Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Star Wars - A New Power Ch. 24 - Departure
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Angcuru" data-source="post: 3369837" data-attributes="member: 10948"><p><strong>Ch. 20 - Unpleasant Surprises</strong></p><p></p><p>“And just <em>how</em> did you manage to do that…Jaess, is it?” Miera sighed, easing up her ever-present gasp of the force from the throat of the captured Stormtrooper who had tried to run for it when the strange girl had them distracted. A quick squeeze and a nod from the trooper ensured he would stay put. </p><p></p><p>“A simple matter of stealthy approach.” The young woman in the skin-tight stealth suit answered. “You were about to engage in battle with the Stormies, and I took the advantage to approach unseen as you had drawn their attention.” She gestured towards the multitude of lightsabers present. “The pilots were about to contact their commanding officer and relay the…events going on, but fortunately I was able to prevent that.” The girl gestured to the antiquated projectile weapon at her feet. Where <em>someone</em> had ripped it out of her hand through the force, which surprisingly only unnerved her a little bit. “And thus the empire has <em>no</em> idea what is going on whilst you…Jedi-types are curious as to my presence.”</p><p></p><p>“That about sums it up.” Jorran replied.</p><p></p><p>“But how did you get here?” Kal spoke up, attracting the attention of most around him. “What? She hasn’t told us what she’s doing here.” He said in his own defense, making sure that the slashes in his coat weren’t too extensive.</p><p></p><p>“I’m an operative placed here by the Rebel Alliance via a stolen Imperial Shuttle in response to reports of several authorities who lost track of an old Corellian Transport which subsequently was found a very long distance away from the point of departure in a very short time. It was arrived at that some sort of mystery super-hyperdrive was invented and thus we must find it before the Empire did.” Jaess took a deep breath.</p><p></p><p>“That was…quite forward.” Adrial commented.</p><p></p><p>“If you’re part of an organization with the first Jedi in decades at the forefront and you find some Jedi stranded in the middle of nowhere who just took out a couple dozen Stormies with only one wound, you tend to feel a little awed.” Jaess responded, not noticing a slight, dangerous twinge in Arias’ lower left eyelid at being called Jedi. “Also, Jedi can read minds so it wouldn’t matter anyway.”</p><p></p><p>“Makes sense to me.” Aasan said, shrugging slightly. “From what I’ve seen, I wouldn’t put it past them to try that.”</p><p></p><p>“Either way,” Kia said, looking at the <em>Dawnsprinter</em> with new, yet quite confused appreciation. “We still have to worry about the Imperials in orbit, and how we’re to get past them if we’re to get on with our lives intact in any way whatsoever. By which I mean not being charred to death by incessant blasting.”</p><p></p><p>“Very understandable,” Miera said, “But we have to move on, and we have the question of whether you will aid or hinder us in this endeavor remains”. She turned to face Jaess. “So I ask you, will you undertake any activity that will in any way hinder Sethi plans to finally get off this planet?” </p><p></p><p>“Who? Finally?” Jaess asked.</p><p></p><p>Miera frowned. “Us ‘Jedi-types’.”</p><p></p><p>“We’ve been here for quite a while,” Adrial added, “The <em>Dawnsprinter</em> isn’t the first ship to have crash landed on this planet.”</p><p></p><p>“As long as your plans don’t hinder the Alliance’s.” Jaess said. She flipped a small switch on her collar. “Arlee, please set the shuttle down as near my position as you can manage. Mind the dead bodies.”</p><p></p><p>“Dead bodies?” The robotic voice responded into Jaess’ ear. “I thought this was a reconnaissance mission, operative Talori.”</p><p></p><p>“Not entirely, we have to get the ship or the people who were on it still. I reacted to present circumstances which involved those people having teamed up with some pseudo-Jedi and slaughtered a bunch of Stormtroopers. Now get over here as quick as you can, the Imperials are going to get suspicious when their assault shuttle doesn’t report in.” Jaess cut the comm and turned to regard the surviving stormtrooper. “So what do you plan to do with him?”</p><p></p><p>“This.” Miera said, turning to the trooper and waving her hand slightly, though only for effect. It seemed to impress the apprentices. “You want to tell us everything you know about the Empire’s intent for this planet.”</p><p></p><p>“We…” The trooper’s eye took on a glazed look. “We were only informed of the goal of our mission. We were to assess the situation, gather us much information as possible from the survivors, and promptly slaughter them. Afterwards we were to await the arrival of Lord Taban-” Abruptly his hands flew to his mouth and he began coughing harshly. Quickly a flow of blood came trickling from the corner of his mouth, and he fell in a heap on the ground. </p><p></p><p>“He’s dead.” Jaess said as Miera moved to determine his condition. “A bit of muscle memory induced into Stormtroopers working for Imperial Intelligence that causes their lungs to rapidly fluctuate and burst within a few seconds after revealing any compromising information.” </p><p></p><p>Miera nodded, smoothly drew her saber and quickly drove it into the trooper’s corpse’s right side. She replaced her saber and nudged the trooper on his side, and a stream of blood flowed from the breach, eerily like dark wine from a white cask.</p><p></p><p>“He drowned in his own blood…a bad way to go, even for a Stormie.” Jaess said.</p><p></p><p>“If he was conditioned to die when revealing anything, why didn’t he croak when he told us he was supposed to make sure we didn’t survive?” Jorran wondered aloud.</p><p></p><p>“That wasn’t critically confidential information, it was obvious from their actions. Thus it was already revealed and wasn’t applicable to the conditioning.” Adrial offered. “Master Arias, is something wrong?” She hushed quickly as Arias spoke as if she weren’t there.</p><p></p><p>“Miera, did I hear those last two words correctly?” Arias asked slowly. Kal winced at his tone, barren of emotion, yet it felt cold and wary. Master Arias only spoke that way when something had him truly concerned, or perceived some imminent danger.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t even think that, it’s impossible. He died just before we left the order. You saw what happened, there was no way anything living could survive.” Miera almost snapped back at him.</p><p></p><p>“Who died?” Kia enquired. “What happened? Is it this ….Lord Taban guy?”</p><p></p><p>“This isn’t good. Whether or not he’s who they think he is, Imperials only referred to Vader and the Emperor with that title.” Aasan spoke up. “”</p><p></p><p>“Imperials…and Sith.” Jorran added. </p><p></p><p>“It was the same during the war.” Aasan nodded. “Lord Dooku, Lord Sidious, both were powerful Sith Lords.”</p><p></p><p>“It’s Tabano, not Taban.” Jaess said, finally getting a word in.</p><p></p><p>“How do you know that name?” Arias demanded. Harshly.</p><p></p><p>Jaess hesitated a moment, taken slightly aback from the abrupt change in the man’s demeanor. “I only heard the name in passing during one of my briefings. The Rebellion thinks he’s the only thing holding the Empire together after Skywalker killed Vader and the Emperor.”</p><p></p><p>“Master Arias,” Jorran asked carefully, “what does the name Tabano mean to <em>you</em>?”</p><p></p><p>“Tabano,” Miera said slowly, “is a name with a great deal of significance in our past, Jorran.”</p><p></p><p>“But who was this Tabano?” Kia requested, getting impatient to know what the name meant.</p><p></p><p>“Tabano was a great Jedi once.” Arias said. “A good friend, and a skilled teacher.”</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">***</p><p></p><p>‘Well, that was rude.’ Arlee thought, setting a patch for descent from orbit back into the as yet unidentified planet’s atmosphere. ‘Organics are so unpredictable.’ </p><p></p><p>The shuttle hurtled like a blazing meteor through the outer atmosphere, the shields keeping the <em>Deepscan</em> from being lit up like a wookie who got too close to a bonfire. Arlee performed a quick check to make sure that all systems were operational before prepping the shuttle to land.</p><p></p><p>Pseudo-Jedi? Arlee had files stored in his databanks on Jedi history, though why they revered the Force rather than the Code was beyond him. The theories were similar enough, but the pure logic and ultimate truth of the Code would always be superior to the mysticism of the Force. Certainly the Force was a real and true power in the galaxy, but the Code was mathematical perfection. All philosophy is ultimately based upon the quest for some ultimate perfection. Thus as perfection is ultimately truth, it is required to place the foundation for that truth in mathematics. </p><p></p><p>Jedi often spoke of balance as being the natural state of things, but Organics are naturally imbalanced through their attempts to explain away everything through ethics, a woefully complex and hazardous choice. Jedi try to keep themselves in balance with their own Jedi Code, a title for which Arlee granted some respect. But with mathematics, truth can always be obtained and requires no balancing force other than nature itself. In the Code, everything is a series of equations, matrices, algorithms, and other truths of mathematics in which all is ultimately balanced.</p><p></p><p>But <em>pseudo</em>Jedi? Of course there were the Sith to be thought of, but they were simply a balancing power against the Jedi and had until recently been the core power in the galaxy with only two known practitioners, so these newly found people could not be Sith. Jaess’ comm had caught a strange word however…Sethi.</p><p></p><p>Jedi. Sith. Sethi. Such a simple combination of words, but it told a lot in Arlee’s estimation. The combination of titles of course symbolized a philosophy somewhere between that of the Jedi and of the Sith. However, there were more letters from the word Sith, not to mention that the word began with S rather than J, so perhaps they leaned more towards the teachings of the Sith. Organics never achieved true balance, which required the Code, so this was no surprise to Arlee. Of course there was the possibility that these were some strange force-users who simply tried to think of a title that sounded…neat as was the preference of some organics.</p><p></p><p>Having finished his inspection, the old droid turned off the navigation warning exactly four milliseconds after it lit, and engaged the landing gear. He was not so careless as to allow his philosophical musings to interfere with operating the shuttle, of course. With ease, Arlee directed the ship to the ground on the outskirts of the small field of bodies near the two other ships as the ramp descended. His calculations perfect as usual, the droid went to step off of the ramp onto the ground, his foot touching the ground just as the ship touched down. Arlee had not taken three steps towards the group of Organics before he saw a mottled brown shape in his peripheral vision and hit the ground face first as a huge weight crashed into him.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Angcuru, post: 3369837, member: 10948"] [b]Ch. 20 - Unpleasant Surprises[/b] “And just [i]how[/i] did you manage to do that…Jaess, is it?” Miera sighed, easing up her ever-present gasp of the force from the throat of the captured Stormtrooper who had tried to run for it when the strange girl had them distracted. A quick squeeze and a nod from the trooper ensured he would stay put. “A simple matter of stealthy approach.” The young woman in the skin-tight stealth suit answered. “You were about to engage in battle with the Stormies, and I took the advantage to approach unseen as you had drawn their attention.” She gestured towards the multitude of lightsabers present. “The pilots were about to contact their commanding officer and relay the…events going on, but fortunately I was able to prevent that.” The girl gestured to the antiquated projectile weapon at her feet. Where [i]someone[/i] had ripped it out of her hand through the force, which surprisingly only unnerved her a little bit. “And thus the empire has [i]no[/i] idea what is going on whilst you…Jedi-types are curious as to my presence.” “That about sums it up.” Jorran replied. “But how did you get here?” Kal spoke up, attracting the attention of most around him. “What? She hasn’t told us what she’s doing here.” He said in his own defense, making sure that the slashes in his coat weren’t too extensive. “I’m an operative placed here by the Rebel Alliance via a stolen Imperial Shuttle in response to reports of several authorities who lost track of an old Corellian Transport which subsequently was found a very long distance away from the point of departure in a very short time. It was arrived at that some sort of mystery super-hyperdrive was invented and thus we must find it before the Empire did.” Jaess took a deep breath. “That was…quite forward.” Adrial commented. “If you’re part of an organization with the first Jedi in decades at the forefront and you find some Jedi stranded in the middle of nowhere who just took out a couple dozen Stormies with only one wound, you tend to feel a little awed.” Jaess responded, not noticing a slight, dangerous twinge in Arias’ lower left eyelid at being called Jedi. “Also, Jedi can read minds so it wouldn’t matter anyway.” “Makes sense to me.” Aasan said, shrugging slightly. “From what I’ve seen, I wouldn’t put it past them to try that.” “Either way,” Kia said, looking at the [i]Dawnsprinter[/i] with new, yet quite confused appreciation. “We still have to worry about the Imperials in orbit, and how we’re to get past them if we’re to get on with our lives intact in any way whatsoever. By which I mean not being charred to death by incessant blasting.” “Very understandable,” Miera said, “But we have to move on, and we have the question of whether you will aid or hinder us in this endeavor remains”. She turned to face Jaess. “So I ask you, will you undertake any activity that will in any way hinder Sethi plans to finally get off this planet?” “Who? Finally?” Jaess asked. Miera frowned. “Us ‘Jedi-types’.” “We’ve been here for quite a while,” Adrial added, “The [i]Dawnsprinter[/i] isn’t the first ship to have crash landed on this planet.” “As long as your plans don’t hinder the Alliance’s.” Jaess said. She flipped a small switch on her collar. “Arlee, please set the shuttle down as near my position as you can manage. Mind the dead bodies.” “Dead bodies?” The robotic voice responded into Jaess’ ear. “I thought this was a reconnaissance mission, operative Talori.” “Not entirely, we have to get the ship or the people who were on it still. I reacted to present circumstances which involved those people having teamed up with some pseudo-Jedi and slaughtered a bunch of Stormtroopers. Now get over here as quick as you can, the Imperials are going to get suspicious when their assault shuttle doesn’t report in.” Jaess cut the comm and turned to regard the surviving stormtrooper. “So what do you plan to do with him?” “This.” Miera said, turning to the trooper and waving her hand slightly, though only for effect. It seemed to impress the apprentices. “You want to tell us everything you know about the Empire’s intent for this planet.” “We…” The trooper’s eye took on a glazed look. “We were only informed of the goal of our mission. We were to assess the situation, gather us much information as possible from the survivors, and promptly slaughter them. Afterwards we were to await the arrival of Lord Taban-” Abruptly his hands flew to his mouth and he began coughing harshly. Quickly a flow of blood came trickling from the corner of his mouth, and he fell in a heap on the ground. “He’s dead.” Jaess said as Miera moved to determine his condition. “A bit of muscle memory induced into Stormtroopers working for Imperial Intelligence that causes their lungs to rapidly fluctuate and burst within a few seconds after revealing any compromising information.” Miera nodded, smoothly drew her saber and quickly drove it into the trooper’s corpse’s right side. She replaced her saber and nudged the trooper on his side, and a stream of blood flowed from the breach, eerily like dark wine from a white cask. “He drowned in his own blood…a bad way to go, even for a Stormie.” Jaess said. “If he was conditioned to die when revealing anything, why didn’t he croak when he told us he was supposed to make sure we didn’t survive?” Jorran wondered aloud. “That wasn’t critically confidential information, it was obvious from their actions. Thus it was already revealed and wasn’t applicable to the conditioning.” Adrial offered. “Master Arias, is something wrong?” She hushed quickly as Arias spoke as if she weren’t there. “Miera, did I hear those last two words correctly?” Arias asked slowly. Kal winced at his tone, barren of emotion, yet it felt cold and wary. Master Arias only spoke that way when something had him truly concerned, or perceived some imminent danger. “Don’t even think that, it’s impossible. He died just before we left the order. You saw what happened, there was no way anything living could survive.” Miera almost snapped back at him. “Who died?” Kia enquired. “What happened? Is it this ….Lord Taban guy?” “This isn’t good. Whether or not he’s who they think he is, Imperials only referred to Vader and the Emperor with that title.” Aasan spoke up. “” “Imperials…and Sith.” Jorran added. “It was the same during the war.” Aasan nodded. “Lord Dooku, Lord Sidious, both were powerful Sith Lords.” “It’s Tabano, not Taban.” Jaess said, finally getting a word in. “How do you know that name?” Arias demanded. Harshly. Jaess hesitated a moment, taken slightly aback from the abrupt change in the man’s demeanor. “I only heard the name in passing during one of my briefings. The Rebellion thinks he’s the only thing holding the Empire together after Skywalker killed Vader and the Emperor.” “Master Arias,” Jorran asked carefully, “what does the name Tabano mean to [i]you[/i]?” “Tabano,” Miera said slowly, “is a name with a great deal of significance in our past, Jorran.” “But who was this Tabano?” Kia requested, getting impatient to know what the name meant. “Tabano was a great Jedi once.” Arias said. “A good friend, and a skilled teacher.” [center]***[/center] ‘Well, that was rude.’ Arlee thought, setting a patch for descent from orbit back into the as yet unidentified planet’s atmosphere. ‘Organics are so unpredictable.’ The shuttle hurtled like a blazing meteor through the outer atmosphere, the shields keeping the [i]Deepscan[/i] from being lit up like a wookie who got too close to a bonfire. Arlee performed a quick check to make sure that all systems were operational before prepping the shuttle to land. Pseudo-Jedi? Arlee had files stored in his databanks on Jedi history, though why they revered the Force rather than the Code was beyond him. The theories were similar enough, but the pure logic and ultimate truth of the Code would always be superior to the mysticism of the Force. Certainly the Force was a real and true power in the galaxy, but the Code was mathematical perfection. All philosophy is ultimately based upon the quest for some ultimate perfection. Thus as perfection is ultimately truth, it is required to place the foundation for that truth in mathematics. Jedi often spoke of balance as being the natural state of things, but Organics are naturally imbalanced through their attempts to explain away everything through ethics, a woefully complex and hazardous choice. Jedi try to keep themselves in balance with their own Jedi Code, a title for which Arlee granted some respect. But with mathematics, truth can always be obtained and requires no balancing force other than nature itself. In the Code, everything is a series of equations, matrices, algorithms, and other truths of mathematics in which all is ultimately balanced. But [i]pseudo[/i]Jedi? Of course there were the Sith to be thought of, but they were simply a balancing power against the Jedi and had until recently been the core power in the galaxy with only two known practitioners, so these newly found people could not be Sith. Jaess’ comm had caught a strange word however…Sethi. Jedi. Sith. Sethi. Such a simple combination of words, but it told a lot in Arlee’s estimation. The combination of titles of course symbolized a philosophy somewhere between that of the Jedi and of the Sith. However, there were more letters from the word Sith, not to mention that the word began with S rather than J, so perhaps they leaned more towards the teachings of the Sith. Organics never achieved true balance, which required the Code, so this was no surprise to Arlee. Of course there was the possibility that these were some strange force-users who simply tried to think of a title that sounded…neat as was the preference of some organics. Having finished his inspection, the old droid turned off the navigation warning exactly four milliseconds after it lit, and engaged the landing gear. He was not so careless as to allow his philosophical musings to interfere with operating the shuttle, of course. With ease, Arlee directed the ship to the ground on the outskirts of the small field of bodies near the two other ships as the ramp descended. His calculations perfect as usual, the droid went to step off of the ramp onto the ground, his foot touching the ground just as the ship touched down. Arlee had not taken three steps towards the group of Organics before he saw a mottled brown shape in his peripheral vision and hit the ground face first as a huge weight crashed into him. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Star Wars - A New Power Ch. 24 - Departure
Top