Lawler's Mandalorian Campaign Log
Lawler Twindle's Jedi log accounts of the Madalorian Campaigns
Episodes 1-18
Episode I
Master Eelmo (NPC rodian Jedi Master), Mekqli A'kla (PC cammassi Jedi Padawan), and I (PC human Jedi Padawan) were just arriving in orbit around Dantooine on the Delaya-class courier ship Monaltiki Dawn, piloted by Captain Darian Thomsyk (PC human soldier/scout). Dantooine was to be our training center for awhile at the Jedi training facility there.
As we arrived in system, a freighter popped out of hyperspace badly damaged, followed by a Mandalorian party. With assistance from a local test pilot, Xieran Halcyon (PC Jedi Padawan), Captain Thomsyk routed the Mandalorians, and we landed safely on the planet below.
We learned from the crew of the freighter (PC human scout Vala Baille, among others) that they had found a new route into the Orz system (a system with two gas giants and a lot of asteroids - a good source of very -rare- minerals). This new information was sought quickly and fiercely by Bogga the Hutt, who we also learned was doing business with some Mandalorians.
The Jedi conclave on Dantooine held council to decide what to do.
I have put together a visual aid of the scale of Jabba's Enforcer One to assist with battle planning. On the right is a standard model Core Galaxy Systems Dreadnaught - of which the Enforcer One is a modified version. To the immediate left of it is Captain Thomsyk's Delaya-class courier ship. On the far left is a ship the size of Padawan Xieran's prototype fighter. If we should encounter the Enforcer One on our adventures, this is what we're up against. My information on the dreadnaught's construction, as well as plans for the modified Enforcer One provided by Vala Baille, suggest that this ship can carry 5 or 6 support fighters, but it otherwise almost completely vulnerable from the sides and aft. Built as a planet bombardment and assault ship, dreadnaughts do not do well against competent attacks in space. As long as one gets past their screen of fighters.
Episode II
After having interviewed the crew of the damaged freighter, interrogating a detained crewman from Bogga's dreadnaught, the Enforcer One, and having consulted with the local Republic Commandant, the Jedi conclave decided to send an investigatory task force to the Orz System.
The Task force included Master Eelmo and his two Padawan (Meqli and I), Darian and his newly reprogrammed protocol/pilot droid X10, Jedi Knight Revan, senior Jedi Padawan Malek, Jedi Padawan Xieran, and, for reasons of her own, Vala Baille. Accompanying this task force was a Republic frigate under the command of the local commandant.
Things started getting ugly for the task force when the last nav hyperspace buoy outside the Orz system was mined. Several of the fighters from the frigate were damaged or destroyed when the mine detonated. We were to discover that indeed all of the nav buoys into the Orz system were mined. The Republic frigate did clear the mines and set up beacons warning other travelers that the routes into the system are down until further notice from the Republic.
Upon entering the system, we discovered that most of the mining operations had been visciously attacked with intent to destroy all life. We did pick up 6 miners in a life pod who had drifter too deep into the asteroid belt for the raiders to kill. From their accounts, the raiders seemed to be targeting engines and life systems on their ship before boarding it and stealing it.
We also came to a gas mining platform on the inner planet of the system which was slowly falling into the planet. We landed and rescued 12 workers who had been trapped in the platform. We were ambushed by a group of raiders while on the platform. We were able to defeat the attackers with no serious injuries to the task force or the rescued workers. From the armor of the attackers they would seem to be pirates, but Captain Thomsyk is convinced they were Mandalorians. I do not know whether the workers on the platform were a trap for Jedi rescuers, but at least one of the raiding party carried a pulse wave canon - an ancient weapon that's not really good for much else than attacking Jedi.
We did take one prisoner from among the pirate raiders who attacked us. Subdued by Padawan Xieran, he will be interrogated soon. Much of the information we've been able to gather has been through my research in the Republic database and from interviewing rescued workers. We hope to be able to get information from this prisoner to be able to find out what the Mandalorians are up to in this system, and how we may most effectively intercede, if it comes to that.
Episode III
Meq'li and I interviewed the pirate we captured at the refinery, and determined that he was indeed Mandalorian. The Mandalorians had set up the station as a trap for the Jedi team sent to rescue the workeds on the station. They knew their actions in the area would bring a Jedi team to investigate, but they hadn't counted on us surviving. The prisoner gave us some details about the few transactions he had seen with Bogga's ship, the Enforce One. We grew concerned when we discovered that the Mandalorians have been trading with Bogga for some time. We also discovered that Bogga was working with some "sorcerers" as he called them. I had never faced a Krath warrior, but I knew we might very well see some on our troubles with Bogga.
We decided that we would have to eventually neutralize Bogga. We don't know enough about the Mandalorians to totally eradicate them, yet, but we can certainly stop a Hutt from assisting them. We also didn't want a horde of well-supplied Krath running around. In order to even find Bogga's headquarters, though, we would need more information. We can't find Bogga, or the Enforcer One, so we'll have to lure them into the open.
Bogga jealously guards his territory, so we decided to pretend to be a new pirate gang in the area, and see if Bogga would "contact" us on how to join his "guild." With the help of the Republic Navy, we disguised the Monaltiki Dawn to look heavily damaged. We then leaked that it was carrying experimental weaponry, and that we were hiring extra hands to go salvage it. With enough random chatter across space bars and the Stinnis Node space station, we figured it would bring Bogga's thugs running hard. We had wanted to make a big enough target that the Enforce One would show up. We planned to board the Enforcer, take the power station, main turbolaser, and the bridge - then signal the Republic Navy to come in and clean up.
Episode IV
The Enforcer One showed up right on time. It launched light freighters and salvage ships. The Republic pilot limped away from them, keeping the Dawn safe. Under the cloak of the Force we moved in and docked with the Enforcer. There was a little resistance inside, but our half-team of Republic Marines took care of them, and Xieran cleaned up the rest. Reven and Malek took off for the power core, to prevent the ship from running.
The rest of the assault team moved up to the bridge entrance. We encountered heavier resistance. Perhaps our approach wasn't as stealthy as we would've liked. We approached down a long corridor guared at the far end by a dozen troops and two heavy battle droids. The droids spotted us long before the troops, and our marines started taking down the droids' shields. The troops thought the droids must be crazy to be firing down the corridor, as they continued to see no difference in the hallway. They started reacting a bit when the droids' shots were deflected back into them, and repeater and heavy cannon fire started appearing from nowhere.
Eventually Master Eelmo used the Force to toss the droids aside, and to spin them up in the air so the marines could shoot at their weak points. We caputured the willing troops, and neutralized the rest. Meq'li healed a marine who took a nasty blaster to the chest, which won her big points with Vala, who up until now was very very uneasy about working with Jedi. She still isn't excited that I seem to make people insane...
Episode V
The marines blew open the doors to the bridge, and we rushed inside. The marines took out the first few guards, while Darian threw smoke grenades everywhere to cloud the defenses. I used the Force to extend the smoke to the whole bridge, so the defenders couldn't see where we stood. Eelmo tossed Xieran and Vala up to the top deck to secure the computer core - our goal for the whole assault. Meq'li and I stayed down to continue the healing and confusion.
A guard got off a lucky shot through the smoke and I got hit hard. I lost my focus and the Force smoke illusion went away. The captain of the ship, a not half-bad guy, enslaved and guarded by a Weequay minder of Bogga's, took an oppotunity to hurl him down 10 meters from the command station to the floor of the bridge. I took the opportunity to subdue him, with help from the blasters around the bridge. We secured him and started to retrieve the computer core. By this time I was quite nearly dead, having taked a point-blank blaster shot from the minder before he surrendered.
The computer core was, unfortunately, guarder by a Krath warrior, and three Krath war droids. I took the captain into his quarters for safety. Xieran and Darian combined their slashing abilities to take down one droid. Most surprisingly, my peace-loving friend Meq'li got the other two - demonstrating that you don't have to use violence to solve problems. That, and demonstrating that a nearly 40 meter drop in artificial gravity will do about the same thing as a 40 meter drop in regular gravity. I hear the Republic crew spent three hours picking up shattered parts of the war droids from the main bridge deck. Droids don't have a good defence against as strong an ally as the force.
The Krath warrior fell to Xieran. Xieran had a stunning combination of skittering along the balcony railing, flipping over the target, and striking him so fast he didn't know he was dead until someone mentioned it to him later. Eelmo took the Krath artifacts, so they could be destroyed later by the Council.
The computer core was guarged by a dektarian. We didn't get much from the computer core before the booby-trapped computer exploded. We pulled the dektarian out, and called in Republic crews to clean up the ship.
We freed the other prisoners on the ship, and filtered out the slavers and minders into Republic custody. All in all, a fairly good mission. We would've liked to get more information, but we did take a dreadnaught out of Bogga's hands, which has got to be a good thing.
Episode VI
From the interrogation of the head Weequay minder, we set up our next goal. Though we encountered some difficulty in getting real information from a Weequay, good diplomacy won the day and we found out enough to get moving.
We found that in partial payment for whatever Bogga is selling to the Mandalorians, they gave him a compression bomb. Compression bombs were used during the Sith War to wipe out whole continents, and whole space stations. This is a bad thing if Bogga's got one. The minder told us that Bogga planned to wipe out his competitors with it. Bogga was inviting them all to a large conference at the Stinnis Node hotel, and planned to destroy the hotel with the compression bomb.
With the help of the Republic Navy, we secured the navigation buoys at all jump points into the Node. We had some contacts on the inside of the hotel, in case we needed to do some work there, as well.
Vala and Darian finally came up with a plan that both the Jedi council and the Republic Navy felt was acceptable. We ambush Bogga's delivery ship at the last jump point out from the Node. We capture or destroy the bomb at that point. Problem solved. However, we can also use this opportunity to capture a whole horde of smugglers and crimelords who will all be at the Stinnis Node. Now, the Republic can't directly capture the station, because it's out of its jurisdiction. We should use the Enforcer One to jump into the Stinnis Node, and that will send the smuggler ships running. Some of us will go on station to capture a few smugglers before they leave the station. The Republic Navy will man the jump buoys out from Stinnis, and pick up smugglers as they make their first exit from hyperspace.
The best part of this whole thing is that the smugglers who actually escape will all blame Bogga, and he'll be ruined in that whole sector of space for a long, long time. What is he going to do, claim that the Jedi set him up? Who's going to believe that?
Episode VII
The assault on Bogga's space barge went pretty well. There were a few hairy moments, because, even mostly disabled, Hutt space barges still outgun Republic Courier ships like the Dawn. Through the Force, I did manage to separate the compression bomb from the courier ship. Eelmo and Meq'li had received visions in the force that the bomb would be in Bogga's personal quarters - which on a space barge will eject safely away from the ship, and even be hyperspace capable. I "convinced" the spacebarge command crew to eject that part of the ship (as well as several empty support fighters) and we disabled all craft. The bomb detonated before we could disarm it, but no one was injured.
Xieran took down the fighters, and the Republic jumped in to take custody of the remaining crew and the spacebarge. The techs later told me that the spacebarge wasn't really disabled by our ion blasts, but received massive damage when its own repair crew shorted the dual power systems to each other on accident, and blew out most of the electronics on the whole ship.
Now to take some smugglers!
Episode VIII - Smuggler round-up
Eelmo, Meq'li, Darian, Vala, and I flew into the Stinnis Node on an unmarked vessel. It was on the Enforcer One, and only used for missions where Bogga didn't want to be tied to it, so we figured no one else would recognize it, either. Xieran stayed back with the Enforcer, ready to launch when it jumped in system.
We made contact with some station personel who could help us lock down escape routes and funnel some of the smugglers to our ambush positions. One of the contacts was an old "friend" of Vala's - he seemed to fancy her quite a lot. We had to make special arrangements so that he would help us, not ask too many questions, then happily leave us alone.
We got into a bit of a fix when, as we were meeting incognito with a contact, some drunks picked a fight with Meq'li, Darian, and I in the bar. We didn't want the smugglers to know there were Jedi on the station, so we fought them down without our lightsabers. We had taked some Verpine stun batons from the Enforcer One, and Darian and I wanted to see if their effective claims were really true. I don't like hurting people, but this group won't be starting any more bar fights for awhile. Darian, in a stunning (for him) display of diplomacy, actually talked another bar patron into joining the firefight, when he announced that one of the creatures we were fighting came with a bounty.
The ruse went off wonderfully. Xieran zipped out of the Enforcer once it came in system. He tagged something like 75% of the escaping and docked smuggler craft. The smugglers all took off like rabbits, and three groups headed into our ambush. As smugglers tend to be, they were so suspicious of each other that they started fighting before they even reached us. After they were done, we barely had anything to do to clean up and subdue the rest.
Episode IX - Saber Construction
Through our adventures so far, the padawans have been using sabers that were constructed by other Jedi. Eelmo felt the time was right for us to make our own sabers. We needed to gather the parts from the storeroom at the Jedi conclave on Dantooine, which was where we returned to after the Stinnis clean-up.
More important that contsructing the electronics is imbuing your focusing crystal with the Force, so it will be strong enough to make a strong saber, and respond especially well to your uses. I had been researching a lot on how to build the electronics, and I guess I skimped a bit on how to prepare the crystal. I broke two crystals while trying to imbue them. I was lucky I didn't break the third one, it was the last one at the conclave! We spent two months preparing crystals and constructing handles. I built my handle to be balanced so that it's easily throwable. I often find myself in a situation where I would like to remain out of reach of my opponent.
Meq'li and Xieran had extra time to work with the Masters and redesign their sabers for extra defensive and offensive capabilities (respectively). I would like to improve my saber in the future, when time permits.
While we three padawans were constructing sabers, Darian got a call from the Senator he's employed by, and Vala was called away on some business that I'm not quite positive of her connection to. I'll have to check with them to find out fully what happened.
Episode X - The Eire System
This report was written up by Turko Brien, an associate of Vala's who, coincidently lives here on Dantooine.
MATALE CORPORATION INTERNAL REPORT
Turko Brien
I was sent to the Eire system along with Vala Baille, her associate Captain Dariand Thomsyk, and a Bothan bodygard, f'all b'atang. We were sent to arrange for safe passage for Matale corporation vessels through the unstable Eire region of space. The Eire system consists of two planets, Dub and Belf. Dub claims that both systems are Dublish, but Belf is currently under the protective custody of the government of the neighboring Logras system. The Dublins and the Belfsts argue, often violently about which system should be controlled by whom. There are many Dublins who resort to Terrorist activites in Belf in order to convince Logras to leave the system.
Upon arriving, we were attacked by a terrorist in orbit. Upon destroying the incoming vessel, and landing safely, both the Dub and Belf governments arrested us on grounds that we were disturbing the peace. After many threats from Miss Baille, the governments were much nicer to us. Both governments managed to realize that losing the Matale corporation's business would be bad for the whole system. They managed to agree to begin putting in arragements that would calm the system, and allow for safer passage. They seemed to be getting along well, and possibly could even resolve their long-term disagreements. However, since that is not the concern of the Matale corporation, we left the system, and had them contact the corporate lawyers to draw up the final documents.
We also planned to bill them for the damage done to Captain Thomsyk's vessel, our incarceration, and the really nice beer the Bothan and I got at a local pub on our last night there.
Episode XI - The Boze System
This report was also filed by Turko Brien, who continued on with Darian and Vala to conduct Darian's business, as it was in a nearby system, and not practical to return to Dantooine immediately. The Bothan Bodyguard, who was released by the Matale Corporation, was hired as an extra hand by Darian for this mission.
The Boze System
A large manufacturer of spin refned Tibanna gas and high quality audio reproduction equipment, the Boze system is fairly out of the way, and it is difficult to make a profit shipping to and from that system. Darian's Senator sent him to settle a labor dispute at the facility, and to get it back to being operational.
The station itself was very close to being a wreck. If it were built as a first-rate station, it the repairs would've cost into the millions of credits to fix it back into working shape. Unfortunately, it was not built as a first-rate station, and it was already repaired up to the limit.
The workers were upset because the station had a terrible safety record, and the management didn't want to pay to do anything about it. We eventaully got both sides to agree to a long term refitting of the station, that woudl make it more profitable after several years, but that turned out not to be the main problem we encountered.
The first day on the station, Captain Thomsyk was attacked by a creature, I believe it's called a Wookiee. They fought off the large hairy thing while I was still organizing my cabin back on the ship. That should've been a clue that there was more going on than it seemed.
When I started running the numbers for the station, I noticed that it should be far more profitable than it was. There was a portion of the gas that was not being loaded onto the main shipping transports. There were a number of freighters that seems to be leaving half-loaded. There is a technique for hypercompressing Tibanna gas that leaves it unstable, but makes it possible for a small ship to carry 5 to 10 times more than it should be able to. We put these clues together and figured that someone was skifting gas and putting it on these freighters.
I spent all night one night tracing the freighter company through holding companies, trusts, monopolies, banks, governments, and "familiy businesses" until I found a connection back to Bogga the Hutt, with whom I understand my associates have had some experience.
Tibanna gas is a main product for fuelling blasters of every size. Anyone who wants to build a protection force is going to need a supply of Tibanna gas. The amount that was being smuggled out of here would arm a significant sized Navy. We needed to stop this.
We decided we were in way over our heads, and took the first opportunity to leave after getting both sides to settle with the new plan. We tried to stay low, because one person who had discovered this trail had "had an accident" on the station several months beforehand.
We left the station, leaving the Jedi settlement mediator an encrypted version of the information we uncovered. We also sent the report back to Dantooine, to an associate of Darians, a Jedi Padawan named Lawler Twindle. Once we were clear of the station, we sent the decryption password to the Jedi mediator and to Dantooine, so that there would be plenty of copies of it in case something happened to us. By good piloting and good luck, we got back to Dantooine without incident. I do hope the Jedi Council and the Republic do something to head off whoever is organizing a war force this large.
Episode XII part I - Bogga's Palace
By the time we Padawans were done consrtucting our sabers and taking them through the prescribed trial duels at the conclave, Darian and Vala had returned. The Republic wanted to take Bogga the Hutt down once and for all, and wanted some Jedi strike teams to go in ahead of the teams of marines to soften some of the defenses a little, and prevent too many republic assault ships from being taken out in flight.
The plans were already set and so we jumped in. After crawling through a terrible sewage duct to gain entry, we encountered some Gamorrean guards. These green, snouted beings were strong and tough, but tought doesn't matter much against lightsabers. One of them decided we was better off on our side, and joined us through the rest of the palace assault.
When we got to the main power room - which supplied power to the outer defenses, we were attacked by a group of dark sider warriors. I've never been in such intense fighting. There were sabers everywhere. The dark master seemed to have some sort of grudge against Darian for some reason. One of the warriors came right for me with two lightsabers. I pulled them both away from him and threw them into the beams of power that littered the room, destroying them. Our Gamorrean friend took advantage of being behind this newly-disarmed menace and planted his vibro-axe between his shoulder blades.
Meq'li disarmed her opponent, and calmed him in her own way. Xieran, after somewhat violently finishing his assailant, charged the dark master. Meqli's opponent eventually turned on the warrior fighting Eelmo and threw him off the balcony. The dark master dropped Darian, and Eelmo, Meq'li, and I were on the other side of the room. Xieran managed a good shot at the master, but Vala got the final shot, blasting the metal platform he was using as a skiff, and sending him crashing to the next balcony down. We secured those who were still alive, and destroyed the remains of the others. Darian continues to tease me that, though I was in direct combat with dark Jedi, the Gamorrean killed more of them an I did. Darian thinks oddly, and does not understand the way of the Jedi.
After out encounter with so many dark Jedi, and seeing the effects of their power and influence, I've decided to seek instruction in the art of a Jedi Redeemer. It will take a lot of study and preparation, but I think I want to help my fallen brethren in this way. And, if necessary, I want to protect others from their evil.
Episode XII part II - Retreiving Bogga's Data Core - Secrets Revealed
After rigging the power core station to explode, and after Master Eelmo escorted the captive darksider back to the Dawn, with the unconscious Dark Master in tow, we continued our expedition into the Hutt complex. Xieran went back to his heavy fighter to assist the main assault squadrons in removing the outer defenses. Darian sniped the guard droid outside the data core, then rigged all of his stun grenades to work as a giant stun blast to go off just as the door opened. Vala accessed the computer system and overrode the locks on the blast door. Our Gamorrean friend, still with us after the last encounter - evidently decided that any fight was better than no fight at all - readied himself to charge in first when the door opened.
We blew the door and rushed in. We saw nine large computer columns, and a number of heavily armored warriors in different places around the room - Mandalorians. There were stacks of injured and dead guards and Gamorreans near the door - evidently the Mandalorians didn't think those ones were up to the task of erasing their data properly. There were bombs on every computer column.
Since discussion was out of the question, and suicide bombing very likely, we cut down the Mandalorians in short order. Meq'li look horrified when, in an attempt to prevent the Mandalorian Captain from setting off the bombs, she failed in tearing off his wrist-bound control panel, and accidentally suceeded in tearing off his whole arm instead.
Vala, with an amazing amount of concentration and skill, took complete control of the Hutt complex, and managed to trap all of Bogga's guards (and Bogga himself) using his own blast doors and fire suppression systems. Once the main Republic forces arrived, they captured him with minimal trouble.
Vala seems to have some personal grudge against Bogga that I am unaware of, which she vented to him over the intercom in huttese, which I do not speak. She also used Bogga's comm system to place a call over the holonet - you might as well use it when it's free - to report Bogga's capture to a relative of hers in the Matale Corporation. (later addition: I would later discover that Vala has tracked her brother's murder to Bogga - hence her interest in the Hutt's demise. She called her Father - a steel-willed uncaring man at the helm of a gigantic corporation with ties to every part of the Republic - to advise him to use his influence to make Bogga suffer in prison.)
Vala used her control to look for other interesting parts of the palace. What she did find was a reference to Life Crystals. I have vaguely heard of Life Crystals before - extremely rare items used in some esoteric way to extend the life of sentient beings. To my knowledge the Jedi have never been able to study them to verify these claims. Bogga, it seems, keeps a Life Crystal tree here in the palace. Our party, once the Republic bomb squad and data-retrieval units had secured the data core, went down in to the palace to look. Whatever life-giving powers they may or may not have, there is no doubt that the Crystals are fabulously expensive - a single Crystal could probably purchase Darian's whole starship, probably a lot more.
With the help of the garden keeper - a nice Ithorian, we secured six ripe Crystals, and split them among the four of us - three for the Jedi, and three for Darian and Vala to do with whatever they wanted - sell, or try to find how to live longer. Though the Jedi have no interest in living indefinitely long, anything that affects life must affect the Force, and is therefore of very keen interest to us. Even a cursory examination of the tree and the Crystals in the Force reveals that it draws all of it's nourishment through the Force, and the Crystals configure it into specific patterns inside of themselves. This will require a lot more study.
Using data collected from the data core, the Fleet tracked the Mandalorians back through hyperspace. After almost a week of jumps, we arrived at a demolished former asteroid base. There were the remains of a giant shipyard - building starships larger than the Fleet cruisers we were escorting. There was also the remains of a powerful, ancient dark side presence - perhaps a Sith temple, or a Krath stronghold. We recovered a bit of writing on some of the debris, but we were unable to identify it.
This assignment has been most troubling. We met with large numbers of darksiders - the dark side always tempts us more when they are around. Meqli and I are a bit concerned with Xieran - it's almost as if his pride is hurt more in battle than his body. Almost as if wouldn't mind being killed, as long as it didn't happen because someone beat him at something.
We also discovered something odd about the Mandalorians' weapons. The captain was carrying a Cortosis-weave virbo weapon. Cortosis was something I did extensive reasearch on when learning how to construct lightsabers. Cortosis is a rare, brittle material that is mined from just a few asteroid belts in the Outer Rim. I'm sure new sources of it continue to pop up, but none are ever very rich, and so they are never profitable for long-term investment. Cortosis is heavy, expensive, and easily pierced by energy weapons, but nonetheless is highly sought after by those wishing to oppose the Republic. Cortosis, due to it's strange molecule configuration and super-dense structure, resists lightsaber blades. It's weight making ir practically worthless as a weapons material, it had been woven into the exterior of the Mandalorian Captain's virbo-axe. After testing confirmed that this vibro-axe did indeed suffer only superficial damage when stuck by my blade, it seems that this Mandalorians was expecting Jedi.
Episode XIII - Jedi Trials
After returning to Dantooine, the Jedi Padawans began their formal Trials to be raised to Jedi Knights. This involves a rigourous questioning session about the nature of the Living Force, as well as some role-playing questions about how we would each handle various situations. Following these tests, each Padawan was assigned a task to complete. Each task should be completed without assistance, except for help normally provided (Taxi speeders, Public directories, etc). It is certainly understood that we are expected to complete the Trial with no Jedi help.
Meqli was rushed off to her assignment - a hostage situation between factions of a broken-down trade conflict. Xieran was assigned to deliver a valuable and dangerous package to a Jedi master on Umbria. I was assigned to bring back several lightsaber crystals from Illum, to act as seed crystals and replace the ones I broke when constructing my own saber.
Meqli was transported to her assignment by Captain Darian and his newly hired Gamorrean crewmate. She began gathering information about the colony there, and the troubles they were having with the natives' raids against their facility. There is some communication problem between the two sides, and it's unclear at this point what the main trouble is. She is suspiscious that the colony director is not telling her everything.
Xieran and I began our journeys on the same transport. As we're both heading further into the core worlds before jumping back out, we share the same ship for part of the journey. Actually, since Dantooine is so remote, Miss Vala is also on our first two ships - she mentioned she'd be taking a nice vacation after completeing her tasks against the Hutt.
On board the commercial shipliner, we met several interesting people. After talking with Xieran, I learned that he's carrying Krath artifacts, and trying not to attract attention to himself - so he's not wearing his jedi robes, but some normal jumpsuits that blend in with the rest of the crowds. Being in my Jedi robes, several people approached me with various offers or troubles, most of which I had no interest in, or were really not my business, respectively. I was, however, contacted by a strangely dressed kel-dor, who later identified himself as an escaped Jedi prisoner of the Krath. He enlisted my help in escorting him to Coruscant to the safety of the Jedi Council to report his findings and rest. Though I had never heard of his name before, and I reserve some suspiscion on him, it's better that I aid him now, and keep him out of danger. Since he hides in the Force as well as in the physical world, I cannot verify his story that way.
I procured some new clothes for him, and he generally kept a low profile for the rest of this passage on the ship. I introduced him as a friend of a friend from back home in the Tion Hedgemony, so Xieran and Vala wouldn't get suspicious of a new face around. Being hunted by the Krath, we wanted to keep his story to the least number of ears possible.
On our last night on that ship, Xieran and I both felt a disturbance in the Force from his quarters. The case carrying the artifacts had been taken! I could not offer to help Xieran too much, as this was his Jedi Trial, but I stayed close in case things got out of hand. Loose Krath artifacts are worth recovering at the cost of one Trial. Through the Force, Xieran recovered the artifacts. He left them with me to secure for the moment, while he went to look for the theif. He went to the cabin of the person in whose luggage the case was found stolen - a prospector he had previously met on the flight.
Episode XIV - Jedi Trials continued - Xieran's sacrifice
Xieran determined that the prospector was not the theif, and even enlisted his help if he should find anything out. Xieran and I switched the artifacts to a bag I was carrying, and returned the case (now with tracking beacons in it) to the place the theif would expect it.
Upon leaving the ship, he intercepted a youth hauling the case off to a meeting point. After some discussion with the youth, he released him and secretly followed him to the meeting point. His contact, the real thief, saw that the seal on the case had been broken, and fled - loosing himself among the crowds. Xieran recovered the case, met back up with me and the kel-dor fugitive, and took back his artifacts from me - as I had carried them off the ship with me. The kel-dor (who has a name, but I cannot spell it here) and I headed off to our transport to Courscant, and Xieran stayed at the restaurant that was our meeting place.
- This next part I received by transmission from the transport pilot, though I have written the details to match the form of the rest of the log -
Xieran had some trouble before leaving the restaurant, but avoided making it worse, and left. He boarded a small transport ship to Umbria.
Just before dropping out of hyperspace at Umbria, he was contacted by a Krath lord saying his ship was rigged to explode unless Xieran handed the artifacts over to him upon entering Umbria space. There were 5 artifacts, but only 1 was strong enough to be detectable outside of the specially shielded case. Xieran gave 4 of them to the crew of the transport to continue taking to the Master on Umbria, and accompanied the 5th one himself in an escape pod. This way the Krath lord would have to make good on his promise to deactivate the bomb on the transport, or risk losing by Xieran's hand the 5 artifacts he thought were in the pod with Xieran. Xieran did not expect to survive the encounter.
The transport crew arrived safely on Umbria, and Xieran arrived safely on the Krath warship. Safely, that is, except for being surrounded by Krath and guards. From Master Thon (the Umbria Master), we can surmise that the powerful Krath artifact was destroyed, and then, during a time of great disturbance, and great draw on the dark side, the Krath lord was killed. Master Thon was then not been able to sense Xieran's presence.
Episode XV - Jedi Trials continued - Meqli's meditation, Meqli's mediation.
Jedi Padawan Meqli hit a standstill in her conflict mediation process. Here is the situation as far as I know it: There is a Czerka colony established on this planet that seeks to research the planet's resources and discover what, if anything would make it worthwhile to use this planet for profit. They have located only one sentient species - a primitive tribal species whose religion involves many of the trees in the forest surrounding the colony. The colony director has established trade with the species, the Zot, for many things. Some of these trades were for Zot corpses, which the species seemed to have no value for once a certain ritual had been preformed on the bodies after death. There had been some conflict over certain sacred trees, but once they were clearly marked, the colony and the Zot got along well.
Lately, something had gone wrong - trade was halted, the Zot began running raids against the colony, and a dozen or so of the colony personell had been taken hostage. Meqli was called upon to determine what was going on, to try to release the hostages, and negotiate a peaceful agreement between the two sides.
After much interviewing, discussing, and working through communication barriers, Meqli discovered these facts: the colony had detemined that something in the bodies of the Zot was able to produce a medication to halt the progression of a rare and fatal disease. Czerka was very close to being able to finally determine what it was, but could not yet synthesize it - thus the bodies were very valuable to them. The Zot believed that a Zot's soul was carried into a sacred tree after he or she died, and that after the proper ritual was performed, the physical body itself was worthless. If a body were tampered with before that ritual was performed, however, then that Zot was lost for all time.
Some of the Zot were convinced that Czerka was not just buying the Zot corpses after they died naturally, but was actually killing the Zot. In addition to Meqli talking to these people, her escort - Capt. Darian, and his new Gamorrean shipmate arrived and only marginally managed to assist her. Her main difficulty was making sense of truth and fiction from a particularly specist Czerka research director who had no regard for non-humans at all.
Meqli eventually... convinced... one of the Zot to confess that he had been killing Zot in order to get the special rewards that the research director had promised him for increased corpse availability. When confronted by this evidence, the Zot agreed to release the captives if the director was punished. The captives were released and Meqli returned to the colony.
When the research director was confronted by the evidence, he made a rash attempt to prevent Meqli from telling anyone else. Though Meqli is generally non-violent, she is not defenseless. Disarmed before he had even got started, the director then feigned innocence - as if he didn't know that the Zot would begin killing each other. He accused Meqli of attacking him. His story didn't get him very far - most people do realize that if a Jedi tries to attack you, you will not be around to report the incident.
Meqli was returned home to Dantooine by Darian aboard the Dawn. The Zot and the colony enjoyed greater, but better regulated, trade. Czerka "punished" the research director by moving him offworld - to use his alien negotiating skills to help with their new Kashyyyk project...
Episode XVI part I - Jedi Trials continued - Lawler's Trial
I - Jedi Padawan Lawler - continue my trials - to bring back seed crystals from Illum to Dantooine, with which to start a crystal colony there for future lightsaber construction. I'm currently being sidetracked by being an emergency escort for the Jedi Master Merf Eestout, who is returning to the Jedi Tower on Coruscant. Merf Eestout is traveling incognito, and I'm doing my best to travel quickly and quietly through the public transportation system.
Our last leg of the trip to Couruscant was uneventful - apart from convincing some wayward Jawas not to disassemble the craft mid-flight. We arrived on planet and began to take some rather seedy subway lines to a lesser-used entrance to the Jedi Tower. The general mood of the populace is to just ignore everyone else's business and try to avoid being noticed by anyone else - this is a really bad section of the city/planet.
At one stop a small humanoid gets on and scurries to a corner seat at the far end of the train car. A huge Blue-skinned Chiss follows her on after a moment. He demands that she stop and hand over the case she's carrying. She attempts to scurry off, but is blocked at the other exit by a giant serpentine woman with four arms. As the street urchin hands over the case, Master Merf senses that the contents are somehow very importent to the Order - importent enough to supercede the legal workings of a licensed bounty hunter. Master Merf steps over and demands the case be given to the Order. After some failed negoting (and failed force persusion...) the Chiss realizes that he has to defeat the Jedi to keep his prize.
Surprisingly, he drops Master Merf almost instantly with some sort of stun-rod gloves he's wearing. I was still trying to avoid combat - my efforst redoubled since my only supporter just dropped - created an illusion that the other six raggedy passengers on this train car stood up and ingnited lightsabers. This, much more than the distracted attempt I made to Force-persuade them to cease combat, caused them to halt their advance towards me. The serpentine woman (a Naga, I late found) held Master Merf in her coils. Not being paid to be suicidal, the Chiss and Naga negotiated this deal: they gave me the case, and would keep Master Merf with them a few cars up the train. They would get off in two stops and not be followed. Master Merf would be left, stunned, a few cars up. That sounded perfectly sound to me, I could watch them through the Force to make sure no harm came to Merf. I'd have to ask him later what was so important about this case, as I had no idea - just that he wanted it. After they left, my illusionary Jedi compatriots sat down and returned to their normal ragged ways.
The bounty hunters, it turned out, did not have trustworthy employers as, before they could get off the train in two stops, they were attacked by an assasin droid. The urchin and I dove from our car as missled exploded further up the train. The frightened girl dashed for cover while the Chiss, the Naga, and the now conscious Master Merf slithered, flipped, and ran, respectively, out of the car. I paused to toss the case to the urchin/thief - promising that the Order would make it worth her while to return it to me after the fight - or to return it to the Jedi Temple if I were not... available.
The two fighters made some hefty inroads into the droid's armor before I stepped out, saber ignited, from behind the pillar where the urchin and I had taken cover. I deflected the few shots that were blasted at me from the droid, and then used the Force to push it off the platform into one of the gaping chasms that mark the Coruscant mass transit system. The bounty hunters, who had previously declined invitations to come with me to the Jedi Temple, now accepted the offer. Since they were pretty sure they were being hunted by their employer, and since I still had to get Master Merf safely back, we needed to leave before the planetary security showed up. The urchin - who should rightfully be known as "Skids" - led us through passages she knew as a quick way across the remaining city blocks to our destination.
We reached the Temple without further incident. The Jedi there took us in, and let us rest. Skids was most thankful to see the heaping mounds of food that the Jedi brought to the small conference room where we had an informal debriefing of the day's events. The Chiss and the Naga, as recompense for losing their prize, in the case, were given safe transport off the planet away from their treacherous employer to a system of their choosing. Skids was given a room to rest in for a few days, and a good sum of credits as a rewards for, in a roundabout way, bringing the case back to the Order. I tried as best I could to see if the Order on this planet knew of anywhere that could help her out of the gutter - a steady job, or even a school. They did set her up as a "friend" of the order - one of a number of informers who bring information to the Order's attention. Not what I was hoping for, but better than nothing. I certainly hold no sway here, and they were already repaying debts that I had incurred on my way here in the first place.
I was given a learner's room for the night, resupplied with a pocket of credits, and restocked with cold-weather gear for Illum (my originals having been canabalized to make a disguise for Master Merf). As the will of the Force would have it - the only public liner leaving for Illum in a reasonable amount of time had only Ultra-Luxury suites left. Well, a servant to the Force, as always, I accepted my fate and was booked into a 12 room suite aboard the liner to Illum. After observing at the wonderful combat practice facilities here, I quickly toured the cavernous library. I definitely want to come back and spend time here after I pass my trials - or at least perhaps get access to search the library's archives remotely.
My cabin - if you want to call the suite that - was larger than my parents' house in the Tion system. Two master suites and two servants' suits off of the main room, dining room, holo-vid room, and multi-purpose space. A passenger wishing not to be disturbed could easily go for months without feeling the need to see another passenger. Not wanting to slack on my discipline while still on my Trials, I took up in the smaller of the servant's quarters, which was still much much larger than my cell on Dantooine. I took a walk down to the promenade deck to watch the liftoff - feeling a bit like a farm boy in the big city, as most of the other passengers were too rich and sophisticated to bother staring out of the huge transparisteel port to watch the city/planet fall away, then be replaced by streaking stars and the whirling colors of hyperspace.
On my first night aboard the liner to Illum, I discovered that Skids had snuck her way aboard, and into my suite. I surmise that she spent most of the money the Jedi gave her on new clothes, as she looked much cleaner than last I had seen her. She was apologetic about being here when I found her, and scared that I would be angry, or have her arrested. As best I can tell, she was tired of being stuck where she was on Coruscant, and took the "opportunity" to at least travel offworld. Why she chose me, I really don't know - perhaps because I had been nice to her, most likely a rare thing in her life.
I have no idea what awaits me at Illum. Even after the adventures I've had so far on this trip - Xieran's troubles, Master Merf, the bounty hunters, it is still trial to complete the journey to Illum and return safely to Dantooine. My young friend, eager as she is to "help out", may have signed on for a lot more than she bargained for. But for now, I enjoy the company in having someone else aboard this ship who's not absurdly wealthy, and at least all of this magnificent space aboard the ship isn't just going to waste on me.
Addition: As I later became aware of Miss Vala Baille's adventures, I've placed the concurrent events in this addition.
Vala, it turns out, was also travelling to Illum - but she was going to the section well known for its fabulous rocket-skiing resorts, not to the barren section inhabited only by a small Jedi community. On her way through Brentaal, on her last stop-over before a jump to Illum, her transport shuttle was attacked by assailants unknown. Her family security contractor, the Bothan named Karka Malan, joined up with her after this, and continued to monitor her travels as she now sought to find who was attacking her, and whether she could safely continue her supposed "vacation."
Episode XVII - Jedi Trials continued - Lawler's Trial continued
I apologize for the length of this entry, but I felt it was necessary to explain this entry in detail because of the effects it has had on me in my life since then. -Lawler
I - Jedi Padawan Lawler - continue my often-sidetracked mission to complete my Jedi Trials by acquiring lightsaber crystals from Illum to use as seeds for a crystal colony on Dantooine. I don't know what to expect when I get there, but if it measures up to the trip so far, it should be quite exciting. There is a history of a Jedi's trials shaping the course of his entire life as a Jedi Knight. I wonder how Meqli and Xieran have done on their trials...
Skids Balaar and I continue to learn about each other, and spend time exploring the ship, and moving amongst the other passengers. We stick out a little - this is a hugely luxury ship. Most of the passengers keep their comments to themselves - well, they intend their voices to be low enough not to be overheard - and that's something to their credit, I suppose, even if their observations are unimaginative. Skids is adjusting well to living in a real society for the first time. She still has her rough edges, but she's getting used to eating regularly and not having to steal for her daily subsistence. We did have a nasty episode when one passenger caught her swiping something from her - which I managed to smooth over.
She seems to think that I'm her connection to this "real" world. She seems quite fond of me, but I'm trying to keep it clear to her that I am not free to have those kinds of relationships. I don't want to hurt her - especially since it might send her hurtling back down to the dregs of civilization - but I also know she can't accompany me of many of the missions I'll be called to do as a Jedi. Hopefully, she'll find something or someone better for her than I am, and I'll fade into the background of her attention.
We arrived on Illum, and met up with my contact - Master Alaan - who outlined the requirements of my task. The planet of Illum has one mountain that stands above all others - which for a mountainous planet is saying something. This mountain almost breaches the atmosphere of the planet. It comes as no surprise to me that the cave I'm seeking is on this mountain. I am to trek out to the mountain and seek the cave. I am to retrieve the crystals into a specially supplied case. I am to then put about a day or two's march between the cave and me, then signal for pickup. Sounds simple enough - except for the lightning-fast, semi-sentient, twenty meter long primary predator in this region of Illum... I knew I shoud've spent more time with Meqli when she was teaching me how to use the Force to calm others.
As Master Alaan finished briefing me, who should walk up but Vala! Apparently she was here on Illum for the -other- reason people come here - the rocket skiing resorts. I introduced her to Skids and Master Alaan, and I finally got to meet the Bothan security specialist Karka Malan - who I know from the reports Darian brought back from Turko Brien. Evidently her vacation was not off to a great start, since Karka was there. We were scheduled to take the same shuttle from the space station to the planet resort where I would depart to find the cave. On the way down to the planet, we saw a group of the predators - with the unfortunate name of 'gorgonodons' - attack and overwhelm a herd of preybeasts. The shuttle going past the beasts frightened them, and they began to pick up and hurl rocks and boulders at the shuttle.
Suddenly one rock struck the craft. We heard an explosion and we started to hurtle towards the planet. The emergency tractors clicked on, pinning everyone to their seats. The automated emergency instructions would've been slightly calming had they not been drown out by the curses coming from the pilot's station as he fought to regain control of the spinning, jostling shuttle.
Since no one else was in a position to do anything, and I certainly couldn't overcome the tractor to help any other way, I shut everything else out and grabbed the shuttle with the Force. Perhaps aided by a special boost in the Force, my contol over the shuttle was stronger than I would've hoped for. The pilot was probably the most surprised when the ship slowed, righted itself, and gently set down - the landing gear extending to touch the smooth plateau on the mountainside.
Out of the 30 or so passengers, perhaps only half a dozen at most knew how we landed. As we began to sort ourselves out, and recover what little baggage was left in the hold - the epicenter of the explosion - we found that we had a fair number of sport hunters, security personell, and ex-military beings on the shuttle. I was surprised again to meet Comad Fortuna - who I'm told is a famous Twi'lek hunter.
We didn't land more than a few kilometers from the herd of gorgonodons that attacked us. Since we didn't want to be surprised by an angry group of those coming at us, we began to set up defense preparations, and started working out how to get out of here. With a 200 kilometer walk to the resort and only 5 days' rations among all of us, hiking was out. Karka discovered upon inspection that the major damage to the craft was not the rock, but a bomb inside the shuttle rigged to blow if a rock hit us. Vala was pretty sure it was her attacked again, so she was a bit hesitant to broadcast for help. There was, at least, enough cold weather gear for everyone to survive outside the ship.
My mission side-tracked yet again, I decided to do what I could to help. On an impulse, I reached out with the Force to see what I could discern about this location. Who knows? Maybe we crashed right next to the cave, and we could use it for shelter. Everything about this place seemed to be a bit stronger in the Force than I would've guessed. I sensed the approaching gorgonodons clearly - perhaps because of their size. I also caught a whiff of a powerful, but distant nexus in the Force - perhaps the cave. It was too far away to be of immediate use to us, but I definitely have a place to start when I get the chance. I reported to our leader pro tem about the number, distance, and direction of the gorgonodons.
In an attempt to drive off the 5 approaching gorgonodons. We fired shots before they became hostile. In hindsight, perhaps they would've just investigated and left us alone. Two of them became enraged and stormed the shuttle. They brushed off the stun and concussion mines that Comad had laid down, and the hand-held sporting pistols that most of the defenders carried had little effect. One man here for a hunting safari had a blaster cannon made specifically to take them down, and consequently became a fast target.
Three defenders were grabbed off the top of the ship and bitten and scraped in the hands of the creatures. I, inside the ship, concentrated on calming the non-defender passengers, and distracting the other three beasts. Using an illusion of a passing herd of prey-beasts, I managed to draw off the other three. Eventually the two attacking ones were killed. One of them laid across the side and top of the shuttle to attack the defenders on top, and partially fell victim to my lightsaber cutting through the ship's hull to attack from the inside (This action came back later to haunt me, as you'll discover later). Skids, on her way back from finding a nearby cave for shelter, managed to get the hunting rifle from the now-unconscious safari man, and did her part in dropping one of the gorgonodons.
Because of Vala's worry about sabotuers, we all moved to the nearby cave which skids had discovered. A ship on a search pattern came into view. We decided to hail the craft, and setup to ambush it if it were hostile. Most of the passengers went to the cave. The rest of us hid in a semicircle shape around the area where we placed the beacon. The ship hovered above us and two rather heavily-armed skiffs descended towards the ground - so much for rescue. In a move I would've expected more of Cpt. Darian, one of Vala's security team unpacked a single-fire concussion missle launcher. By the time the large ship was alerted to it, it was already on fire. That ship veered away, crashed, and rolled down the mountain. The rocketman ran away from his firing position as the skiffs rained down fire where he had just been standing.
One skiff had unloaded its crew and began to hover again. Skids, still in charge of the hunting blaster cannon, dropped the pilot from her hiding place. It crashed into most of the crew it had just unloaded. Karka and Comad popped up and burned down most of the rest of the crew. Vala began taking very elegant artillery style shots with a stun grenade launcher into the second skiff, which was still high above us. It proved to be effective, as most of the fire stopped from that craft. Karka and I jumped into the now open skiff to go chase it down.
> Throughout the Republic, most sentient beings hesitate to shoot at a Jedi with a drawn lightsaber. They usually come to a very fast understanding of "what goes around comes around," knowing that there's a good chance of their own weapon being the cause of their demise. The last remaining crew member on the ground did not hesitate, but he definitely should have.
Karka and I caught the fleeing skiff, and convinced the two living crew members that their only chance of continuing to do so was to surrender. Using those two skiffs, the shuttle passengers were finally delivered to the resort, and the wrecks were investigated. Vala and Karka took custody of the prisoners for the return to the resort, and she probably called in a full Matale security team.
I decided that there was no reason for me to go back to the resort. I gathered a few weeks' food from our scrounged supplies, and got a signaller from the downed attacking craft. With these supplies, I prepared to head out to find the cave. Skids wasn't happy with me leaving her behind, but perhaps this way she'll learn that I'm not the only key to living in the real world.
I did find the cave after a three days' hike. I did not come across any more gorgonodons on my way there. The cave was carved out of the mountain, and the walls were covered with stories and histories of the Jedi who had gone before me. There were parts of the Jedi code, tales of the lives of great Jedi, and the statements of plans and promises of other Jedi Padawan on their Trials to come here. There were supplies to harvest crystals, as well as instructions on how to safely remove them. There were even instructions on how to set up a crystal colony with seed crystals. It seems that the crystals must get life energy from somewhere - to grow in the Force the same way a Jedi does. This means that they must sustain and be sustained by some large creature or massive plant on the planet. I just had to keep walking far enough into the cave to actually find some crystals, then I could help the masters find some workable situation on Dantooine for growing them.
I knew I had missed a key point of the instructions - something I should've been prepared for, but couldn't quite think of what. I turned a corner into a massive glowing cavern full of glowing crystal growths. The room glowed with both light and the Force. It felt charged - active, but not necessarily comforting. Though, perhaps the discomfort came from the fifty or so gorgonodons that were wrapped around the crystal growths. It crossed my mind to wonder how any Jedi ever survived crystal gathering.
Several of the largest ones turned towards me, but did not attack. I recalled some of what Meqli had said about calming techniques, and did everything I could think of to use that technique. I found that, as much as I was trying to calm the creatures, I was also being calmed. I found that their grunts and snorts were really just grunts and snorts, but that they communicated in primitive phrases through the Force itself. They weren't hostile, just cautious and worried about something.
They did allow me to gather the crystals from one formation, and showed me how to collect the special seed crystals. I tried to find out what worried them so much. I saw in their minds images of poachers on skiffs, hunting them to endangerment. I knew now that these were the creatures that had the symbiotic relationship with the crystals here, and were doing the Jedi a great service by their continued sustainence of the caves here. We definitely owed them our protection, since the weapons they allowed us to make served to protect us.
I did my best to communicate to them that their protection would be my first choice of tasks as a Jedi Knight, and that I would bring others to help. I felt like I should bring the whole Order here to drive off any poachers until they knew for sure that to harm these creatures meant instant destruction. I added this promise to the walls of the cave, "I, Lawler Twindle, have arrived here on my Trial to find the caretaker creatures being hunted to a number approaching extinction. As they facilitate us to protect ourselves, we Jedi certainly owe them our protection. It will be my first choice of tasks as a Jedi Knight to gather a force to rid the gorgonodons of this threat forever. Let it be known from today forward that to harm one of these creatures is to make yourself my enemy." I realize that I owe them doubly, since in my own words I suppose I am my own enemy...
Seeing my commitment, one of the creatures entered the cavern from a special side passage and handed me a very strange looking crystal. I knew it was a special gift, and I made sure to give it a good safe spot in the carrying case. I stayed for the night in the cave, revelling in the histories and stories covering the endless expanses of walls. I felt like running all day to make sure I was far enough away to safeguard the cave's location, but so I could still call for pickup quickly. When I finally signalled for pickup, Master Alaan sent a small craft to my location.
While I was gone, the Matale corporate security team arrived. Skids later told me that she recognized the Matale corporate symbol on the ship from somewhere, but she wouldn't tell me from where.
Episode XVIII - Jedi Nights - (The tale to end all [rat] tails)
I'm writing this as I'm waiting outside the masters' chamber on Dantooine. Recently an unexpected visitor arrived, and they are interviewing her. I've been so busy since I was on Illum updating the journal last that I haven't had time to write since then.
I did manage to return safely to Dantooine with the lightsaber crystals and successfully complete my Trial. I am now a full Jedi Knight. I'll write down some of the things that happened around the time of the ceremony.
There was a huge mess when everyone began arriving for the elevation ceremony. Diplomats, other Jedi who are originally from the Dantooine conclave, relatives & officials from our home systems, friends, and more than a few people who would like special favors from the Order all showed up. Most of the Jedi and Padawans moved out of the compound, and into some tents and shelters we had set up on the grounds outside. This allowed the more genteel of the visitors to have our comfortable quarters, spartan as most people feel they are.
There were three Padawans being elevated at this ceremony - so it was a small ceremony on an outer-rim planet. That means there were only 350,000 to 400,000 guests expected. Meqli, Malek, and I each had a small horde of people from our home systems - mine from Tion, Meqli's from Cammassi. and Malek's from <<Malek's home system>>.
All of 'my' delegation except for the Tion 5 Planetary President, the Tion Hedgemony System Governor (well, his Lieutenant Governor), and our Senators stayed outside in the shelters. We're from Tion - technologically we're not that recently removed from cabins and tents - camping is still a hobby and a novelty to us. We held a large Tion formal barbecue after the ceremony. Meqli's group held a Camassi introduction gathering before the ceremony. Both of these served to re-acquaint the relatives, neighbors, and officials of the home systems with their Jedi.
Skids was bored almost to tears with Dantooine. The compound here isn't large at all, and she explored it mostly in one afternoon. She's a bit bothered by all of the open space here, and the field upon field of agriculture scares her a bit, I think.
Vala and Darian both came. They threw a party for Meqli and I the evening before the ceremony. It was a great time - finally a chance to just relax away from the crows and obligations, but it did necessitate me working on my Jedi techniques for supressing the effects of a hangover...
Darian presented me with a gift of a traditional <<Darian's home system>> hunting knife, with an intricately tooled handle and belt sheath. Showing through his usual rough style, he gave Meqli a brooch that signifies a fully trained healer on his world. These didn't quite seem to be Darian's style of "usefulness above all else, except intimidation" until he mentioned that both gifts had comlinks engineered inside them.
Graag - the gamorrean fighter who joined us at Bogga's palace, is now Darian's crewman on the Monaltiki Dawn. Gamorreans are not known to stand on ceremony, but honoring warriors is something they take very seriously. He presented both Meqli and I with a huge wodden club with a large spike driven through it. He had carved into the wood and the spike Gamorrean messages honoring the warriors to whom the weapon was given. Meqli looked a bit queasy, but appreciated the intent.
Vala had convinced various factions of her family to make large donations to the Dantooine conclave in our names. This turned out to be very useful in beginning to make good on my promise to the creatures on Illum.
The elevation ceremony itself began with thousands of people packed into the stadium seats surrounding the auditorium. Extra rapid-assembly seating had been erected on the edges of the stadium bowl - it seemed to have been built with this need in mind.
Each Jedi was given a torch lit from the central bonfire, and then given the ceremonial choice of whether or not to add it to the groupings of torches that symbolized the Order, or extinguishing it. This symbolized the choice to adhere to the Jedi code - the taking the benefits of those who have gone before, and choosing to carry them on to the future.
After a lengthy introduction by several Masters, including a few from Couruscant, Master Vandar and Master Eelmo called each of us forth. Upon recitation of the Jedi Code, we were elevated to our new rank, and given our full Jedi robes. Our Masters each ceremoniously trimmed off our Padawan tails - the symbol of our rank as learners. Some Padawans voice opinions that they feel these are there to keep us humble by making our appearance a bit silly. The Masters usually quietly retort the since the removal ceremony involves a swift lightsaber slash next to our heads, it is a last opportunity for one of them to "veto" our elevation to the rank of Knight...
A distressing part of the ceremony was that we were informed that Xieran was missing and presumed captured. Meqli and I were concerned that he was not back, yet, and knew something must be wrong since the ceremony was proceeding without him. Several Jedi have been dispatched to search for him, including to whom he was en route. Hopefully we will find him soon, and bring him back home.
The ceremony completed with a formal recitation of the entire Jedi Code by all Jedi present, and with various cultural demonstrations from various regions, sectors, and species. This was topped off by a Grand Salute. The Grand Salute consists of the ignition of every lightsaber in the auditorium bowl. With nearly a thousand sabers as the only remaining lights in the ceremony, everything is cast in a myriad of greens, golds, purples, and blues. With all of the sabers held aloft, we three new Jedi joined our lights to those already aloft, as true testimony to those dedicated to serving the Force.
<< circular wipe to a star field with the ending credits / music >>
<< Nearing the end of the credits, we cut to a dark room with a warrior in shiny dark red armor. He has a completely black mechanical right arm. Astute viewers will recognize Xieran's lightsaber handle in his hand, but the blade ignites as blood red... >>