket, barely holding off the bite of the plasma, but sending terrible pain running up his arm at the heat transfer. He gritted his teeth at the agony, but refused to scream or even snarl in pain, diving back from a slice meant for his head.
Elaine pulled shrapnel from the stone floor to hurl at him and he dived, firing. Elaine dodged, snarling as some of the buckshot pierced her skin, leaking the white blood of a Brain Demon Cultist.
Nathan was violently, telekinetically dragged by her across the floor, shredding his jacket, and part of his biker pants, before being slammed against one of the Ashla statues.
"Was it worth it? Is it still worth it?" she asked, tauntingly.
"I ask myself, and often..." he replied, rising. "You murdered my family. Twice. I'm remorseful for the ones who suffered. I'll take full responsibility for them to my next grave, to anyone who asks. But you? I would rather let you murder me here and now than give you the closure of an apology. Did my family get closure? Did they get justice? No! What did you get, Elaine? A nice long seven year hiatus from Ession, sentenced to soul searching! You even got to taste the lips of my own daughter! The only thing you deserve is spit on your grave!" Nathan snarled, leveling the shotgun with his remaining good arm. One shell left.
Elaine smirked, and her next question shook him to his core.
"So let me get this straight..." Elaine trailed, brandishing her blade at him.
"The best punishment you could think of wasn't to become better than me...but to indirectly become me, and sentence Force knows how many families to the same fate yours suffered?"
The impact of this was like a sledgehammer. His aim wobbled, the shotgun dropped. His grim expression gathering misery at how stark his hypocrisy had been lain at his feet. He was quiet, the question like broken glass across his brain, hateful and splintering...
He made loops and loops of logic, and none told him what he wanted to hear. They all only told him the truth. The truth he repeated out loud.
"I was unworthy of you, Lysandra..." he said to himself. "I failed you twice."
He fell to his knees.
"Nothing is better. Nothing is changed. Nothing was avenged with your suffering. All I did was damn us both. You deserved to be punished...but not like that."
Nathan Bloodscrawl looked up.
"I was wrong to sentence you to the living death of being a Cultist. No matter what you had done to me."
Nathan struggled with his next words to Elaine, struggling past decades of built in resentment and hatred to display a moment of humility.
"I apologize." he said. "I know a simple sorry doesn't cut it...but it's all I can offer for now. I...I take full responsibility for what I did to you."
Nathan blinked and he was inside the decrepit remains of the Church Interior, the statues of Ashla fallen around him, one of the heads in the dried out remains of the reflecting pool.
Nathan felt himself lifted up into the air, charged somehow by the power in this place, an invisible wave of it escaped his body and cracked the walls around him, the floor beneath him, and the ceiling above him. He dropped to the floor, clutching his skull, the whispers dragging out old things in his head...
(90's Spiderman Theme Plays)
His cells felt like they were on fire, his head felt like it was being split open and an ocean was being poured in and all he could hear was the roar of water. He unknowingly teleported three times at random points in the ruined church before ending up hovering in the place he had been pulled up, tumbling and spinning in the air...
(FORCE CONNECTION INITIALIZED)
(SIGN 21 PAGE TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT Y/N?)
(YOU TYPE "Y")
(PROGRESS SAVED)
(CHOOSE YOUR CLASS)
CLASS: JEDI GUARDIAN
This Jedi battles foes directly with the use of the Lightsaber to rip and tear the wicked until it is done and focuses less on the application of the Force (Though their command of it can still become most impressive), defending the Innocent and the Helpless from the depraved schemes of the evildoer.
CLASS: JEDI SENTINEL
This Jedi ferrets out the schemes of the wicked, taking a balanced approached to Lightsaber Combat, Technology, and the Force (Though a Sentinel, properly trained, can rip and tear with the best of them.)
CLASS: JEDI CONSULAR
This Jedi focuses on direct application of Force Powers to bring matters to a close, and as peacefully as possible. They often battle the Dark Side's manifestations in the land and seek to bring all in harmony...and yes, they too, will rip and tear if the situation calls for it. But ONLY if it calls for it
(YOU CHOOSE: JEDI GUARDIAN)
(NEW FORCE POWERS GAINED!)
Power: FORCE SENSE
Use the Force to sense Life and Threats around one's self. As skill grows, it becomes easier to detect both, and at longer ranges. As a Guardian, Nathan has a natural ability to detect lapses in defense
Current Skill: Initiate
Power: POISON SENSE
Sense poison or contaminants in nearly any substance. No skill tree
Power: FORCE TELEPORT
Use the Force to teleport short, medium, or long distance, either one's self, or objects. As skill grows, farther and farther distances can be traveled, and larger and larger objects can be teleported. A hereditary ability in the Bloodscrawl Family, and often essential as they historically lack the ability to use most body enhancing Force Powers like Speed or Jump, or the ability to use most offensive forms of Telekinesis
Current Skill: Initiate
Power: ENDURE
Use the Force to endure and survive incredible physical pain. As skill grows, greater and greater thresholds of pain resistance can be achieved
Current Skill: Initiate
Power: REDUCE INJURY
Uses the Force to reduce the deadliness of an injury, going from potentially lethal to simply crippling. As skill grows, more and more severe forms of injury can be reduced
Power: FORCE CONCEALMENT
Reduce one's presence in the Force to the level of a gnat. Requires constant Concentration and Focus, and can heavily exhaust when inexperienced. As skill grows, it becomes less and less taxing to channel, and the effects last longer
Power: FORCE STUN
Temporarily painlessly paralyze the senses and body of a target, allowing for escape or a chance to further incapacitate the target. As skills grows, larger and more powerful singular targets could be paralyzed.
Current Skill: Initiate
(LIGHTSABER SKILL PARTIALLY RECOVERED)
Saber Style: SINGLE BLADED LIGHTSABER
Almost all Jedi are trained in the use of the Single Bladed Lightsaber, and it is the most balanced of all Lightsaber variants.
Current Skill: Initiate
Saber Style: SABERSTAFF
Training from Nathan's father in the style of the Jedi Temple Guard left Nathan with a basic understanding of all staff type Lightsaber weapons, From the more common Double Bladed Lightsaber, to the Lightsaber Pike of the sort used by Kazdan Paratus.
Current Skill: Initiate
Saber Form: FORM 1
Lightsaber Style that was the first to be created, useful for multiple opponents but less so in Lightsaber duels. Uses basic blaster deflection. An effective form to fall back on, when no other will do.
Current Skill: Initiate
Saber Form: FORM THREE
Most defensive of the Lightsaber Styles, with much higher ability to deflect or redirect blaster bolts as skill grows. Able to outlast opponents until solution can be resolved peacefully, but often can only enable survival rather than victory
Current Skill: Initiate
He looked down, saw his black biker gear was badly damaged, like his arm, and he was forced to use part of the med Kit on himself, and barely succeeded in treating his arm. He looked around, saw an electronic crate, staggered up, almost feeling like he was going to throw up, drew one of his pistols and shot the lock, disabling it's Electronics and opening it.
He knew he couldn't venture further in his current gear. But he still didn't feel right wearing this NJO style jumpsuit.
He hesitantly stripped off his biker gear. He would come back for it later, and put the jumpsuit on.
Nathan grew more hesitant when he saw the parts for a Lightsaber.
He furtively reached in, retrieving the kit of parts, and the dark blue kyber Crystal from his shredded jacket.
He knelt down, and thought a moment. He was still very conflicted. Even admitting that much had been almost too much for him.
The Illusion's question haunted him as he began construction, the weight of his mistake with Elaine having finally hit, and hard.
How many had he sentenced to his own fate with just one moment of spite?
Nathan stood up, a cold realization that it wasn't just about defeating the evil in the Cult, but in himself, starting to spread down his very spine, and exited the church, resuming his previous journey...
Warden. Learner. Protector. He knew what he had at his disposal. Unlike his father and sister, Jared pulled from many schools of thought for the Force. All a bit more aggressive than the next, but even greater than what he could do, was what he could do with what he had. Jared was not as gifted in the variety as his father was. He was doing his best, but it seemed that he just modified his way of thinking for what was needed.
But now? There was a distress call, and he was here to answer it. He had been raised in the Unknowns, along the Rim, in worlds and situations many wouldn't survive. But what Jared Starchaser wanted to do? He wanted to follow and continue his family legacy. Not being the Jedi War Chief that his father had been for so many years but the original mission of his family, the one they've returned to.
Exploration of the galaxy and the Force, and protecting those they meet along the way. The Sunrise was heading in for landing, Jared at the controls and the ship's on-board data collection monitoring the ground cover. Jared was looking for the landing zone, he didn't want to get too close to the location but close enough. And soon, he found it. Nodding to himself and his droid, he put the ship down in a small clearing.
"Hopper, activate the active camo…" Jared ordered as he unhooked from the harness and started to move to gather his gear. A few surplus items from groups long gone, but they were easily repaired, and easily maintained. As he stepped into the hold of the ship, he grabbed a cloak with doubled as a dampener for sensors, his lightsaber, and a small satchel with other items.
"Come on Hopper, need your help." He stated as he went down the boarding ramp.
Nathan had been creeping through the woods when he realized he had left his shotgun behind by mistake, due to how freakish his experience with the Ashlan Church had been. He hadn't been thinking straight. He reflected on the words he had said to that illusion. The weight of his mistake hit again.
At least the new Jumpsuit was fitting him well. It was a dark blue Color. Interesting vambraces.
He came across what looked to be an old, crashed Imperial Lambda And investigated it. Far too old to be what had sent the distress signal. He saw the hatch and went inside. Stormtrooper bodies. First Order, by the looks of the Helmets.
Nathan pushed aside wreckage, looking for any equipment he could use. He was at the bottom ring when it came to procuring equipment. He began cutting open the sealed crates containing the ration kits. Noting they were still in edible condition due to the tough packaging and took a few for himself, along with a few emergency flares, as well as a range finder. Nothing else was usable.
Nathan exited out of the shuttle and saw the Force Ghost of his Mother, Natalya Bloodscrawl. He went cold, stepping back. She was long legged, a classic beauty with long, curly blonde hair in a dark crimson gown, with green eyes. Her entire body was surrounded by a blue tinge.
"Find what you're looking for, amongst the Dead?" His mother asked. (KOTOR REFERENCE #643217!: 100 XP)
"I didn't know...I didn't know you had learned this particular gift..." Nathan trailed slowly, stepping back.
"It is...it is good to see you again, Mother..."
Natalya smiled. "You still have your Father's stiff manner. Never could shake him of it...or you..."
Natalya had been a Jensaarai. It was she who had cracked the shell of his father, Angus Bloodscrawl, who took her as his bride within a year of meeting her. But Angus had been raised by his father, a former Temple Guardian. So Angus's outlook on life (Which he had somewhat imparted to Nathan) was a quiet stoicism influenced by the training of Temple Guardians. It had led to interesting, extended conversation at the dinner table.
Nathan fumbled for words. "What...why did you not contact me before now?"
"You were in too much pain to hear me before you were dead, and in too much pain afterward for me to reach you." Natalya answered. "But your act of humility in the church has pleased The Force, and it has permitted your mind to hear and see me at long last."
Her ghostly hand rested on his shoulder.
"I grieve for your losses, my son. For your wife and daughter. For my grand daughter."
"I failed them. All of them..." Nathan trailed...
"Your choices may have kick-started the process...but their choices were their own..." Natalya replied.
"I don't know what to do anymore..." Nathan admitted. "I don't know how to fix any of this..."
"Don't try to fix it son..." Natalya replied. "Your focus should be on building..."
"You can't fix the mistakes of others, Nathan. All you can do is become the good man I know you are, deep down. The kind of person your daughter almost was..."
Natalya glanced off in the distance.
"We'll talk later son. For now someone needs your help...and if you don't mind my saying...your pistols won't be enough..."
Nathan blinked and his mother vanished.
Nathan stared down at his stun pistols. He sat down, and used his Lightsaber kit to disassemble one for it's internal parts, blending them with the parts for the kit. This took about fifteen minutes. Years of assembling and disassembling the weapons coming back to him, if nothing about how best to actually fight with them...
Lightsaber with distinct focus on Non-Lethal functionality. "R" Trigger to swing. "L" Trigger to block. Tap "L" Trigger to parry/deflect blaster bolts
Nathan tested out the dark blue Lightsaber blade with a few experimental swings before shutting it off and continuing on to where he started feeling the distress of another living being...
He came across the sound of blaster fire, and spotted a Twi'lek woman in a dancer outfit firing her blaster pistols from behind cover at an advancing pair of rusted B2 Super Battle Droids, next to her the shot up corpse of a Hutt. But the rapid fire of their cannons was making her duck behind cover more and more, and her pistols didn't really seem able to harm the armor.
A snap hiss of the Lightsaber caught the B2 Droid's attention.
Nathan was suddenly moving, his blade blocking the rapid fire bolts but barely and he was forced behind a nearby rock as the droids rapidly started blasting at it...
