The Rendition of Dhar-kor Jord

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Hmm..I suppose it would be a bad time to point out I haven't eaten, then?" He asked, half serious half amused with himself. "Now, on to the fun things..." He said pulling the map up and selecting three planets on the opposite side of the hutt empire from the republic.

"The planets themselves are very well defensible. Banik has taken to splitting up our Armada entirely over those three planets, and transforming them into fortress worlds, though none so much as Conscio..." he said, pointing out one of them. "I was governor of her for a time, and know her intimately...attempting to attack her would be foolish, if you were going to do it in a regular assault you'd be besieging the planet for years."

 

[Sreeya]

Val laughed when he mentioned not having eaten. She told him to wait a second before disappearing. She emerged again, looking down at a box in her hands.

"Don't laugh..I was saving these for myself.."

She placed the box next to him, the inside filled with cupcakes with bright pink icing on top. Truth was that they were for her kids, but Jord didn't need to know that. Val sat back and observed as he pointed out the planets and explained how Banik had split up his armada.

"Conscio..yes, I've heard of this. How did Banik acquire this armada? All with Jade's help? And the troops?"

It seemed like certain things didn't add up. She hoped Jord would be able to explain.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

He looked at the cupcake and laughed slightly. "Thank you..." he said before practically devouring it, then he began to speak again.

"The previous Bogan did all the work of aquiring a fleet. He was quite insane, as I'm sure you're aware. Over 500 ships, many of them equaling strength to the finest of the republic were traded for the use of dark jedi in service to the hutts. Another several hundred were from Jade, which are far more advanced, but on a smaller scale. And of course weapons and armor. They used slaves for awhile along side trained soldiers, gifted from the hutts, but slaves couldn't be trusted. When I was made Bogan, I gave them their freedom, and let them kill all the slave drivers. Most stayed in service after I had rallied them."

 

[Sreeya]

Val nodded.

"I was also informed that the civilians follow Banik almost as a false god, supporting the Bogan. Is this true?'

She looked at the map again, grimacing.

"Thule..Ziost..Conscio...they own the Esstran sector then."

Val sighed, looking at the locations.

"So embedded within Hutt territory. As far as Conscio goes, what kinds of defenses are we talking about?"

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

He watched as the medbots did their work on his new hand, doing gods only know what. "Blockaids of ships, ground to space weaponry for anti ships, and defensive shields to protect against bombardment were the kinds of things I set up on there..." The Bot told him to attempt to move his index finger, instead his pinky twitched. "Hmmm...well it's a start."

He reached out to the force again, attempting to feel it and track down what it was that felt so different, the force where the bogan was their planets, ships, temples, it was like a cold fire. He frowned to himself as he tried to place it, but it had been so long since he was in any kind of place not controlled by the darkside...

"And yes, the people view us as gods, though not all are so dumb, perhaps."

 

[Sreeya]

Val watched his cybernetic hand defy what Jord clearly wanted it to do. It was amusing, though a bit odd. She absentmindedly reached over for a cupcake, ignoring how absurd the scene appeared. She listened as he spoke, surprised that in a galaxy so advanced, people could still be led to see beings as godly entities. She noticed that he had gone silent for a while, lost in thought. It was curious to note that he didn't exude a dark aura as he had on the battlefield. Val remained silent for a long time before speaking.

"Does Jord the Jedi still reside within you? Or is he lost and replaced?"

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"That...is a very good question." he said. A mere few days ago he would have scoffed. Of course he was now sitting, sharing cupcakes with one of the jedi who had captured him, revealing various secrets of the Bogan. "I think we are capable of putting aside who we are, when we feel the greater good is more important than the means...I think that is what happened to me." He said quietly more to himself than to her.

The medbot again told Jord to move his fingers. This time they seemed to do just that, though slowly and slightly blockishly. "A bit more to do, but almost there Sir." The medbot said as it continued to poke and prod within his hand and part of his arm.

 

[Will]

Huang bowed, letting Val enter the room as he moved with Hector, following the Grandmaster. He hated what he had done, but Hector had been teetering on the edge, a precipice he did not want to see his student and friend fall over.

Frankly, he was glad to be out of that cell. Torture was not his way. It was a far darker, twisted thing than war.

He took the datapad, appraising the information. Val had seemed to extract everything required in nothing more than a few hours, where they had gleaned nothing. He noted the smirk on Hector's face. The old him making himself known.

''It shall be done, Grandmaster.''

He turned to Hector. He noted the question, a good one. They could be falling into a trap. But that was the grand mystery, the temptation at the core, drawing him in.

''It'll be like our mission back when I knighted you.''

 

[Kit]

Hector laughed, Huang had dredged up some very old, fond memories.

"Oh, so you do think it's a trap then?"

That mission had gone... well, awry, to put it nicely. Though it had ended very well, especially considering the... hiccups.

"I hope you're not planning on getting us caught this time."

Hectors smile faded, his mind returning to the task at hand.

"Shall we leave immediately, Grandmaster?"

 

[Sreeya]

Talzea nodded.

"Yes. I hope both of you understand the risks. You would have to go deep within Hutt-"

There was a knock on the door. Talzea's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She could sense Valena was outside, but hadn't expected her back already. The Grandmaster rose from her seat and opened the door, finding the young Jedi there. She stepped aside to let Val in.

Val had a projector with her as she strode into the room. She set it on the table and clicked a button to project a star map. It had all the coordinates of the three planets the Bogan occupied. Talzea decided to sit back down, as Val looked at her for permission to speak. Talzea simply nodded, and Val moved to stand before the three of them.

"This is what I've acquired from Jord so far. He's confirming that the Bogan are located within the Esstran system. Koran Mak also gave the exact same coordinates, and Albedo also pointed to Ziost..a planet in the Esstran system. Jord is also providing us with information on planetary defenses."

Val paused then, looking over at Talzea.

"I think we have enough evidence to fully confirm the Bogan's location. From what I understand, the planet Conscio is their primary base."

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

Val had excused herself, leaving Jord alone, relatively speaking. There were of course the six guards, but he didn't need a lightsaber to kill them. "She trusts me that much?" He said talking to himself, sounding somewhat perplexed. If he was a jedi caught by the bogan, he'd likely be missing his sanity by now, rather than a hand that was, even as he sat being replaced.

"That should do it sir." the Medbot said, snapping Jord out of his thoughts. He was able to have thoughts here. He squeezed his hand and wiggled his fingers, all good as new and reinforced with the durasteel components within and the synthskin felt real. "Thank you..." he said to the bot, though he knew it wasn't the bot he had to thank. For his hand, his life, his sanity. It would be easily justifiable that they had done to him what his people would have done to him. Looking around again at the jedi guards who looked at him with a mixture of caution and unease. It seems they knew whom they were left to guard.

He requested one of them get him some flimsiplast and a pen, and he continued to write, without direction. There were diagrams of the various planetary defenses as well as rough blueprints for each individual bit that he could remember. He marked locations where not many would be needed, and simple explosive ordinances could be placed to disable entire compounds security for temples, and acolyte and crusader numbers. Literally with his new hand, which albeit the writing was different at first, eventually page by page beginning to take his old style of writing back as the technology bonded with his nervous system.

He looked up at one of the Guards. "If you could fetch Val, when she is done please. Tell her time is of importance, they will have assumed me dead and began the search for a replacement. Then that replacement will begin to make changes on what I have, as a precautionary." The man nodded, and signaled another guard come to take his place before going to fetch Valena.

Jord noticed in the reflection of the cold steel table his eyes seemd less yellow and red for some reason. He had forgotten what color his eyes originally were, it had been so long. Now flecks of green were seen, it seemed...or was that simply a trick of his mind?

 

[Will]

A smile shot across Huang's face for a moment. Ah, the past. Always better with that rosy tint.

''I'll see what I can do, Hector.''

He paused as Val came into the room, appraising the information, an air of cold professionalism apparent.

''So, the Esstran sector? A large chunk of space for a needle that doesn't like being found. Maybe Ziost will shed some light on the location of other Bogan bases. I'm not a fan of stepping straight onto their main base.''

He looked to Hector. Obviously, input was wanted here. He was hardly going to plan it himself. Hector had a mind for plans and schemes.

 

[Sreeya]

"We may not have to.."

Val hoped she wasn't speaking out of turn. She glanced over at the others, thinking over her words.

"Hutt and Bogan relations are...less than ideal."

She turned to Talzea.

"This Jord..there may be hope for him yet."

Val excused herself and left the room, leaving behind all the data she had collected. She made her way back to Jord.

---​

Talzea looked over at the two men sitting across from her. She looked over the maps and coordinates presented to them.

"As much as I'd like to, I don't know if we can drag Republic into this. We all remember the Ando Prime incident. On top of that, the Republic appears to have problems within its own ranks. It would only endanger us."

She rose from her seat.

"I believe I may have a plan. I will call upon you both when I collect more information. Master Hector, I do believe you should get some well deserved rest after such an exhausting battle. If there are no more questions, I believe this meeting is adjourned. We have everything we came to collect."

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

As Val returned, Jord could sense her and he gave a slight smile. "Ah good, the guard actually did what I asked. Wasn't sure if he'd just taken a coffee break or something." by the time she had gotten there he already had ten rough diagrams sketched out as well as three pages worth of reports. "These are for you." He said, ordering them all together with the most important and pertinent information at the top and the lesser though still useful information at the bottom.

"You'll want to act quickly. Given the nature of my capture I can't tell how long it will take a predecessor to appear and begin to change what I have built. Thus accuracy is based on time, rather than aim in this case."