Open Starlight The Jedi Are Here

[R'ashtaro]

R'ashtaro listened to the harrowing tales of his fellow Jedi. It was clear that things in the Core had evolved to an emergency warranting the Order's full commitment. And it sounded like it wasn't a simple matter; the Dark Side's rot grew deep networks that were difficult to root out and destroy.

At a lull in the discussion, the red-coated Fiani would step forward, his words in Basic rolling from his tongue in a soft, pleasant growl. "It is all deeply concerning. You've had your hands full. As others have already suggested, it seems more hands are needed to deal with the severity of the issues at hand. Would it not make sense to redirect Jedi efforts from other places in the Galaxy to these issues? Jedi presence in the Outer Rim may lessen for a while, but it would give us better resources to deal with Raze's spawn. The Galaxy at a whole is too large for us to be everywhere at once."

 

[T'vani]

The more T'vani listened, the deeper her desire to say something with merit went. As much as she desired to offer assistance in some way, nothing was coming to mind, no matter how much she racked her brain.

People could become infected, and creating these Dark Nexuses required some catalyst, such as slaughtering many people. While on Fiana, she had never heard of such atrocities nor imagined them possible. While she couldn't understand why someone would do such a thing, she knew she wanted to help. The man speaking to everybody had made it clear that anyone could contribute.

As the gathering continued, more people were showing up and speaking out. T'vani saw Agialia, then Mako, then R'ashtaro. A few of the people she looked up to the most were here, trying to do their part to contribute. It even sounded as if Mako had hands-on experience with these things. If all of these people were coming up with ideas, why couldn't she? A sense of frustration welled up in her heart. She felt so useless in the face of all this.

Eventually, T'vani slowly raised her hand.

"Excuse me," she squeaked, the room's openness contributing more towards making her mousy voice heard than the actual volume. "I-If I may, Masters, what about sharing what we know with the planets most likely to be attacked?" T'vani posited, her ears folded back against her head. "I heard someone say that the planets don't trust us. If we show them proof of what's happened, they'd have to believe us, right?"

It was a long shot, but it was one of the only things T'vani could think of. If the governments of the planets were suspicious about the Jedi Order and their desire to help, showing them the objective evidence and results of these attacks sounded like the easiest way to get them to listen.

"If we can't be on every planet, and only we can kill the monsters, couldn't we at least teach them how to reduce how much the attacks affect them?" she asked. "The Jedi we send to the other planets can help them come up with plans and ideas to limit how many people die and how much destruction there is until we can get there. I know we don't have much information, but Master (@Sreeya), you said the deaths of lots of people made these things happen, right? That means if they can lower how many people die, it shouldn't be as easy.

And Master Krim (@Arcangel) said people were sneaking into places with lots of people. That should mean they're likely to go to the same places on other planets, right? If Sith are doing that, and they aren't from the worlds they're attacking, doing something like checking someone's identity to make sure they live on that planet might help."

Their information on these abominations was limited, but surely, there had to be some pattern. The young Initiate wasn't sure if any of her ideas were feasible, but she wanted to contribute something.

 

[Killian Fray]

Killy had been there pretty much the whole time, although he hadn't offered opinions. Mostly the young Firrerreon had been taking notes on his NalPhone. It'd been good to hear places were getting the help they needed, but the mystical and medical stuff was a little over Killian's head. Sounded complicated.

He looked up again from his notes, a foot fidget-tapping as he listened, as T'vani (@Remileah) and R'ashtaro (@Casmer) spoke up with more ideas. Killian switched his weight from left foot to right, the opposite foot now fidgeting. "It's kinda like when a bunch a' people are sick, right? Panda.. uh..." He snapped his fingers a couple of times before pointing at Mako (@Arcangel), who seemed medical-y. "Panda-whatever, right? Y'get it." Killian shrugged explosively and trucked right along.

"People gotta be ready. We can't be everywhere, like folks've said." He frowned, pretty obviously annoyed by that very reasonable limitation. "And we need help, too."

 

[Dash Pavan]

Dash had been the Jedi to oversee the launch of Starlight, yet he did not like the place much these days. It seemed a lifetime since he and his friends had discovered the crashed station and an age since he had been the uncertain Knight steering the repair team. Starlight reminded him too much of all that had changed. Of how quickly he was changing.

He paced uneasily to one side, his crystalline coat glinting as his arms swung anxiously, fingers grasping at the air. He still felt the same nerves as at their last gathering, that familiar dread at being anywhere near the front line of conflict.

Dash's retreat on Kashyyyk had left him with a lasting fear that gnawed at him, but this time he would not skulk silently at the back. Burying himself in his work on Kro Var might not have been proper therapy, but it had rekindled some of his old confidence.

"A disease" he said suddenly, almost squinting as he thought back to his past life for the right word. "A contagion. That's what he - what they - are". Dash looked across at the exotic, brown-eyed Jedi (@Darius ) "Knight Galenus has it right. First step is to contain them - build our own centers of Light to keep them back".

The Rhinnalian finally looked across at Ezra (@Sreeya ), holding back the mix of pride and fear he felt seeing his partner embodying both leader and chief enemy target again. "But, maybe we can go bigger" he added, hoping Ez really meant it when he invited anyone to contribute.

"You guys are right" he said, looking around at those who had raised manpower and resources. "Jedi can't carry the Light everywhere it needs to be. But maybe we don't have to. We know more than anyone how the Force lives in all things, how ripples can travel great distances". He waved his arms wide expressively and the illustrative snowflake formed almost absentmindedly in the air between, its points radiating out. "A strong nexus on the right world could protect a large area, more than one may even form a barrier?".

"What if we use the hyperspace lanes? Conduits of life and energy? A nexus on say, Brentaal, or Corellia, could spread the Light both north and south?".

 

[Ezra Thorne]

The Padawan (@Charndley ) brought up a point he hadn’t considered- while Jedi often did random community service across planets, it seldom amounted to anything. Being more strategic in these endeavors to actually command more influence could work in the long run, “It was the tactic my father used to sway a lot of Outer Rim planets to the ISC,” Ezra observed out loud, looking at the padawan. It was a proven method. Doubtless, his father was more manipulative about it, but serving the common people and speaking for them would always go further than lining the pockets of the people already at the top.

The observations around the delayed impacts of abominations were unsettling. He didn’t even know it was any sort of ‘infection’. He figured it was just dark magic used on people already dead to reanimate them, “You believe these abominations…are sentient?” He asked quietly. He knew the answer, but he almost didn’t want to believe it. (@Volene)

Ezra looked at Mako (@Arcangel ) then, “What do you need to continue the research arm of this? Perhaps we can lean on the GHO or even MorataCorp to assist?”

A padawan (@Remileah )spoke up and addressed him as Master, and it gave him pause. When did that happen? Even his own padawan didn’t call him Master. As he looked across the sea of faces, he began to realize that he wasn’t just Ezra Thorne, son of the ISC President. No, he was his own man today. He was a Jedi, and one that had a voice. It was a lot to take in, but his face didn’t betray the turmoil of emotions.

After a moment, he heard a familiar voice. Ezra’s gaze flicked over to Dash (@Alhon ), his partner, the one he hadn’t communicated with for some time. There was distance there that had grown without Ezra even realizing, but now was not the time to reflect on that. Dash’s sentiments were similar to what he heard some of the others say and also where his own thoughts lay.

“It will have to be a massive undertaking,” He said after a long pause, “It will take all of us -initiates, padawans, knights, masters, councilors - to create a Light Side nexus that reverberates across the galaxy,” Ezra considered the implications, “And all Sith will try to stop us. Not just Raze, but Darth Tempest and…wherever the Imperial Knights and their allegiance lies,” Ezra looked across them all, “The risks are great, we will lose many Jedi, but it…may be necessary to shift the Force back towards balance,” Raze had begun to tilt that balance, and it was even more skewed now with the Grandmaster’s presence all but gone. They needed to create something to replace her and make it difficult for Raze to continue his path of destruction.

@Apollyon @Zay @Altaris @Casmer @Darius @TheDudeMike @Phoenix @Xorism @The Good Doctor @GABA

 

[Thor Wolfe]

Frankly, Thor was never the one to attend to such things as meetings were practically avoided since they were typically held within Jedi Temples in the past. The large man had no real interest in hearing the Masters debate where to devote their resources and assets in the name of the Galaxy and the Force. The doors had opened within the large chamber as Thor was in the middle of dusting off his robe. While he certainly was no slob, it was clear that his jedi robes and tunic had seen its fair share of travels.

Fashionably late of course he was, but his eyes briefly scanned to take note of everyone’s faces as he entered the chamber. He would only be able to hear the ending of what @Sreeya had to say. Something about a Nexus? Frankly, Thor had little inkling as to what all was being discussed. If nothing else, his presence was here as he stayed outside of everyone else with his hands folded into the dark sleeves of his robes. His attentive focus to what was being discussed, silent as he would rather not interrupt what was being said.

With all that has happened to the Galaxy at large, Thor wasn't surprised that so many people were gathered around here. And even more so when the tides were looking a bit grim on the Force. Yet despite Thor's intention, it was understandable that hardly anyone would know who he was except that he was a Jedi who stayed in the Outer Rim worlds and help the people at large. However, much like everyone here had concluded on their own, the Jedi were only but a small force compared to how they originally were. Meaning that their protection could only extend so far.

@Apollyon @Zay @Altaris @Casmer @Darius @TheDudeMike @Phoenix @Xorism @The Good Doctor @GABA

 

[Agialia Galenus]

Agailia agreed with Ezra the force was being pushed way out of balance due to the horrors that these creatures caused, it was their duty as wardens of the light to produce an equal reaction, no matter the cost. "The losses could be significant but no worse than if we were to do nothing," Agailia said solemnly as she looked down at her robes. It seems one way or another the entire galaxy would soon be fighting for their way of life. "We cannot afford to have our nexus tampered with or destroyed by our enemies perhaps we could turn this into a shell game, create false sights which could buy the group actually setting up the nexus the time that they need." @Sreeya While their number was few at the moment, Agailia felt that they did at least have enough to pull off the plan, She didn't like the idea of padawans being in danger though she herself could so no path forward that would leave them in safely.

"Based off of the threats of raze we can only assume he will be searching for our hidden locations, We should be prepared to defend what we already possess as well, the last thing we need is to be scattered across the core worlds while are temples are being razed." Agailia sighed as she crossed her arms, she could not shake the feeling that even with all these minds at work, they were missing something important.


@Apollyon @Zay @Altaris @Casmer @TheDudeMike @Phoenix @Xorism @The Good Doctor @GABA

 

[Myrell’anay]

There was the telltale frown as Myrell considered her answer.

“In the crudest sense of the word, perhaps,” she conceded. “As much as bloodlust can be the basis for reason. Semi-sentient is likely to be more accurate. As for infiltrators... I would posit they retain fragments of their former consciousness within themselves. Of course, as with most things surrounding them, that is almost entirely speculation.” But bite me if I’m wrong. In medical matters Myrell had rarely been let down by her intuition. Especially tempered by firsthand experience.

“Additional research is necessary, and I intend to lead it,” she said. “I will keep this assembly abreast of any development. And the Council.”

Unless anyone had further questions for her, Myrell’anay would make her exit.

@Sreeya

 

[Elenath]

Elenath entered the meeting hall, melding with the crowd and hoping his Thyrisian Echani skin tone would hide the slight flush of his face for being so tardy. It wasn't out of ignorance that the Knight hadn't arrived on time, but rather his trepidation for being in a room so full of people for the first time in a long while. Elenath didn't do so well in crowds, and not out of social anxiety.

He caught the tail end of some of the conversation up to this point — abominations running rampant and what they would do to stop them, if they even could. There was a moment's pause before Elenath's mind roiled with emotions, memories, and visions. His stomach churned as the surface thoughts and images of his fellow Jedi's experiences assailed him, unbidden.

Flash. A mass of tendrils and the tearing flesh of an abomination ripping apart helpless victims.

Another flash. A city the Echani had never seen before, buildings toppled and the streets in flames. Byblos under siege.

Dizziness upended the hall, and Elenath's hand shot out for stability on the closest shoulder it could find — that of T'vani (@Remileah). "Sorry," he gasped quietly, regaining his composure enough to stand on his own two feet. The mere touch sent another wave of foresight through his mind's eye. The initiate stood before the council, passing into Knighthood? Perhaps Mastery? Yet another, her hands gripping her magenta blade against a terrible foe. Elenath gritted his teeth, trying to reign in his senses.

Clearing his throat timidly, he dared to raise his voice to his fellow Knights. "Is...is there any way we can forsee where the abominations will strike? Take preemptive action to stop more death and destruction?"