[IC Thread] Star Wars: Saberswingers

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

To most outsider observes a battle fleet is simply a disconnected series of ships, moving through through the stars under the nominal identity of a group. However, to those who have been on a military vessel in a fleet maneuver, the fleet moves like a single creature. This is especially true considering just how much communication goes into a simple repair job, and no one knows this feeling more than the Fourth System Fleet. The fleet's lumbering behemoths float above the temperate world of Corellia, and a swarm of small Corellian vessels float between the Fleet's behemoths like leaves on the wind. The Corellian ships bring much needed supplies from the shipyards, and ferry weary troopers on shore leave down to the world below. Corellia itself is a densely populated light show that glows like a jewel against the backdrop of the stars. Nearly half of the world has become an urban sprawl consisting of a mix of massive skyscrapers and colossal factories, while the rest remains a dark mass punctuated by small communities and farmland. Multiple shipyards ring the planet's equator, and most are occupied by half-constructed dagger-shaped starships. Rendili designs to replace the aging Venators, or so the rumors say. No one can really know for certain, since their actual purpose remains a closely guarded secret.

Corellia sits on the crossroads of a stable hyperspace route aptly dubbed the Corellian Trade Spine, and from there the fleet could be at any point on the outer rim within weeks. It has only been a scant two weeks since the fleet's costly victory at Balith IV, and most of that was spent in hyperspace back toward the Core. The crippled fleet couldn't take any of the major trade lanes back, and had to limp their way home system-by-system. Just a day ago they arrived over Corellia, and put in repair and resupply requests. Unfortunately, many of Corellia's factories were dedicated to churning out new ships rather than repairing older ones, and the Resilience isn't scheduled to receive its repairs for nearly two months. Fortunately, the supplies are coming much more quickly.

Lesher

"General! Enemy bombers broke the left flank. Report came in from up high: The Ascension's gone, and starfighters are deploying along our beachhead. We need to retreat and regroup before they reach us." The clone officer, a commander based on his armor stripe and helmet, shouted at Lesher in the same voice and accent all the clones had. The two of them are alone, in a command post that's little more than a hole in the ground covered by a tarp to keep the snow out, and Lesher has no memory of how they got there. "General? Do you understand? We need to--" The blaster bolt that cuts off the clone also destroys his head, and Lesher finds herself staring at a set of clone armor, sans helmet, standing up on its own. Then it falls like a puppet without its strings. Looking past the fallen corpse Lesher spots the clone's killer--a skeletal B1 droid painted all black--leveling its blaster at Lesher. Snow frames the commando droid as it stares down at the Jedi, and the world seems to slow down.

Then the droid opens fire.

Lesher wakes in her quarters with a jolt. She wasn't on Balith. It takes some time for her memories to come back, but soon she recognizes the room as her officer quarters on the Resilience. The room, a combination bedroom and dining room attached to a private bathroom with its own shower, was practically the lap of luxury compared to the clone's communal bunks and bathrooms. The bed's hard, the room's slightly too cold, and it's very dark. But it's home now, at least it's home since the remains of the Ascension, and Lesher's old room, burnt up in Balith IV's atmosphere. To her immediate right is a window, a rare luxury indeed on a battleship, overlooking Corellia and the swarms of vessels moving about her gravity well. To her left is the darkness of a lonely room, barely lived in, and the incessant beeping of her communicator.

Kyra

A memory interrupts Kyra's training. She senses pain, searing flesh, helplessness, and a bottomless well of anger. But then its gone. "Master?" The simple word banishes the intrusive thoughts, and brings Kyra back to reality. The Knight finds herself face-to-face with her padawan, standing in the Resilience's starboard hangar. The mottled brown Mon Calarami holds his lightsaber loosely, facing his master directly and forcefully: The Shien style that Qu Rahn had imparted onto the boy. Obvious concern is plastered across his face, but the padawan is likely more worried that his training has been interrupted than any real danger to Kyra. The two were just engaged in sparring practice. Dev was getting better, and once forced the young Knight to rely on the Force rather than rote practice drills, but he was still far from his master's equal.

Clones, mostly engineers rather than pilots, meander about around them. They're performing maintenance on the Nu-class assault ships and LAATs kept in the port and starboard hangars, because here they didn't need to wear exosuits or their armor to get any work done. Dev relaxes, lowering his guard like he hadn't learned from his encounter with Grievous, and speaks to his master once more. "If I'm boring you, Master Kyra, then I could go find Master Lesher and ask if she'd rather spar with you."

Lanike

The Jedi-knight-to-be finds herself in the forward hangar bay, dressed in a poof-y space suit that makes her look fifty kilos bigger and half a meter taller, working on her starfighter. Well, it was technically the Republic's starfighter, but she asked for one and the clones had to do what she asked. Or, at least, they did what she asked when she asked. Whether that was a product of their training, or an actual inability to refuse her orders, remained to be seen. The starfighter, an modified Eta-2 that had shields instead of an astromech, had served on the Ascension with her until it went up in smoke. She'd gotten one of the first modified Eta-2s when Kuat rolled out the new models, and its relatively long service history was written on its armor: A blaster mark from a stray droid starfighter, a ding from the Ascension's uneven hangar, and more made the fighter hers. Of course, the Council frowned on Jedi owning things, but they all had personal starfighters anyway. What's one more?

The deathly silence of the forward hangar bay seemed so alien when compared to the Ascension: No clang of machinery, no whirring from cleaning droids, and certainly no shouting in mando'a that made the hangar seem alive. Of course the Jedi could easily look around to see that clones milled about, wearing suits much like her own, but she heard nothing from them. She only heard the vibrations of the hangar floor and her own breathing.

Triel

The iktotchi Jedi finds herself standing in a black void. A pitch black expanse stretches out before her, decorated by neither light nor stars, impenetrable and immobile. The darkness suffocates any ideas of illumination, of beating it back, and the Jedi finds herself alone. Reaching for her lightsaber and igniting it reveals nothing, as only darkness remains before her. But once her blade is ignited the darkness responds, like water being poured from a bucket, and takes a physical form. It wields a blade of the purest black, darker than the light-less expanse that wields it, and seems to challenge the Jedi to battle. The spectre and the Jedi exchange blows, lightsaber against void, and for a time they are evenly matched. The Jedi strikes out over and over, and the darkness falls back under her onslaught. She seems poised to win, until the iktotchi finds herself swinging a killing blow. Suddenly, the darkness is wearing the face of her old master, the wrinkled old human looking at her with fear and the sting of betrayal in his eyes.

Then the iktotchi strikes.

Triel wakes to find herself in her room on board the Resilience. The room, much like the other officers rooms, is a combination bedroom and dining room. Two doors mark exits, one leading to a connected bathroom and the other leading back into the ship, and a window dominates one wall. Outside she can see Corellia, and the whirlwind of ships moving about the shipyards and the planet itself.

Merrick

Merrick wakes to find himself alone in his room. The Mon Calamari's skin feels dry, but that's to be expected on human vessels like the Resilience. Military vessels skimped on costs where they could, and not including a bath where a Mon Calamari could soak himself was one of those cost-saving measures. Fortunately, the officer's quarters most Jedi were given had private showers, but soaking on a shower was much harder than a bath. Looking outside reveals that the Resilience is still at Corellia, and that meant a small respite from the fighting. Unless the Confederates decided to launch an attack on one of the most heavily fortified words on the Corellian Trade Spine, but certainly the infamous General Grievous would not be so bold as to attack another Core World so soon after his failed assault on Coruscant. Nonetheless, the Mon Calamari is left to ruminate, shower, and prepare himself for the day to come without interruption.

And the fact that he was uninterrupted would come as a surprise to anyone who knew the Mon Calamari's padawan. Arwen's former padawan often came to bug the Mon Calamari with questions about things she found, species she met, or droids she "spoke" to. The poor thing was trying to learn Binary through immersion, but without a class in it that was impossible. Every droid spoke it differently, and the Resilience's droids were no different. It was easy to forget that she was relatively new to space travel, until she disappeared for a little while. The little Nelvaan liked to board ships heading down to planets the fleet visited, and Corellia was not the kind of world for a lone young girl to be on, even if she was a Jedi-in-training.

[Cespenar]

Kyra blinks momentarily at the unseemly memory. Was it even hers? She never remembered having felt anger of that scope before. If not, then whose was it? Nevertheless, Kyra blinks again and refocuses on the moment, saving the rumination for another time.

She looks at her padawan and his uncharacteristic style. Given Dev Jien's personality, one would expect him to try something like Ataru, Djem So or Makashi, but apparently his old master Qu Rahn was wise enough to teach him a style to cover his weaknesses. For a moment she hopes she can be just as wise, though not necessarily share his fate in the process, thank you very much.

A brief smile touches the young Knight's lips at the sight of the Mon Calamari's worry.

"No, Dev, you might be many things, but boring isn't one. It was... just a memory. Never mind it. Instead, think about..." she trails off, crouching down and leaping into a sudden attack to show her point.

"... not dropping your defense in the middle of a fight."

If necessary, [roll0], using the Bondar phase for stun damage.

Edit: Lol.

[Princess Tracy]

"What? No... The Ascension is..." Lesher clutches her head as the clone trooper shouts the mission status out. She groans, trying to regain her footing. This place was death and danger, she knew that much at a glance. "No, where is he...?" She stares when asked if she understood, she wasn't sure that she did. Her eyes widen at the soldier's sudden execution, darting to the droid. Her eyes lock and she reaches for her sabre to defend herself...

Her cabin is filled with a cry as she springs forward, slashing at the air. Fortunately her lightsaber is not in her hand and there's no innocents around to face her waking fury. She pants, wiping sweat from her brow as she looks over to the lightsaber, held on the nightstand where she left it the night before, some safe distance from herself and the tool of destruction for when she was asleep, when her consciousness slipped away to dark places. She catches her bearings and sits on the edge of the bed, cradling her skull by the temples before she slowly rises, hoping no one heard her roaring. Battle... she couldn't get it off her mind, more than ever. That droid, it looked odd. Black painted in a snowy setting hardly blended in, was it some kind of shock trooper? Had she seen it before? She doesn't spare it much thought as she retreats to her bathroom, taking a quick shower to wash away the sweat. She stops as she registers the beeping as something physical - not the phantom presence of imagined droids. While she didn't feel like confronting or talking, still feeling a rush in her heart, she remembered some advice exchanged around the other Jedi, on not giving into despair. Comunication... it would do, even if it was just orders, to take her mind off it, snap her back to the present.

Who would have my signal and be calling so urgently? Lightning courses through her thoughts and she pushes the receiver for the call, connecting to the communication at once. She had been awaiting anything to sate her doubt. "Hello?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Kyra

Kyra's sudden attack, uncharacteristic for both the Jedi and her style of combat, proved ineffective when her Mon Calamari padawan simply stepped backward. The amphibian narrows his right eye, a gesture he'd picked up from the clones' raising there eyebrows, and raises his saber once more. "Alright Master. Lets begin again, shall we?" He adopts the Shien form's opening stance, holding his lightsaber tightly, and renews their practice. His Shien, characteristic of the form (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Form_V), relies on his physical strength to contain Kyra's blade and try to create openings where her Soresu waits for them. Fortunately, the Jedi Knight's mastery of Soresu and Shien's weakness against a single blade-wielding opponent provides Kyra an easy defense.

Kyra can make her UtF check for her Sparring Practice regimen, which sparring with a non-Soresu user provides a +2 bonus to.

Lesher

Lesher's cry breaks the silence of her room, but fortunately summons no guards or soldiers to bother her. No memory of the black colored droid comes to mind when the Jedi searches her thoughts, and it's appearance is easily discarded when she decides to put it aside. Lesher's shower remains uninterrupted, at least no interruption aside from her beeping communicator, and once she leaves it she's able to find her communicator easily enough. Answering it brings up a voice long forgotten, burned out of the galaxy in the hellfire of a proton bomb, but yet unforgettable and unmistakable: "Master?"

In what seems like an eternity of waiting the speaker eventually repeats himself, this time in the familiar accent of a clone. "General? Are you there? I am CT-13--, uh, Jax, ma'am. Republic liaison officer with the Corellian planetary defense force. I'm speaking to Jedi Master Orion of the Resilience, correct?"

[keglz]

Triel bothered by her nightmare or was it more... goes to begin her morning routine. She Begins with with deflecting blaster bolts while blinded, and then searches for a partner to spar with.

[MadMaeve]

"Left coupling to right socket... motivator cable to central navi... connect the ion lines and- *grunt* Blast it! These things are so tempermental-"

Lani certainly asked for a starfighter. She 'needed' it to conduct 'independent operations.' That's what she told the clones, anyway. While a part of her actually saw the practicality of having a little ship to take her behind enemy lines, she wanted it to satisfy an urge. The urge to take apart an engine, see how it ticks, skim through the holo-manual and put the thing back together. The urge to make something with her own hands.

Sitting under a battle-scarred interceptor and juggling ion intakes and wiring wasn't exactly that, but it made her happy.

Possessively happy. Something else she shouldn't be.

Jedi weren't meant to want. They weren't meant to have this kind of happiness in material things. And yet, she did. She liked having something she could call hers. Gave her a sense of pride. Some satisfaction that whatever she did with it, she was responsible.

If Cane saw her 'wanting' like this, he'd cane her upside the head. The thought (and the pun) makes Lani snort.

"Old... *grunt* coot... I'll get there. I told you I will."

She reaches for a hydrospanner. She was going to get her knighthood someday. With peace and a little more work, she was going to be like the big Jedi upstairs.

Listen yourself. 'Big Jedi.' What are you, a youngling?

It's only then that she realizes she's the only voice in her vicinity of the hangar, the only sound. Well, next to Reilly's curt little sounds. Looking out from under her ship, her concerns were dulled.

No sneak attack, no boarding party, no nothing. Just clones dutifully refueling their fighters and stacking ordinance, barely even chatting with each other. The lack of action and urgency almost makes the Zabraki anxious.

"R3, you ever feel... I dunno, tense? Like something's off and you know why, but you can't shake the feeling?"

[Cespenar]

Kyra goes through the regimen with care, occasionally commenting on the padawan's stance.

"Good, good. Don't sweat it on not getting through, your form's strength lies elsewhere. You're getting better, though. Try not to go for saber locks that often. Even if you trust your strength to overpower the other side, you're giving give them time to think and come up with a response."

[roll0]

[ZeroNumerous]

Lanike

When the zabrak talks to her droid it, predictably, merely whirrs and beeps in response. "Is tension like being pulled by something? I have been pulled by things before." Naturally a droid wouldn't understand emotional tension, but even so the hangar's movements remain as robotic as ever. Perhaps the clones are dealing with their problems after Balith IV by putting themselves to work, but don't normal soldiers go drink or gamble or whatever? Whatever was going on with the clones remained elusive to the zabrak Jedi, but she could try asking questions. However, before the zabrak can get down to brass tacks she spots a familiar suit of armor. Since all the clones had the same face, the only real distinguishing features were armor and flair they added to themselves. The gray-striped suit of armor walking toward Lanike belonged to a familiar clone: Lt. Dyre, LAAT pilot and one of the few clones the Jedi saw quite regularly.

The clone waves at Lanike as he approaches, and eventually stops a meter away. "Good morning General", he says in that clone accent they all seemed to have inherited, "I got handed a job, and thought you might want to come along. Gotta fly down to the planet to pick up some egghead from Corellia, and I know you like seeing new places. Best part is? This time you aren't being shot at."

Kyra

The practice regime between the Knight and her padawan proves fruitful indeed. After the first hour Kyra begins noticing weaknesses in her own form, and as they near the end of the training Dev proves completely incapable of getting through his master's defense. Kyra's critique brings out the mon calamari's competitive nature, and he presses forward. "My strength is all I have, Master!" He uses that as an opportunity to try and get past Kyra's defenses.

Regardless of his success or failure the time has come for practice to end, and the padawan remains his master's lesser. The mon calamari turns off his blade and shakes his head. "I'm sorry Master. I am an inadequate sparring partner."

A 35 beats the highest DC, so Kyra gets 2 bonus force points to use when adding onto her Block rolls, and can use a Force point to add to her block rolls without it counting against the 1 force point per turn limit.

Dev's attack vs Kyra's Ref Def: [roll0]

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher's hand almost crushes the receiver as she hears his voice. She doesn't think, not even for an instant. "C-Cassus? Where are you? Speak to me, are you okay? Cassus!" She pants, waiting for a response. When the clone's voice comes in clearer, her thoughts crumble again. No, was it her imagination? Was her own mind torturing her now? "J-Jax? I see..." she responds, her voice faint. "I'm... thought I picked up another signal." The words are hollow as her thoughts are elsewhere. "This is Lesher Orion..."

She closes her eyes. Was that really her imagination? She concentrates, reaching out into the force. What if he was out there, somewhere and needed her help? She knew it was madness but didn't much care. She concentrates as she continues the petty conversation.

Lesher uses Farseeing [roll0] on Cassus, or tries to one more time anyway.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher

The clone is obviously confused, but presses onward valiantly. "Well, General, I'm calling because the Corellian Engineering Corporation is sending a group of engineers up to inspect the Resilience's shield generators. CEC thinks they're important enough to ask a Jedi for an honor guard. Normally I wouldn't have called General, but I'm afraid my arm is being twisted. Are you available to come down and see them?"

When Lesher searches out in the Force she finds the pure web of life on Corellia; spreading through the fleet, the shipyards, and the planet itself. But she finds nothing about her wayward padawan. Wherever he is, he's not on Corellia.

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher bites her lip. "Yes, I suppose. I'll be there in a moment." Duty. Perhaps duty would do. She was quite sure that she would lose her mind if she continued to sit around this cabin much longer. "Do they feel threatened in some way, to need a guard? All the same, I'll meet them myself. My legs are in need of a stretch."

She sighs and hangs up after coordinating to meet the CEC. Throwing Jedi robes about her, she straps the lightsaber in its holster like always and heads out.

[MadMaeve]

Lani wheels herself out from underneath the starfighter, brimming with a smile. Something about the idea of an individualized clone made her noticeably happier. Even the stock accent tickled her pink. "Hey, Lieutenant!" She'd probably give him a better welcome if she wasn't on the floor and smeared with industrial oil. Still, she waves and hops up on her feet like a Tethian crawler monkey.

"Well, I'm free and willing! Always wanted to see Corellia up close, if only from a cockpit. Just give me a moment to get into something less bulky."

In mid un-zip. "What's the information on this guy? Why are we picking him up?"

[Cespenar]

Evading the attack with footwork alone, Kyra shakes her head gravely.

"Nonsense. Even a rancor has instincts besides strength, and you have much more than that. You must identify your limits and your strengths correctly if you're ever to advance forward."

Turning off her own saber as well, Kyra smiles kindly.

"Besides, you made me identify many gaps in my own defense today. Think about that for a second."

"Regardless, don't shirk your Force training as well. A clear mind helps in the battlefield as well as everywhere else."

Unless the padawan has anything more to say, Kyra waves him goodbye and heads off to her room for a quick shower, keeping an eye on her colleagues on the way if any of them appear.

[ZeroNumerous]

Triel

Triel leaves her room after training with her small remote droid, and finds herself in the hallway with no clear target for sparring practice. After a few moments Lesher comes out of her room.

Lesher

The clone takes a few seconds, then lowers his voice. "Permission to speak freely, General?" If Lesher grants his request the clone continues. "I don't think they're in any danger at all. These Corellian types like to prove they have power to one another. I think they're trying to summon up a Jedi like some service droid so they make themselves look good to their boss. Like I said: Normally I wouldn't send this through, but someone's doting uncle in High Command is forcing my hand."

With that the clone goes back to his normal tone of voice. "Yes, General. A transport has been arranged, but I think you'll need to speak to your attaché aboard the Resilience about that."

When Lesher leaves her room and enters the hallway she finds Triel standing outside her own room. The iktotchi Jedi likely just finished with her training remote practice.

Lanike

The lieutenant shrugs. "I don't know, General. Grave handed it down to me personally, but I didn't ask about details, ain't my job. All I know is I gotta leave in a few minutes. Now if you'll excuse me General, I need to go finish flight checks for my LAAT." Dyre waits to be dismissed, then turns around and starts heading out of the hangar.

R3 beeps and whirrs loudly. "Should I get launch clearance?"

Kyra

The mon calamari simply nods when Kyra gives her assessment, but it's plain that he's still dwelling on his own failures. "Thank you, Master." The Mon Calamari accompanies Kyra.

When Kyra leaves she moves through the ship easily enough. Armored troopers move aside as she enters their view, most salute and quietly acknowledge her presence with a subdued "General", while others are unable to salute due to carrying boxes but acknowledge the Jedi's passing with a nod of the head and a quiet "General" all the same. Those boxes, standard Republic supply caches, are likely food, power packs, tents, and all the other necessities that an army needs to remain active in the field. Hopefully the Fleet won't be dispatched so soon after Balith IV, but the sight of those supplies warns of their next deployment.

Kyra eventually arrives back at the officer's quarters, where her padawan breaks off and heads toward a different hallway that contains his room. When Kyra tries to head to her room she spots Lesher and Triel in the hallway.

[Princess Tracy]

"You may speak," Lesher grants, hearing the clone's complaints. "I see. How unfortunate that their egos need such stroking," she comments flatly. "You can tell them you've done a fine job calling in my favour then, soldier. I'll go find this transport then. Oh, is this planet all one big service station? I feel the need for natural ground to walk on, it does wonders to soothe the senses of a force user compared to these superurban places. Ah, never mind. Over."

Giving her lightsaber one last check, she heads off out into the corridors of the place. She's rather thankful to see Triel at least, though is wary of alerting the attention of a vanguard like herself, so staunchly opposed to the dark side. She didn't long for condolences or aggression, and didn't fancy herself so week to plead for help. It was her own burden, after all. All the same, interaction was good. She nods to her fellow jedi. "Lady Triel." The olive skinned human, wide at the hips with stretched looking limbs, carries herself with her back bent, dark bags starting to form under her eyes as she makes little secret of her lack of sleep. Perhaps at least a bit of makeup would have helped his her relative paleness, but she hadn't bothered, and just lumbers on. "I hope the morning finds you well," she says with her best attempt at earnest wellwishing. It wasn't wholly a lie after all, she did wish the best for her companions, even if her thoughts and sentiments were off in a world of their own.

She walks along slowly enough to let the other jedi respond, or even walk along with her if she chooses, as she heads out in search of her transport - though she stops if the Lady made some attempt to engage her without coming with. "Apparently I have some grunt duty to attend to, but I can't hang out in my cabin all day so why not take the excuse to walk about, eh?"

[MadMaeve]

Lani blinks quizzically, left with her flight jacket half off and her mood sufficiently skeptical. She lets him go, to be sure, but this kind of information neglect is worrying.

So, what's a Jedi to do with this kind of admittedly suspicious behavior? She takes the bold step in zipping herself back up. "... yeah. Get me a line to Grave when we have liftoff too. Until we get something substantial out of him, we're going to be at least in shadowing distance of Dyre's LAAT."

She quickly reassembles the interceptor's drive and fuel assembly before getting her stuff. When the time comes for pre-flight check, she hands the duties off to R3, at least until he could get Grave on the line. Her attention was elsewhere...



Rolling to see if going with Dyre down to the planet is going to yield immediate consequences.

[roll0]

[MadMaeve]

Lani also asks R3 something, before she slips into a contemplative trance: "After we talk to Grave, if you could get me a line to Master Lesher or Master Kyra, I'll give you an oil bath when we get back."

[ZeroNumerous]

Lanike

Searching her feelings finds little in the immediate future, except for an inexplicable unease almost like the future has been touched by the Dark Side. It only takes a few minutes for the Eta-2 to be ready, and soon Lanike's ready to go. R3 beeps and buzzes, then the Eta-2's communicator lights up. If Lanike picks up then the familiar voice of a clone comes on the line. "General? Commander Grave. I was told you needed to speak to me?"

[CrimsonKnight]

Merrick yawned as he crawled out of bed. His sleep had been dreamless for a change, though whether that was a good sign or not he couldn't say. Considering how dark his dreams had been lately, especially after the friends he had lost during their brutal victory at Balith IV, he supposed he couldn't complain that his sleep, for once, was untroubled. As it did most days, his skin was itching and too dry for comfort, inevitable on a ship with environmental systems tailored towards humans and other species with similar preferences, and he reached for a bottle of lotion to restore some moisture to his skin. He glanced at the chrono and realized it was much later in the morning than he'd expected. Normally Kola would wake him early for their daily sparring practice and morning meditation session, and her absence was more than a little unusual. In fact, the only other times he could recall his Padawan being absent like this had been...

Spirits of the Deep help me, surely she didn't go down to the surface? Oh, wonderful.

The prospect alarmed Merrick greatly. Corellia and especially its capital Coronet City had many wondrous sights and experiences for visitors to enjoy, but it also had a vast and dangerous criminal underbelly thanks to the rampant smuggling that the planet was infamous for. For a girl from an undeveloped planet like Nelvaan, she would be hopelessly out of her depth and the odds of trouble finding her (or, more likely, her finding trouble) was much, much too high for comfort. Merrick sighed and quickly dressed in his robes, clipping his lightsaber and commlink to his belt, before leaving his quarters and heading for the Resilience's aft hanger bay. With the damage to the forward one, all traffic to the surface was currently passing through it, which in turn meant that Kola would have had to catch a ship from it as well. Once in the bustling, cavernous space, he scanned the bay before approaching the duty flight deck officer. All personnel passing on and off the ship had to check in with him, and Merrick had tried to impress on Kola to do the same if she did ever leave the ship.

"Excuse me, deck officer. I'm looking for Jedi Padawan Kola Sori. Was she a passenger on any of the transports leaving the Resilience today?"

[MadMaeve]

Lani's tone shifts almost immediately as Graves' holo materializes. Her smile fades. Her brow furrows. The Zabraki scooches up close to the flight board with her hands crossed, mustering the closest approximation she could make to Cane's 'examination' face. "Yes. You gave Dyre a mission to go down to Corellia. He asked me to escort, but he had no details on him other than it was 'some sort of egghead.' Said you handed it down to him personally. And as far as I can see, only his fighter escort and I are actually going with him."

"Just so we're clear - what is his mission down there? Who is he supposed to be escorting and why?"

[Cespenar]

Kyra frowns at her padawan, but adds nothing. Seems that his revelation is likely to come from within.

She receives the soldiers' salutations with reflexive ease, but takes notice of the supplies as well. She had hoped for at least a little time off since Balith IV and that dreadful siege, but on reflection, she guesses one couldn't really hope to catch a break in the middle of an open war.

As she spots the two Jedi in the hallway, Kyra stops and greets them from afar.

"Hello Ladies," she says, chuckling briefly after at how that sounded. "I was about to head into my room. Any news?" She was, as always, a bit wary about getting left out of the loop.

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher shoots a weak smile over to Kyra. "Hello, Lady Kyra. Some Correllans want a Jedi's assistance, it seems, so I was going to go take care of that. How goes it with your padawan?" There's a more genuine interest in that last question. Even before all that happened, she always took an interest in the younger generation.

[Cespenar]

"Oh, okay. Do call me if you need anything."

Kyra sighs gently when it comes to her padawan, trying to not sound too defeated.

"His saberwork is fine as always, but his morale... could do better. Honestly, I'm wondering if I should arrange someone around his level to spar with him rather than doing it myself. Like Kola Sori, for example? Merrick's padawan."

[ZeroNumerous]

Merrick

When Merrick leaves his room he finds himself not alone in his hallway. He can hear the sounds of trio of familiar voices from further down the hall. He recognizes all three as belonging to his Jedi compatriots: Lesher, Kyra, and Triel. In front of him is the young mon calamari padawan of Knight Kyra de'Jannarc: Dev Jien. The padawan looks to Merrick's door when it opens, and he nods as acknowledgment of the Jedi Knight. The young man disappears into his room shortly afterward. The trip through the ship proves easy enough, with only clones interrupting his passage with a salute and word of acknowledgment. He spots several clones carrying crates of supplies, and it's a reminder that the fleet isn't going to stay at Corellia for long.

Eventually Merrick arrives at the ventral hangar, but finds it occupied. A pair of civilian freighters of some sort, both with large rounded bodies but one with an off-set cockpit and the other with a center cockpit, dominate the floor of the hangar. One of them, the one with the center cockpit, has its boarding ramp down and clones are carrying boxes of supplies off of it. Normally droids would do that work, but the clones would be restless without something to do. Looking around Merrick eventually finds the deck officer, and when Merrick approaches the officer throws a sloppy salute to the Jedi. "General." When the mon calamari asks his question the deck officer shakes his head. "No, General. My shift only started an hour ago, but we've had this YT-1000", the clone gestures to one of the freighters, "the entire time. No ships left for the planet on my watch."

Lanike

The clone doesn't show any reaction to Lanike's weird look, but he was a clone trooper. Things like coercion or pressure didn't mean anything to them, and it's like staring into the eyes of a droid. Nonetheless, he dutifully answers all the questions of his superior officer, explaining precisely what she asked about. "Yes I did, General. The CEC, the Corellian Engineering Corporation, intends to send a team to look at the Resilience's shield generators around the hangar. Hopefully we'll have those back online soon. I'd hate to have to vent the hangar every time we deploy fighters in a combat scenario. Dyre didn't need to know the reason behind his mission, and I do not expect him to run into any enemies, so I did not tell him nor did I send an escort. I am sorry that he got you involved, General, and I will be certain to reprimand him harshly."

[Princess Tracy]

"His morale?" Lesher questions. "Perhaps a change of pace with another jedi doing some drills would help him. I could do it, after I take care of this chore and perhaps see some sunlight, or there's Lady Triel here." She motions to start walking again once the conversation is concluded, trusting that her Jedi companions had her communicator's signal.

[Cespenar]

Kyra shakes her head, not quite sold.

"I don't think that would help. He seems to dislike it when his opposition is way ahead of him, and you or Triel would prove no different. Thanks for the suggestion though."

She nods to both Jedi and departs to her room unless they have anything else to say.

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher gives a curt bow of the head and departs to go about her business.

[keglz]

"Lesher " Triel says "when you get back i do need someone to spar with if you don't mind
or Kyra i dont know how you are feeling about sparing now"

[MadMaeve]

Lani's eyebrow ticks up.

"Shield generator on the fritz. Huh. And you were trying to get this done quietly so nobody would make a fuss."

Obedient and truthful as clones were, there was a sense of incompleteness in Grave's statements. The curling Dianoga of missing information. She didn't doubt him - she never doubted clones more than them simply not being informed. But expediency and secrecy often was the typical excuse for more obstructive things.

Not that she could talk, given her track record.

Her frown breaks a little bit into a brisk smile. "Don't reprimand Dyre. It was in your best judgment, and he used his judgment when he asked me. Thank you getting me up to speed - I'll make sure this gets done quickly."

Her hand was already in her knapsack, looking for the encrypted comlink. When the call with Grave finishes, she whispers to R3, "Nevermind about calling Master Lesher. I'm keeping this private. Still giving you that oil bath."


---

Beeee~deep. Beee~deep.

If Lesher's wearing her comlink, it's receiving an incoming call!

[ZeroNumerous]

Lanike

"As you say, General."

R3 beeps when Lanike hangs up, happy to have served his master. Her call to Lesher goes through without any interference.

[Cespenar]

"I just finished one bout with my padawan, Triel, sorry. Next time, though, if I can pair him up with Merrick's padawan, then we could work something up? I'll call you."

Getting inside her room, Kyra goes for a quick shower, leaving the commlink in arm's reach just in case.

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher pauses for a moment but doesn't break stride as she's called again. Perhaps it was that clone, Jax was it, again. She pushes the button tor receive the call. "Hello?"

[MadMaeve]

Lani lays back in the pilot's seat as her ship maneuvers out into open space. "Master Lesher? It's Lani. You have a little time for some questions?"

[Princess Tracy]

"I suppose... what do you want to know?"

[MadMaeve]

"I'm currently taxi-ing out with Commander Dyre's LAAT and heading down to the planet. Done learned about an assignment that feels... spooky. Not scary spooky, but things don't feel right. Lot of missing information. Have you heard anything strange up in the cabins, with the clones or the other Jedi?"

[Princess Tracy]

"No... I've been keeping to myself in my cabin," Lesher explains honestly. "Want to tell me about it?"

[MadMaeve]

Lani's eyes scan the cockpit for any active flight recorders. She takes the time to shut them off. "Dyre was given an order by Grave to escort 'an egghead' up to the ship. No flight escort, no other details. Dyre asked me if I wanted to come along. When I called Grave up, he told me that he called for a repair crew from Corellia to fix a shield generator issue in the hangar bay. He didn't tell Dyre because, I think, he wanted to keep things quiet."

"And, when I asked the Force for guidance... I felt something ominous. It's not in the immediate future, but it's still there, and I don't know what it is. Might just be jumping at ghosts, but I'm... still worried."

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher nods. "Well, I believe I'm currently off to see the repair team in question. I'll keep my wits about me, thanks for the warning. I'm sure we're in no immediate danger. In war, there is never true safety."

[MadMaeve]

"Keep me posted on any developments. I'll be down on Corellia for the time being. Lani out." Click.

[MadMaeve]

The comlink switches over to Kyra's line with a curt little beeeeeeeee-deep!

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher

After some time Lesher arrives in the hangar, and she spots Dyre's LAAT sitting on the runway behind two Eta-2s--the lead she recognizes as belonging to the Jedi Lanike Shan--and in front of one Eta-2s. The LAAT's door slides open when Lesher gets close by, as if to invite her inside, and if Lesher jumps in she hears a familiar voice. "Good morning, Master." That voice, which was burned away from the galaxy, comes again.

When Lesher looks for it she finds herself staring at two clones plus a small humanoid covered in ashen fur. The small humanoid has been wrapped up in an robe of some planet or the other, but she looks toward Lesher with a smile one her dog-like alien face. Lesher recognizes the young padawan as Kola Sori, Betha's former padawan and Merrick's current padawan, but how she got aboard the ship remains to be seen. The clones nod at Lesher.

"Master Orion? I heard from Flats that this ship is going down to the planet." Just then Dyre closes the LAAT's doors, and pressurizes the transport's internal compartments.

Lanike

Lanike can see the hangar's klaxons start up, and spots the clones in the hangar running for tethers to lash themselves down. Soon the hangar's doors slide open, and the atmosphere inside it vents out into space violently. R3 beeps and buzzes through the Eta-2's speakers, announcing that they've received flight clearance to take off. R3 brings up a series of coordinates on the Eta-2's HUD, and they lead from the Resilience to the planet below.

[Princess Tracy]

Having just hung up the comm link, she hops on board without a second thought, with only a subconscious glance to confirm that it seemed to be the right ship. Her hand goes to her forehead, her palm and wrist pushing against her skull when she hears that voice again, eyes widening. It isn't real. She spins around, for a moment unable to conceal the confusion and fear in her eyes. Seeing she isn't alone with clones, but that a jedi - even if it was just a padawan - had tagged along, she wastes no time clearing her throat and dodging her eyes away for a moment as she composes herself. She steadies her breathing and holds back her sweat. It didn't seem much good - she would have to engage her sudden travelling companion at some point before she becomes suspicious or worrisome.

"Ah, hello. Kola Sori..." She summons her usual softness for the padawans, her years of faith in the peace she had hoped the younger generation would experience. "What are you doing here?" She looks to the clones. "Pause the launch, a moment," she says, not keen to let the child smuggle her way down to the planet without explanation. "Does your master know you are here?"

[Cespenar]

Kyra jumps a bit at the comlink's alarm coming mid-shower, and fiddles a bit to reach out and finally take the call.

"Hey. Uh. Lani? What's the matter?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher

The clone nods, then taps his helmet. He has a quiet exchange with Dyre, who in turn relays his concerns to the launch tower, but in a few moments the clone in front of Lesher looks to the Jedi and nods his head. "We've got two minutes. The hangar's already depressurized."

Kola listens to the exchange between clone and Jedi quietly, and when questioned she smiles. "I am, what is word in Basic... Doliul? To be sad at death. I wish to end sadness, and bury my friend. To do so, I need the flesh of the planet." The tiny 1.4m tall alien nods at this, and when Lesher questions whether her current Master knows then Kola shakes her head. "Doliul can only be done in... um, alone-ness? So I am alone."

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher nods at the news they were to inevitably depart. Her head ducks low and her eyes become far off as she catches the padawan's meaning. "I see..." She bends her knees as if to crouch at first, but decides it too condescending. "I know that feeling. Very well, carry on." She takes a seat, sighing. "You have something to bury..." she mumbles, as she waits to take off. The padawan's plea for whatever kind of funeral she was conducting wins her over easily and she rides with her without complaint. "Your friend... yes, you have been on board this ship since Arwen passed, you haven't had the chance, I suppose. You seem calm enough despite your words, to still be able to smile... but I suppose even I can smile." She twitches as she realises she's thinking out loud. She sighs and sits back, shaking her head.

[MadMaeve]

Lani giggles to herself. She could hear the shower running in the background. A feeling of impishness catches her. For a moment, she forgets how grave and ominous the last few minutes had made her feel. So, she takes an agonizing few seconds to set the flight controls before she speaks up. "Lady Kyra~ I'm not catching you at a bad time, am I?"

[Cespenar]

Although she reads the tone of her voice, Kyra does her best to roll with it, her interest in communication overcoming any sense of taboo. Only a slight chuckle in the middle belies any feeling towards the situation.

"Uh, no, I was just getting out. Heh. So, yeah, what's up?"

[MadMaeve]

Enough giggles at Kyra's apparent expense. Lani takes a breath, and returns to a more serious tone. "Alright. So..."

She explains the situation as she did to Master Lesher, down to the same perspective and word detail. Dyre's obliviousness, Grave's explanation, all of it.

"... which is why I ask: have you heard anything strange in the cabins, Masters or clones? I have a sinking feeling, and my look into the Force was vague and... well, slightly ominous."

[Cespenar]

As Lani explains the situation, Kyra listens with a frown on her face.

"No, I haven't heard anything of the like. But, hmm. If you really sensed a disturbance, even a small one, I'd say it warrants worrying." she sighs once, and recollects her thoughts. The memory was still there, unaddressed, uncatalogued.

"Perhaps we should double team on these, just in case? Are you already on the way?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher

Lesher finds no seats on the LAAT (http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/worldofjaymz/images/6/65/Laati2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131223033656), unless she wishes to sit on the gunship's deck. It is a military transport after all, rather than a civilian transport.

The nelvaan nods, and reaches into her shaman's robes. She pulls out a small black box, tied tightly with some of the nelvaan's fur, and shows it to her human companion. "Yes. The People must bury something the lost gave them, to put the past behind them. If we cannot, then we must be sad until we can." The little nelvaan's broken Basic is a bit simple, but easily understood. "I have been sad long enough. I have made peace, so this must be buried."

The little box disappears once more, and the nelvaan is more quiet. "I miss Master Betha, all of the People miss the lost, but you cannot be sad at death forever." The nelvaan lapses into silence, and one of the clones touches his helmet. Eventually, he breaks the silence.

"We've got to start moving, General. What's the plan?"

[Princess Tracy]

"Hm... sad long enough... I see... How can one so young be so wise? I daresay your composition exceeds mine." Lesher leans against a wall, nodding as she seems to rest her eyes. "I wish you luck." As the clone asks for her orders, "Well, I have a meeting to attend. My fellow Jedi here wishes to drop down at the planet, so can we find a natural environment to drop her off on en route? Kola, you have a communicator, yes? I'll have you picked up after, if that's okay."

[MadMaeve]

"I'm taxi-ing right now off the runway. If you feel like we should team-up, I have no objections." She flicks a few unimportant switches. "Want me to wait until you're in flight to head down?"

[Cespenar]

Kyra pictures Lani's location, her very unready self, and rethinks her decision.

"Uh, on second thought, I probably shouldn't delay you needlessly. Just... keep in touch, okay?"

Kyra was known to second guess herself often, both in mundane decisions and on the battlefield alike. Surprisingly, they ended in fewer bad outcomes than good. So far, at least.

Still, she doesn't feel like tarrying any longer. Drying and clothing herself in much less time than a woman should do, Kyra leaves her room and with only a single hesitant step, heads for the shield generators in the hangar.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher and Lanike

The clone relays Lesher's orders to Dyre, and in turn the lieutenant relays the flight plan change to the tower. When Lesher asks for the nelvaan's communicator the padawan obliges and presents the Jedi with her communicator code.

Once Dyre finishes with the tower, the clone in it contacts Lanike's Eta-2. "General Lanike, this is Resilience Flight Control. General Orion is on board the LAAT, and specified that she'll be taking a detour. Be prepared for deviation from the course. Flight Control out."

With no real way to delay any longer the three Eta-2s and the LAAT carrying its Jedi cargo take off. Lanike's subject to the beautiful view of a planet, half alight with civilization and half dark with wilderness, ringed by shipyards and swarms of starships. The two clone Eta-2s with Lanike take up the LAAT's rear, forming a triangle with the Jedi's starship at the front.

Lesher has the unfortunately more mundane view of the inside of a gunship: Just gunmetal gray walls, two clones, and the nelvaan padawan to keep her company. The two clones stand up, holding onto the straps hanging down from above for support, while the nelvaan simply stands.

Triel

With both Kyra and Lesher turning Triel down she's left in the hallway. She could try to find Merrick, or one of the padawans, but those are the only people left on the ship who could spar with her. If Triel is unable to find a sparring partner, then she still needs something else to do with her day in the absence of the war.

Kyra

When Kyra leaves her room after her shower she finds Triel in the hallway, if Triel hasn't left already. Given that Kyra is not an engineer, nor has she ever needed to go to the shield generators before, she would need to ask a clone or find some schematic of the ship to find them.

[CrimsonKnight]

Merrick frowned. She couldn't hadn't come through here, it seemed. An obvious thought came to mind.

"No traffic at all? What about the other hangers?"

[Cespenar]

Kyra simply diverts one of the clones from his job and asks him to accompany her there.

When there, she likewise asks around for the head engineer in charge of the shield generators.

[ZeroNumerous]

Merrick

The deck officer shakes his head. "None. This was on deck when I got on duty, and nothing else has come." When asked about the other decks the officer shrugs. "I don't know, General. I could call the flight tower if you wish, General. They would know about any ships coming or going from the Resilience."

Then the clone suggests the simplest solution: "Or you could call her directly, General. You do have your communicator, right, sir?"

Kyra

Kyra is able to call upon a clone for help, and he leads the Jedi to the forward hangar. Once there, Kyra's forced to suit up in case the hangar has to be vented for a launch. Once they're on deck the clone Kyra hijacked calls up the chief engineer for the brow of the ship when she asks for him. Moments later she's standing on the deck of the forward hangar, face-to-helmet with a trooper with a yellow stripe down his helmet. "Chief Engineer Cete, at your service General." Naturally the engineer speaks in the exact same accent and voice as every other clone.

[Cespenar]

Kyra nods at the clone. "Chief Engineer."

She glances at around the hangar. "I've heard there were some problems with our shield generator, and the Corellians are sending a crew of engineers to help us. Can I get a brief report on the exact nature of the problem, in layman's terms?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Kyra

"Really? News to me General. Good to hear it though. Tired of suiting up every time I'm called in here." When asked to explain the clone nods. "The aft shield generator took a direct hit from a droid starfighter crash, and the starboard generator picked up the slack. Normally, that would be fine, but a faulty convertor burned out. Set fire to some hut'uun", the engineer spits that word and the trooper at Kyra's side stiffens, "hiding in there. The fire spread and ruined it. As a result: We don't have atmo when we open the doors. Fortunately, combat shielding is okay."

[Cespenar]

Kyra side-glances at the clone at her side for a moment, but then turns to the engineer again.

"Couldn't we have done the repairs ourselves, given the necessary supplies and components?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Kyra

The engineer nods. "Certainly General. I put in for supplies when we arrived, but all the shipyards are too busy building new ships to service the old ones."

[Cespenar]

Kyra remains thoughtful for a moment.

"If so, isn't it odd that they would send a engineering crew where ours would be fine? Doubly so with those priorities that you mentioned."

"Chief Engineer, I hope you could accompany the inspection closely and keep an eye on the whole process. Anyway, keep up the good work."

Just as she turns to leave, she hesitates and adds one more thing.

"Oh, and also, a copy of that supply requisition."

[keglz]

Triel heads down to the hanger to determine if there is any work to be done down there.

[Princess Tracy]

While she was reluctant to leave the padawan alone on a planet, it seemed that's what she wanted for her ritual, and she was a Jedi even if she was an apprentice - she supposed she could handle herself for a little while, and if her master didn't know she was here, she certainly didn't want Lesher poking her nose in. She stands stoically as the ship flies off, awaiting her destination quietly.

[MadMaeve]

Lani maintains formation the whole ride down, opting for taking manual override to keep her attention up. And possibly have an out if things went wrong, which, fair enough, happened more often than didn't in this war. Even this deep into friendly territory, you can't be too sure.

Or you can be Lani and be suspicious about the most minute things, but that's how detectives worked. She assumed, anyway.

Her thoughts linger on Master Orion and the whole situation, for what seems like hours... "..."

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher and Lanike

After a few moments the four vessels break the atmosphere and appear over Coronet City (http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130913002443/starwars/images/3/31/Coronet-EotESoF.jpg). The city marks where the sprawling urban landscape meets the wilderness that keeps Corellia fed, and contains the target of the LAAT: CEC headquarters. However, once the squad breaks through the cloud cover Dyre contacts Lanike and the clone pilots. "I'll be descending in a moment. Nothing's wrong, just dropping off a passenger per General Orion's request."

The LAAT descends as Dyre said it would, and soon touches down in a clearing just big enough for the military gunship to land solidly. The side hatches slide open, and Kola climbs out carefully. She looks at Lesher and nods. "Ceas cer, Master Orion." Soon the LAAT is back in the air, but her doors are still open to give Lesher the view of the city. After a few minutes of flying Lanike and Black Flight arrive at CEC headquarters: A massive square skyscraper with a quintet of octagonal landing pads. A pair of humanoids stands on the center platform looking up at the approaching military machines, and it's obvious who's here to meet whom. Dyre takes his LAAT down on the center pad, and the two clone pilots land on whichever pads Lanike doesn't take. Once the LAAT has landed Lesher is free to leave it, and once she does the two clone troopers follow suit. They form up behind the Jedi general, and an outside observer would see guards guarding a guard.

The two humanoids turn out to be a pair (http://i.imgur.com/AOsEQho.jpg) of humans (http://i.imgur.com/8gNw374.jpg), both smiling and watching the LAAT come down.

Triel

While traveling through the ship Triel is greeted with a salute by the clones she passes, assuming their hands are empty. However, many clones she passes by are carrying crates marked with the Republic's symbol. Logically, those crates are likely supplies. Eventually the alien jedi arrives in the Resilience's forward hangar, and has to dress up in a flight suit in case the hangar doors are opened. If she asks around, then the clones predictably don't have any requests. The clones see the Jedi as their leader, so they wouldn't pass any problems they had up the chain. Of course, if she wants to help carry supplies or do other menial labor then she's free to do so. Naturally she sees Kyra talking with a couple of clones.

Kyra

The engineer shrugs. "I suppose so, General." It's obvious that clones are poorly equipped to handle suspicion from their superiors.

When Kyra makes her suggestion the clone simply looks at her. "If those are your orders, General." The question for a copy of supply requisition gets a nod. "Certainly, General." The clone links his datapad with the Jedi's, and transmits a copy of his supply request.

When Kyra looks it over she finds it's a pretty bog standard supply request: Shield generator parts, a replacement generator for the burnt out one, and a long list of tools and pieces necessary to keep over 300 starfighters in tip-top shape.

[CrimsonKnight]

Merrick nods.

"I do, and I'll contact them myself. Thank you, I won't keep you from your duties any further."

Leaving the deck officer to get back to work, Merrick grabs his comm link and sets it for the flight control tower, mentally kicking himself for not thinking of doing that to begin with and saving time.

"Flight Control, this is General Niathal. I need to know if any ships have left the Resilience today with Jedi onboard. More specifically, if Jedi Padawan Kola Sori was on one of them."

[ZeroNumerous]

Merrick

A clone voice comes through again. "Ships, General? No. A LAAT left a few minutes ago: Black Flight went down to the planet to collect some VIPs from CEC. I do have two Jedi listed on his passenger list, but I don't have information on who they were. I do know that Jedi General Lesher Orion requested the flight be delayed for two minutes, and General Lanike Shan escorted Black Flight."

[CrimsonKnight]

"A LAAT? Hmm... that's all Flight Control, Niathal out."

While he didn't want to bother Lesher while she and Lanike were busy with whatever they were doing planetside, the fact that there was a second Jedi on the LAAT with Lesher was too much to just ignore. He switched frequencies on his comm link to Lesher's comm link and opened a connection. Down on the surface, Lesher's comm link begins beeping from the incoming call.

If Kola is with Lesher, then at least I know there's someone to look after her down there. Though I think I need to have a talk later about keeping your Master up to date before going exploring.

[Cespenar]

Kyra does a double take on the clone after the unimaginative response. She expected more from a 'chief engineer', honestly, even if he is a clone.

"That is all, Chief Engineer. Thank you."

With that, she returns to the ship proper, gives the request list a skim and basically waits for the Jedi to return to the ship with their escort, passing time with re-reading various logistical and strategic reports, unless someone interrupts her.

[Princess Tracy]

"This is a fast ship for the size..." Lesher comments idly. She smiles and nods as the padawan departs, even if she didn't really understand what was said to her. Departing the ship, she straightens her back a little as she strides across the landing pad. Her hair was something of a mess and she still looked exhausted, but she carried herself like a regular old hand of the force and defender of the galaxy. She waves to the humans on deck as the clones follow her. "Did anyone order a Jedi Knight?" she greets with dry sarcasm. "I heard someone asked nicely for an escort. Lesher Orion."

She pauses as she hears the beeping of her communicator. "I seem to be popular today..." She pushes the button, receiving the call. "Orion."

[MadMaeve]

Lani brings her interceptor down a few meters away from Lesher's gunship after a quick survey. The cockpit door pops, and she hops out. At least being nervous meant one had plenty of energy.

"R3, remember where we parked."

She mumbles as she sets her hair straight around her horns, and unzips again into more comfortable tights and robes. For sure this time. "Here's hoping there's no trouble here after all."

All things settled, she gives R3 instructions (hold at the platform, keep the engine warm, don't go off with strange droids), and hurries along to Lesher's LAAT. "Jedi Lanike Shan, reporting fo- o-oh sorry, my bad." Realizing a little too late she was on the comm.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lanike and Lesher

The male shoots an amused look to his companion, and she looks to him and simply shakes her head. Lanike's approach gets a frown from her, but the man in the duster leers at the young Zabraki.

Once Lesher finishes her call the male steps forward.

"Ya, CEC. That's us. Zane Tess", he motions to himself with a smirk plastered across his face, "Security officer extraordinaire." He motions to his companion, and she nods at each of the Jedi. "Engineer Third Class Ruby Starr." The man saying her name gets a grimace from his female companion, but she looks at Lesher and nods once more.

"Yes, that's me, Ruby." The sarcasm coming off her is palpable. "I'm told you have a problem with your ship, Master Orion. Well, I'm here to help. Zane is here to stand around, waste your time, and eat your food."

"She says, having never been in a blaster fight."

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher hears the two of them quarrelling and shrugs her shoulders. "Strength of arms can be important. If it were never the case, I would never be called to duty. Like, just now," she says in response to Ruby's comments at the expense of her security. She shrugs at mention of her ship being damaged. "I'm not an engineer, so I couldn't tell you much about it," she says simply. "I'll be most thankful for whatever aid you can give though. That's the balanced relationship between destruction and creation - or in this case, maintenance." People had a way of assuming every slightest thing she said as a Jedi had great philosophical significance, so she made a habit of saying something between nonsense and basic thinking to see how people react when she first met them. "I assume you'll be coming personally?"

She turns her head to see Lanike. "Hm? Um, hello. What are you doing here?"

[keglz]

Defeated Triel heads back to her room to shower and such.

[MadMaeve]

Lani was about to give a sheepish answer, until a pair of surveying eyes cut her off. Her eyebrow tilts up quizzically at Zane and his companion. Moreso at Zane sizing her up like a piece of meat.

"As I was about to say, Master Lssher... I came down with the LAAT as an escort. I told you I was off doing things - this is the thing I am doing, per Dyre's request."

She meets Zane's eyes with a frank glance. "Can I help you, or are you just going to stare at my ass all day?"

--

Lani's voice reaches out to Lesher through the Force as she engages with Zane. Her emotions weren't pleasant. Accusatory towards the two. Phonies.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lanike and Lesher

Lanike's question gets a sneer from the female of the duo, and Zane raises his hands in surrender. "Guilty as charged. My apologies, but I was completely stunned. A beautiful woman like yourself becoming a Jedi is such a terrible loss to the galaxy." That gets an eye roll from Ruby, and she brushes off his statement with her own.

"I'm terribly sorry Master Jedi. Ignore him, please." Lesher's question brings a nod from the engineer.

"Yes, Master Orion. I'll have to investigate things personally."

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher raises an eyebrow at Lanike's use of the force. Why was she being discreet and using her powers for such a mundane matter when she was confrontational enough to call out the man on his base desires, shameful though they were? Did she suspect saboteurs? She sighs, not in the mood for any kind of fight. "Very well, you can ride up with me when we confirm your authorisation." She nods to the man. "As a general rule, Jedi are armed and not interested, so you should abandon such ideas immediately."

"Lanike, if you have something to say, feel free."

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher and Lanike

Zane raises an eyebrow at authorization. "Well, I don't know what kind of authorization you need, but feel free to talk to whomever you'd like." When the question of Jedi comes up Zane nods. "Armed, I like. The not interested part is why it's so sad."

[Princess Tracy]

"Very well, the contact frequency of your superior would do," she says half heartedly, ready to call it in to make sure they were who they said they were. Lesher sighs, she couldn't really be bothered thinking of a way to trial these two, it wasn't her that was suspicious after all. And somehow, even if they were saboteurs or whatever else Lanike was getting at, she was having trouble mustering the energy to care. "Lanike, why don't you make yourself useful," she says, supposing the jedi must have reason to suspect these two if she went to all the trouble of coming down to the planet. "If there's nothing else to do, I suppose I'll wait on the ship, until you're satisfied with their credentials, Lady Shan."

She yawns then rubs some sleep from her eye, quite unflatteringly. Something occurs to her that had been somewhat bothering, at least. "Is there any reason in particular why a Jedi was contacted for security detail? Surely the man here can handle things insofar as any threats one might encounter in a routine job."

[MadMaeve]

"I was just... you-" She's flustered. Subtlety when it wasn't needed. Smooth. "Buh! You. You don't know how to keep a secret."

That said, she wasn't going to call out the elephant in the room just yet.

She huffs, crossing her arms. "I'll handle these two until they get credential clearance, I guess. Dyre asked me to come down here to get some air, might as well sa-... enj-..." Her words had to be chosen carefully. "... entertain my own suspicions by being suspicious. If that's even the only reason."

"You two - even if your superior's contact frequency checks out, I'm coming with you to oversee repairs. No ifs, ands, and especially no buts. Got it?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Lanike and Lesher

Zane shoot a quizzical look at Ruby, and she returns his look with a flat deadpan gaze. The engineer sighs, and shrugs. "This is why you're still just an officer. You need to learn to keep your mouth shut, and not hit on everything you see."

The security officer shrugs, then motions toward the LAAT. "I'd be happy to put you in contact with my boss, and even answer that question about why. But not here. Inside a sealed ship, perhaps, in orbit preferably, but this landing pad..." He motions to the city around him. "Bit open, don't you think?" Certainly anyone could be watching, but there's only so many problems a Core world could have.

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher shrugs, hand resting over her lightsaber holster for a second. She had clone troopers, another Jedi Knight as backup, and her own strength. These two weren't going to get away with anything even if they were the highest order of ancient Sith, not under her nose, so what did it matter. "Fine by me," she says in response to Zane's proposal, dragging herself back to the ship and waiting for their guests, leaving it in Lanike's hands.

She transmits Kola's coordinates to her master in case she goes too long without contact, as she waits.

[MadMaeve]

"Master Lesher, I... Ugh." Lanike rubs her forehead. She might've worked herself up over nothing, in a fit to get some semblance of action going during downtime. That thought made her look and feel like an ass. "... right. I'll take care of it."

She sighs, and looks back over to the two Corellian mechanics. She gives them a nod towards the touched-down LAAT. "We can discuss this in flight. Just to remind you - any sort of funny business isn't going to go over well up in the sky. You'll be surrounded by clones and a multiple Jedi who aren't in the mood for shenanigans. If there's anything you'd like to say before we go, now would be the time to say it."

[ZeroNumerous]

Lanike and Lesher

Zane just shrugs. "You can put the threats and bluster aside. I have no intention of drawing my blaster, and I know Jedi aren't murderers."

Ruby shakes her head. "Ignore him. I'm not armed, and I assure you we're no threat."

Once the Jedi head back to the LAAT Dyre waits for orders, and unless someone gives him different orders he goes to pick up Kola then return to the Resilience. On the trip to pick up the Jedi padawan Zane and Ruby explain to Lesher. "I'm Agent Gray, a member of the RIS, the Republic Intelligence Services. This is Agent Blue", she motions to "Zane", "We're under orders from the Supreme Chancellor himself, and our goal is on Thyferra. We were instructed that the Fourth Fleet was being dispatched to Thyferra, and that's why we contacted you. Afraid I can't help you as far as your ship goes, but I do need your help. The Republic needs your help."

"Zane" nods. "Indeed. I'm sure you've heard of us: The Commission for the Protection of the Republic? About as anti-Separatist as you can get, but if you still want to strong-arm non-Jedi then go right ahead."

"Ruby" sighs. "Ignore him. He's being an idiot. We would really like your help, Knight Orion."

Kyra, Merrick, and Triel

Kyra, Merrick, and Triel's communicators all go off. If any of them picks it up then they hear a clone on the other end. "General? You're needed on the bridge. We've got a long range call from the Council, and they've requested the presence of every Jedi on board." A call from the Council might mean returning to Coruscant, or worse: The Fleet was being sent out.

[Cespenar]

Kyra drops the plans and reports she has been reviewing and heads directly for the bridge as she receives the call.

[Princess Tracy]

The Jedi taps on her knee rhythmically until spoken to. "The Supreme Chancellor?" Lesher raises an eyebrow at that. Sure they weren't who they presented themselves as, but that was a bit much. "Thyferra..." Cassus spoke that place. "The 'healing' planet, right?" She takes a moment to close her eyes, doing a little deep breath to gather her thoughts. (Take 10 on Knowledge for 15)

"I see. So why the aliases. If our orders will have us on route to Thyferra anyway, surely you didn't come here so discreetly just to relay them," she remarks coolly. "Jedi serve the Republic, so what would you have of me?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher

Agent Gray shakes her head. "We were in the system, and needed transport. Plus, what better way to insert into a world than during an invasion? Just gotta dress down and wave blasters in the general direction of some clones, and voila: Everyone will just assume we're another couple of separatists." When asked about the aliases its Agent Blue who responds.

"Sorry, need-to-know business. Our target doesn't have anything to do with your invasion, but we could use the help." "Zane" smirks at that, and Lesher's offer of help gets a nod from Agent Gray.

"Transportation, mostly. We just need rooms on your ship, and a trip down to the planet when you arrive at Thyferra."

"Zane" smiles at that. "No offense, but robes and glowing swords aren't exactly popular in that neck of the woods."

[Princess Tracy]

"Hmph, is that all?" Lesher shakes her head. "That's easily done, then, transport to Thyferra. Yes, yes, collect Kola," she confirm the crew's orders if asked. "I don't suppose you'll tell me what your mission is? Is it really so need to know that a Jedi sponsoring you needs to be kept in the dark?" She raises an eyebrow, guessing at what on earth could apparently be above her clearance to know when the Republic seemed happy leaving the command of hundreds of clone troopers in her hands. "Your little group seems to like getting it's hands dirty. Orders from the Chancellor himself, huh..." She shrugs at Zane's last comment. "Your ability to blend in could also do with some work."

[ZeroNumerous]

Kyra

Kyra's able to get to the command bridge of the Resilience easily enough, and finds herself looking at commander Graves along with several clone officers. Graves nods at Kyra. "Greetings, General Kyra. General Kenobi is on the line."

Lesher

"I'm afraid not, Master Orion. You'll have to be content with the knowledge that you're supporting the Republic." "Ruby" responds, quietly rejecting the Jedi's request for information.

"Zane" shrugs at Lesher's assessment. "And yet here you are."

Lanike and Lesher

Unless either Lesher or Lanike gives him orders to the contrary then Dyre picks up Kola and returns to the fleet, leaving Corellia behind and bringing the Jedi back to the Resilience. Soon the two Jedi are in the hangar, and the hangar is re-pressurized minutes after their arrival.

[Cespenar]

The young jedi knight nods back at the clone. "Thank you commander. Let's not make the General wait any longer."

Though she's sure Kenobi wouldn't start with his message in the proper without the full entourage, she is, admittedly, a bit eager to catch a brief few words with the jedi war hero.

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher sighs. So much for a little excitement, though that's not what she sought anyway. Her time would have been better spent finding a nice forest to walk through, she assesses.

Back on the ship, once the hangar is re-pressurised, she steps out into it and nods to the nearest clone who looks like they haven't much on their hands. "I don't suppose anything happened that warrants a status report in my short time away? Find some lodging for these two, do your best to accommodate them somewhere quiet, and report where they stay to me alone. If anyone asks, they're my guests, unless they care to actually do their job fixing up the ship." She gives the agents her frequency.

[MadMaeve]

Lanike gives R3 orders to follow the LAAT up in escort, while she joins Master Lesher in the gunship's hold. Her ears are kept up throughout the conversation between "Zane," "Ruby" and the master, silently taking details. Her regrets keep mounting, it seems, but if there really was a mission to do, at least she was psyched up for it.

When the LAAT touches down, she hops out, and waits a moment for the passengers to clear. After Lesher gives her frequency, she does the same, and asks the Corellians a little something in a low voice. Immediately after an apology for her suspicious behavior. "... any room for additional support in what you're doing? Another set of eyes, maybe?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Kyra

The clone nods, and brings the Jedi over to the ship's the long range holocommunicator. He presses some buttons, and moments later a full sized hologram of Obi-Wan Kenobi floats over the ship's communicator. The knight, clad in the Order's traditional robes, smiles when his hologram shows up. "Knight Kyra de'Jannarc. Good to see you still alive. How is Master Koda? I heard he's been attached to the fleet over Felucia."

Lesher

The clone trooper Lesher picks out salutes the Jedi. Her question about status reports is, naturally, beyond the scope of the trooper's knowledge. "I don't know, General." She would likely be better off calling the bridge, or finding an officer. When the Jedi gives him a direct order to keep a secret the trooper seems a bit surprised, or at least as surprised as Lesher can tell through his helmet. "Uh, yes, General."

If Lesher calls the bridge, then she finds out about the holocomm from the Council. Regardless, the Jedi spots Lanike with the two spies and Kola climbing out of the LAAT and heading into the ship. If Lesher exchanges contact info with the spies, then she finds that Zane's communicator is already registered in her call list: The same number as that clone that called her that morning: Jax, the "liaison officer" between CEC and the Republic.

Lanike

R3 and her ship follows the LAAT up, and lands near to Dyre when the ships arrive.

"Suspicions are good. Keeps you alive and on your toes. Though: You should probably not personally escort VIPs when you don't have a lot of information on who you're picking up."

"Zane" shrugs, but "Ruby" shakes her head. "I'm afraid not. Too many people would be problematic for our mission. It's best that we remain on our own, and get things done as quickly and quietly as possible. Plus, you have an army to lead. We'll call you if we find any targets of opportunity." With her offer rejected Lanike is left to her own devices. Calling the bridge reveals the holocomm from the Council, and both Lesher and Kola are nearby. Though the small Nelvaanian padawan seems to be heading off on her own. Likely to find her master, or at very least a place to rest after whatever she was doing on the surface.

[Cespenar]

Kyra smiles back at the knight. "Master Kenobi. Good to see you as well. Oh, Master Koda was good since the last time we spoke. Yes, Felucia, I heard as well. It should do him good. And vice versa."

After a moment's hesitation, she adds.

"How are things on your side, Master?"

He was a Master during the Clone Wars, right?

[ZeroNumerous]

Kyra

Obi-Wan nods. "Trouble, as always. My former padawan and I are still dealing with the problems left behind in the attack on Coruscant. Fortunately Count Dooku was defeated in the battle, but it seems the Separatists aren't going to give up that easily. That's why I called as well."

[Cespenar]

"I see. I'm sure Coruscant is gracious for your help, Master.

"The others must be on their way as well. We can start as soon as they arrive."

[MadMaeve]

"Buh, fair enough. Best of luck on your mission, then." She notes that with some conceit. The whole runaround was worrying, especially for something as simple as a infiltration coverup. But, she couldn't complain - information denial was a spy's greatest trick.

With not much to do other than work on her ship or keep up with the council call, she makes herself useful. As Kola looks around for a place to rest, Lani follows a few meters behind, and gives Merrick's comlink a ring in the meantime.

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher raises an eyebrow at the frequency she receives. "Well... that's familiar," she says, eyeing the spy accusingly. "Jax, was it?" She humphs at that, unsympathetic to the constant lying and sneaking of spies. She shrugs. "Be on your best behaviour you two, I wouldn't want to waste the time of the Chancellor your group is so fond of having words over you."

She sighs and files out silently. A moment to herself, alone, her own echoing foot falls for company. Her gait was off. Usually she crouches down a little and walked more slowly for shorter company, without even realising it she does the same when she's alone. She shakes her head. if the clones were better conversationalists perhaps she would be better served having a few to escort her if only to save her from the quiet. After checking in with one of the officers, she heads up to the bridge to see Obi Wan's call.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher

"Zane" smiles. "I'll be on my best behavior, General." He affects the Concord Dawn accent all of the clones had somehow picked up, but it sounds odd not coming through the voice modulator built into the clone trooper helmets. Or perhaps he simply didn't have the same voice as Jango Fett had. The spy gives the Jedi a quick nod, and goes along with his clone escort. "Zane" would be indistinguishable from the real clones when suited up, and that cannot be good for the clones.

Lesher and Kyra

"Coruscant will be more grateful when the war is over, and you have a role in that."

Lesher finds out about the call from the first officer she bothers, and arrives on the bridge just as Obi-Wan's holo finishes speaking.

[Cespenar]

Kyra nods humbly at that, and turns to greet the arriving Lesher with a small hand wave.

"Oh, good. Knight Orion, Master Kenobi," she introduces briefly, and maybe a little unnecessarily.

[Princess Tracy]

"Tch, well I feel safer already." Lesher trusted that her use of the force would let her find this slippery man again if he were to cause trouble, and leaves it at that.

Opening the door, she twitches a moment at the sight of Obi Wan before bowing her head, the sight of a real Jedi master catching her off guard. "... Master Kenobi," she greets. "I just got back from having a word with some of the Chancellor's spies, they're a lively bunch. How can I help you, today?" She doesn't make eye contact with the hologram, though puts on a show of simply being drowsy.

[ZeroNumerous]

Lesher and Kyra

The mention of spies gets the Jedi Master's attention. "Spies? I hope they're not investigating you. The good Chancellor has been adamant that a Jedi leaked the defense codes for Coruscant. The Council has rejected such a ridiculous claim, but I'm afraid he's stirring up a witch hunt with his claims. Be safe, young knights, and watch them closely."

DM

After some minutes talking with Lesher and Kyra Kenobi points out that he must get down to business, and another call goes out across the Resilience for the Jedi to come to the bridge. Lanike, Triel, Merrick, Kola, and Dev eventually arrive, finding Lesher and Kyra in conference with the Jedi Master. After greetings have gone around, Obi-Wan informs the Jedi as to why he's calling.

"I know that the fleet has only just returned to Republic space, but I'm afraid the matter cannot wait for you to rest. Thyferra, the sole source of bacta in the galaxy, was attacked and besieged by a Separatist fleet. We only received one message before the world went dark." Obi-Wan pushes some buttons on the device in his hand, and soon the holo-projector plays back a message.

"Kneel", a gravely metallic voice says, "and surrender your world to me. Or I will burn its skies and slaughter every living thing on the surface." Dev stiffens at the voice, and Kyra feels an intense anger welling up in the young padawan.

"Never! The Repub--" The crackling hum of a lightsaber severs the speaker's response, and the message cuts off with a metallic crunching. With the message done Obi-Wan looks to the gathered Jedi once more.

"If you aren't familiar with him, that would General Grievous. He was greatly wounded at the battle of Coruscant, and the Council fear he has attacked Thyferra while fleeing." The Jedi Master closes his eyes. "Normally, a Master such as myself or Master Yoda would arrive to deal with the General. But there are far too many fires to put out at the moment: Kashyyyk, Mygeeto, Coruscant, and countless other worlds need our help. I'm afraid you are the only Knights I can call upon."

Obi-Wan's hologram straightens its back, looking at the Jedi gathered much like a father figure rather than a commander. ", so I must ask you: Go to Thyferra, protect the planet's bacta supplies, liberate it from the Separatists, and avoid contact with the General at all costs. Do not engage him: He has killed more Knights than I dare dream of... I do not wish for you to be his next victims. Master Shaak Ti will be taking a detachment of the Open Circle Fleet to support you. She has experience with the General. However, I'm afraid that I must ask you to leave as soon as possible. Master Shaak Ti was injured during the battle, and it will be several weeks before she arrives. Thyferra will be thoroughly entrenched by then, and the fighting will be intense. Or worse, the General will escape again. Can you do this?"

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher raises an eyebrow at the emphasis on 'good chancellor', was that the old man's sarcasm? "Defence codes were leaked? Why would a Jedi have an interest in sabotaging the Republic?"

She stays quiet for a bit as the others roll up. Perhaps Kyra's presence was a good thing, if she were alone she might actually ask Kenobi for guidance on the voice she'd heard, but somehow it seemed... better not to ask, lest the others think her insane. At the very least, the quiet was much like her anyway, she usually held herself reserved and quiet, preferring listening to talking. It was what was behind the silence that was different. Her tongue remains held as the briefing begins, but upon hearing the whirring of a lightsabre on the recording, her eyes widen in shock then sharpen in spite. "His name is 'Grievous'... a slayer of Jedi?" she comments at the end, her own fury rising amid her horror. "With... Master Kenobi, we can hardly run from such an adversary if confronted, at least. Such evil can hardly be allowed to buzz around waiting for a jedi master to swat him, when he can bring harm to so many others below you!" Her fist is raised and her eyes are wild, it takes her a moment to realise how much she was venting already, how little composure she was showing. She jams a thumb into her forehead, sighing as she tries to calm down.

"But... that isn't our mission. And Thyferra is pivotal, I understand that from what Cassus told me. So I shall confirm the council's wishes on this matter." She sighs again. "Hm. I suppose there's truth to those spies I encountered then, they claimed we would next be deployed to that planet."

I'm totally cool with railroading, not all the players are too active and railroading us to doing plot stuff can actually spur on interest, I think, don't worry 'bout it

[Cespenar]

Kyra receives the briefing along with everyone else, and upon hearing Grevious' voice she tenses emphatically, sensing Dev's anger as if her own. She reaches out to lay a calming hand on the padawan.

She listens to Lesher's rather zealous outburst, and nods at Kenobi, trying to find a middle path. "Master Kenobi, we will try to exercise utmost caution with General Grievous, but what do you advise if he places himself between us and this mission's objective?" she asks, almost sure of the answer she'll receive. No matter the level of their carefulness, a Jedi wouldn't back up from a fight if it would mean disaster for the whole war effort.

Also, she records the mention of these "spies" as a sidenote, to be asked to Lesher afterwards.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Obi-Wan frowns at Lesher's outburst, and at Kyra's reasoning. "If Grievous poses a danger to your goal, then simply wait. Siege the world, keep him there, and Master Shaak Ti will arrive to deal with him. I'm told you have experience with sieges, so such a change of mission parameters won't catch you off-guard. Stay safe, Knights. The galaxy is quickly running out of Jedi when it needs us more than ever. May the Force be with you." With that done, and if no one has any further questions, Obi-Wan closes the channel.

Graves looks to the assembled Jedi. "Shall I relay the order to the fleet to set course for Thyferra?"

[Princess Tracy]

Lesher rubs her temples and takes a breath, knowing better than to argue further. These outbursts weren't like her, she knew... it wasn't worth the grief. "... Very well. We await out reinforcements," she says, half heartedly, but all the same clasping her hands and bowing respectfully. When Obiwan departs, she nods "Give the order, we depart ASAP," she says, heading back to her cabin.

If Kyra asks, Lesher shrugs and readily tells her of the encounter she had down on the planet, dnd of the two self proclaimed spies currently staying on board.

[Cespenar]

Kyra squints skeptically at Kenobi's hologram. That effectively put their survival above the mission goal itself. It also meant that even a multitude of Knights wouldn't be enough to apprehend Grievous, or at least not without casualties. Kyra finds it hard to believe that, but secedes the point nevertheless. Master Kenobi is the expert on that subject, after all. So, stalling tactics? She could manage that.

"Understood. May be Force be with you too, Master."

Afterwards she asks Lesher about the spies, and listens to her explanation with interest.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

The travel time proves quiet, but tense. The clones are obviously preparing themselves for battle, and most are undergoing their odd personal rituals. Eventually, Commander Graves calls the Jedi and informs them that the fleet has left hyperspace, and request their presence on the bridge to discuss the fleet's battle plan. Once everyone has arrived, then Graves brings up a hologram of Thyferra: The planet, nearly 80% water, is surrounded by a holographic shield along with 7 small holographic ships.

"Generals. We've sent out scouting flights, and this is the situation as far as we can tell." Graves points to the ships. "Two Recusant-class destroyers, two Munificent-class frigates, and three Diamond-class cruisers. The destroyers and frigates can pose a threat to this battleship with their forward guns, and it would be in our best interests to avoid an extended exchange of gunfire with them. We must especially prevent the Acclamators from taking fire, or there will be a lot of dead clones in orbit." Graves points out the center Diamond-class cruiser. "This vessel has markings reminiscent of the Pride of Cantell, the private cruiser of Shu Mai, head of the Commerce Guild. That could be a valuable target of opportunity."

A fleet that small cannot be Grievous' battle fleet, unless they were left behind to distract pursuers. Or, perhaps, Grievous simply wasn't there to begin with.

Once the ships are touched upon, then Graves moves on to the planet itself. "Thyferra has a Shutter-class planetary shield. While it is weaker than Balith IV's shield, it will still take at least two months of orbital bombardment to destroy, but once it has fallen the fleet can deploy its forces anywhere on the world."

A shutter shield works by projecting a series of shields in a solid sheet. These individual sheets can be projected in a line, or in a specific area, in order to strength that area against orbital bombardment, but at the cost of weakened areas elsewhere.

The clone finally finishes with his suggestions. "My suggestion is to eliminate the fleet by deploying our starfighters to cripple the destroyers and frigate's main guns, but in order to do that we'll need to disable the cruisers. Otherwise, they will easily destroy the bulk of our starfighters. To that end, I suggest deploying our starfighters in a forward position, without support from the fleet. Alongside the starfighters we can deploy marines with the LAATs, and disable the cruisers. Once the cruisers have been seized, then our starfighters can destroy the main guns of the destroyers and frigates." Graves puts his hands behind his back and nods. "Once their guns are destroyed, then the rest of the fleet can wipe them out. The losses in our starfighter corps will be great, but there will be no risk to the fleet."

[Princess Tracy]

Despite her resolution to try getting out more, Lesher spends most of the transit in her room, though eventually can take it no more and spends a few hours with Kyra before exiting hyperspace, if her presence isn't rejected. Though she makes little conversation, she does her best to catch up with her fellow Jedi a little. If Kyra asks her about herself as part of her goal of profiling the others, she tells her some of her life; that she was was found as a wild lost girl on a then-recently colonised planet and taken in by the Jedi so her use of the force would not be corrupted. She lists off her role and accomplishments of battle, though one can't help but garner the impression she considers herself more of a hand to hold her lightsaber than anything as she describes her skills at tactics and diplomacy as 'shoddy at best'. "I always thought of myself as fighting for a safer galaxy, in the hopes that the Jedi wouldn't have to be knights, that our future generations could contemplate the force and the galaxy in an era of peace. And I teach my padawan that too. Though... in emphasising his skills to my weaknesses, I left him with a poor sense of battle. I can't help but worry for him... he's AWOL and my mind has been so clouded since then that I can't even use the force to locate him..." Happy to have gotten it off her chest, she quickly turns the topic from her padawan thereafter, rather thankful for the call to the bridge.

She watches quietly the formations be explained to her, sighing quietly. She had no business being a general. Not in such inglorious chaos as this war. She looks to Kyra, knowing her as an actual tactician. "Hm... a shield, huh..." We won't be engaging them on the ground then certainly, have to eliminate them here above orbit. "Don't suppose it would be practical for me to pilot a fighter in this situation, would it?" she asks. "Seems like a workable plan to me, unless someone smarter than me wants to add to it."

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

When Lesher asks about piloting a starfighter Graves gives the same suggestion he always gave. "I do not think it would be prudent for you to risk your life on the battlefield, General."

[Cespenar]

Kyra accepts Lesher's friendship graciously, and gives examples from her own troublesome padawan to alleviate her worries. "Sometimes we can only give what we can and hope for the best." She talks about her own life as well, and readily agrees with the other Jedi's look on Knightdom. "The thing, I assume, as always, is balance. To be prepared for war while striving for peace. The question is, then, of course, how well prepared?"

***

Kyra squints at the hologram while Grave lays out the situation followed by his plan of attack. She nods at him when he finishes, and starts to walk around the holographic map while talking.

"Thank you Commander. But I'm thinking of something a bit different. Support the starfighters with our cruisers, with Resilience trailing back to join halfway through, hopefully to trigger a priority change in our enemies and ruin their flow. The Acclamators and the rest will stay back, well out of the battle.

"We'll start with torpedo salvoes on the Munificents. Then our fighters and cruisers will focus on one of the Recusants. Destroying one quickly will cripple its linked fighters and give our own fighters an advantage. Then we'll focus fire on the Munificents. I agree with deploying marines with the LAATs, though. Their leading Diamond has not only the target of opportunity to catch but also has command of the fire system link they use between the other Diamonds, so our best troops should focus on that ship, with two objectives in mind: capturing the VIP, and disabling the weapon systems."

She pauses, taking a deep breath that's reminiscent of a sigh before continuing.

"Normally I'd advise all our Knights to stay back with the Resilience, but the delicate two-fanged operation upon the leading cruiser may require some extra help. So," she adds with a wry smile, "I won't try to dissuade anyone wanting to join that mission."

She sighs again, and finally stops to have a look at everyone's reactions. "Any suggestions?"

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Graves nods, but frowns when Kyra mentions the Knights going into the fight. "I don't agree with deploying our leadership on the front, but if those are your orders then we have to obey. If we're going to proceed with your plan, then you'll need to select the ships supporting the attack. If we dispatch the Carracks, then there will be no protection for the MedStar or Pelta. If we send in the Resilience and the Negotiator alone, then we'll be vulnerable to directed fire or starfighter attacks ourselves. A half-measure may result in losses on both fronts."

[Cespenar]

Kyra looks at Graves, hesitates, but then a look from Lesher helps her come to a decision.

"The Carracks stay back as well. There will be damage on Resilience and Negotiator for sure, but we can't allow the MedStar and Pelta to come to harm."