Post by Charlotte on Mar 23, 2019 16:13:18 GMT -5
(Jeryndi speaks with Breis Teimar, Jujanaj Azair, and Renda. An apology; a hunch; an idea.)
After Solomon had settled down and Jeryndi had returned from his 'walk'... Which had been not much more than pacing back and forth... Jeryndi had come to talk to Breis. Medren was resting, laying down somewhere, and Jeryndi was left alone to wander around the tiny little thing that could be considered base camp. "Hey... Can I talk to you?" he asked.
By that time, Breis was with a few others gathered around Renda, checking the set of his broken leg so that they could re-splint it and get him dressed in one of the suits Jeryndi had brought. They had food for him--something dried and very dusty with Red, rather than a ration pack. Dr. Azair was crouched nearby as well and watched out of black eyes as Breis pivoted a little and saw who it was. "I wish one of you would," he said. "What did you say your name was?"
Jeryndi sighed. "Jeryndi Trander.... I'm sorry for the drama with my cousin... I'm also sorry that I laid that news down on you so harshly," he said by way of apology.
Breis nodded slowly. "No need for apologies. I'm sure he's doing the best he can. He was in a bad way when we found him; we had to give him two pods. He probably feels wretched."
"Jeryndi... Trander...." That from Azair, who cocked his insectine head. Then he laughed. "The Jeryndi Trander?" he asked, echoing Jeryndi's reaction to learning his name. "That's the name of the Jedi credited with slaying Ashton Moonrider."
Upon hearing that, Breis' eyebrows shot up.
He gave a subtle nod. "I am... But I'm not a Jedi anymore," he admitted. "That's my son," he gestured to Medren. "He was raised here on Mandalore until a few months ago."
"You're not a Jedi anymore?" Breis asked, obviously intrigued by many things in this turn of conversation. Even Renda was listening now. "The way your son says he is no longer Mandalorian?"
He nodded. "My story is long and convoluted... But yes... He and his sister were adopted by Ker'dan. Then Kel'dan... And now they're back with me. But they were raised here."
"And you forbid them from thinking of themselves as one of us, or they no longer wish to?"
"I never forbid them from doing anything," he admitted. "I simply told them that I couldn't live here with them... Because I am not really welcome here. Being dar'jetii and all."
Silence for a moment. Then Breis said, "Half my clan never lived here. Barely set foot. Are they not of us because of where they choose to be?"
"I have never really forbidden them to do anything" he said. He took a seat with them. "I told them they couldn't keep the Akir name, as per Sadhric's orders, but beyond that... They are my children and I haven't allowed them to take weapons out in public on other planets, but I have made no restrictions on their home lives."
Breis looked like he had something to say to that.
Renda said it instead: "The Resol'nare is not a thing that can be allowed or disallowed, or given, or taken away." He'd muttered it out of exhaustion, not meekness.
He shook his head. "I don't know much about the Resol'nare... But that's not why I wanted to talk... I came over here to answer your questions."
Breis laughed a little. "Good. Forgive us. It's been on our minds, that topic."
"Understandable," he said, nodding. "It's a heavy topic that changes all of your lives.". He fell silent for a moment, clearly thinking about where to start... "I suppose... It's best to start at explaining what I know... I've explained all of this to my companions and I thought it best to come from me directly so there's no second hand confusion.
"As you know, the Red as they call it started as an impact and a plume of red smoke and dust rose from the impact site... From there, a wave began that consumed the planet. It wasn't just a shockwave, though. It's everything you've seen here and more. All electronics died. There was the roar in the ears. Exposure couldn't be avoided at all... It traveled so fast that if you saw it on the horizon, you were already as good as dead.... They ordered the planet wide evacuation an hour after impact. The Hapans were called in, they helped. Kel'dan took over as Mandalore in the absence of Sadhric and oversaw everything. He approved the usage of beskar’gam in the event that someone was caught in the Red, it might help them survive... Also, to take it with them to not lose their family possessions... He ordered them to take not more than 30% of supplies, food, wares, etc. The rest of the space on every ship was designated for evacuees."
He glanced to where Solomon was resting. "He and Ava-- the Jedi-- had decided to investigate what happened here... When the Red hit Keldabe, I discovered my son had snuck aboard their vessel... At which point, I was informed that the Red had -stopped-." He did the same thigh he'd done with Ava and Sol, holding up a fist and sliding his fingers over it." It is as though something was coating the planet with liquid and there wasn’t enough to cover the entire planet... There are areas untouched by the Red. The wave is still hitting those areas... But not like it is here and elsewhere in the Red... There's turbulence, highwinds, debris, interference, but electronics still work, ships still work. Conditions were worsening when I left... I took a bunch of supplies into the Red with me. I found three survivors in the Aud... But nobody between there and here. I found a few animals... But not many. It had been hard to find my cousin and son, but I did. I came here to offer aid to anyone who needed it and to find my son. The closer we got here, the worse it got... And earlier today was the first time we've seen the sky so light. Which is baffling. It should be the darkest here more than anywhere."
Jeryndi faced an eager audience.
Breis Teimar nodded encouragement that he should tell his story, and reacted only in small ways here and there. That first As you know got an amused rise of his eyebrows, for example. Yes, he'd heard them say that before. No, he did not know it in any more immediate sense. It was logical in retrospect, and he did not doubt what he was being told, but he and the others here had experienced that impact only in a binary way. As he'd said: one moment they'd been trading stories or roasting a fresh kill or showing off weapons or marksmanship skills, and the next minute... nothing. Then they'd each awoken and the world was very different.
He and Dr Azair exchanged a look at the mention of the Jedi, too. They had a lot of questions about that, to join the mountain of other things they wanted to ask. Yet it was only when Jeryndi said it stopped that Breis eased forward to balance on the balls of his feet, signalling a sharpened interest. ""Tell me about that--it stopping." His frown was partially obscured by his visor, but it lived in his eyes. He shook his head. "I don't understand," he admitted. "We didn't--we--I guess I didn't realize this was so big. I thought it was Um-Shara that got hit. I assumed. I didn't...." He shook his head again. Took a second. The question he really wanted to ask surfaced like a bubble rising to the surface of an ocean. "If it's that big, how are we still here? Alive?" He waved a hand to take them all in. "If it was that... I mean, shit. We've got floating people and floating rocks and invaders and wakek--so I guess anything's possible, right?"
He nodded an affirmative to that. "Stranger things have happened," he said quietly. There was an inflection that he had had something stranger than that happen to -him-... A slight shrug followed. "I have so many questions for you... I'm not sure where to begin."
Jeryndi's blase dismissal of it made Breis laugh ruefully. Renda, who'd lost his daughter and entire clan, did not laugh.
"I can try to answer your questions," Breis promised. "Or the doc can." He nodded toward Azair. "But I have to know: Who is else is coming? If the Hapans didn't hit us, and they're trying to help, are they sending people in? You must have guessed we were here somehow. Tell me how. If all of Mandalore is consumed by... this... or nearly... then how did anyone know where to find us? That we were even still kicking?"
"No one else is coming until they figure out what this thing is... Prince Niko still has a research team on the ground-- or did when I left-- and was trying to find ways to get through the Red safely." he took a deep breath, "As to -how-... That's a little complicated. We had a compass, so to speak, within the Force. We just kept going, slowly, in that direction... I don't know how far you've ventured out... But it gets pitch black and zero visibility not far from where we stopped. A day before that, we had maybe ten feet? Short range comms work within about fifty feet or so. We've not tested it here-- we couldn't hear each other at all over the roar."
"How is your hearing now?" Dr Azair, this time. The insectoid head nodded toward him, the viney parts that entwined it shifting slightly. "And your vision? And that of your son?"
"The roar is gone. My vision is fine... I never had the problem with the vision. Probably because I haven't taken off his suit since before I went in... I've only removed the helmet long enough to eat and drink and even then, only within the speeder sealed shut and with the air filters running." He glanced towards his resting son. "I think he's okay... He's convinced Sadhric is alive and needs to find him." He looked back to Breis. "Speaking of... Sadhric was there with you at the Um-Shara Yaim, yes?"
There was a moment of staring at Jeryndi. Of thinking. Then Breis nodded. "Tlin; yes. He was there." He bapped Renda's shoulder with back of his hand. "You probably saw him more than I did. He was with your grandmother the most."
Renda nodded. "Yeah. He left. Just before. Was leaving."
"On the Hapan ship?" Breis asked with a frown.
"The Astrala, yeah."
With a thoughtful grunt, Breis Teimar told Jeryndi, "There are a lot of wrecked ships that you can see amidst the debris near Tal-Keb. I don't know how far the Astrala might have gotten. Could be there. Could be out in the black."
"It's a starting point, at least... I don't think Sadhric would do this... From what I understood, he was coming around and actually trying to make this Mandal and Hapan thing work... But there's another reason we need to find him." He looked to Dr. Azair. "Sadhric is a bona-fide -genius-. I don't mean that like praise, I mean that like -fact-... If anybody can figure this thing out, it's him."
"I don't think you--" Breis sighed heavily, cutting himself off. He shifted toward Jeryndi slowly. "I would like to believe that the dead I've seen are the few, and that the many are still alive somewhere. But there's a big hole near Tal-Kebii'tra, like nothing I've ever seen, and I don't want to say that there is no hope, but we can't rely on the idea of finding someone to save us. We need to figure this out ourselves. Save ourselves."
"I know," he said, nodding. "I get that... But we still need to look... My gut is telling me he's alive and I trust that as much as the Force. But my cousin and I have very different motivations for being here and I'm sorry for the drama earlier... I came here to help people. Finding Sadhric was a secondary priority for me."
Azair spoke up to say, "Your cousin was well out of it after we came upon you. Thanks, no doubt, to the thief. It's fortunate he was not breathing the air long... and fortunate he was not killed. That thief has killed before. Tried to kill me--and Renda, and Lim, and Vorran, before we were separated."
"We don't hold it against your cousin," Breis added, nodding. "And I've run into that thief, too. Bastard tried to steal one of the wakeks when we were back at Tal-Keb. Ran when our lookout brought help. He's getting around, whoever he is."
"Are you sure it's a male?" Azair asked curiously.
Breis shrugged. Renda remained quiet, perhaps hoping that Lim did not encounter the thief after they'd gotten separated.
"He moved like he was unaffected by the Red... Do you experience the heaviness and fatigue?" he asked. "Or was it the long term exposure from traveling through it, you think?" he asked. The first was for the group, the second was for Dr. Azair.
"He's stolen pods from us," Breis told Jeryndi grimly. "We were running low anyway. Now we're going to have to send someone back to Tal-Keb for more. If they even have any left themselves." He sighed, thinking about it obviously not for the first time. "We might have to break camp altogether."
Azair said: "The pods... The surviving warriors from Um-Shara first took them off the invaders. They carried them with them. My understanding is that the invaders were observed drinking from them... but that the only reason one of the Mando'ade tried one was desperate thirst."
"That's what I heard, too," Breis said. "So thirsty, she thought, 'If it's poison, at least death will be more swift.' Then within minutes... You felt it yourself."
He frowned. "Do we know where the pods originate from?"
Azair and Breis both shook their heads.
"Only that the invaders carry them... often on bandoliers," Azair said.
"We search their bodies when we kill them. Or encounter them floating asleep. Take those pods every time we can," Breis added. "It wears off, you've probably guessed. The effect. We go back to being deaf and dumb. Wandering off. Sometimes fall into that sleep ourselves. We've all seen it happen. Before someone tried a pod, we were all bound to wind up defenseless."
"Tell me about when you first woke up... Were you in the last place you remember? Were you alone? Scattered? Did you see any dead already?"
It took a moment for any of them to answer. When someone did, it was Renda. "Lim woke me up," he said. "I remember her shaking me. It was dark. I choked; she was coughing. Everything was wrong. The ground... the air... the shadows... everything.
"Whatever had happened, my leg was already broken. Her nose was bloody. I remember seeing rocks above us. Mountain-sized in the smoke--what I thought was smoke. It was impossible. Everything was impossible. There were ships up there, smashed. I remember thinking I saw a body up in the red smoke past which I couldn't see anything, and I thought maybe I was crazy. Or dead."
He listened patiently... "I'm sorry for all of your losses," he said, his tone sympathetic. "I can't imagine what this has been like for you... Especially now, knowing that this is affecting the entire planet." He sighed softly. "We didn't encounter anything floating until we got close... Rocks floating in the air, and then when we got to that clearing, you." He said nodding, towards Renda. "It sounds like we need to go to Tal-Keb first." ‘We' didn't mean the Mandals, but his small group.
"Your cousin was right: there are others there. None of them are Tlin, though," Breis told him grimly. "Or that was so when we left. Jujanaj?"
At the sound of his first name, Azair nodded. "I've been back since they have," he explained, "and he's right: it's just stragglers. The Mand'alor was not among them. I'm sorry."
Jeryndi pointed to Renda, but it wasn't accusatory. "How does one end up like that? Suspended?"
Breis' laugh burst out of him. Even Renda cracked a silly, stumped smile.
"Believe me," Breis said, "we all wish we knew what the fuck is going on with that."
He nodded again. "Well, that sucks... But thank you for telling me about the Manda'lor not being there... I doubt Solomon will listen and go there anyway... I think it's important to go see the floating ships and such. Tell me about the wakeks? Obviously, you've got them tamed go some degree?"
When Jeryndi mentioned Solomon going there anyway, Breis' grin was sympathetic. "There's nowhere to go but there. 'Cept down." ... but by that time the topic had moved on, and he was nodding to his guest. "Doc can get you there. It's not far from Tal-Keb anyway. The wakeks are... your topic, doc."
Thus he gave Dr Azair centerstage.
"Not tamed," the insectine creature said. "My kind are symbiotes if we wish to move around. We are Eyith. This"--he touched his chest--"is Skirix. While here I am." He indicated some of the twining vine-like structures hugging tight to the exoskeleton, visible here and there between protective wrappings. "With the wakeks, I found that I can branch out to them, and steer them some. It is not easy. Two is my limit, though I have attempted three."
Breis grinned and mock-whispered to Jeryndi: "We were nearly lunch."
He chuckled and shook his head. "Ugh... I was hoping we might could use them for transport... I might could try empathic projection, but it's not something I like to do."
"What's this?" Breis asked, interested.
"A Jedi art?" Azair asked, sounding excited suddenly.
"He said he wasn't one anymore," Breis pointed out.
Azair made a thoughtful buzz in his throat. "I suspect ‘ceasing to be a Jedi’ is akin to ‘ceasing to be a Mandalorian’: more subtle than it sounds."
"Did you really slay Moonrider?" Breis asked in a quick tangent.
"Yes," he said. "And nearly died for doing so... I don't really remember it," he admitted. "It's all blurred... And yes, it is subtle. Just because you leave the Order doesn't mean you lose your connection to the Force. I still worship the Force. I still train. I still use it... I just don't belong to the Order anymore."
"When we are away from here and all are safe whom we can make safe," Azair whispered, "I hope there will be a time when you will tell me what it was like to be in the space of the artifact he used."
"But until then," Breis said emphatically, pausing to make sure he had successfully derailed his own tangent, and then resuming in his normal tone of voice, "... why don't you tell me what you meant by that. Empathic projection? You think you could use it on a wakek? Achieving what?"
He nodded to Dr Azair, then looked to Breis. "Empathic projection is being able to influence another's emotions... You maintain whatever emotion you wish them to feel and then impress it upon the other... In this case, I'd be using it to keep the wakek calm and as obedient as possible."
"And you've used this trick on animals before?" Despite the tangent about Moonrider, Breis' attention was fixed on this with a new fire.
"Yes, but not often. Animals are easier than humans... Depending on how intelligent they are."
Breis was nodding. He looked between Azair and Jeryndi as he said, "We need to move on this. If it works, we can use the extra animals. Doc: is there a way you can help Trander test it? Maybe provide a--"
"Failsafe?" the Eyith asked.
"Exactly. I’m not real keen on being ingested."
"We may be able to come up with a way together," Azair said with a nod to Jeryndi, watching his face through the inhibiting suits to see if he was willing to try.
He nodded that he was willing. "I need rest before we do that, though... This travel period has been hard. I've been using the Force a lot to be aware of potential dangers and to stay awake during the fatigue... I might be able to help with others, the comatose ones... But again, I need rest." he gestured a wide circle. "I don't know Ava. Not really... And I have no idea what her talents are. But it might be worth talking to her about helping... All four of us are Sensitive. My cousin doesn't like it. And my son is untrained."
"We'll take any help we can get," Breis assured him. "Frankly... I didn't know the Jedi still existed. After Coruscant." He shrugged stiffly. "But if you or the Jedi Knight can help us to wake up even a single sleeper... you'll have the gratitude of all of us. Past that... Even one more wakek on our side would be useful. --And I say that knowing that you hope to use it for your own travel. But maybe we can work something out." He was nodding again, his head full of the possibilities awakened here. Finally he breathed: "Thank you for your information. Go rest. We'll wake you if there's trouble."
After Solomon had settled down and Jeryndi had returned from his 'walk'... Which had been not much more than pacing back and forth... Jeryndi had come to talk to Breis. Medren was resting, laying down somewhere, and Jeryndi was left alone to wander around the tiny little thing that could be considered base camp. "Hey... Can I talk to you?" he asked.
By that time, Breis was with a few others gathered around Renda, checking the set of his broken leg so that they could re-splint it and get him dressed in one of the suits Jeryndi had brought. They had food for him--something dried and very dusty with Red, rather than a ration pack. Dr. Azair was crouched nearby as well and watched out of black eyes as Breis pivoted a little and saw who it was. "I wish one of you would," he said. "What did you say your name was?"
Jeryndi sighed. "Jeryndi Trander.... I'm sorry for the drama with my cousin... I'm also sorry that I laid that news down on you so harshly," he said by way of apology.
Breis nodded slowly. "No need for apologies. I'm sure he's doing the best he can. He was in a bad way when we found him; we had to give him two pods. He probably feels wretched."
"Jeryndi... Trander...." That from Azair, who cocked his insectine head. Then he laughed. "The Jeryndi Trander?" he asked, echoing Jeryndi's reaction to learning his name. "That's the name of the Jedi credited with slaying Ashton Moonrider."
Upon hearing that, Breis' eyebrows shot up.
He gave a subtle nod. "I am... But I'm not a Jedi anymore," he admitted. "That's my son," he gestured to Medren. "He was raised here on Mandalore until a few months ago."
"You're not a Jedi anymore?" Breis asked, obviously intrigued by many things in this turn of conversation. Even Renda was listening now. "The way your son says he is no longer Mandalorian?"
He nodded. "My story is long and convoluted... But yes... He and his sister were adopted by Ker'dan. Then Kel'dan... And now they're back with me. But they were raised here."
"And you forbid them from thinking of themselves as one of us, or they no longer wish to?"
"I never forbid them from doing anything," he admitted. "I simply told them that I couldn't live here with them... Because I am not really welcome here. Being dar'jetii and all."
Silence for a moment. Then Breis said, "Half my clan never lived here. Barely set foot. Are they not of us because of where they choose to be?"
"I have never really forbidden them to do anything" he said. He took a seat with them. "I told them they couldn't keep the Akir name, as per Sadhric's orders, but beyond that... They are my children and I haven't allowed them to take weapons out in public on other planets, but I have made no restrictions on their home lives."
Breis looked like he had something to say to that.
Renda said it instead: "The Resol'nare is not a thing that can be allowed or disallowed, or given, or taken away." He'd muttered it out of exhaustion, not meekness.
He shook his head. "I don't know much about the Resol'nare... But that's not why I wanted to talk... I came over here to answer your questions."
Breis laughed a little. "Good. Forgive us. It's been on our minds, that topic."
"Understandable," he said, nodding. "It's a heavy topic that changes all of your lives.". He fell silent for a moment, clearly thinking about where to start... "I suppose... It's best to start at explaining what I know... I've explained all of this to my companions and I thought it best to come from me directly so there's no second hand confusion.
"As you know, the Red as they call it started as an impact and a plume of red smoke and dust rose from the impact site... From there, a wave began that consumed the planet. It wasn't just a shockwave, though. It's everything you've seen here and more. All electronics died. There was the roar in the ears. Exposure couldn't be avoided at all... It traveled so fast that if you saw it on the horizon, you were already as good as dead.... They ordered the planet wide evacuation an hour after impact. The Hapans were called in, they helped. Kel'dan took over as Mandalore in the absence of Sadhric and oversaw everything. He approved the usage of beskar’gam in the event that someone was caught in the Red, it might help them survive... Also, to take it with them to not lose their family possessions... He ordered them to take not more than 30% of supplies, food, wares, etc. The rest of the space on every ship was designated for evacuees."
He glanced to where Solomon was resting. "He and Ava-- the Jedi-- had decided to investigate what happened here... When the Red hit Keldabe, I discovered my son had snuck aboard their vessel... At which point, I was informed that the Red had -stopped-." He did the same thigh he'd done with Ava and Sol, holding up a fist and sliding his fingers over it." It is as though something was coating the planet with liquid and there wasn’t enough to cover the entire planet... There are areas untouched by the Red. The wave is still hitting those areas... But not like it is here and elsewhere in the Red... There's turbulence, highwinds, debris, interference, but electronics still work, ships still work. Conditions were worsening when I left... I took a bunch of supplies into the Red with me. I found three survivors in the Aud... But nobody between there and here. I found a few animals... But not many. It had been hard to find my cousin and son, but I did. I came here to offer aid to anyone who needed it and to find my son. The closer we got here, the worse it got... And earlier today was the first time we've seen the sky so light. Which is baffling. It should be the darkest here more than anywhere."
Jeryndi faced an eager audience.
Breis Teimar nodded encouragement that he should tell his story, and reacted only in small ways here and there. That first As you know got an amused rise of his eyebrows, for example. Yes, he'd heard them say that before. No, he did not know it in any more immediate sense. It was logical in retrospect, and he did not doubt what he was being told, but he and the others here had experienced that impact only in a binary way. As he'd said: one moment they'd been trading stories or roasting a fresh kill or showing off weapons or marksmanship skills, and the next minute... nothing. Then they'd each awoken and the world was very different.
He and Dr Azair exchanged a look at the mention of the Jedi, too. They had a lot of questions about that, to join the mountain of other things they wanted to ask. Yet it was only when Jeryndi said it stopped that Breis eased forward to balance on the balls of his feet, signalling a sharpened interest. ""Tell me about that--it stopping." His frown was partially obscured by his visor, but it lived in his eyes. He shook his head. "I don't understand," he admitted. "We didn't--we--I guess I didn't realize this was so big. I thought it was Um-Shara that got hit. I assumed. I didn't...." He shook his head again. Took a second. The question he really wanted to ask surfaced like a bubble rising to the surface of an ocean. "If it's that big, how are we still here? Alive?" He waved a hand to take them all in. "If it was that... I mean, shit. We've got floating people and floating rocks and invaders and wakek--so I guess anything's possible, right?"
He nodded an affirmative to that. "Stranger things have happened," he said quietly. There was an inflection that he had had something stranger than that happen to -him-... A slight shrug followed. "I have so many questions for you... I'm not sure where to begin."
Jeryndi's blase dismissal of it made Breis laugh ruefully. Renda, who'd lost his daughter and entire clan, did not laugh.
"I can try to answer your questions," Breis promised. "Or the doc can." He nodded toward Azair. "But I have to know: Who is else is coming? If the Hapans didn't hit us, and they're trying to help, are they sending people in? You must have guessed we were here somehow. Tell me how. If all of Mandalore is consumed by... this... or nearly... then how did anyone know where to find us? That we were even still kicking?"
"No one else is coming until they figure out what this thing is... Prince Niko still has a research team on the ground-- or did when I left-- and was trying to find ways to get through the Red safely." he took a deep breath, "As to -how-... That's a little complicated. We had a compass, so to speak, within the Force. We just kept going, slowly, in that direction... I don't know how far you've ventured out... But it gets pitch black and zero visibility not far from where we stopped. A day before that, we had maybe ten feet? Short range comms work within about fifty feet or so. We've not tested it here-- we couldn't hear each other at all over the roar."
"How is your hearing now?" Dr Azair, this time. The insectoid head nodded toward him, the viney parts that entwined it shifting slightly. "And your vision? And that of your son?"
"The roar is gone. My vision is fine... I never had the problem with the vision. Probably because I haven't taken off his suit since before I went in... I've only removed the helmet long enough to eat and drink and even then, only within the speeder sealed shut and with the air filters running." He glanced towards his resting son. "I think he's okay... He's convinced Sadhric is alive and needs to find him." He looked back to Breis. "Speaking of... Sadhric was there with you at the Um-Shara Yaim, yes?"
There was a moment of staring at Jeryndi. Of thinking. Then Breis nodded. "Tlin; yes. He was there." He bapped Renda's shoulder with back of his hand. "You probably saw him more than I did. He was with your grandmother the most."
Renda nodded. "Yeah. He left. Just before. Was leaving."
"On the Hapan ship?" Breis asked with a frown.
"The Astrala, yeah."
With a thoughtful grunt, Breis Teimar told Jeryndi, "There are a lot of wrecked ships that you can see amidst the debris near Tal-Keb. I don't know how far the Astrala might have gotten. Could be there. Could be out in the black."
"It's a starting point, at least... I don't think Sadhric would do this... From what I understood, he was coming around and actually trying to make this Mandal and Hapan thing work... But there's another reason we need to find him." He looked to Dr. Azair. "Sadhric is a bona-fide -genius-. I don't mean that like praise, I mean that like -fact-... If anybody can figure this thing out, it's him."
"I don't think you--" Breis sighed heavily, cutting himself off. He shifted toward Jeryndi slowly. "I would like to believe that the dead I've seen are the few, and that the many are still alive somewhere. But there's a big hole near Tal-Kebii'tra, like nothing I've ever seen, and I don't want to say that there is no hope, but we can't rely on the idea of finding someone to save us. We need to figure this out ourselves. Save ourselves."
"I know," he said, nodding. "I get that... But we still need to look... My gut is telling me he's alive and I trust that as much as the Force. But my cousin and I have very different motivations for being here and I'm sorry for the drama earlier... I came here to help people. Finding Sadhric was a secondary priority for me."
Azair spoke up to say, "Your cousin was well out of it after we came upon you. Thanks, no doubt, to the thief. It's fortunate he was not breathing the air long... and fortunate he was not killed. That thief has killed before. Tried to kill me--and Renda, and Lim, and Vorran, before we were separated."
"We don't hold it against your cousin," Breis added, nodding. "And I've run into that thief, too. Bastard tried to steal one of the wakeks when we were back at Tal-Keb. Ran when our lookout brought help. He's getting around, whoever he is."
"Are you sure it's a male?" Azair asked curiously.
Breis shrugged. Renda remained quiet, perhaps hoping that Lim did not encounter the thief after they'd gotten separated.
"He moved like he was unaffected by the Red... Do you experience the heaviness and fatigue?" he asked. "Or was it the long term exposure from traveling through it, you think?" he asked. The first was for the group, the second was for Dr. Azair.
"He's stolen pods from us," Breis told Jeryndi grimly. "We were running low anyway. Now we're going to have to send someone back to Tal-Keb for more. If they even have any left themselves." He sighed, thinking about it obviously not for the first time. "We might have to break camp altogether."
Azair said: "The pods... The surviving warriors from Um-Shara first took them off the invaders. They carried them with them. My understanding is that the invaders were observed drinking from them... but that the only reason one of the Mando'ade tried one was desperate thirst."
"That's what I heard, too," Breis said. "So thirsty, she thought, 'If it's poison, at least death will be more swift.' Then within minutes... You felt it yourself."
He frowned. "Do we know where the pods originate from?"
Azair and Breis both shook their heads.
"Only that the invaders carry them... often on bandoliers," Azair said.
"We search their bodies when we kill them. Or encounter them floating asleep. Take those pods every time we can," Breis added. "It wears off, you've probably guessed. The effect. We go back to being deaf and dumb. Wandering off. Sometimes fall into that sleep ourselves. We've all seen it happen. Before someone tried a pod, we were all bound to wind up defenseless."
"Tell me about when you first woke up... Were you in the last place you remember? Were you alone? Scattered? Did you see any dead already?"
It took a moment for any of them to answer. When someone did, it was Renda. "Lim woke me up," he said. "I remember her shaking me. It was dark. I choked; she was coughing. Everything was wrong. The ground... the air... the shadows... everything.
"Whatever had happened, my leg was already broken. Her nose was bloody. I remember seeing rocks above us. Mountain-sized in the smoke--what I thought was smoke. It was impossible. Everything was impossible. There were ships up there, smashed. I remember thinking I saw a body up in the red smoke past which I couldn't see anything, and I thought maybe I was crazy. Or dead."
He listened patiently... "I'm sorry for all of your losses," he said, his tone sympathetic. "I can't imagine what this has been like for you... Especially now, knowing that this is affecting the entire planet." He sighed softly. "We didn't encounter anything floating until we got close... Rocks floating in the air, and then when we got to that clearing, you." He said nodding, towards Renda. "It sounds like we need to go to Tal-Keb first." ‘We' didn't mean the Mandals, but his small group.
"Your cousin was right: there are others there. None of them are Tlin, though," Breis told him grimly. "Or that was so when we left. Jujanaj?"
At the sound of his first name, Azair nodded. "I've been back since they have," he explained, "and he's right: it's just stragglers. The Mand'alor was not among them. I'm sorry."
Jeryndi pointed to Renda, but it wasn't accusatory. "How does one end up like that? Suspended?"
Breis' laugh burst out of him. Even Renda cracked a silly, stumped smile.
"Believe me," Breis said, "we all wish we knew what the fuck is going on with that."
He nodded again. "Well, that sucks... But thank you for telling me about the Manda'lor not being there... I doubt Solomon will listen and go there anyway... I think it's important to go see the floating ships and such. Tell me about the wakeks? Obviously, you've got them tamed go some degree?"
When Jeryndi mentioned Solomon going there anyway, Breis' grin was sympathetic. "There's nowhere to go but there. 'Cept down." ... but by that time the topic had moved on, and he was nodding to his guest. "Doc can get you there. It's not far from Tal-Keb anyway. The wakeks are... your topic, doc."
Thus he gave Dr Azair centerstage.
"Not tamed," the insectine creature said. "My kind are symbiotes if we wish to move around. We are Eyith. This"--he touched his chest--"is Skirix. While here I am." He indicated some of the twining vine-like structures hugging tight to the exoskeleton, visible here and there between protective wrappings. "With the wakeks, I found that I can branch out to them, and steer them some. It is not easy. Two is my limit, though I have attempted three."
Breis grinned and mock-whispered to Jeryndi: "We were nearly lunch."
He chuckled and shook his head. "Ugh... I was hoping we might could use them for transport... I might could try empathic projection, but it's not something I like to do."
"What's this?" Breis asked, interested.
"A Jedi art?" Azair asked, sounding excited suddenly.
"He said he wasn't one anymore," Breis pointed out.
Azair made a thoughtful buzz in his throat. "I suspect ‘ceasing to be a Jedi’ is akin to ‘ceasing to be a Mandalorian’: more subtle than it sounds."
"Did you really slay Moonrider?" Breis asked in a quick tangent.
"Yes," he said. "And nearly died for doing so... I don't really remember it," he admitted. "It's all blurred... And yes, it is subtle. Just because you leave the Order doesn't mean you lose your connection to the Force. I still worship the Force. I still train. I still use it... I just don't belong to the Order anymore."
"When we are away from here and all are safe whom we can make safe," Azair whispered, "I hope there will be a time when you will tell me what it was like to be in the space of the artifact he used."
"But until then," Breis said emphatically, pausing to make sure he had successfully derailed his own tangent, and then resuming in his normal tone of voice, "... why don't you tell me what you meant by that. Empathic projection? You think you could use it on a wakek? Achieving what?"
He nodded to Dr Azair, then looked to Breis. "Empathic projection is being able to influence another's emotions... You maintain whatever emotion you wish them to feel and then impress it upon the other... In this case, I'd be using it to keep the wakek calm and as obedient as possible."
"And you've used this trick on animals before?" Despite the tangent about Moonrider, Breis' attention was fixed on this with a new fire.
"Yes, but not often. Animals are easier than humans... Depending on how intelligent they are."
Breis was nodding. He looked between Azair and Jeryndi as he said, "We need to move on this. If it works, we can use the extra animals. Doc: is there a way you can help Trander test it? Maybe provide a--"
"Failsafe?" the Eyith asked.
"Exactly. I’m not real keen on being ingested."
"We may be able to come up with a way together," Azair said with a nod to Jeryndi, watching his face through the inhibiting suits to see if he was willing to try.
He nodded that he was willing. "I need rest before we do that, though... This travel period has been hard. I've been using the Force a lot to be aware of potential dangers and to stay awake during the fatigue... I might be able to help with others, the comatose ones... But again, I need rest." he gestured a wide circle. "I don't know Ava. Not really... And I have no idea what her talents are. But it might be worth talking to her about helping... All four of us are Sensitive. My cousin doesn't like it. And my son is untrained."
"We'll take any help we can get," Breis assured him. "Frankly... I didn't know the Jedi still existed. After Coruscant." He shrugged stiffly. "But if you or the Jedi Knight can help us to wake up even a single sleeper... you'll have the gratitude of all of us. Past that... Even one more wakek on our side would be useful. --And I say that knowing that you hope to use it for your own travel. But maybe we can work something out." He was nodding again, his head full of the possibilities awakened here. Finally he breathed: "Thank you for your information. Go rest. We'll wake you if there's trouble."