[IC Thread] Star Wars: Jedi and the Clonettes

[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.

Corbin

"Ahhh! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn6hhrX34Pw)" The scream announced the fall of one of Corbin's allies, a victim to the white shadow stalking the Jedi. The shadow flits across the Knight's vision, and a bright green light fills his eyes. It is only his reactions, void of forethought and drilled by constant training, that interposes his lightsaber between himself and the green blade attacking him. Another saber, blue this time, comes down from above. Blocking that one summons forth a third, as yellow as a star, stabbing toward the Knight's stomach. Again the Knight narrowly saves himself, but before he can even think of mounting a counterattack his opponent renews his assault. Bone white limbs, inhumanly fast and wielding stolen lightsabers, form a barrier of blades around the Knight. The droid general, clearly trained in the Djem So variation of Form V, collapses upon Corbin like a rave riding an avalanche as his multi-colored lightsabers move with inhuman speed. The General is deathly quiet, making no sounds or speech beyond the clank of his feet and the buzz of his blades, but his silence serves its purpose: To unnerve, to unsettle, and in doing so to weaken his foes. Corbin knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he would die if he continued to fight. Just then, the only remaining member of his strike force joined the battle. The iktotchi Jedi swung her yellow blade at Death's back, and his eyes turned from Corbin to the newcomer.

Then the Jedi ran.

Corbin wakes from his nightmare on board the Resilience. It takes some time for his memories to come back, but soon he recognizes the room as his 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 nightmare of his encounter with the droid general fades as the light from Corellia streams into his window. The Jedi can see hundreds of small ships floating about above the planet's surface, most darting in between the shipyards that made the planet so wealthy, but some scuttling down to the world below. No sound came from them, obviously, but even so the Jedi's chambers were filled with the sound of beeping. If the Jedi goes searching for the source of the noise he discovers the culprit very quickly: His communicator is desperately trying to get his attention.

Cereus

Cereus wakes in his private chambers aboard the Resilience. It was sterile, clean, and barely lived in, but that was to be expected given he'd only had two weeks to break it in. Compared to the Ascension his quarters were practically ruffing it, since his private supplies and booze went down with the ship. Through his window, a luxury even the Ascension didn't have, he can spot the movement of Corellian ships traveling between the fleet. Supplies, thankfully, and perhaps an opportunity to start restocking his stash. Naturally, the cerean is also able to see the fleet itself. Or, at least, he can see the Homefield Advantage. Its position so close by meant the fleet was in a holding formation, with the Resilience and Homeland at the fleet's center.

His bed is hard, and a little cold at night. His room consisted of a mixed bedroom and dining room, in case he wished to invite guests or just wanted a table to use for whatever reason. Two doors mark the exits: One goes to a bathroom with its own private shower, and the other connects his little retreat to the rest of the ship. The cerean can hear the sound of a soldier's boots outside as they walk past his door and further down the officer's section. Without the interruption of whoever was moving about outside the cerean is free to perform his morning routine, or at least free from interruption by the living. Who knew when his dead uncle would show up to give him helpful advice from beyond the grave.

Legate

Balith IV is cold. Bone-chilling cold. The joke around the camp is that even a wookie would have clothes on in this weather. A blast of wind drives through Legate, and the clone commando can feel his body shutting down. Despite his armor's insulation, despite his training, his body tells him to sleep through the cold. And every time the wind picks up it's like being dipped in carbonite one finger or toe at a time. He's already seen some troopers with new prosthetic hands. Frostbite, they said. Nasty business. A flurry of snow signals movement on the left, and when the clone looks up he finds himself helmet-to-helmet with Echo. "Morning boss", the clone says in a voice mirror Legate's own, "glad you could finally join us. I went out to get supplies. Hope you like womp-r--" The blaster bolt that interrupts Echo also blows a neat black hole into the clone's stomach, just centimeters above Legate's head. The surprise on the clone's face can be seen even through his helmet, and heard in the gurgle Echo makes as he falls backward. When Legate's cold-dulled senses catch up to his eyes, and he starts to look for the shooter, he finds himself helmet-to-barrel with a clanker. A black-colored B1 model, based off its skeletal appearance and dorky looking head, wielding a clone DC-15.

Before Legate can even shout out a warning, the droid fires.

The clone wakes up in his bunk with a jolt, having just been killed in another nightmare. The one failure on an otherwise spotless record continually plays through the clone's dreams, but he'd never been shot in it before. Perhaps a different world, or maybe just nerves? His bunk, like all of the clone bunks, houses four clones in four beds stacked two high: Beneath him he can hear Lucky snoring louder than a mynock chewing on a power cable, and to his right he can hear Saber tossing and turning in his sleep. Revisiting the same dream most likely, since it was his watch that night. Beneath Saber would be... His bed, but it's empty. Not because it wasn't reassigned, but because its new occupant--the replacement dubbed Fuse--wasn't in the room. That was definitely some kind of regulation violation, but no amount of reprimands from up high ever got through to Fuse. The rest of the bunk is a simple cube, 3 meters tall, 5 meters wide, and 5 meters deep like every other bunk. A box sits at the head and foot of each bunk, Legate's own--containing all of his gear--was at the foot of his bunk. The only door out of the room connected to a hallway, which led to a communal bathroom on one end, a communal shower on the other, and connected to the rest of the ship by another hallway.

Fuse

Fuse finds himself in the starboard hangar of the Resilience that morning. Or, at least, it was morning on Coruscant. Using gal-standard time always seemed weird when you weren't on Coruscant, but even a clone can't argue with galactic conventions. In front of him sits a crate of energy cells for DC-15s being used as a makeshift table. Opposite the table sits Dyre, and behind him is his hulking LAAT/i. To Fuse's left sits a newblood, calls himself Double: CT-5566, makes sense. To Fuse's right sits one of the right oldbloods, a vet from Geonosis who's called Boer. Grandfather in Mando'a, didn't name himself but Dyre introduced him as that. The makeshift table holds a deck of sabacc cards, two power packs, and five facedown sabacc cards. The oldblood already folded, too wise or too cautious to get in on a bet of power packs. Dyre's sitting on three thermal dets, six power packs, and a box of deathsticks, but the newblood is down to nothing but one pack and his skivvies. Fuse himself still has everything he came to the table with, winning or losing nothing in a poor showing of card skills. Meanwhile Boer has two thermal dets, four power packs, an e-cell, and a bundle of detonite thicker than a wookie's right arm.

Dyre looks at Fuse. "Don't keep us in suspense", he says with a voice just like Fuse's own, "one pack ante. You in?"

If Fuse goes for the bet, then he'll have to wager a power pack and make opposed Wisdom checks against Dyre and Double. He'll get a +5 bonus if he has Deception trained.

[JohnTheSavage]

Fuse glances at the others at the makeshift card table. Old blood doesn't get to be old in this war without being right about the right risks to take. Still, old blood could get to be old just by avoiding any risk that came by. Dyre always was good at this, but Fuse was determined not to let him come out like a bandit like he did last time. The rookie, well, Fuse felt sorry for him. He hadn't been around the block enough times to know when someone was bluffing or not. Fuse shrugged slightly. Supplies were coming in for once, and they probably wouldn't be deployed for weeks, so losing one power pack wouldn't be too much of a problem. And if it was, Fuse knew he'd come up with something. He always did.

"Ha! Hope you boys know how to shoot straight." Fuse says, tossing one of his power packs onto the table.

[roll0]-1

[Vetril]

Corbin sits on the bedside, and takes a moment to curb his feelings. He reaches out, looking for contact with that beautiful web that connects all the living beings in the galaxy.
There is no emotion, there is peace. The words of the Code echo in his mind, as he remembers master Betha discuss them with a much younger version of the jedi knight.
Shaking off the last remnants of the nightmare, Corbin reaches for his comlink, noting the ID of the caller.

"Yes - I'm listening."

UtF check to automatically sense the Force (and as a consequence, any disturbances). Corbin's just looking for comfort, so he might not notice immediately.

[ZeroNumerous]

Corbin

The voice on the other end is the same as every other clone. "Master Norrin? Good morning, General. Lt. Jax, Republic liaison officer with the Corellian planetary defense force. I've been trying to reach you. I've been asked to contact you on behalf of the CPDF. The Corellian Engineering Corporation is sending up a group of engineers to appraise the Resilience's shield generators, and they were hoping to have an honor guard. I know that Jedi are quite busy, but I'm afraid my arm is being twisted in asking this from you, General."

Fuse

"Alright then!"

The card game progresses, and the newblood and Dyre both reveal their hands. The new guy has nothing: a total of -13. Absolutely terrible. Meanwhile, Dyre is sitting on a total of +23, pure sabacc, a hand only beaten by the 023 Idiot Array.

Before Dyre can collect his winnings there's a sudden end to the festivities with the shout of a clone. "Commander on deck!" Dyre scrambles to gather the cards, letting the betting pool fall to the floor before stuffing the cards into his pockets. Soon enough Grave and two marines round the corner of Dyre's LAAT and the lieutenant, Boer, and Double are standing and saluting.

The clone, clad in his officer's uniform rather than armor, nods at all four clones present. "At ease. Lieutenant. I'm sending you down to the planet to pick up a civvie egghead. Fuse?" The commander looks to the engineer. "Go find your commander. I'm sending Epsilon with the good lieutenant as an honor guard. Dismissed." The clones throw a hasty salute at their commander, and he turns to leave. Dyre looks at Fuse, then shrugs. "Same time next week?"

Dyre: [roll0]
Newbie: [roll1]

[MenhirRocksolid]

Wondering where his furball Chalbit went without letting him know in which kind of trouble he was planning on getting himself into this time (without letting him into the action) So Cereus uses Farseeing to track down his wookie and to see what he's up to in general.

Generates a force point first using Channel Vitality and uses this force point immediatly to power up his Farseeing to see 6 squares around the wookie. UTF roll: Automatically succeeds due to the low will save of Chalbit.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Legate sits up, quietly, and stares at the wall, quietly, letting his thoughts run their course and settle into the logic of consciousness after the mess they were in that dream. He was fairly certain he wasn't supposed to dream, given how much of his lifetime REM had been taken up by creche-education before he was ever let out into the galaxy. As his nerves click back into routine thoughts, he can't help but notice the amount of noise the rest of his squad makes even in their sleep. He wonders if he should do anything about it...he should definitely do something about the newbie wandering off without leave.

He doesn't bother waking his marginally-more-uniform podmates as he gets up and begins the morning refresher routine - it's before their scheduled reveille, and it always paid for the commander to be alert, pressed, and ready before the people he was commanding. By the time he was cleaned up and in his body glove, the other two were in the middle of their own routines, thankfully as silent as he was. Maybe they were both dreaming about Balith IV, too. With some effort, Legate put it out of his mind for the moment and got ready for the day. They're far away from the front right now, and past mistakes were no reason to lose focus on current objectives.

He's fairly certain of that, at least, as he armors up.

[Vetril]

The jedi knight is quite perplexed by the request: "Good morning to y - ...Uh, they need an escort to check the shield generators of the Resilience?"
The moment comes and goes, however, and Corbin is quick to continue.

"Nevermind. Tell them I'm on my way. Truth be told, Lieutenant, I could use the distraction. Where do I pick them up?"

He looks for his things while he listens to the details; the armor is donned, the lightsaber retrieved, and the traditional jedi mantle completes the outfit. Corbin is ready to start the day.

[JohnTheSavage]

"Of course!" Fuse says in response to Dyre's question. Fuse then takes his leave of the others and sets off at a brisk pace for the squad's room. He'd mourn the loss of his power pack later, right now, he had to report in with the rest of his squad.

Fuse re-enters the squads room just as the others are finishing getting dressed and ready for the day. Fuse, already is his armor, walks in without saluting and heads over to his footlocker to grab the rest of his stuff, giving his commander nothing but a "Mornin', Boss." as he walks past.

[ZeroNumerous]

Cereus

Cereus' use of the Force reveals his padawan... walking. Slowly. The floor below him is some kind of metal, and it's plainly some sort of hallway, perhaps a ship or station somewhere. Cereus cannot identify exactly where his padawan is, but he knows he's somewhere on a ship or station. After the cerean uses his powers to spy on his padawan, and completely violate any privacy he might have, Cereus feels a little bit dizzy.

Cereus moves 1 step down the condition track as part of Channel Vitality.

Corbin

"Supposedly, General. But, permission to speak freely General?" If Corbin grants it, then the clone continues in a lower tone than before. "I don't think there's any problem, sir. These Corellians like displays of power and wealth, and calling up a Jedi like a service droid would go a long way to making CEC seem more powerful than it is. Like I said: I wouldn't have even called, but someone's doting uncle in High Command sent me a personal holo demanding I send this through."

The Clones

Fuse finds his way back easily enough, and without even being accosted by an officer--not that he would have stopped anyway.

[MenhirRocksolid]

Cereus takes a second to clear his head again and then proceeds to sense who else on board the ship, or in close proximity, who might be of the sabre wearing predisposition.

(1 second = 6 seconds = 3 swift actions). Use sense force: Automatically succeed DC 15, but lets roll for it anyhow: [roll0]. See where within 100 km there are other force sensitives (such as Chalbit).

[ZeroNumerous]

Cereus

Cereus senses two other force sensitives on the ship. Logic dictates that those two are Chalbit and Corbin, the only surviving Jedi in the fleet.

[Nerd-o-rama]

It's a good thing Legate doesn't have his helmet on yet. It gives him a chance to practice his officerly eyebrow-raise at his new squadmate. "You're up and about early, Fuse," he says, balancing his irritation against his knowledge that Fuse didn't actually care.

"Don't worry, newbie," comes the comment from Saber. "Sarge here won't chew you out as long as you keep up with the unofficial upgrades. Makes him feel like an RC."

That, however, earns a proper officer death glare.

[Vetril]

An amused Corbin shakes his head in the silence of his room: Lieutenant Jax is a good man, but at times he seems to think jedi are much more important than everyone else - not true. After all, being a jedi often means to serve, and he knows well the kind of weight that the presence of a knight bears.

"I would agree with your assesment, Lieutenant." - the jedi thinks for a moment, before he continues - "Well, maybe we can get something out of this. They want to see the generators, that's not a problem. In exchange, I could suggest them to grant extra support - let's see if we can stock up on anything our own engineers need, so do warn them of the possibility."

The knight checks himself once for anything out of place, before stepping in front of the window. As always, the endless stream of ships fascinates Corbin, and he allows himself to relax for a moment. Snapping back to the present, he addresses the clone.

"All right, Lieutenant. Let's make this small tour of the Resilience happen."

[JohnTheSavage]

"Ha, who doesn't wish they were one of the deluxe models, eh? No shame in that, Boss." Fuse says. The clone finishes grabbing his gear and stands at the ready with the rest of the squad.

"Anyway, I ran into Grave down in hanger, said we'll be playing honour guard for some eggheads or something." Fuse shrugs. "Don't really know what that's all about. Not like they tell me anything."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"As long as you know where to report, I'm sure escort duty is well within your capabilities without a detailed list of instructions," Legate observes. "Alright boys, helmets on, rifles polished, we're going to go show off a bit."

The other two shrug and comply. Corellia's an important strategic resource, but surrounded by big ships with bigger guns as they were here, no one in Epsilon was expecting serious action until they shipped out again, and even Saber can't muster any sarcasm at the idea of a milk run to stave off boredom. Or contemplation.

"Are we escorting one of the Generals, or going on our own?" Legate asks. If this is a diplomatic mission, he assumes a Jedi will be involved somewhere, but whether they were going to pick up the VIP personally or not probably indicated what scale of VI was involved here.

[ZeroNumerous]

Clones

Once helmets, armor, and boots are shined and polished then the clones are free to head down to the forward hangar. There they find Dyre's familiar LAAT/i, including its ridiculous twi'lek, along with the LAAT's two Eta-2 escort on the runway. Engineers, clad in sealed suits, hastily put the finishing touches on Dyre's LAAT, including polishing for obvious reasons. The pilot himself is even on the gunship's deck, doing final checks, and walking its length. He looks up when he hears Epsilon approach, and throws a sloppy salute at the approaching clones. "Morning. We're doing final checks. Apparently one of the Jedi is coming."

Corbin and Clones

"Yes, General." The clone hangs up, and leaves Corbin to prepare himself for the day to come. After a few minutes he receives a quick recorded message from Commanders Grave.

"General. I was informed you were joining the honor guard. Lieutenant Dyre is waiting in the forward hangar and will take you to the planet. Grave out." If Corbin heads to the forward hangar, then he finds a familiar looking LAAT/i--painted with that stupid half-naked twi'lek--sitting in between two clone-piloted Eta-2s. The LAAT/i has its doors open, and a group of clones stand nearby. The Jedi recognizes Dyre standing on his LAAT's deck. If the Jedi approaches then Dyre throws Corbin a sharp salute.

[MenhirRocksolid]

Cereus heads to the mess hall for some breakfast and on a mission to inquire about the possible delivery of certain supplies.

[Vetril]

Corbin walks into the hangar with his fast paced walk; he is quick to spot the transport, and doesn't waste any time before approaching.
Nowadays, he barely notices the painted twilek: it's just some color on the shape of the spaceship. He respectfully salutes Dyre, then smiles.

"Good morning to you, Lieutenant. It is a good day to fly. Who's with me on this particular task?"

The jedi knight eyes the clones waiting next to the ship. The soldiers wear the same armor that he has chosen to wear, but their suits are customized with stripes and colors. Corbin briefly wonders if he should have done the same to his own, but maybe that would have made him look like a pretender, widening the distance between him and the soldiers, instead of allowing him to cross the gap.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Legate and his subordinates return Dyre's salute, and have just enough time to relax and get their equipment arranged (and for Saber to make a not-board-safe comment about the Twi'lek mascot) before Corbin arrives.

"General on deck!" Legate calls, prompting all three soldiers to turn and salute the Jedi. The fact that they're all helmeted at this point means that Legate doesn't have to call Saber or Lucky out for their amused smirks at the Jedi wearing trooper armor.

"Epsilon Squad reporting for escort duty, sir," the commander states, in answer to Corbin's question.

[Vetril]

Corbin acknowledges the team and gives them a quick salute. He addresses Legate, genuine appreciation in his voice: it is obvious that he is oblivious of the reactions evoked by the sight of his personal trooper armor.

"At ease. Good to have you and your men, commander."

The jedi adopts one of his typical postures as his attention returns on Dyre: with his arms crossed in front of his chest, hidden under the large sleeves of his robe, Corbin vaguely looks like one of the statues of the Temple on Coruscant. Calmly, he speaks again.

"I still haven't been told the names of the VIP that required the escort. I sure hope you were given a reminder with all the details, Lieutenant. I'd like to examine whatever you have as we approach the planet."

[ZeroNumerous]

Cereus

Cereus is able to find the mess hall easily enough: The huge cafeteria is filled with several table full of clones surrounded by a hurricane of talking, carousing, and the scents of food. And, for once, the Jedi enters a room where the clones don't stop whatever they're doing and salute. Unfortunately, the mess hall is not the place to ask about supply requisitions, unless he's looking for a particular kind of food. Nonetheless, Cereus doesn't spot anyone he would recognize, and certainly doesn't see his wookie padawan.

Corbin and the Clones

When Corbin asks about the VIPs Dyre responds quickly and professionally. "Didn't ask and wasn't told, General. As far as I know they're just some civvie egghead. Though: My target is CEC headquarters." Corellian Engineering Corporation owned most of the shipyards above Corellia, so it makes sense that they'd be sending engineers up to deal with the Resilience's problems. "We're ready to leave whenever you're ready to go, General." With that said Dyre heads to the gunship's cockpit, says something to his co-pilot, then climbs in. Once Corbin's ready to go the LAAT closes its doors, seals its atmosphere, and is quickly pressurized. The clones and Jedi inside are subject to a rather smooth take-off, and the long wait of traveling through space.

After a few moments the trip becomes much rougher as the vessel breaks the atmosphere, and once the turbulent descent finally levels out the LAAT's doors open. The clones and Corbin are subjected to the sights of Coronet City (http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130913002443/starwars/images/3/31/Coronet-EotESoF.jpg). The city marks where the sprawling urban landscape that funds Corellia meets the wilderness that keeps the planet fed, and contains the target of the LAAT: CEC headquarters. Two each side fly a pair of Eta-2s, clone pilots based on the colors and lack of astromechs inside them, escorting the LAAT to its destination. After a few minutes of flying Black Flight arrives 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 the pads closest to the gunship.

The two humanoids turn out to be a pair (http://i.imgur.com/AOsEQho.jpg) of humans (http://i.imgur.com/8gNw374.jpg), neither looking particularly like an engineer, watch the vessel descend and wait for the occupants to step forward.

[MenhirRocksolid]

Cereus salutes the men back casually. At ease men, no need to be all formal in the mess hall, especially when we're on leave. Did anybody by the way see a hairy creature passing by, approximately of the same height as me but quite a bit broader?

[Vetril]

Corbin leaves the transport together with the other passengers; the knight tilts his head for a moment, as if he was focusing on a distant thought.
From his relaxed posture, it is clear that he expects no trouble. He approaches the two humans that are waiting on the platform with long steps: his combat boots make noise as he crosses the distance. Once Corbin is close enough, he introduces himself, speaking in a cordial tone.

"Jedi knight Corbin Norran, assigned to the Fourth System Fleet by the jedi council. I will lead the escort requested by CEC."

The jedi briefly looks over his shoulder to check that everything is in order and that the team is ready to move. He quickly retuns his gaze towards the two strangers. He examines them to get an idea of what kind of people he is dealing with.

UtF check to percieve any Force sensitive: [roll0] vs DC 15 (and opposed UtF check). Corbin is interested in learning if there are any unidentified Force users close to the landing platform.

[ZeroNumerous]

Corbin and the Clones

Once Corbin and his honor guard step forward the pair approach, the man has a wide smile on his face at seeing the clones, while the woman seems more bored than anything else. The male steps forward, and very informally offers a handshake to the Jedi Knight. "Good to see you, Zane Tess", he motions to his companion, "this is Engineer Third Class Ruby Starr. She's here to fix your problem, or at least expedite the process." The woman nods at the mention of her name, and extends a hand to the Jedi Knight.

"Good to meet you, Master Norran. We're just waiting on our third member. She's late." With the mention of their third member the duster-clad human gets a lecherous smile.

"You'll love her. Cute little number. If you'll excuse me, I'll give her a call right now."

Emily

Emily's communicator lights up, beeping with the familiar tone of someone calling the young girl. Picking up the communicator reveals the caller is that spook, Zane Tess, and he was likely calling to clumsily flirt with her again. Or, worse, he actually had something to say, and that meant not being able to just hang up on him. Unfortunately for Emily, she's still stuck in the elevator and the open door button is still quite non-functional. The elevator had shut down in between floors, or at least that's the assumption since the open door button failed to, well, open the doors. She could try climbing out through the roof, or simply wait until whichever techs were on duty finally finished doing whatever was necessary to fix it.

Cereus

The cerean finds himself talking to and saluting no one in particular, given that no one had saluted him or stopped eating. Shouting his request over the dim roar of clones all talking at once gets nothing, until one of the clones--an officer by the look of his uniform--enters the mess hall behind the cerean. "General Cereus? What're you doing in the clone mess? Shouldn't you be with the officers, sir?" If Cereus repeats his request, then the clone shakes his head.

"No, I haven't seen Commander Chalbit sir. Have you tried calling him?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

Epsilon squad accompanies General Corbin quietly for now, as they're trained to do. Saber and Lucky are both a bit distracted by Engineer Star, although they're smart enough to keep eyes front and level. Legate, meanwhile, keeps an alert ear out. There was certainly no apparent danger deep on a Core World, but three years of war - especially on Balith - had made him paranoid enough to try to spot something suspicious before it happened.

Perception: [roll0]. Keeping an eye out for ambush or anything suspicious.
He's also aware enough of both the General and the male CEC representative's informal attitude toward this meeting that he ventures a question on his own toward the Corellian man. "The three of you are all engineers, then?"

[Vetril]

Corbin considers correcting Starr's mistake - he's no jedi master, after all - but ultimately decides not to do it: there's no benefit to be achieved, and it might very well be that pointing out the error would end up alienating the engineer.
Instead, he shakes the hand that engineer Tess is offering.
The jedi knight quickly nods at Tess' request; maybe Corbin is bothered by the wording, but unsurprisingly he shows no sign of displeasure.

"Please do, we'll be waiting; once you are ready, we'll travel to the Resilience.

Corbin leaves the man alone so that he can make his call, and turns towards the woman. He moves his hands behind his back, assuming a very open and relaxed posture. Finally at ease, he starts a conversation.

Pleased to meet you, engineer Starr. I assume that the examination of the shield generators won't take long - or am I wrong?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Corbin and the Clones

Legate's question gets Zane's attention, and he shakes his head in response. "Oh, no sir." He smiles at the clone's faceless helmet, then points to himself. "Security officer." Zane then goes to put in his call.

When Corbin asks Ruby his question, then the engineer nods. "No, Master Jedi. I'll have to requisition parts, rebuild the generators, and test them. It may take a day or more."

[Vetril]

The jedi knight raises his right hand, as if to interrupt the woman. He corrects her with a few softly spoken words. From the expression of his face, he seems mildly amused.

"No need to call me master - I'm a knight. If you feel the need to address me with a title, you can use the one that I have in the army - general."

With that out of the way, Corbin lowers his hand and nods. He discusses the matter at hand with detachment.

"You said at least one day? Very well. Maybe we could discuss the possibility of incorporating some other repairs on behalf of the Republic fleet - since you are already examining part of the ship, and material will have to be transported anyway, this approach might save time and prove to be quite efficient."

[MenhirRocksolid]

Corbin and the Clones

The cerean finds himself talking to and saluting no one in particular, given that no one had saluted him or stopped eating. Shouting his request over the dim roar of clones all talking at once gets nothing, until one of the clones--an officer by the look of his uniform--enters the mess hall behind the cerean. "General Cereus? What're you doing in the clone mess? Shouldn't you be with the officers, sir?" If Cereus repeats his request, then the clone shakes his head.

"No, I haven't seen Commander Chalbit sir. Have you tried calling him?"

Calling him would not catch him in the act of whatever he is doing right now or would it? I'll just sniff him out.

With UTF I should be able to find his location (Sense Force) unless he's trying not to be found (then it is an opposed UTF check ([roll0]). When getting close use "Cloak" to become invisible to see whether he's paying enough attention to his surroundings.

[roses]

Emily

Emily grumbled on sighting the caller's name. Impatiently she stabbed the door open button again and again, the white steel double doors that had kept her imprisoned long enough glared at. Reluctantly, she pulled her hand away from the sleek unlit hilt snug at her side. She was unsure precisely where between the floors she happened to be. Tempting as it was, it might worsen her situation to just carve open her own exit and leave the remains to whichever engineer still hadn't yet fixed the issue. A thousand credits on what race the incompetent technician is, she thought bitterly. Her frustration came out in a sigh. The beeping communicator was brought to below her mouth.

“Master Greyson speaking,” Emily answered the none-Jedi, businesslike. She didn't want Zane thinking she spoke to him for anything else. “Tess, if this is about the meeting, sorry. The elevator has some kind of fault in it. I'm stuck.” She looked up. “I don't suppose you know anything about how to safely open the roof entrance from inside?”

[JohnTheSavage]

As Zane goes to take his call, Fuse takes the chance to walk up and have a quick private word with Legate.

"Chief, don't you think that there's something fishy going on here? You don't send an honour guard, let alone one with an honest-to-force jedi in it, for a couple of grease monkeys and their pet security officer. Trust me, I know. Even the security officer is out of place here, we're on a Core world and going to the centre of a Republic fleet. That feels like more than enough security to me. Mark my words, the brass are jerking us around on this one."

[ZeroNumerous]

Corbin and the Clones

Corbin's request gets a nod from the woman. "Ah, sorry, Mas--Um, General."

The Jedi Knight's concern over other repairs makes Ruby pause for a moment. "I suppose I could. The Republic is paying for the repairs, so it's not really my problem. What do you need fixed Mas--General?"

Just then Zane grumbles to himself, complaining about pretty girls being problems, and heads inside the building. Ruby watches her security officer leave, then sighs. "Once again, I must apologize for my companions. Normally they are not this late. Or stupid, in Zane's case."

Emily

"Alright. I'm coming to check it out. There should be a safety release lever on the inside of the roof, but it's hidden behind the decorative globe covering up the light. It'll open a hatch into the elevator shaft. From there, you could try climbing up to the next floor if you're not too far down." If Emily follows the agent's instructions, then she finds the lever, opens the hatch, and finds herself staring up a long repulsorlift shaft. Just above her, about on level with the Knight's head, is the door for the next floor. She could jump up there and pry it open, or use her lightsaber to cut it open.

Cereus

The Force is, unfortunately, not precise. While Cereus is able to sense his padawan's presence, how far away he is, and which direction he's in: The Force doesn't care about hallways, corners, or elevators. "Up" and "Forward" is all the Jedi Knight has to work with, and he has to stop every so often in order to sense his padawan once more. Cereus can sense his padawan moving, but being forced to stop and hunt the wookie down through the Force is allowing Chalbit to stay ahead of the cerean. Eventually, after a painstakingly long walk with many stops, Cereus finds the wookie in one of the cargo-bays that had been converted into a firing range. He's standing where the targets usually are, and three clones are standing at the range firing stun bolts at him while the padawan does his best to deflect the shots as they come in.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"There is such a thing as need-to-know," Legate responds...but he does nod, just enough for his helmet to show it. "Keep an eye out, just in case. If we see anything more than 'fishy', we can apprise command about it."

[Vetril]

Corbin's gaze follows officer Tess as he leaves in a hurry; the knight then opts to offer a few diplomatic words.

"I am sure the delay was unforeseen; any problem will probably be dealt with in a short time."

He takes a few steps towards the edge of the platform, realizing that the wait might be long, after all. The knight takes a few moments to admire the sight of the buildings raising up towards the corellian sky. He is pleased that the CEC representative proved to be open to the suggestion of providing extra assistance. Finally, he turns once again towards Ruby Starr.

"The engineers of the Resilience will be more than happy to discuss at length what might be needed for any other repairs that are needed. They will also offer a qualified opinion, which I fear is beyond the scope of my skills."

[roses]

Emily

“Alright, done. Now I have to get the door open. Standby.”

Atop the elevator, Emily admitted to herself another man might have questioned her, when Tess had only advised. He had his place. She stuck the comlink in her pocket. Eyeing the ledge, she ignored her first impulse to carve her way through the door. Vandalising property would reflect poorly on the Jedi Order. With that thought alone stopping her, she stuck her hands on the ledge, and half-jumped, half-hiked her booted left leg to the same level. Soon she stood up and before the door. Dust covered hands were gently stuck between the door crease, and began pulling them apart.

Take 10 on whatever skill is necessary? I'm not sure what's needed.

[MenhirRocksolid]

Behind a corner just out of sight from Chalbit Cereus channels an illusion into existence in the form of several more clones (7 more) who come marching into the room who start firing at (and missing) Chalbit.

Channel Vitality to create force point and pump that one into making the Illusion. UTF check: [roll0]. Not sure rulewise if I would need multiple applications of Illusion to a make a squad of clones, but in that case I can send in 4 clones before having to take a breather

[JohnTheSavage]

Fuse snorts derisively.
"Yes, there is such a thing as need to know, and I need to know if I should be looking out for an ambush on some incognito senator or checking if these engineers are actually separatist spies because there's no way they're engineers. Need to know only applies when it doesn't hinder me from doing my job."
Fuse lets out a little sigh.
"Guess keeping an eye out is all we can do for now."
And maybe a little more.
Fuse heads back and stands with his fellow clones and waits for their third civilian to show up.

[ZeroNumerous]

Cereus

Cereus is able to create four clones with his illusion power, and once they walk in the real clones look at the newcomers. Their emotions are hidden behind their helmets, but the wookie's surprise is obvious. "Whoa, hold on, that's a bit much. Lets call things off for now."

When the illusions do not react and level their blasters at the wookie, then the real clones react much like soldiers: They turn their weapons on the traitors without a single second of hesitation. "Guns down troopers!" The illusions opening fire receives return fire from the clones, but their blaster bolts penetrate the illusions without stopping. By the time everyone realizes that there are any illusions at all: Two clones have been shot by friendly fire, and the wookie is rushing forward to help them.

The clones open fire on the illusions when they attack the padawan. The clones shoot one another due to friendly fire.

Emily

Emily's natural strength proves enough to get the elevator door open, and she's able to climb through the opening. She meets Zane riding the elevator down. "The Jedi cannot be defeated by a mere elevator, I see." The sarcasm in his voice is obvious, and the agent motions to the elevator he'd just taken. If Emily uses it then both of them arrive on the landing pad after a few moments of waiting.

Emily, Corbin, and Clones

After a few minutes of waiting Zane arrives with a newcomer: Surprisingly, the third person is a Jedi. The security officer motions to the Jedi and the clones. "Master Grayson, these are our escorts. Master Corbin, this is our third member. Turns out the greatest menace to the galaxy is a lazy tech and a faulty elevator."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Saber nods seriously. "We've lost more special forces to surprise elevator malfunctions then you'd care to believe."

Legate and Lucky turn to stare at him for a second before all three remember themselves, stand at attention, and salute the Jedi.

"General. Welcome to the Fourth System Fleet."

[Vetril]

The jedi once again greets the man. "Officer Tess. And you..." - Corbin's attention shifts to Emily - "...You, I fear I have never met. It is always good to see a fellow jedi knight: welcome. I am Corbin Norran."
As appropriate, Corbin takes a slight bow to greet the newcomer.
"Now, if we are all here, we can proceed to return to the Resilience. I must confess I am quite curious as to why the presence of CEC security is required for the repairs - and I'd also like to learn the reasons that lead you, Grayson, to the Fourth fleet. Come, we can discuss this on the transport."
The knight takes a step to the side, his arm opening in an invite to proceed.

[MenhirRocksolid]

Actions that occured directly after making 4 illusions. Round 1: Take 3 swift actions to go up the condition track. Round 2. Channel Vitality into Equilibrium to go back all the way on the condition track. Round 3: Assuming the damage has been done in rounds 1 and 2: Take a move action to get next to clones then either power out a force point assisted (Channel Vitality) "Inspire" ( [roll0] temp. hitpoints for all, UTF check: [roll1]) if the shot guys are still concious, and if not do a force point assisted channel vitality on the most hurt guy (same UTF check roll as above) and on the next round (round 4) channel vitality to retreive Vital Transfer, and then do the vital transfer [roll2]) on the other clone (this time getting some damage back myself).

Rounds 1 and 2 were allready the plan before things went sideways. If during round 3 the "Inspire" route is taken continue with vital transfer in rounds 4 and 5 as described above.

[roses]

Emily

“Well, not with the CEC's finest on my side.”

Emily entered the elevator besides the agent. The doors shut with a gentle swish. Dusting off her hands, she laced her fingers together, and put them over her head in a slowly sudden stretch. Chest outward, she stared innocently at the wall until several seconds had passed. She just about made a showing of it not being done exclusively to annoy Zane with her disinterest. Her hands were lowered then as the lift came to a near seamless halt.

“My hero.”


I'm slowly trying to get used to the skills, and finding fun new excuses to do it.

Do deception take 10 for a result of 17. We'll see how good his perception skills are.


Emily and friends

Despite herself, Emily didn't fully stifle a blush when Zane revealed she had been stopped by nothing more than an elevator. She recovered quickly as everyone ignored the reason. Almost everyone. She eyed the clones impassively when the comment about special forces was made. The Jedi Knight couldn't tell whether the clone within ten feet of her had exceptionally subtle humour or not. Erring to caution, she nodded solemnly at him before the troops saluted.

“At ease, and thank you. Always a pleasure to be among the best. Ignoring any Jedi momentarily, may I know who commands your dispatch?” she asked the clones.

Emily turned to Corbin, and smiled cryptically as the other Jedi introduced himself, but oddly admitted he hadn't yet been included in the details. “These are dangerous times,” she answered easily. “The Republic can never be too cautious with protecting their personnel. But a few questions elsewhere are always welcome. I have a few for yourself, if it's fine.”

[ZeroNumerous]

Emily

Zane just shrugs. "It was an elevator. Don't worry about it. Now, if it were a group of droids then I'd take you seriously." It seems the Jedi's deception finds little purchase with Zane, or perhaps he just finds the whole thing amusing.

Jedi and the Clonettes

Zane smiles at the clones' joke, or at least he takes it as a joke, and even Ruby finds the situation amusing. "Lets just hope the Separatists don't hear about this secret weapon."

When Corbin suggests flying back to the Resilience, then the two civilians have no objections. Once everyone's ready to depart, then they'll happily follow the Jedi and the clones into the LAAT. Once inside, then Zane produces a datapad and starts fiddling with it, while Ruby looks to the Jedi. "I'm sorry, Mas--Knight Corbin, but we're not actually engineers. I'm Agent Gray", she motions to Zane, "this is Agent Blue. We're with the RIS, Republic Intelligence Services. Unfortunately, we can't help you with your ship. But we do need your help. The fleet is about to be sent to Thyferra, and we have a mission on that world. And, well... What better way to insert behind enemy lines than with an invasion fleet?"

Cereus

The clones are unconscious, as they were using stun shots when firing at Chalbit.

[MenhirRocksolid]

Seeing the clones just stunned themselves into obliviousness So Cereus sighs in relief and then chuckles a bit as goes near the clones to patch them up. You should have seen your face Chalbit, and you should have seen me coming from miles away...

[Vetril]

The jedi knight nods at Emily's request.

"Of course - you'll be able to ask about whatever you need to know."

Together with the others, Corbin returns to the LAAT, sitting once again in the transport; his relaxed posture is still obvious as the engines start and the ship flies up in the sky, back to the fleet. Corbin takes a moment to enjoy the sight of Corellia before he returns his attention to the two passengers.
The jedi listens with attention as the agents under cover offer a short explanation, and suddenly he is serious.
Once silence falls, he leans back against his seat, caressing his beard with his left hand. He ponders for a moment the implications of Gray's words.

"I will obviously help you as best as I can, but why did you use a cover to get here? Do you suspect the presence of a mole among the ranks of the fourth fleet? Maybe someone on the Resilience?"

While not exactly worried, Corbin seems at least concerned at the thought of a security breach.

[ZeroNumerous]

Jedi and the Clonettes

Agent Gray shakes her head. "We couldn't say, but I would be more concerned about being Corellia than a Republic warship. After all, this world is exceedingly mercenary, despite all their claims to be loyal members of the Republic." Whatever her problem with Corellia, it's Agent Blue that clarifies their position.

"The Jedi Order has our utmost respect, General. If we suspected you were in danger, then I would tell you--orders be damned."

Unless anyone has anything further, then one of the Jedi simply needs to inform Dyre to return to the Resilience and the LAAT would be back aboard the warship in mere moments.

Cereus

The wookie seems happy the clones are merely stunned rather than dead, but when his master speaks up there's no jovial tone to the wookie's Shyriiwook growls and grunts. "Have you gone madclaw? What if they had been using a live fire practice? There would be two dead men for a prank! A meaningless prank! And I should have seen you coming? On a warship! While I was busy?!"

However, the wookie's tirade is interrupted by both Cereus' and Chalbit's communicators going off.

[MenhirRocksolid]

Cereus answers his communicator: Cereus here

[Vetril]

Corbin nods, reassured by the words of the two agents. He even smiles at agent Blue's clarification.

"I'm more worried about my soldiers - a leak in the chain of command might seriously jeopardize the effectiveness of our fleet. I trust the RIS for the counter-espionage, however. Still, I appreciate your concern for my personal well-being."

With that matter out of the way, the jedi knight quickly addresses Dyre.

"Lieutenant, take us back to the Resilience."

I assumed we'd leave immediately to return to the fleet. Couldn't see any reason to delay.

[ZeroNumerous]

Cereus

The communicator reveals it's Commander Graves on the line. "The Jedi Council is sending a holocomm for you, General. They would like to speak to all of the Jedi on the fleet. We have the comm up on the bridge." If Cereus leaves to receive his message, then he finds the bridge easily enough. A hologram of Master Yoda floats over the big hyperspace communicator dominating the center of the room.

Jedi and the Clonettes

The LAAT arrives on the Resilience within minutes, but its passengers are forced to wait inside until the hangar re-pressurizes. When that's done, Corbin receives a call on his communicator from Commander Graves. If he answers, then he receives the same message as Cereus. "The Jedi Council is sending a holocomm for you, General. They would like to speak to all of the Jedi on the fleet. We have the comm up on the bridge." Naturally Emily does not receive such a call, since Graves does not know she's on board. If the Jedi leave to receive the message, then they spot Cereus, Chalbit, and the hologram of Master Yoda.

Clones

Once the Jedi are off the LAAT safely, then Dyre pops out and hunts down the clones. "Can you believe that? Thyferra! Can't wait to get shore leave on that world. The whole thing is supposed to be one giant tropical beach."

[MenhirRocksolid]

Cereus at first waits for the arrival of Corbin before watching the holocron but is surprised to sense yet another Jedi in his company. We've got a visitor Chalbit, do you sense it now?

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Really?" Echo asks, genuinely excited.

"Yeah, because I thought it was all bug-filled jungle. Like Felucia scaled down to sane levels," Saber says, clearly not nearly as enthused.

Legate acknowledges the news with a nod and an "I haven't heard anything officially, but it wouldn't be a surprise."

He turns to Corbin and Emily. "Should we escort you both to the bridge, sir, or give our guest a quick tour?"

[Vetril]

Corbin answers his comm-link as he steps down the transport. The jedi knight listens to what Graves' has to say before he replies.

"Very well. We'll be there as soon as we can."

That said, he closes the communication. Corbin turns to address the two agents, but he has no chance to speak before Legate asks him for orders.

"Hmm, no. I believe the Council wants to discuss jedi business, so there is no need for your presence. See if they need assistance." - the knight eyes Gray and Blue - "Otherwise, return to your duties. Thank you, commander."

Once again Corbin's attention shifts to the two RIS agents. He takes a moment to explain the situation and apologize.

"You will excuse me, I hope. I believe the Council requests the attention of all the Jedi on the ship. We can talk again later, if you deem it necessary."

Finally, Corbin walks off at a quick pace, inviting Emily to come with him.
Once in the elevator that will lead to the bridge, Corbin opens his comm-link again, using it to contact Commander Graves.

"Commander, please. Double check the whereabouts of two agents with RIS - codename Gray and Blue. I picked them up on Corellia and I want their presence to be confirmed by one of their superiors. Please be discreet: right now, this information is confidential."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Legate nods and salutes, followed by his subordinates, as the Jedi head for the meeting.

Then he turns to the two agents. "Mr. Zane. Ms. Ruby. Will you be requiring accommodations aboard?"

No one else on this ship might care about OpSec, but Legate is at least going to do the courtesy of using cover names for operatives until told otherwise.

[roses]

Emily, elevator

Emily had never quite felt so annoyed with another person not being annoyed with her. The agent showing himself either very dim or very savvy, and given who he worked for, she had her assumptions of which. But her annoyance gave way to a look of distaste at the painting of a half-naked twi'lek that marred the uniform white and red of the gunship that would pick them up. Doubting stripping the paint with the business end of a lightsaber was terribly sensible, she simply entered the LAAT without another word.

Emily, Resilient

During the exchange between the two agents and the other knight, Emily comfortably poured herself into a seat and fell into an observational silence. She eyed the hilt at Corbin's side and then the man himself as an afterthought. Her head tilted a little, trying to discern his body type; to discern what specific form matched it. The robes bought him easy privacy. She shrugged, her interest and questions quickly lost to the more important concerns the agents and general exchanged. She yawned and stretched, genuinely this time. Only the lightsaber at her side truly identified her as anything other than another spacer.

Soon they were back aboard the Resilience.

Emily nodded immediately at the invitation, knowing better than to turn down a message from the council, and followed the general into the elevator. He made a call to the commander himself.

“They're genuine,” the knight muttered, quiet, apathetic, bored. She crossed her arms and looked impatiently up at the roof of the elevator, as though willing it go faster for the time she wasted down on the planet. “Unfortunately, for those of us that actually have to work with Zane.” Slender shoulders hunched into a shrug. “Regardless, you'll get your answer, but I still have a few questions. Your Form. Jedi Branch. What are they?”

[ZeroNumerous]

Jedi

Corbin's statement about "we" gets a surprising statement from Graves. "We, General?"

Corbin's request gets an affirmative from Graves, and he presumably gets to work as soon as Corbin hangs up.

Once Corbin and Emily finish their discussion then they find Cereus and Chalbit standing in front of a hologram of Jedi Master Yoda.

"Ah. Arrived, Arwen's padawan has. A newcomer too, hm? Hmm." The wrinkly Jedi closes his eyes, and seems to focus. From a galaxy away the sensation of being watched, of someone in the room rather than simply a face on a holoscreen, fills the Resilience's bridge. "Greyson's padawan, yes. Good friend, she was. Smart, kind, a quick learner too. In two hundred years, my best student." The little Master smiles for a moment, then nods his head. "Sad to hear of her death, I was. My condolences."

Clones

When Legate steps forward Agent Gray nods. "Yes, commander. I would like a private room if possible." That gets a smile from Blue, but Gray continues. "Preferably one with a view. Nothing personal, but gunmetal gray isn't exactly my favorite color."

Blue shakes his head, and responds in a very familiar accent. The same Concord Dawn accent that the clones had all adopted, and in the same mando'a that every clone knew. "I could survive with some armor and a bunk, sir." He sounds a bit wrong, because well... He's not Jango. But through the electronic static of a helmet, and a set of armor to change his appearance: He'd be indistinguishable from one of them.

[JohnTheSavage]

It's a good thing Fuse was wearing a helmet because he was terrible at concealing when he was annoyed. All anyone else is able to see is Fuse's fist clench for a moment and his posture stiffen slightly. A private room with a view, indeed! On a warship, no less.

"You want a butler too, your majesty?" Fuse mutters, juuuuuust loud enough for Agent Grey to hear.

[Vetril]

Corbin raises his eyebrows, momentarily distracted. He needs a moment to process what Emily said.

"What? Oh. To be honest, I'm reasonably sure they are the real thing. I just want to see if RIS is going to confirm their involvement."

He closes the comm-link's connection, happy to have Graves on board. The Commander was someone the jedi could rely on, and the knight recognized that without his help, running the fleet would have been so much harder.
Corbin turned to look to Emily, assuming an open, friendly posture. He shrugs as she asks him about his skills with a lightsaber.

"Well, I guess you could say that in these days I am a strong believer in form Zero." - he says, half serious. Maybe Corbin would have said more, but he chooses not to elaborate on his answer, effectively dodging the question.

Arriving on the bridge, the jedi knight smiles at a sight familiar to any member of his order: the small, characteristic silhouette of master Yoda, possibly the greatest jedi master currently living - at least, according to Corbin.
He takes a small bow as appropriate.

"Master Yoda; seeing you always brings joy to my heart."

Having greeted the old master, the knight takes a step back, letting him talk with Emily. It is clear that Corbin has a very high opinion of master Yoda.

[ZeroNumerous]

Clones

Agent Gray seems to have taken Fuse's joke literally. "I do not require further assistance, soldier. A long shower without an interruption would be all I need to be in tip-top shape." The way she speaks to a clone shows a marked difference from how she spoke to the Jedi, and her orders just get a smile and a laugh from Agent Blue.

Jedi

The Jedi Master's ears raise as he takes the opportunity to tease the young Jedi Knight. "Grown so old, have I, that great generals worry for my health, hmm? Good, it is, to know you have survived. Claimed too many younglings, this war has."

[MenhirRocksolid]

So why have we been summoned here Master Yoda? Is shore leave going to end up short?

[roses]

I'm googling things just to figure out stuff. Didn't know there was a form 0 until you mentioned it. Kind of fun.


Emily

“Form Zero died on Genosis.” Emily answered flatly. “Just like Niman. Just like the diplomats.”

Emily made to speak again, only for the elevator to open and expose her. Instead, she smiled at Corbin, but bitterly. Her eyes soon honed in on the humble holographic form of the single greatest leader the Jedi Order had ever known. She entered the room and her own bow was deep, respectful. Both hands feel to her side. Still, she stiffened as she listened. Padawan? she thought irritably, at her lowest point. The padawan learner had gone missing years ago; a student better left dead in an unmarked ditch. Master Greyson's incompetent padawan was gone. Only her daughter remained. Her throat tightened with emotion as the grand master spoke onwards, and shared sympathy for what she had lost. She kept back tears, stayed bowed still to compose herself, and stood upright.

“Thank you, master Yoda.” Emily said finally, touched. “I'm – I'm working on putting the loss behind me. But there are always more important things than myself. How may we serve?”

[Nerd-o-rama]

For their part, Legate, Saber, and Lucky stand up a bit straighter at Blue's mode of speech, partly out of conditioning to follow orders from Mando'ade specialist trainers, and partly out of acknowledgement that the man sounded like he was actually Mandalorian from his attitude. There is a hint of suspicion at least in the Sergeant's mind, though. If the man got into trooper armor, he'd basically disappear on this ship, or any other Republic warship.

"We don't have the authority to assign rooms or anything, but we can escort you to the quartermaster while we wait on the generals," Legate says, shooting a level look in Fuse's direction.

[JohnTheSavage]

Fuse meets Legate's level look with one of his own, but refrains from running his mouth. This time. Agent Grey still rubbed him the wrong way and Blue seemed just a little too smooth for Fuse's liking but they'd both be out of his hair soon enough and Fuse did need to get a replacement power pack for the one he lost that morning.

[ZeroNumerous]

Jedi

The wrinkly Jedi's hologram smiles when Cereus and Emily bring up the reason behind his call. "Forgotten the impatience of youth, I have. When 900 years you reach, treasure these quiet moments, you will." The Jedi Master looks to someone behind the holoprojector and nods, and after a few moments he's replaced by the appearance of a planet: A world covered in 80% water.

"Thyferra, this world is. Bacta, it produces. Attacked by the Confederacy, it has been, and save it you must. Easy, it shall not be, because a dangerous enemy, it contains." Once more the hologram changes, and soon the Jedi Master is back. However, a voice clip plays rather than the Jedi Master speaking once more.

"Ibic me'suum cuyir at te Kyr'tsad. Vi cuyir te Kyr'tsad, veman Mando, bal vi kelir naastar aruetii tion'ad olaror at cuun me'suum! Ibic cuyir cuun burun, Jetiise. Olaror bal cuyir kyrayc de veman Mando'ade!" The speaker, a male, has the same Concord Dawn accent as the clones, but he sounds nothing like the clones. Rather, his voice is decidedly gravely and dark. He's shouting in Mando'a, and a request to translate it comes soon enough. A clone provides the translation. "He claims he's part of the Death Watch, a group of heretical Mandalorians, and says he has claimed the planet. He's issuing a challenge of honor to the Jedi, to, um... "Slay him like his ancestors of old", General."

Yoda's hologram nods at the translation. "Well trained, his men will be, but necessary, Thyferra is. Alone, you will not be. From Coruscant, Master Shaak Ti comes, to help you. But act quickly, you must. Wait for her, you cannot."

Clones

Gray frowns, then sighs and shakes her head. "Very well. I would like an escort to the ship's quartermaster. Which way is it?" Once a direction is pointed out the woman takes point, acting as if she knew where she was going until she takes a wrong turn, meets a dead end, or otherwise needs guidance from the clones. Blue, on the other hand, simply shrugs and follows the clones without comment or complaint. At least, until Gray takes her third wrong turn.

"Ten years and I still don't understand outsiders." That gets Gray's attention.

"Aruetii? I've heard that one before. You're talking about me, aren't you." Blue effortlessly switches to Basic, and his old Corellian accent comes back.

"No, love. Mandalorian thing. Don't worry about it." That gets a skeptical look from Gray, and she looks at the clones with an oddly unreadable look on her face.

"Mandalorians? I thought they were just clones."

"They're Mando'ade. Even dar'manda have to accept that." The clones recognize both of those words, naturally: The "children of Mandalore", and dar'manda being "one who is lost". Not an outsider, but one who has abandoned their heritage.

[Vetril]

Corbin doesn't show any sign of doubt as he answers Yoda. His composure is quite jedi-like.

"We will move immediately, then: we will save Thyferra. Will Master Shaak Ti meet us there?"

From the jedi knight's expression, it is obvious that he is already mentally going through the steps required to organize the operation. He rubs his beard twice, while looking at both Emily and Cereus for any suggestion; then, he continues.

"Master Yoda, if I may ask, what is your opinion about this mandalorian leader? I confess I find his request troubling."

[ZeroNumerous]

Jedi

Yoda's hologram nods. "A week to heal, she will need. General Grievous, she fought."

When questioned about the Mandalorian Yoda shakes his head. "Dangerous, he is. A return to the past, he desires. Waged war across the galaxy, Mandalorians once have. Stopped, he must be."

[Vetril]

Corbin briefly grimaces at the mention of the separatist general. It is clear that he does not like him.

"It's truly a testament to master Shaak Ti's prowess that she could duel that cyborg without losing her life."

[roses]

Emily

Emily's face became ambiguous between mention of the infiltrator in the highest circles of their Order fighting a renown murderer of their peacekeepers. But she shook her head plainly when Corbin naïvely admired the Twi'lek.

“Let the wounded heal. No need to rush anyone's recovery.” Her tone lacked concern; it was said matter-of-factly. “But clearly, we were given an invitation. It would be rude to decline. The four of us should be more than capable to help decide how best to deploy the fleet and end the threat on Thyferra. If we can't come to a capable agreement, we have bigger issues than a bacta shortage.” She glanced at the others physically present in the room. “Master, do we roughly know how long until the other Jedi might arrive? The better to plan ahead for what we can rely on.”

[Nerd-o-rama]

You would think, or so goes the unvoiced thought in Legate's head, that someone intending to take cover as a Corellian engineer would bother to memorize the layout of the ship she's on. He briefly considers paging for extra security on these two, but his usual method of being subtle about such things - Mando'a - clearly wouldn't work here. Instead, he makes sure to be ready in case of surprises, and hopes the rest of his squad picks up on his body language.

"We grunts aren't quite as fluent as the Commandos are," Legate admits, sticking to Basic. "I do recall that between the language and our uniforms we've got two of the official Mandalorian traits covered, but I can't remember the rest of them."

Small talk was awkward in the situation and almost unnatural to him lately, but Legate guessed there was some sort of angle that Blue was going for.

[ZeroNumerous]

Jedi

The Grand Master's hologram nods at Emily's question. "A week to heal, six days to travel, so at most three weeks. Look forward to your success, I do. May the Force be with you." The Jedi Master hangs up unless anyone else has questions. When its all said and done Commander Graves looks to the assorted Jedi for orders.

Clones

Agent Gray simply shrugs. "See? Clones. The only Mandalorian left died on Geonosis. The Jedi killed him."

Blue's only response to her is a neutral "Hmm". But the RIS agent addresses the clones in Mandalorian. "Education, Training, Armor, Tribe, Language, and Leader. You have five out of six: You know your language, your brothers, your combat training, your armor, and what it means to be Mandalorian. Just need to replace Fett with a new Mandalore."

[JohnTheSavage]

Fuse finds himself simultaneously less annoyed by agent Grey, if only because he was getting better at ignoring her, and more interested in what agent Blue was saying. Fuse always had a knack for languages and stuck to Mando'a when speaking with Blue.

"You make it sound so easy. Just find a new Mandalore? How does one even become Mandalore in the first place? Is there a process? A ritual?"

[MenhirRocksolid]

The best course of action in these things is usually to go for the head of the snake as to minimize the amount of required bloodshed on both sides. I suggest a preferably undetected insertion of an elite squad of warriors.

[Vetril]

Corbin bows at master Yoda, and then watches him close the call. Hearing Cereus' suggestions, he shakes his head.

"They are expecting us; they will be ready for that, I believe. Furthermore, approaching undetected might not be possible at all; we don't really have enough intel to formulate a strategy."

The jedi knight looks at the other two members of his order.

"We really should gather more information - and the fleet needs some time to prepare, anyway." - Corbin includes Graves in the discussion - "Commander, please ensure that the fleet is ready to leave on short notice. What's the state of our recon teams? Do we have someone currently available that can lead a passage around the planet and scan its space, before the fleet jumps to our destination? I'd rather not lead everyone into a kill zone, so see what you can do - I trust your judgment on this."

Finally, with the logistical part settled - at least as far as he's concerned, he eyes Emily for a second, before making an offer.

"In the mean time, I could use a sparring partner. I need to prepare too, and practicing against someone new might be of benefit. I understand you have a keen interest in lightsaber combat?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Jedi

Graves salutes the Jedi when he's given an order by Corbin. "Yes sir. I'll send out a squad of ARC-170s to scout the planet, but it'll be a few days before they return. In the meantime, I'll put in a request to move our resupply timetable up."

Clones

Agent Blue smiles at the question, then shakes his head. "Historically, whoever found the mask of Mandalore became the new Mandalore. Of course, the mask is long gone. Some Jedi kept it millenia ago. Now, you just have to have a purpose and people to follow you. Jaster had his honor and the Supercommandos, Vizsla had the old ways and his Death Watch, and Fett... Fett had his revenge. And you. And now he's dead."

The Agent sighs, and drops the Mando'a. "But enough about the past. Where's this quartermaster?" The change to a language she could understand got Agent Gray's attention.

"Are the clones bothering you?" She looks to the last clone to speak. "I wan--"

Blue cuts her off. "And I want a decent bed and less talk. Lead the way, sir." He motions to Legate, both respecting the man's command and plainly wishing to be done with the topic.

[JohnTheSavage]

Fuse switches back to basic for one last quip to Agent Blue before falling in with Legate to the quatermaster.

"Hah! Good luck trying to find a decent bed on this ship."

[MenhirRocksolid]

The fleet indeed is better left here at this location for a couple of days in order to prepare. Are there however any freighters still heading towards Thyferra which are in dire need of a hitchhiker? Practicing swinging phallic symbols in not really my thing

[roses]

Emily

The Sentinel smiled wistfully when one of the other Jedi mentioned an insertion team, but otherwise went silent. She left the one that took so aptly to the title of general to speak of reconnaissance. A brow was arched when one of the Order's most iconic symbols was denigrated, but she ignored it otherwise.

“Three weeks,” Emily stated gravely, as though it were a deadline. She turned to the fleet commander. “I might put in a request for a few things before we make landfall. Among which, any set of wings you can spare would be appreciated.”

She smiled thinly then at Corbin's offer. “But yes, I need as much practice as possible. My station doesn't exactly lend itself to footwork. Otherwise, if practising Forms doesn't befit everyone, I'd be glad to help any of you with anything else. Meditation poses. Piloting. Name it, and I'll help. The Jedi are family. It's for the best we get to know each other.”