Foundations in Light

[Dasquian Belargic]

It was mid-morning and already the Alliance Hub was a hive of activity. In the process of briefing two operatives on a low-level reconnaissance mission, Dasquian Belargic was interrupted with news that the Hub had received a communique from an important ally. The message explained the whereabouts of the Jedi Knight Daria Nytherciria, and also confirmed her willingness to meet with another Jedi with whom the Alliance had recently come into contact. It seemed important that the two should meet as soon as possible, and so Dasquian wasted no time in contacting Serena Laran, asking that she come to meet with him as soon as she was ready.

[Serena Laran]

"Come with me, Rhianna," Serena looked in on the girl in her room on board Serenity. "I am meeting with Agent Belargic about another Jedi, and I would like for you to come along."

Morgan was off somewhere... probably eating in the mess hall or putting something back together. The girl jumped up off her bunk, slipping her shoes on, and the Jedi and padawan left the ship. Walking down the ramp onto the deck of the hangar bay they had landed inside, Serena was very careful to maintain the same steady pace she always used. Unless there was an emergency, she would not run.

There simply was no need. Dasquian would be there with his news when she reached him.

[Rhianna]

Falling into step beside her mentor, Rhianna tied her hair back quickly. She had been up for a while now. After tossing down a quick breakfast she had gone for a walk, then returned to her bunk. She sat in silence and meditated for a while, but still she felt like she had too much energy pumping inside her. She needed a task. So when Serena had shown up she was eager to join her.

She smiled as they walked up to Agent Belargic.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Good morning Serena, Rhianna,” Dasquian smiled. “I hope you're both feeling well. You'll be happy to hear that I have some good news for you. Less than an hour ago we received a transmission from Daria, the Jedi Knight we previously spoke of. She has agreed to meet with you, though is reluctant to return to Republic space to do so. Her message explains that she has traveled to the Dufilvian Sector, and would like to rendezvous with you on the planet Arkania.”

[Serena Laran]

She wouldn't have called it Republic space, but Serena agreed with the unknown Jedi's sentiment. Avoiding the Empire would be paramount, especially with the young padawan Daria was in charge of.

"This is wonderful news." The Jedi smiled, "I know of Arkania." She hesitated, "I would like to leave immediately, if that is all right with the Alliance. My intentions are to help as much as I can, but the most help I can be right now would be to attempt to reunite the Jedi as much as possible."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Certainly. We understand completely.” This said, Dasquian handed a datapad to Serena. “This contains information on where to go once you arrive on Arkania. If either of you need any help, don't hesitate to get back in touch with us... the Alliance is happy to supply any resources you might need in trying to reform the Jedi Order.”

[Rhianna]

They were leaving? Rhianna eyed up the datapad and wondered what would happen next. She still couldn't believe all of the different places, people and gadgets that she had never seen before. Truely she had led a sheltered life. Talk of hopping from one planet to another would have caused her stomach to squirm not long ago, but now she saw that it was done quite frequently and wasn't at all uncommon. Still, she would be excited to see someplace new.

"Here we go again." She smiled, knowing that her excitement was showing.

"Is Arkania.. nice?" She sincerely didn't know how she would react if faced with the same strangers in white that had altered her life. It was the will of the Life Giver, but still, she couldn't help but feel sadness when she thought of her family.

[Serena Laran]

Serena did not answer Rhianna's question directly, "Arkania was once the site of a Jedi Praxeum, a place where those that listen to Abhairt Saoil were trained."

She smiled at Dasquian. "Thank you again, for all your help in this situation. It is a great relief to know that the Alliance is committed to the return of the Jedi." She paused, "We will leave as soon as possible, of course."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Arkania is located in the Colonies, part of the Galaxy that the Empire is very much in control of. I know that I don't have to warn you but... please be careful.” Dasquian, then, smiled somewhat. “And may the Force be with you.”

[Rhianna]

Rhianna tossed a wave over her shoulder to Agent Belargic. She then quickened her pace to walk beside Serena as they made their way back to the Serenity. She had a million question she wanted to ask, but then, she usually did. It seemed better for her to just be calm and quiet and the answers usually found her.

[Serena Laran]

Serena looked over at Rhianna after saying their good-byes to Agent Belargic. The girl was doing a good impression of being serene, but there were questions beneath the surface, bubbling and trying to get out. The Jedi smiled, and kept walking.

Morgan was still not at Serenity, so Serena sent Rhianna to find him while she went through the pre-flight checks. "I will answer your questions soon enough, do not worry. But for now we need to leave the fleet." She frowned, "I feel a sense of urgency that is not my excitement - the Force is telling us to hurry."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan was arms deep in a cleaning droid. It had been moving oddly so he had asked what was wrong with it. It had responded with rapid fire beeps and boops and the occasional squeal. After getting the droid to slow down, it complained that it didn’t know what was wrong, and that because neither the scanning equipment nor its internal diagnostics could figure out what the issue was, the technician and the repair droids refused to do anything. The droid led him to the droid repair bay. The slicer sat on the rolling chair in the room and spun himself around a few times before instructing the droid to walk back and forth across the room four times.

“Onto the table with you.” He picked the droid up, although it weighed over a hundred kilos, and placed it onto the examining table. Morgan found the spanners and opened up the droid’s lower housing. Out oozed cheap, dirt laden grease instead of the thinner, proper lubricant that should have been surrounding the lower motivator unit.

“Someone cheaped out on your last overhaul.” He held up a finger to show the droid, which warbled mournfully.

“Yeah, you may want to suck that stuff out. I don’t know where the replacement fluid is, though.”

[Rhianna]

Rhianna nodded, understanding. "I know where he went. I'll hurry.

Before Rhianna and Serena had left to meet with Agent Belaric, Rhianna had peeked in on Morgan, just to see what he was up to and to let him know where they were going. He had mentioned to her that he might stop by droid maintenence. She was still somewhat unsure of the droids, but at the same time she found them fascinating.

She found her way there with little trouble and kept her hands at her sides, afraid to touch anything. Everything around her seemed complex and she would rather not let her curiosity get the better of her. She didn't have the time to go exploring. Serena had stressed the urgency of their depature. She spotted Morgan and tip toed up behind him, watching him silently for a minnute while he worked on the droid. With a grin she stepped forward and nudged him with her hip.

"Another of your talents?" She teased.

"Serena says we are leaving. We are meeting up with another Jedi on.. " She tried to remember the name of the planet.

"Arkania."

[Morgan Evanar]

“Oh. Okay.” Morgan sounded interested, but wondered what the point would be. Arkania had a massive population and was very advanced. It was also very much firmly in the hands of the Empire. It would not be easy to find anything there.

“And yeah, my parents used to fix droids.” He said as he followed her into the corridor.

He boarded Serenity and took a seat in the cockpit at the navigation station. Serena was almost done with the pre-flight check.

“I didn’t realize we were leaving so soon.” He said and did a status check on the navicomp.

[Serena Laran]

"Nor did I, but I feel that it is important that we go as soon as possible." Serena looked up and smiled at her tall student. "If the Force wills, it will be a short trip."

She turned back to the instrument panel, feeling that it was not going to be a short trip. Something was wrong, or would be wrong soon. She contacted Alliance Hub Control for permission to disembark, and the yacht was soon cleared to leave.

[Rhianna]

Rhianna slid into the seat directly nehind Serena and strapped herself into as many harnesses as she could. It wasn't that she didn't trust her teacher, she just was still a bit unsteady with the inital feeling of Serenity taking off.

That, along with a nagging sense in the back of her mind. She knew nothing about the planet that they were heading for, but she had a bad feeling. Everytime she thought about it, she could just feel her skin crawl with warning.

"Is everything.. okay? I don't feel right." She didn't want to worry them, she wasn't falling ill again. So she clarified.

"I just feel like, something bad could happen."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan stifled a chuckle at Rhianna, but then realized she had no reason to be worried because she knew nothing about Arkania. He frowned. The system check on the navigational system came up clean.

“Navigation’s ready. Let’s hope Imperial Customs agrees with you. And…” he used the multifunction display next to him to bring up a status overview. ”Everything else is ready too. Bad feelings or not, here we go.”

[Serena Laran]

Serenity disappeared into hyperspace, leaving the Rebel fleet far behind.

Hours later, it winked back into realspace just inside the Arkanian sector. Serena had spent much of the time meditating with Rhianna, while Morgan was doing his own version of meditation which involved hanging upside down under the deck in an access hole, tinkering with the ship's non-essential systems.

She looked at Rhianna, who was now sitting at navigation, and asked gently, "Do you feel anything further yet?" She had been trying to help the girl refine the feeling she had gotten just before leaving the Rebel fleet.

[Rhianna]

"Nothing clear.. Just that something isn't as it should be."

Rhianna seemed apprehensive and not at all her usuallly optomistic self. The feeling hadn't left her. The mediatations had helped relieve her unease, but hadn't rid her of the feeling that she was being warned.

"It's like I'm being prepared for something.."

[Morgan Evanar]

He wasn’t so much tinkering as examining the refit work done to Serenity. The entire fluidics system had been stripped out in favor of the current electrical based systems. The only advantage of the fluidics system was it’s resistance to ion bombardment, but generally your engines were kaput at that point, so fluidics almost never made a bit of difference. Clive and his staff did a good job. That gave him some peace of mind, but why did he need it?

The closer they got to Arkania the more uneasy he felt. At least he had his blaster back.


Morgan returned to the cockpit and immediately dove into the ship's status readouts to occupy him.

-bumpasaurus-