Bloody Descendant: Chapter 1
Family. The Jedi Order discourages attachment, and family is the first attachment there is. From when your born, to being raised, and the eventual nest leaving, you’re connected till the end. This can mean a kind of leverage you would never allow any other person, and someone with the power to leverage a Jedi is troublesome.
Like Spies, they tend to avoid their family as there is usually a lot of emotional context and deeper issues that push one to become used. Family also gives easy access to blackmail or even hostage situations. A Jedi with a family emotional tie, or even a spy, would do almost anything to save said family.
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Sandra wakes up from her rest and looks around her room. The empty ship often makes thinking easier after a shower. And the shower was certainly refreshing after the long day before, but she makes her way to the datapad filled remains to open her comms. She sighs pleasantly at the idea of hearing the voice she expects to encounter next…
“…Callista? Are you there?”
It takes only the briefest of moments before the gentle lull of Callista’s soft voice breathes a reply through the comm channel, the smooth notes carrying with them a hint of quiet delight.
“Sandra, yes! I’m here. I just finished up some things with Rowler…” a short pause, laden with anticipation. “…Is it time?”
Sandra fiddles with some hair subconsciously
“Yes, are you prepared for the trip? Bring whatever you need and we will leave for Coruscant’s Jedi Temple. Ship is open for you and…let’s make this a fun trip, yes?”
An exhalation of excitement can be heard through the comm, and some quick shuffling and rustling.
“Right! Yes! I’m grabbing everything right now. I’ll be there, just few minutes!”
The link closes, but Sandra can still feel the rush, the determination that emanated from Callista’s voice, the young Padawan no doubt scurrying through her home not even thirty meters away to gather up everything and make her way over.
Sandra giggles softly and awaits her with a suppressed eagerness. She makes ship preparations before Callista arrives and has it already running. She’s typing in coordinates by the time Callista arrives. She looks to the hatch opening. Callista bursts through the opening hatch and leaps up into the ship in a burst of speed spurred on by no aid from the Force, but pure youthful exuberance.
“I’m here! Huhhfh, sorry I’m late! Huffh, huhh…I brought extra clothes…uh, toothbrush, toothpaste, snacks, uhhh…” she rifles through the spacer’s duffel she carries with her, checking for what Sandra is sure must be the eleventh time or more that everything is there that she intends to bring.
Sandra giggles and nods.
“Put your things in the room and join me in the co-pilot seat, silly.”
A vigorous shake of her head to refocus herself frazzles the young woman’s blonde locks in a cute mess, and she quickly hurries over to stow her things in one of the ship bedrooms before then scampering up into the cockpit.
“Alright, yes, great, flying time! We’re going…we’re really going…!”
Callista laughs softly as she slips into the co-pilot seat beside Sandra and running a hand briefly through her hair to regain some semblance of order there.
“Phoo…okay…I’m ready. How many jumps will this take?”
Sandra smiles warmly at the cute mess for a moment before speaking. Her legs cross as she retains her elegant and polite demeanor.
“We will be making two jumps. It should take no more than a few hours and I have to send some stats to docking so that we don’t end up smashing into anyone. Coruscant airspace is…hectic. We will jump out a few from the planet so I can show it to you for a moment, hehe…”
“Alright…okay. Just let me know what I need to do.”
Callista throws a smile Sandra’s way and nods, taking a steadying breath and looking over the controls. She is familiar enough with Sandra’s ship by now to have decent competence with the systems, and so setting up all preparations for take-off is a breeze.
“We’re going to take it easy. I have a lot of auto piloting features in relation to Coruscant, so there’s no distracting your excitement, hehe.”
Sandra shrugs innocently
“I guess you’ll just have to be unentertained for the next 4 hours. Oh well…~”
“…There’s always board games?” Callista gives a cheeky grin, leaning back in the chair as the ship lifts off through Viscara’s atmosphere and the first jump initiates.
“Brought one with you…?”
Sandra smirks a bit and studies the hyperactive lass. The blonde Padawan, though only a year or so Sandra’s junior, is filled with the youthful, childlike hopefulness of a girl several years younger than she actually is, almost like she is making up for lost time.
“A couple…” she glances back through the cockpit briefly.
“I have a sabacc deck, and…uh…ever played Shah-tezh?”
Sandra blinks and giggles before they go off to attempt both of these games on the table, having pushed aside any datapads and tech there to one side. Though, Sandra playfully cheats at moments where she can slip a moment or two in to tease Callista with. Callista’s own playfulness draws some out of Sandra as she giggles and laughs several times and ever has some moments of playful ranting.
Callista proves a surprisingly formidable player at the chess-like Shah-tezh, speaking to experience and craftiness that Sandra may not have expected from her for such a tactical, analytical game — barely even seeming to think about most of her moves and yet still making them with remarkable competence. She seems to derive no joy from the game itself, but instead purely from the time it grants her with Sandra, reveling in the playful moments and the teasing.
The ship delivers a series of beeps as they begin their approach. The pair make way, one more eagerly that another, to their seats and soon the vortex of hyperspace before them exits into a wondrous scene of brightness, expanse, and a largest representative of the MegaCity concept…Coruscant.
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Callista stares at the planet through the viewport, eyes shining and reflecting the lights of the glittering ecumenopolis ahead. Flaring waves of all manner of colors wax and wane around the densely populated orb.
“So this is Coruscant…I never got to see it like this. To think it’s all one city…!”
Sandra blows some hair aside and nods.
“Yes, this is the planet wide metropolis. I grew up here in the Jedi Temple. If there was someplace I might consider a home, this might be it. We’ll take a fly over the city scape and move to the Temple. Do some showing off, hehe!”
She takes the ship in and shows Callista the world. Shining shimmering splendid. Callista watches the cityscape zoom by in awe, the spectacle surpassing all her expectations and the images she’d seen on the HoloNet. Every cluster of shining towers and colossal architecture is a new wonder.
“Wow! It’s so much brighter and nicer than Nar Shaddaa…not that I got to see much there, but still…!”
Callista grins brightly, filled with anticipation at what’s to come. Sandra describes some of the more visible landmarks and places of intrigue as they passover the various buildings. This comes to a sudden stop as soon as the Jedi Temple’s pillars come into view, slowly turning into the legendary structure many have come to recognize
“…The Jedi Temple.”
Sandra says these words gently to Callista
“…Woah…!”
Callista breathes in amazement at the sight of the massive construct that is the Temple. Her eyes dart around from point to point, both examining every detail she can see and gawking at the breathtaking scope of the flowing Force surrounding and penetrating the entire structure.
“It’s huuuge…! Those towers…like the four pillars, right? And then a…fifth one in the middle, less metaphorical I guess…just…ohgosh I can’t believe I’m actually here, in person…! This is where my parents grew up…!”
Sandra smiles warmly to Callista and explains
“The Tower of First Knowledge, the Reassignment Council Tower, the High Council Tower, and the Tower of Reconciliation surround the Temple Spire atop the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Each tower housed one of the four councils that oversee the Jedi Order’s affairs. The Jedi Archives, where we want to go, is in the Temple. It is essentially a library of sorts for the Jedi. Information stems from here.”
They make their way to one of the Order’s docks
“While even I don’t have access to everything, I have enough to look up former Jedi. You have a name and everything, so finding information shouldn’t be any sort of random. Ready to see the interior…?”
“Yes! Yes, I’m so ready! Oh, uuhhh, I should fix my hair! I have to show my Padawan braid, right?”
Callista takes a quick breath, standing up as they land. She reaches a hand back over her right ear and pulls the narrow braid of hair from its tucked back place. Quickly, she dashes her fingers through her hair in a rushed, makeshift brushing to straighten herself out, then hurriedly pats and smooths her robes out.
“Gotta look good for my first time at the Temple…!”
Sandra can’t help but laugh. The sweetness was almost palpable and made her own heart skip a beat, though not literally, and she comes over to help her get, at least, visually ready for the visit. Sandra herself wears her own robes to show her own respect for the temple and its narrative. Once the two are confirmed as Jedi, they are allowed access proper.
The pair get out of the ship at the temple’s dock and two temple guards clack their metal staffs on the ground as a greeting. Inside the temple though…is the sight. Jedi all over, walking, and talking, and debating all around shows how engaged they are to their own learning and lifetime dedication
“Welcome, Callista. What do you think so far…?”
“It’s…amazing…! So many Jedi all in one place!”
Callista gasps and walks slowly with occasional spins and twirls as she tries to take in as much as possible. Her limbs move with a hyperactive quickness and her face wears a delight not quite befitting a serene Jedi, earning her more than a few puzzled glances from others passing by. Eventually she seems to notice this, prompting her to blush with embarrassment and rein herself in with a sheepish smile and a nervous wave to a stern-looking, but amused Ithorian Master. Even with her excitement suppressed for the moment, her eyes wander in barely-contained curiosity.
“I wonder if any of these people know my mom and dad…?”
The amusement of watching Callista enjoy her time is well. Her embarrassment brings a soft laughs to Sandra.
"You can always ask them, one by one by one…*
Sandra teases Callista’s notion
Meanwhile as they walk, they pass by the Youngling training room where a dozen small humanoids are listening to a lecture. Callista slows a moment as they pass, gazing in on the lesson for a few moments with a smile before hurrying to catch up with Sandra.
“Sorry, this is just so…cool! I used to hear stories about this place, and now seeing it myself…?”
“To me, this place is a wonder of creation that merges nature and architecture in a way most would never imagine. There is a room I wish to show you. The Room of a Thousand Fountains. I am sure then you will be utterly in awe. Then I can truly ask you again about what you think.”
“The Room of a…!” Callista’s eyes widen with sparkling glee.
“You and Beryn have told me about it before! Yes, yes please I’d love to see it!”
“I dunno…”
Sandra turns away and smirks, taunting a bit
“Wha-hey! Hey! No! Show me!” Callista raises her shoulders. “You promised!”
Sandra peeks back and nonchalantly waves back in play
“I suppose I can do so.”
After a moment of jest, they walk past a few tables and Jedi who politely nods and are nodded in turn. Finally, they come to a multi leveled room that opens up into a sight no one could have ever imagined would exist in a MegaCity. This demonstration of nature, construction, elegance, and wonderful hues is more than a sight to see, but one of sight, sound, touch, taste of air, and audible pleasantries. Jedi wander these natural walkways, stone paths, high rise bridges, and meditate in various spots.
For the first time since arriving on the planet, Callista goes from overjoyed wonder to sublime speechlessness. She wanders forward through the gardens and around the ponds, past trees and plantlife the likes of which she’s never seen, falls and fountains of unparalleled tranquil beauty. Her attention is utterly captivated, not only by the sights and sounds and scents, but the metaphysical presence humming and whispering through the entire vast chamber. Liquid ripples and streams of peaceful cyan and lively forest green, an all-encompassing aurora of calming, yet scintillating brilliance.
All the energetic jubilation has melted away to a more pure expression of quiet, harmonious reverence. Callista is quiet for a time, lost in a trance of exploration and veneration.
*A trio of Jedi walk up and a young Jedi speaks in a soft and pleasant tone. He is slightly taller than the pair with soft black hair, tanned skin, and a Padawan braid. The pair behind him is a younger black haired woman with soft green eyes and the next is a Trandosian with dark and gray tones. The main one bows to them and asks. *
“Greetings, I am Padawan Daruk. the two are Julie and Morr. Would you care to join us for Meditation by the waterfall?”
Sandra looks to Callista for her response first.
Callista blinks, caught off-guard for a moment.
“I…uh, yes! I’d love to, er…if that’s okay?”
Callista turns to Sandra a moment for confirmation.
Sandra smiles a bit and nods
“Go on, enjoy some Jedi interaction for a while. I will tend a…minor thing. Call me when you are ready for the Archives, mm?”
Callista’s face brightens with warm gratitude and she nods, giving a bow.
“Thank you, Master Mana! I won’t be too long, I promise.”
With a flash of a smile, she turns to the other three Jedi and steps towards them to join in meditation.
“I’d be glad to join you. I’m Padawan Callista, visiting from Viscara…”
The meditation in such a place feels so different than on Viscara or Mon Cal. There is a purity here. A sense of being in touch with the universe is mind opening. The Jedi together share in their energy and together find a calm and focus that was certainly unexpected. The sounds of the waterfall echos in the universe as a wave of gentle resonance as a metronome is to a pianist.
For a time, Callista loses herself to the sublime serenity of the sacred place. The world around her fades away, opening her to the Force in a way unlike she has ever felt before. The hushed white noise of the falls, the subtle breaths and flows of the life surrounding her, even the tactile sensation of her knees on the ground, her robes on her skin, all coalesce together into a stillness and awareness that surpasses anything she has known before. Everything is subsumed and bound together by a singular, pulsing thread, a binding unification that is the Living Force. It is color without pigment, texture without surface. At the edges of her mind, Callista imagines that perhaps she can hear the music described to her by her master Beryn. Notes and song produced by a vibration beyond mortal perception.
And there, underneath it all, the layer beneath - the Unifying Force. The Cosmic Force. The fabric binding the galaxy itself together, clearer now than it ever was on Altapin, on Viscara, in any starship. For what feels like just an instant, it is as though the very symphony and tapestry of creation itself is laid out before her, the blueprints of everything, throwing wide open a door in her mind she never knew was closed.
Then, at the apex of it all, a flash of blonde hair and loving hazel blue eyes…and a voice.
“Callista…”
Her eyes drift open again, and for a few moments she sits in silence, physical perception returning to her gradually. She remembers to breathe eventually, and lifts a hand to cradle her forehead, struggling to comprehend the harmony she had just experienced. Her eyes turn to the other Padawans around her, still peacefully in their meditation.
Slowly, she stands up and makes herself as quiet as possible as she pads away from them and checks her chrono…it had been over two and a half hours since Sandra left her there. Appalled at how much time she had lost track of, she hurries away and pings Sanda’s comm.
“Sandra? Er, Master Mana? I’m ready now…I’m sorry I took so long…”
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Meanwhile…
Sandra, during the time had visited her old room. Of course, occupied by a new student, but it was pleasant to just see the room door. She walks around and has minor chats with some people she knew. Otherwise, it just felt pleasant to be in the temple and experience her first and true home. When her comms goes off, she hardly noticed the time went by and responds.
“Hello, Callista… did you enjoy your meditation?”
“I did, it was…enlightening! I’ve never been anywhere so completely peaceful before. Do you think I could come here on my own sometimes? Or would I need to have a Knight with me?”
“You may come visit on your own. As a Padawan, you are an official member of the Order. I would ask Beryn for proper behavioral methods in the Temple. I can get some behavioral information from the archives too. Let’s head to the archive and pick up some information for you…any questions?”
“…Not right now. I’ll come find you…”
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Callista wanders out of the self-contained paradise of the Room of a Thousand Fountains and back into the halls, peering around to look for Sandra. It’s fairly easy to get lost in this city of a temple. She encounters several rooms where students are learning, duels are being had, and students are physically working out. She finally walks into a round chamber where Sandra is standing after 20 mins of being semi-lost. Callista smiles and walks over to the redheaded Knight, raising a hand in a greeting wave.
“Hey. Sorry, got a little lost…”
She giggles softly and motions to the doorway
“I am glad you got to see more of the area. Inside is the Jedi archives where various mountains of data exist in regard to various Jedi Artes, activities, lifestyles, and so on. You may be surprised by its size in a moment…”
And so, she opens for Callista and many Jedi wander the halls as if college students are studying and doing homework.
“Woah…”
Callista gapes for the dozenth time since they arrived, staring down the cascading aisles of glittering blue data tapes, holo books, and other stores of information, too much to even fully appreciate at a glance.
“Where do we even start…?”
“There are access terminals along tables and on external panels between each section. Jedi names and such are in a back section. If the Jedi was exiled or left the order, I use my own Shadow access to look at these. I am sure I was blocked from the stuff I personally want to research, but this is no problem compared to that. Over here…”
They walk to the back of the last two rows on the bottom floor and they approach a series of blue lights with some black tiles. Sandra opens a tablet on the wall of the bookcase and types in some information. Some of the black tiles change to Blue. Callista follows along and watches Sandra’s process closely, in the hopes of being able to replicate it later.
“So do we just search their names, or…?”
“Actually, yes. As simple as it sounds, a name holds more power than you can imagine. It is why I use a code name on missions or in private files to the Jedi that need particular encryption. While they don’t like that i do it, some of the Jedi like Master Nulaa and Keyan understand. I am always thankful for them. Here…type in her name.”
“…Mom…”
Callista mutters quietly, heart pounding with a sudden sense of how very real this moment has become. Her fingers hover over the keypad a moment, trembling…then they slowly type out the name onto the screen.
Kelia Adrianna Selkin
The data takes some time. It cycles for about 5 minutes before coming back.
Kelia Adrianna Selkin
Jedi Status: Self Resignation
Jedi Rank: Jedi Knight
Last Known Local: On Route to Dantooine
Status: Unknown
Age: 44goes into default notions then such as her training and former Masters
Sandra looks as it comes up and keeps mental notes
“…Dantooine…en route to Dantooine!”
Callista’s eyes widen, her face breaking into a smile, and she turns to Sandra, latching onto her arm. Her normally soft, understated voice finally picks up into a louder, more energetic plea.
“We can check there! There’s…there’s another Jedi outpost there, right? If she’s not there now, or when we get there, they might have seen her? Maybe my dad’s with her…m-my brother and sister! We should go! Please?”
“Mm…anything else you would like to look while we are here?”
“…Oh! My dad, too! And…maybe I could get copies of data on more saber forms? Just for later?”
Callista’s head whirls through dozens of possibilities, too many to list off all at once, but knowing she may not get another chance to access the archives for a while.
“Do you know your father’s name and such? I can download some of the saber artes lessons in advanced for when you get to the appropriate levels. Type his name in…”
The blonde Padawan nods, and her fingers dance across the keypad more quickly this time, the chance igniting a fire in her.
Javen Serex Callahan
Jedi Status: Self Resignation
Jedi Rank: Jedi Knight
Last Known Location: Leaving Dantooine Temple
Status: Alive
Age: 45Goes into default notions then such as his Master, but his record is smaller
At the sight of the commonality in their locations, and the status of ‘alive,’ Callista’s excitement only builds even more.
“Dantooine again! And he’s alive!” Her face falls in momentary terror as she recalls the previous record.
“But mom’s said ‘Unknown’…! …No, no that doesn’t mean anything, they were both at Dantooine! All the more reason to go. They must be together!”
Her body tenses in a moment of barely-restrained exhilaration, until she shuts her eyes and forces herself to stop and breathe, to calm down. Sandra blows some of her own hair aside and makes notes of her own on a datapad before getting some lessons for forms 1-4 and their beginner and moderate lessons. She picks out studies from Jedi who made nicer lessons of said form practices and lecture
“Alright, we can go to Dantooine when you are ready. Is there anything else you would like to do here…?”
It takes her a moment to consider that, deciding this should be the last request for now. Callista turns her eyes to Sandra and asks finally,
“…Do you think they have any lessons about using the Force to influence nature? Plantlife and stuff?”
“I believe this is an arte that is a combination of intense study and genetic disposition. There is a notation on an art like Force Animal Control, which delivers a peace to hostile animals. I will grab that for you…”
Gets the data for some ideals on how to use this arte. Callista nods and takes a breath, glancing around the archives once more.
“Alright…that’s all for now, then. I can come back another time, with Beryn maybe, or next time you come…thank you, Sandra.”
Sandra closes the terminal and logs out. She looks to Callista and smiles a bit.
“Shall we be on our way then?”
Callista returns the smile with deep gratitude and nods, her elation tamed for the moment.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
Sandra drops off some of the vids she herself had borrowed for training on Tatooine to the librarian droid. They make their way through the Temple and get back on the ship.
The ship starts with no issue and they are soon looking on their farewells to the MegaCity. The time to Dantooine is much further though and while it is one Jump, it is almost a 6 hour trip. Sandra changes into her normal trouble making outfit and returns to Callista to see how she is. Her own hair is tied up in a ponytail for now. Callista is curled up in a chair at the table, fingers idly twirling her Padawan braid while she looks ahead over the Shah-tezh demesne in front of her, though her eyes seem to stare right past it rather than at it.
“…I’m close…” she says aloud without looking up to Sandra, her emotions a palpable, inconsistent haze of conflicting highs and lows. She seems outwardly calm, but even with Sandra’s inability to read minds, she can tell that the young blondie is anything but. “…I’m closer than I’ve been in eight years…”
Sandra comes over and runs a hand in Callista’s hair gently and whispers of Rothel’s journey.
“…Rothel found his truth in finding his old friends and family. He came out stronger in the end and found his deepest calling. I do not know what is to come from your discovery, but ah…I will do my best to support you.”
“…Thanks, Sandy…” Callista breathes a soft sigh, letting go of her braid to reach back and clasp at Sandra’s hand.
“…I wouldn’t be here without you in the first place. I just…what do I even say, when we finally find them? Will they…recognize me? What if I’m not…what if after everything, I…I’m not their little girl anymore…?”
“…Sometimes the best plan is none at all, Cally. It is best to follow the trail and see where it goes. It may or may not be pleasant, but for each moment… let it happen.”
Sandra kneels next to Callista and stays with her as quietly as she wishes.
There are no tears, only quiet contemplation as she works through her feelings for a time, gratefully accepting Sandra’s soothing presence. She smiles faintly. Finally, after an hour or so of periodic, gentle chat, slowly turning her mind to other things as the wave of uncertainty lowers to more tolerable levels, she thanks Sandra once more and pulls her legs up to meditate for a time.
The next few hours are spent as such, as well as running through lightsaber drills and working through the basic stances and guard positions of Soresu, slowly cycling through them to build a muscle memory for each of them. Sandra spends her time cleaning her lightsaber, her blaster, checking grenades, and studying Callista as she does form practice for critique later. Otherwise, there is not much else aside from a bit of laying her head down on her arms on the table.
The time comes… they ding and then head to the cockpit to man their stations coming into Dantooine, the planet of planes, farms, and situational troubles. Callista focuses herself on her co-piloting duties more than observing the planet this time. She is bracing herself, calling on her training and discipline at last rather than allowing her emotions to run wild. The time spent in meditation and focused training appears to have helped her center herself.
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They make a faster decent as the air traffic was very low. They land on a Dantooine Jedi Enclave with some moments of sending information to them. As they let down from the ship, there are only a few Jedi compared to Coruscant.
"This is the Dantooine Enclave… small, but homely.*
“It’s nice. I think I could get used to this more easily than Coruscant…who should we talk to here?”
Callista climbs down out of the ship and looks around curiously, noting the reduced traffic and the apparent greater presence of non-Jedi in the area.
“…A particular Jedi I know. His name is McDevan… Has a knack for watching people and comings and goings. Keeps to himself. He is quirky for a Jedi or person in general. Shady for a Jedi…”
“McDevan…alright. What does he look like?”
Motions to the right as he stares at them. The fellow has long black hair and is rather pale. He holds two datapads in his arms and makes immediate eye contact with them. He stands fairly tall. A good 6’4. He looks like he’s watching and feeling everything around him.
“…Polite fellow.” Sandra murmurs
Callista looks up with surprise to the man, having noticed his presence but not thought much of it. She looks him over a moment and approaches him steadily, glancing back Sandra’s way briefly.
“I can tell…-ahem,- uh, hello! Master McDevan…?”
He raises a brow and looks around. He starts to take off but Sandra force pulls his cloak and he slips down.
“…Why you running?”
“Freaking Shadow. What do ya want?”
“I got a name.”
“Yeah, your name is trouble.”
“…Javen Serex Callahan and Kelia Adrianna Selkin.”
“That’s TWO names.!”
The man’s reaction catches Callista by further surprise, and she looks between him and Sandra with some brow-furrowed confusion. She’d known Sandra was under watch, but hadn’t expected this kind of reputation even for what little she knows of the Shadows.
“Sir, please, have you seen them? I’ve been looking for them for…for a long time now, and the archives on Coruscant said they were both last seen going to or leaving Dantooine. I’m Padawan Callista Selkin. We don’t want any trouble, I promise you.”
She dips into a humbly respectful bow. He struggles up and grunts, dusting off his robes.
“Force is about balance, right? Help me out with a problem and i’ll help you. Fair?”
Callista pauses a moment as she straightens up again, considering the statement.
“…Fair, but I’d like to do this quickly. What do you need?”
Sandra rolls her eyes and slams her fist into a wall next to his head.
“GUAH! O-O-Okay! BANTHA’S FOOT!”
“…Better.”
“L-Listen, just…there was a space battle a few days ago. Two ships.”
“Keep talking…”
“Jedi registered ship was shot down chasing a slave ship, OKAY?!”
“And…?”
Callista gasps at that.
“Landed in the fields! IN THE FIELDS!”
“How much you pay for the salvage…”
“…”
“HOW MUCH?”
“Guaaaah! J-Just…some scrap! the body was taken by some local farmers!”
“Body? BODY?!” Callista blurts in horror. “Where?!”
“H-hey, listen. I had nothing to do with it! West, 5 clicks. Near the Mando refuge and farmer Dakka Estate! Listen, don’t rat me out.”
Callista is gone before he’s even finished speaking, sprinting away through the Enclave as fast as her legs can carry her. Despite never having been there before, she finds her way out with surprising speed, where she leaps onto a speeder bike next to a pair of chatting locals.
Sandra lets the fellow go.
“Let go of the greed thing and clean up. Jedi might think you’re not gonna cut it. Beat it…”
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“I’LL BRING IT BACK!”
She calls frantically as she kicks it into gear and zooms off across the plains to the west.
The planes seem endless. The occasional farmland is pleasant and open. The sweet smells of nature are disguised by Callista’s focus. Alas, heading in that direction randomly does little for her precision. And on a speeder, it doesn’t so long to make the 5 clicks. She eventually finds the wreckage of a Jedi ship. It looks picked clean. There are some drag marks going north and fade in and out between grass and foliage
The speeder slows to a humming stop, and Callista drops off the side to look into the wreck. She spends a couple of minutes peering and poking through the ruined hull, finding nothing. Her heart is pounding, eyes wide, and everything seems painfully sharp and clear. Never once had she been in such a hurry in her life, while struggling so much to maintain control. She begins to follow the marks to the north, putting herself low to the ground, even tracing fingers and hands along the scuffs and grooves in the dirt, casting her senses out in concentrated desperation.
“Show me…show me where…”
she urges whatever will listen, scanning intently not just for the physical trail, but any sign in the Force that might guide her with more clarity.
Her calls are answered.
*There is larger farm house that has a dozen mercs outside with repeaters and heavy blasters. Two of them fire at the farmhouse at all time. There is one or two shots fired back. *
They seem to be covering the North and West side of the building while occasionally peeking at the South side. Grown fields line the East side where they don’t seem to bother with, for now.
“Rikkon! Get em out already!”
“Shut up! I’m shooting!”
“Shoot more, but dont burn the bloody place down!”
“SHUT UP!” fires more
Watching from a distance behind a large stone, Callista looks on with a steely determination that sharpens her mind further than it has been in a long time. Her eyes zip from person to person, marking their location, their aura, every detail in rapid succession, and she draws her blaster pistol from within her robes, a model of her own making barely above the quality one would find in Viscara’s general store. She checks the power cell briefly, making sure it still has sufficient charge.
Lowering herself to the ground, she waits for the moments that the mercenaries are distracted and looking away, taking each opportunity to slink from one piece of cover to the next, making her way around towards the building’s east side. Having followed the trail northward, this starts her toward the south end of the building, making the movement fairly easy overall so long as she avoids any stray blaster bolts. Within a couple of minutes, she’s prone among the grass on the east side, opening up the plasma charge chamber of her pistol. She makes a swift fist with one hand, and the charge regulator circuit inside fizzles and crumples into a useless lump before she closes the outer casing again and takes a breath…now holding what amounts to a small hand-held plasma grenade should anyone pull the trigger.
Sneaking through the grass is successful as everyone seems focused on the house and whatever their goal is. What Callista does end up finding is few broken panels in the sheet metal walls that seem to enter the farm house. A fellow peeks around the corner half-assed in her direction, then walks away.
There’s a tunnel vision that people develop in a fight. They focus on their enemy, oblivious to everything else. The angrier they get, the more intense their focus. There comes a point where the adrenaline is so intense you could land a ship behind them and they wouldn’t notice.
With a slow breath to steady herself, she crawls up closer to the house and further towards the north end. She hides herself behind a set of empty crates strewn about outside, and peers around them to watch the mercs a moment longer. They aren’t far away, she notes. It would be easy to sneak closer, catch them by surprise…
No. Now’s not the time for that, she decides, instead making a quick, Force-propelled dash to the broken panels, slipping through quickly and quietly.
Inside, she sees several pieces of equipment. A Tractor, moisturizer, two packs of large equipment fuel cells, and various other farming tools. She sees a younger lad facing the mercs and peeking out to pop a shot now and then from one or three places. Then there is an old man in his late 50’s leaning against stairs that go up to the housing floor. He has taken a blaster to the shoulder and looks like he hasn’t slept in a few days. He clutches his blaster and keeps his weak eyes on Callista. He tries to weakly aim his blaster at her, but fails.
Seeing the sad state of things within, Callista stows her blaster in her robes swiftly and raises her then-empty hands.
“I’m here to help,” she says, looking around the farmhouse a moment. and then nodding to the older man.
“I’m a Jedi. What do these men want from you?”
The old man’s eyes water.
“J-Jedi… the…woman from a ship. 3 days ago…upstairs. They…want…the woman…”
He slides down slowly to sit on his rear and grunts
“DAD?! Who is that! WHO ARE YOU!?”
“She…Jedi…”
“Please, Dad got hit!”
“Woman…!” Callista’s eyes widen, and she looks upwards, but then her face hardens again. These people need her now. She gives another nod, then points to the farmer’s son while she rushes over to the man’s side and holds a hand against his shoulder, focusing on the wound there.
“Keep holding them off, I can at least keep your father stable and reduce the pain, but I can’t do much better while we’re being shot at…I’ve got an idea, but you might need to get a new tractor afterwards…”
The teen resumes shooting as he does and some of the mercs laugh as several blasters collide with the wall of the farmhouse. Some rip through randomly. The teen grunts and keeps up his shooting. The Old man slowly avoids fatal wounds from Callista’s healing, but it’s clear that 3 days of fighting and the wound’s exhaustion has worn him to extreme degrees.
Callista, as she promised, stabilizes the old man at the very least, and gives him a reassuring stroke across his head before launching to her feet and rushing around the farmhouse. She grabs the fuel cells, some copper wire, and a few tools and quickly works at wiring the fuel cells up together, and then opens the casing of her pistol again connects the wiring there as well to form a full circuit between all of them. Hoisting up her makeshift bomb, she hustles to the tractor and loads the contraption into the floor of the driver’s seat, out of sight, with the pistol resting on top of the seat.
“Alright…where are the keys for the tractor?” she asks quickly, looking over to the teenager. The teen ducks and throws her the keys from his pocket.
“H-Here! What are you gonna do?”
She catches the keys and hops up to the driver’s seat, standing off to the side and sliding the keys into the slot and turning on the tractor.
“No time to explain, I just need you to open the door to let this roll out. Can you do that for me?”
“Y-y-yeah. I can.”
The teen falls over a slight as he runs to the mechanism. He gives a shout and pulls the damaged lever. Slowly…the gate opens from the center and parts left and right. The fine folks outside pause at the sight of the large tractor and look to each other.
“Wuu dat?”
“A bloody tractor, idiot!”
“They gonna farm?”
“SHUT UP! Shoot it! Now’s our chance to get in!”
“We can go!!”
A good trap doesn’t scare people, it makes them curious. A speeding truck makes people scatter. A slow moving truck on the other hand, makes people want to take a closer look. Callista drops from the tractor just after setting it in ‘Drive’ and before she would be seen, flattening herself against the wall. The tractor slowly rolls out towards the mercenaries, and she waits, eyes locked on it through a blasted hole in the wall and waiting, focused on the pistol in the seat.
“Come on…”
The mercs fire at it after their initial wonder of it, but doesn’t seem to do much. One of the antigravity on a let pop and the tractor veers a slight, but moves towards the group.
“WHO’S DRIVING IT?!”
“No one?”
“No ghost in there, idiot!”
“Then do we ignore the tractor?”
“BERRY, go in the shed! We’ll glass this thing!”
“Ya, Boss!”
The Merc starts to move near the tractor in at attempt to go by it. Now. She clutches her hand shut again as she would if she were gripping the pistol herself, and tugs her trigger finger inwards.
Click-vwrrrRRRRR-KABOOOM!
The tampered blaster pistol explodes, and the circuit formed between it and the fuel cells sets them off as well in a large fireball that bursts apart the driver’s cabin of the tractor, sending shards of metal, burning debris, and a heated shockwave in all directions for several meters from the blast. Most of the Merc’s get launched, killed, or stunned from the shockwave. Sandra sees the smoke rise from the few miles away and sighs as she pauses her speeder.
“…Maybe she’s more like me than I thought. Beryn is going to have his hands full with that woman.”
The Mercs meanwhile are down and confused as the last active 4 try to get up and reorient themselves. Callista reels around the corner through the open door, lightsaber in hand now and blazing to life with its warm gold glow. She charges across the field to the remaining few men. Staggered as they are, what shots they do manage to fire are easily knocked aside, and one by one she dances between them, slicing through rifles and making shallow, disabling slashes with light snaps of her wrist.
The son watches and finally drops his blaster as the last are done for. He runs to his father’s side and goes to take him upstairs to lay him on a couch. Panting for breath and looking around at the blazing remnants of the explosion, Callista takes a moment to calm herself from the adrenaline rush of her half-baked plan actually working out somehow. She did it…but there was more to learn.
She stands over the last of the men she cut down, and points the tip of her saber towards him as if in warning.
"Why were you attacking this farm? Who are you after?"
He just crumples. Looks like her bang was more than they could buck. A frustrated sigh, and Callista deactivates the saber, kicking any blasters she comes across away from their owners if they weren’t already sliced apart as she walks away. She hurries back into the farmhouse and closes the doors again before heading upstairs and brushing some soot off her robes.
“Hello? Are you alright up here?”
She calls out as she ascends the stairs, looking around for the old man and his son first…and hopefully, the woman they mentioned.
Upstairs the dad is groaning on the couch and the teen looks to Callista.
“I think he needs a doctor. The lady in the room too. Everyone’s in really bad shape! Dad…he…he tried to help her, but he hasn’t done medicine in a while! Maybe you can help her?”
When Callista goes to the room, she sees her mother. Her left arm is missing from the elbow down and looks to have been patched up. She looks black and blue over most of her body. Only the wrap around her chest and pants are on as it seems the Dad did try to treat her, closing up many cuts and other damages with even things as crude as Tape in efforts to save her. She’s alive, unconscious, but alive…
Callista stares at the unconscious form of her mother for a long moment, everything else seeming to vanish for a time. It’s really her. She’s so badly hurt, but it’s her…!
“Miss? Miss! Can you do anything? Please!”
The son’s voice pulls her back to reality, and Callista blinks, realizing one of her hands has now drifted up to lock into her hair. She pulls it away, looking over to the boy.
“…Yes, I can try. Can you please go find help? I left a speeder by the crash site, you can take it to the Jedi Enclave to the east from there. Find someone there, okay?”
Even as she’s still talking, Callista kneels down beside her mother and passes trembling hands across her body, at first as if to check that she’s real, barely touching. Then, summoning all the focus she can, she concentrates everything on sensing and healing her mother’s wounds.
“Your dad should be okay…I need to see how bad off she is.”
The mother stabilizes some more, but whatever wounds there are seem to already be in recovery. Without being more of a medical master, there is not much else one can do.
The teen runs outside and looks at the redheaded woman in black. She nods.
“Are you here to help?”
“I came for assist a blonde woman. Is she here?”
“Uh…she is upstairs. I have to get a doctor!”
“Use the speeder I brought.”
The teen takes off and goes to a medical center. Meanwhile, Sandra walks up the stairs and looks on Callista and Kellia. Callista stays kneeling beside her mother, staring at her face and barely seeming to notice Sandra’s entrance. Her gaze is full of love, worry, joy, sorrow, relief, and guilt, all at once.
“…Lacie could help if she were here…” she mutters quietly to no one in particular, clutching Kelia’s remaining hand gently.
The young blonde takes a haggard breath and turns around, moving over to the couch where the teen’s father lays, trying to give herself something productive to focus on. Her hand hovers over his shoulder again.
“Hold still, please…”
The Dad just takes the treatment offered from Callista and Sandra goes to look on Kelia, gazing on the damage done from the crash. He just groans until the aches slow and he seems to simmer down
“Thank you, miss…”
“You’re welcome, sir…”
Callista sighs, glancing over to her mother again, looking right past Sandra. “…Was she awake at any point since you found her?”
She was crawling away from the crash site. I heard the crash and I picked her up. I took here back here, but she was in a bad way. Her arm was beyond anything I could do and only kept bleeding out. Otherwise, she ain’t said nothing and been unconscious the whole time aside from some occasional groans. The Padawan stares over at her mother while the man talks, her face mannequin blank but her eyes glistening with emotion.
“…Do you know why those men were after her?”
“No, miss. Mustta been shot down. Maybe someone at the air station knows, ma’am”
A slow, understanding nod.
“Thank you for taking care of her…once your son returns with help, we should get you and her both to the closest medical facility…”
She pauses a moment, looking away from Kelia at last to dig into her pack, from which she retrieves a credit chip, coded for two thousand credits. She hands it to the man.
“Here…this is for your tractor. I know it’s not enough, but…I want to make it up to you, especially after all you’ve done for her.”
The old fellow is in some shock at the credits but in his farm’s condition, he certainly can’t refuse, and smiles
“Thank you, ma’am. May well saved my farm.”
The smile Callista gives in return is one of sad gratitude, and she nods, standing up and looking to Sandra.
“…What do you think? Will she make it?”
Sandra hands her a lightsaber, likely her mothers, and then responds.
“I believe so. One of the thugs had this in their stash.”
Callista reaches out and takes it, looking over the hilt. Rather simple in construction, but elegantly so, elements of it echoed in Callista’s own design. She clutches it tightly, remembering it well, despite the addition of new scuffs and nicks over the past years.
“It’s hers…I remember it.”
She gives a low sigh.
“…This is my fault…if I’d just looked harder, escaped earlier…”
“…Not much one can do for yesterday, Cally. She is here now and may well see what cause these chain of events to begin with.”
With that, a Speeder truck pulls up with three EMTs
“This the place?”
“Yes, sirs! Up stairs! Dad and a woman!”
The EMT’s head up stairs and Sandra motions to the woman and the teen runs to is Dad.
“We’ll take the two on the truck. No more room, so you’ll have to take your own speeder.”
Callista backs off to one side to stay out of the way, providing help as needed with clearing space or the like. As the EMTs carry her mother and the boy’s father out, she walks down with Sandra and outside to the speeder. “Can we follow them?”
Sandra nods and goes to start up the speeder. She motions Callista on the back and gives it a rev to start.
“We’ll follow and we can see where they go.”
Callista climbs on behind Sandra and wraps her arms around the redhead’s waist to hold tight.
“I want to stay with her when we get there.”
--------------------
She peeks back at Callista a moment and they follow the Med Speeder to the local Hospital. The speeders get to the hospital and the mother is taken to intensive care. The hospital emergency waiting room is empty today aside from the two.
After informing the staff of her relation, there isn’t much Callista can do but wait until she’s allowed to see her mother. She paces around anxiously, bounces her heel when she sits, glosses over every magazine and brochure available multiple times. Eventually, she falls asleep with her head resting on Sandra’s shoulder, exhausted from worry.
Sandra keeps Callista close in her sleep. Looking on Callista reminds herself of a past moment. It saddens her, but for now, she closes her own eyes, not to sleep, but to have some calm.
A few hours later, a doctor comes out. Sandra gives Cally a soft shake.
“I have some news for you, Miss.”
Callista stirs gently and sits up, looking intently up at the doctor.
“Yes? What is it? Is she going to be okay?”
“She will need some days to recover properly. You can visit her for an hour before we will let her rest for the time. We’ll call you otherwise with any developments, Miss.”
He goes to let Callista see the freshly bandaged and wrapped mother who lays unconscious. Stepping into the ICU room, Callista shakily lowers herself into a chair beside the bed. Her mother is barely recognizable as she is, but that presence is still there, hiding just beneath the surface.
“…I’m here, mom…” she utters in a hushed, cracking voice, gently clutching at Kelia’s bandaged hand.
“I finally found you. It’s me…it’s Cally. I know…I know it’s been a long time but it’s me, I’m here.”
A moment of silence, tears welling in Cally’s eyes and dripping down her cheeks freely. “You’re gonna be okay…the doctors’ll take good care of you…I…we can go find dad and J-Jace and K-Kassia…we can be a family again…”
Her voice breaks a moment, interrupted by a sob.
“I’m sorry…I’m sorry we wandered off, m-m-mom…we should’ve stayed by the ship, but we didn’t…and I was too slow…I couldn’t…couldn’t get away, and now…I-I’m…s-s-so sorry…!”
The awful lump in her throat prevents her from speaking further for several long minutes, and instead Cally finds herself only able to sit and cry at her mother’s side. She lays her head forward against the side of the bed to be as close to her as she can manage, desperate for the contact she’d missed so much for so long. Even as her eyes squeeze closed, the darkness behind her lids is lit with a glittering starscape of every color she knows, and even some human eyes could not otherwise see. Her senses extend, probing for any hint of understanding or awareness from her mother.
The hour is, as always, too short. The nurses come in for the next round of treatment and gently ask for the excusal of Callista, being as polite as possible. Sandra stands outside and looking at the Dantooine sunset.
Callista trudges out slowly to a stop beside Sandra, eyes distant and unfocused, the rush of emotion having receded to a period of numbness as if she isn’t able to handle feeling anything more just yet. Her arms are crossed in a small self-hug, and she just stands there for a moment, unable to really think much or summon the will to speak first. Sandra puts a hand on her back and whispers after a few minutes of quiet.
“…Let’s go back to the ship, Cally. We’ll return to Viscara for now.”
Callista nods quietly. Around halfway back to the ship, she finally manages to say.
“I left my contact information…maybe she’ll call soon, when she’s awake. …Thank you, Sandra. I…I don’t have words for what you’ve done for me.”
Sandra nods a slight.
“You are welcome. I did make a promise…”
A ghost of a smile passes Cally’s lips. They enter the ship together a few moments later, and not long afterwards they lift off from the Enclave to return. The return is a quiet and somber one. Landing and touching down brings a feeling not of comfort, but an opportunity for reflection and uncomfortable waiting for when the call again may arise…
End Chapter 1
