Wandering the Wild Space

[Kaia Starchaser]

There was a lot going on in this galaxy. Kaia was starting to call the Republic home, but really, it wasn’t the worlds, or the government, it was the learning experiences from the Jedi. She hadn’t received a master yet, but she hadn’t really been looking. She was learning what she could, but most of it was the basics, stuff she couldn’t do, being a Starchaser and for whatever reason closed off to the wider range of the Force. She was working on developing her empathy, and that was about it. All that could work. Even her brother was a bit ahead of her, and he focused more on being a pilot than anything else. The sibling was a great mind-melder and could even make barriers!

She wanted to be able to do something like that someday.

But right now, Kaia Starchaser, the marked and dyed Jedi of the Starchaser clan had found her way out to Sanctum space. It was near Wild Space! That had an adventurous ring to it, didn’t it? Adventure and intrigue, and apparently Jedi who were friendly with the Republic Jedi.

Was worth a shot flying out here, right? This galaxy was a wonderful place, and she wanted to see where she could do the most good.

“This is Kaia Starchaser aboard the…” Well, what was her ship named? “Drifting Star...” Because all Starchaser things seemed to go back to the fact. “To any ships in the area. Looking for… well I guess who I’d talk to out in this area to learn a few things.”

Oh naïve little Kaia.

But this was a Free Space.

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

Jasters Hammerhead Class Cruiser jumped out of hyperspace near the ship, he was on his way to the outer rim to secure a safe supply route for his medical transports. That's when his crew heard the calling of a distressed ship, he couldn't take a chance, he had Crusader class Corvettes only a second jump away in case a problem arose.

"This is Admiral Jaster Awaud of the Healer Guild, do not be alarmed, we are here to assist your ship," Jaster looked over to his crew, every man was at their station preparing for anything that may turn wrong, "power down all systems put life support and lighting, we will be scanning your ship for life signs and droids, please respond as soon as possible with confirmation of our orders."

Jaster pointed to his battle master on his controlls to the docking bay, orders to send mariens to receive the ship if she was damaged. He was attacked by pirates, he needed to keep on his toes.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Was her message misheard? Kaia looked at the viewport at the very large ship that came into her local space. She knew that Jared would tell her to cut the loss and run, but Kaia never met anyone else that lived on a ship, like she had. Silly little girl. Not everyone was going to be friendly, and she understood that, it was why there were wars. And this ship, she looked it over and heard the transmission. She could deal with that.

Maybe the ship, from a Healer’s Guild, well that didn’t sound so bad, wasn’t a warship? She had heard of Wardens of the Sky and idly wondered where the sign ups were. How to find them. Her family might like that idea for her! Not that she needed their approval, but… y’know. It was nice.

“This is Kaia aboard the Drifting Star, I’m not quite… distressed. As I suppose…. Lost?” She shrugged as she looked out at the ship. What WAS that one? “Are you…. Do you frequent this space lane?” Because that was as good as she would get to being on the radio. Simple girl, wide eyed.

[member="Jaster of clan Awaud"]

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

A child lost in space, not every day you see something like this. He has been on ship for a long while now, he was a escort commander and delivering the supplys to camps. Pirates always liked the supplies they carried, but Jaster carried a name as the best anti-pirate escort in the galaxy. He waved at his communications officer to being in the rest of the fleet into the area. Seconds later two Crusader class Corvets and three Transport Frigates jumped in. He also told his men to get a data stream ready with galactic map updates.

"This is Admiral Jaster Awaud," ha radioed the ship, "we are a escort squad, you are traveling just outside the Mara Corridor, a hyper space lane that goes around the outer rim, me and my fleet are heading to the planet Monastery, this is a medical relief fleet going to resupply, if you require new map updates or a lift we will happily provide."

Jaster told his men to power down the weapons and stop the scanners, a small craft was no might for his escort fleet. He felt dumb for responing to a none distress signal. The space was a few distance from the hyperlane, the signal was a mix up and static.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia really really didn’t mean to cause issues for people. Sure, Kaia lived aboard a ship, and could pilot just fine, and her YT-2400 was basically her home, she had been living in it for the past few months, but the one thing that the members of the Dawn Treader didn’t teach until it was confirmed you were staying with the home ship, was astrogation. Something about the pilots from that ship needing to ‘feel the Force and feel the galaxy.’ Maybe that meant she was supposed to be with the Warden of the Sky, or studying the White Current. Was odd how she knew about those groups, but not how to navigate. And when her IFF registered more contacts, her eyes went wide.

Did she make a critical error?

Medical relief. “What happened… Is there anything I can do to help on Monastery?” She was one person, but she wanted to help people. She’d seen what a warship can do to a world first hand. All she really wanted to do was explore the galaxy, and see who she could help. And if this Admiral [member="Jaster of clan Awaud"] was helping people, maybe she could follow along.

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

Jaster was slightly confused now, his guild was a well known healing group devoted to helping the injured from wars and poverty. She ither was on that ship when they received themselfs to the Galaxy, or he figured people didn't care. Their home base was on the planet Monastery, but that's was a hidden secreat not many knew, or as far as he knew. The Admiral had been flying all through the outer rim supplying refugee camps and hadn't felt solid ground in over 2 months. Considering moving across the galaxy took days, this was highly unusual, but it's what his job required. Distress signals from random people outside the hyperlane, those were not.

"Oh, there is no mishaps on the planet," Jaster ordered his men to start the data stream, "that is our resupply station where we resupply before moving to assist other planets, we are just offering to give you a lift to our station for resupply and compleat maps."

Jaster wouldn't mind the child disagreeing to his offer, the maps provided allowed a safe trip back the the Mara Corridor. He just figured the craft may won't company on its journey to where ever they need to be goin.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

It wasn’t that Kaia didn’t care. The girl was sheltered. She lived the first eighteen years of her life aboard a Starship that moved around the Unknown Regions, settled with the former Fel Empire and eventually found itself in the Fringe Federation. She was on her… Odyssey away from her ship, away from her home, and sleeping on a world was odd for her, it was quiet. Before she left, her uncle, a very good mechanic aboard the Dawn Treader snuck on her ship and mucked with the engines to make her YT-2400 sound like the ImpStar. That made her feel good, and bad. The ship reminded her of home, and it was symbolic of her ancestral home.

She nodded as she looked at the ship’s comlink. “I wouldn’t turn down maps. Mine are… bare.” She hadn’t been places, and part of the Odyssey was finding yourself in the galaxy. That was what she was doing. She was trying to be nice, network and maybe, just maybe get a job.

“Its been… a while since I’ve been able to resupply as well. It’d be nice to see other people.” And learn about them, because that’s what Kaia did. She learned. About everything. Maybe she’d head to the Republic after, or to this world… Laeka? Where the Levantines called home.

[member="Jaster of clan Awaud"]

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

Well this would make for an interesting ride, Jaster just finished a mission to close refugee camps and supplys on the transports were full. This would mean she would have to board his flagship. This wasn't a big surprise, but as most of the crew were mandalorians, she could be in culture shock by the crews habits. Jaster cleared a landing posistion within his large craft hanger bay, the ship seemed capable of hyperspace, but Jaster wished to offer comfort among other sentient life.

"This is Admiral Jaster Awaud, we have cleared hanger bay A, docking position 1-2 for your ship, if you wish to board we will convoy to our specified posistion, I would also like to invite you to lunch with the crew and myself."

The child was lost after all, for who knows how long, so Jaster was offering his hospitality in hopes that she could loosen up. The Galaxy was a dark place in dark times, but he wished to show it was not full of bad people.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Really, no matter where Kaia Starchaser ventured, she was in culture shock. Her family was a warrior tribe of Imperial-leaning starpilots and commando-snipers. Maybe the Mandos weren’t all that different from her people, she knew that the Knights Obsidian, in the Abrion Alliance were very similar. Tech savvy and Dark Side centric. For her, though, she wasn’t looking to be a Dark Sider, she didn’t want to be someone spoken of in hushed voices in the galaxy. That scared the girl.

Hell, she was boarding a ship of Mandos without any weapons. Well, that was a lie. She had a sniper rifle and blaster pistol, both were laid partially assembled on the table near the food conservator. Cleaning, and reassembling the weapons helped her pass the time, between that, meditating and well… she could easy fall prey to watching serial shows on HoloFlix and she had, but for this girl, that only got her so far. She was naïve, but she wasn’t dumb. Still, lunch, with other people?

“You’re being very kind, Captain. Weapons as you can tell, have never been powered up. I’ll land in the location. Also, there are two weapons aboard my vessel, but they are both disassembled and on my eating table.” She did get a few joy rides in the galaxy with her father, and knew proper procedure. Piloting her YT-2400 towards the larger vessel, she was curious to see what was going to occur.

But… Lunch! Was it lunch time? When was the last time she ate?

[member="Jaster of clan Awaud"]

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

Two weapons, seemed the girl knew how to handle herself on these occasions. Being called a kind person was also a throw off, the only other person to say that was his daughter, and more of a pet name then anything else. Jaster was getting old, and as old soldiers were he was a grumpy loner who traveled the space lanes with expensive medical equipment. Kindness was something he was never able to show, with valuable cargo people often attacked him.

"Rest assured we they are of little concern to us, to be honest I would think you crazy if you didn't carry a weapon on your ship," Jaster waved over his XO, second in command, "I shall be waiting for you on the hanger deck." He turned off the com unit.

"XO, you have the bridge." They grabbed each other's wrist and bowed their heads in worrier respect.

Jaster continued down the hallway before passing two off duty Healer Security Guards. They served little peruse on the ship beside being ceremonial figure pieces when welcoming guest. Jaster ordered the two to follow and they waited in the hanger bay for the guest to arrive.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Well, for Kaia, someone giving her a lift to civilization and feeding her? She was trained to survive and to fight, but she wasn’t stupid. If someone was being nice to her she’d let them know everything they might encounter on her ship. Sure, it was an YT-2400, pretty standard, a dual-cannon blaster turret on the dorsal and ventral side, and six ion missiles in the tube. Simple but no match for the fleet here. Still, her guns would probably only get her killed here.

“Not saying it wouldn’t be crazy, sir, just out of respect.” And that was something, she may be able to sense if things were going wrong, but to respond aboard that ship? Silly idea.

She pulled her ship into the hangar and began shutdown procedures. She really needed to figure out how to get a co-pilot. Maybe a droid. Lowering the gangway, she walked down, a military-surplus green jacket, black tanktop, black denim pants and combat boots. A spacer through and through. She smiled as she saw [member="Jaster of clan Awaud"]. “Thank you for having me aboard.”

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

Jaster as normal wore his Mandalorian armor, it felt like home compared to the uniform that was given to him when he was promoted admiral. The gold armor symbolized his old rank in the Mandalorian military, along with the red trim of his family, both were things he was proud of and among the few modifications he made, they were still of relic design. Jasters guards stood at attention and he only brought them cuz they were useless everywhere else.

The hangerbay was a clean area of the ship as his deck commander was very strict. The metallic paint gleamed and Madalorian fighters hung from the ceiling connected to magnetic clamps for proper organization. Many of the pilots were in the barracks and few deck crew were on duty because of the low emergency status. Few of the marines were still hanging around the hangerbay from the alert when running into the girls starship, though now they lingured smoking and chatting up a storm in corners of the bay.

"Welcome aboard, I hope will join me," Jaster bowed his head just slightly out of respect, "after we take you to our resupply point where will you go?"

Jaster gestured the young girl to follow him down the corridors of the cruiser, the halls were also metallic painted, separating each section by a black pillar across the walls. Each pillar was to signify where the bullheads where to fall in case of a hill breach, each section was only a few feet. The republic design was great for such ships as fighting requires minimal area unusable while in combat.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Mandos were always in their armor that was one of those constants that Kaia was willing to accept about the galaxy. Sith would not always be completely chaotic, Jedi weren’t always good, but Mandalorians were always attached to their armor. Maybe they were born in it? Yeah, not really, she was smarter than that, but for whatever reason, Kaia had it that Mando babies were in armor before they could walk. She could understand Imperial rank cylinders and plates, but not really anything about the Mandos. She’d have to learn, they were, after all, warrior tribes, like where she was from.

She looked around the hangar and was surprised at how well it was kept. Sure, the Dawn Treader’s main hangar was organized well, TIEs hanging from their racks, aging Imperial style shuttles organized and cleaned daily on the floor, and modified TIE Bombers used for recon and flight support. That hangar, the one where tractor beamed ships were delivered, was clean. The secondary hangar where the civilian-style vessels live? Not so much. Corellian and Silk ships and at least a handful of Incom designs were stored there, for missions, and shore leave, certain families even lived aboard their freighters, to make it feel like home. She knew her father did that with both his Mantis and YT-2000.

She gave an awkward bow-curtsey thing and rolled her eyes at herself. “Thank you, and if you have food to spare, I’d like to.” As for his next question, she shrugged. “I was heading out this way, I’m looking for a planet… I think it’s called Laekia? Something like that. There are… people out there I want to meet.” Should she mention they were Jedi? What exactly was the Mandalorian stance on them?

Adjusting her jacket, she followed [member="Jaster of clan Awaud"] through the ship, taking note of the design and function. It was definitely a new design for her. “How long since you’ve been to port?” Because that was a normal question for a nineteen to be asking.

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

Jaster enjoyed the bow from the young girl, she was not very customer to meeting other people he guessed so he just accepted it with a grin. He would of course lead her down the corridors to the mess hall. There he hoped that most of the crew was ither finishing up or they were having slackers grab snacks from the hall. There was another mystery, this Laekia, he knew it well, capital of the Sanctum, also one of the few places he was not allowed to travel openly. The mystery was why she was traveling there?

"Well, food we can offer here from the other ships, along with fuel and almost anything else you may need, but we are much closer to Laekia then we are to any other resupply station," Jaster waved his guards away so they would not interfere with what he was to offer, they worked for his boss, and she was scary when Jaster returned late to the station.

"We can offer safe passage to the planet, though I must ask what you have bussness with the Levantine Sanctum, they are a rather, well I don't know really, I don't know anything about them."

It was true, Jaster didn't do bussness with them, never meet a member or citizen of their nation, and they kept rather to themselfs then anything else. He only knew the leader by reputation, and even that was a vag idea with little information.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia did her best to give everyone around her a bit of respect. She didn’t know who she could offend and really didn’t want to get spaced out for saying something wrong. Still, she was looking around and trying to not making eye contact with the staff and spacers that were moving past them. And she really hoped they knew how to get to Laekia, could give her some of the information to get out there.

It would be nice to have a meal with other people. She was eating pre-processed protein and vitamin bars for the better part of a week now. “Fuel would probably be nice, just to top it off. And you know Laekia? Are we really close?” Not that she needed to be flown there, but maybe after the meal she could hop out and get there, if they update her flight charts.

Oh, they were going to fly her out there? “You don’t need to hand deliver me, I don’t want to put you behind on your schedule. There is a group of people, Jedi, mainly, I think, to learn from. I’m kind of hoping to see what it is I can learn out here…” She shrugged, looking at [member="Jaster of clan Awaud"].

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

Jaster though, 'Well even if he gave her directions she would still wind up lost unless she was a natural navigator.' It it wasn't for his XO, Jaster would probably wonder around the Galaxy for a while. He would have to find a way for her to travel efficiently without getting lost again. He was a smart soldier, but small implications like these were not his strong suit, still he would think of something.

They reached the mess hall finally and the guards that were following them from a distance removed themselfs and took off their helmets. They then moved to another table where Mariens were playing some card game. Off time on the ship was free time for the crew, Jaster knew being tight on his men would only start a mutiny, and he didn't need that. Yet they were all profesinal soldiers, all raised and grew up by other members of the crew, so everyone got along. They were never in 'aww' when it came to a new face, Jaster specialized in refugee relocation so their were always fresh people on board. They just looked up and nodded as they passed by. Jaster held the rank admiral, but to his crew he was more of a family member they respected.

Jaster asked Kaia to sit at a table with him, they were like any military mess hall, yet a little bigger. When moving refugee, the mess hall was converted into a living area for them, this provided close food and easy living arrangement. The tables were not bolted to the ground so benches were not either.

"We don't have a lot in way of luxury dinning, but the cooks can make a mean sandwich, and burger." Jaster smiled at the female as they sat across from one another.

"To answer your question, yes, the planet your looking for is actually a few parsecs on the direction we just came from down the Mara Corridor tword Caluula, then galactic east from there, it's a mess out there between the Silver Jedi , Primevil, and the Sanctum, we don't know what's going to happen, but their is some tension." Jaster ordered a pint of Mandalorin Rum, he had already eaten before, but also ordered a burger.

An idea came to him, he had a few astro-mechs just lying around, "I'll make you a deal, you get an astro-mech up and running before you head out and we can download the star charts and Navigational Data into the little guy so you can make the trip yourself, sound like a deal?"

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Natural navigator, now that was something her father and brother could do, but Kaia? She needed either of them to confirm her space lane trips, it was that bad. She could handle herself in real space situations, but the travel from point A to B? That was the challenge. So, she relied on the navicomputer exclusively and past charts. She would need a droid for that, maybe get one of those astromechs. Help her with repairs to the vessel and everything too…

Looking around, the ship was run pretty similar to home. The Dawn Treader was a place where people lived their whole lives. It was home for the ones that stayed, a lifetime commitment. Almost a cult, the more she thought about it. But time off the clock wasn’t regimented, and people were able to be themselves, half the Star Destroyer became automated and empty floors were converted into living space, not unlike living in a highly metropolitan area. And the Mandos DID take their helmets off. Huh, that was interesting to her.

Naïve kid.

“Lived on a starship my whole life. Doesn’t need to have fancy food. Just something that isn’t… protein paste and water.” She shuddered, almost feeling it come back up. She took the seat and smiled. “Burgers are always good!” That and yogurt, good go-to-food. “And is it really that bad out there?” Maybe she was going to need the escort.

Then the challenge came. “Are they… is it systems that are broken, or the mechanics of it?” The former she could deal with, the latter, no, not so much.

[member="Jaster of clan Awaud"]

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

The nations were in a stat of Cold War, any of the people he help were from the nations grab for power. A lot of systems were turned into a state of fear after the disaster that too so many life's. Half the galaxy's population just up and disappeared. How were people to deal with that, how were nations to recover? Well they took planets, many by military intervention, others by rebellion. Now that the boarders were drawn, many didn't have the military to fight again, so they just called each other names.

"No, they mostly just argue and throw threats at each other," Jaster smiled, "a state of Cold War, nothing to worry about if your training, otherwise us troopers move constantly away from their boarders."

Jaster had a burger placed in front of him, a pint of ale was then placed as well.

"As for the mechs, we've got 32 mech watch minor issues and fresh memory wipes, but we have been too busy to repair them, they got a range of problems, so I'm sure theirs one easy to fix."

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

The whole galaxy always seemed to be in a state of falling apart around itself. Kaia wasn’t quite sure if that was a good thing, that it never seemed to get worse, well, not since the Plague, from what she read in history books. Was her father right that a Galactic Empire would be the smartest move to make for the galaxy? She wasn’t quite sure but… well, she wasn’t one to play and argue politics. Or even consider her role in them. Nope, she was just looking for a home.

Because there could be Cylons and songs in the frakking ship.

“I’m grateful for any assistance. I really don’t want to get myself into a problem situation out there. But… insults I can handle.” Maybe. Or she’ll fall to the dark side and kill them all. Who knows? A little of column A, a little of column B. She ordered a burger and a sweetened tea, something that was a bit of a guilty pleasure when they got sugar aboard the Dawn Treader.

Smiling at [member="Jaster of clan Awaud"], she nodded and took a bite of a burger. “If you’re serious about letting me take one, I’ll definitely look into them and see how many I can fix for you, y’know, as trade.” Nothing came for free.

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Kaia Starchaser"]

This child was amusing to Jaster, she was a shy child and relatively reserved while speaking with him. Yet she had a innocents that was not yet corrupted by this world, and she could somehow smile through it all. This made Jaster happy as he was no longer innocent and remembered the days before he killed, before he looked for retribution. They were good days and seeing her smile brough him happiness that sadness and hurt wasn't overcoming her.

Jaster spoke, "If you wish, but the it is not required," Jaster pointed over to his crew playing cards, "the droids on this ship carry the same statues as the rest of the crew," he lowered his hand, "we cherish them as they do more work then the rest of us, yet they don't complain," Jaster sighed, "people say that it's cuz that's their programming, that all they know, but with all that ability, they have some level of intelligence, so we see them as family, so do be careful with the one you pick and fix, they can be your best friend for life if your alone in space."

Jaster should know, on the battle field, droids were allies and enemy's, having a droid sacrifice itself for you was not a program, but what they choose to do. He believed droids were sentient like everyone else, even preffiered them to others. He was rambling though as he often did, not very many visitors wish to speak to an admiral so quaintly, somehow his rank put fear in people.