Year 3,651 after the Treaty of Coruscant, a new treaty, The Corellian Treaty, has established a rebellion to the now 17 year old Empire.  The galaxy is abuzz with rumors about the declaration, and a complete copy has reached your attention:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki...aration_of_Rebellion

Ikia had joined the jedi order when she was a walkling. In a twist of fate, a jedi by the name of Dax Manowi who enjoyed exploring found her on the forest moon of Endor and decided to take her in. When he heard about the ewoks believing their very life force connected to their personal tree, he decided to take her back to her home every year for a month so she would not lose her roots. It was Ikia's saving luck that she had been on the forest moon when the other jedi younglings were slain by Anakin.

Ever since then, Ikia and her master Dax have been in hiding and using the force to such little degree that Ikia's training has only gotten her through her initiate training a few years ago. She is a few years behind the expected age of a padawan, but has been such for some years now and might very well be ready to take her trials soon.

The recent events present some serious trials indeed. Ikia, currently separate from her master, is looking at the news. Everyone in the bar she was in wanted so badly to cheer, but there were some Empire troopers relaxing there at the moment.

  Matt had avoided Anikin's toddler murder spree by a matter of days, because the Jedi intending to take his much younger self was gunned down during Order 66 before he made it to Matt's parents home (Yay?)

  A few years back, Dax sensed Matt's urge to not set people on fire with his mind.  His parents were much more forgiving of the idea of some bathrobe wearing know it all taking their kid 'for his own good' when his talents expanded past getting things off the tall shelf for them.  Regardless of how many times he stresses the 'Not' part of that first sentence.

  Matt dresses normally (so far as that goes in Star Wars), able to thankfully convince Dax that he makes a more convincing 'totally not a force user' if he doesn't dress like he lives on a Desert world for no practical reason.  This is somewhat ruined by the All Temperature Cloak he owns, but that's currently in a satchel either way.  The hand me down blaster at his hip also screams the opposite of Jedi, because guns.

  "Stupid question.  How can it be an official announcement of rebellion, when a rebellion has no official standing with the Empire"
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:16, Tue 02 Sept 2014.

"You must always consider your actions carfeully, padowan," Mits was warned by her master, "Especially when feeling strong emotions.  Even an outburst of positive  emotion that seems perfectly innocent could end with regret."

"What?" Mits answered her teacher, "That makes no sense.  Give me one good example."

"Well...  Suppose you're enjoying a sandwich in a canteena in an Empire controlled space station.  Then you hear about a star destroyer getting captured by rebels because the commander fell for a simple trick.  While you may be tempted to burst out laughing, such a slip could blow your cover and get you in serious trouble."

"That...  makes way more sense than the 'Love leads to the dark side' junk I've been hearing in the archive..."

Flash forward to the present and Mittens is trying hard not to burst into riotous cheers.  Fortunately her face is hidden behind the shadow of her hood and the sandwich she's stuffing into her mouth.  While she hurries to chew and swallow so she can put her two credits in on the conversation, one of the troopers nods to Matt.

"Good question.  I've got one of my own.  How can they pretend to be defenders of democracy when they're trying to overthrow the legally elected supreme chancellor by force of arms?  And another question: do they really expect people to buy all those unsubstantiated allegations?"

"Don't know what those words mean," a second trooper says, "But legal or not, I'm about to join the rebs to be rid of this blasted helmet order."

A third chimes in, "Don't know why you always complain about the helmet at meal time.  Eating through the in-armor food processor is awesome!  And you know why that helmet order's there.  Never know when a reb might take a shot at you."

The first one sighs.  "Billions of identical twins in the galaxy and I'm stuck with the dumbest and whiniest."

Mits is about to choke on her food trying not to laugh.

"You see?" the second trooper says, pointing her out, "Eating normal is dangerous.  Through a straw is where it's at."

"You uh... gunna be alright, miss?" the whiner asks.

Mits hides her face with one hand and thumbs ups with another.

Ikia always hated that sad fact of life: You can't complain about a complainer or else you become one. So Ikia has learned to just not complain. Well, OK, that is also due to her jedi training from Dax Manowi.

She spots the trying-not-to-laugh cat, and the fact all 3 clones are too stupid to notice the cat is laughing at them.

Ikia answers Matt, however, "Because by law, technically every citizen has standing with the empire and its laws. The rebellion is composed of a lot of citizens of the empire. A rebel, by definition, can not rebel without first being under the rule they are rebelling against."

  Matt's player can't decide of what BG skill unlock to take, but at the moment it's Mechanics so he really hopes the kitty doesn't start full choking.  If only so they don't end up the worst martry example of the Rebels. 'She died on a sandwhich because the Empire is too ridiculous! WE WILL NOT LET THIS STAND! FOR WHATEVER HER NAME WAS'

  Then a law gets passed to cut off all crusts and you got another, dumber rebellion over Sandwhich preparation on your hands.

  Look, his token knowledge skill is Lore, not Buracracy okay?

  "Oh, thanks for clearing that up." Normally he'd use her name, but, you know.  Sometimes you omit facts when next to soldiers even when names are less distinctive than being the only one of your species around for lightyears.

"And how's a guy supposed to do mouth-to-mouth on a choking victim with a helmet on?"

"You'd put your mouth on a stranger?  Gross!"

"Mouth to mouth isn't for choking victims, moron.  You'd end up killing your patient."

Mits chases her bite with some water.  When Ikia answers Matt the troopers stare in silence for a few moments as if in shock.

"Now there's something you don't see every day."

"Meaning never."

"An alien lecturing a human in perfect Basic."

"And the human thanking the alien."

"Well... She had a point."

"She?  How can you tell?"

"You really should learn to use your HUD."

"You got a HUD?  I didn't get a HUD."

"Me neither.  Must be a tech corps thing."

"Something tells me you two don't even know what a HUD is."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Tue 09 Sept 2014.

Ikia can't fault them on having difficulties with gender on an alien. She still has difficulties on a number of aliens and what gender they are. Though she is making the effort to study. It seems the most basic of courtesies to at least address someone by the correct gender.

She glances. And smiles. The imps are complimenting her in their own roundabout way.

"If it helps you any, this man is my friend. He and I are close." Sure, it has only been a handful of years. But when you aren't really allowed to make friends outside those who travel with you, Matt and Dax are IT for Ikia. Making them pretty much family.

  The debate over medical technique incompetence is making Matt wonder if he should stick with Mechanics for his BG skill or not again (wait, what about persuasion? Or Stealth?).

  "She's the nicest short hairy person I've met."  Which isn't exactly a small category in this setting.   Of course, he has to know.  "Is your hud pointing at her eyelashes to figure that out?" Cartoon girly eyelashes theory!

Troopers can be expressive even with helmets on.  In this case their heads nod back slightly to indicate that behind the helmets they all have an "oooh" expression when Ikia explains that Matt is her friend.

To Matt's question, tech trooper glance-glances.  "Uh... no!  No.  The alien classification software uses advanced algorithms..."

Mittens loses it and busts out laughing.  "It was the eyelashes!"

"HeyheyheyheyHEY!  Cut that out!  No mocking of the HUD!"

"Can't wipe my tears from laughing with a helmet on..."

"I don't get it.  What's so funny?"

"Nothing!  Disrespecting an imperial officer is a serious crime!  I could have you arrested!"

Mits tries and fails to quit laughing.

Ikia looks up at Matt. "Thanks." then notices the imperials getting a bit ruffled.

Ikia says, "Relax. You know how a giggle-fit can be. You just can't stop laughing."

But she gets up from her seat and walks over to put herself between the imps and Mittens. "May I sit here, ma'am?" she asks Mittens, presenting the chair that would put her between Mitts and the imps.

  "Hey, if the HUD works, it works.  I can't afford one, but I know those Mechanic Visors work pretty much the same way, with just as much technical terms to cover for basic image recognition."  After a moment, he add "Besides, I'd hate to be the guy filing out the paperwork for that arrest.  Your job is probably hard enough as it is, without your co-workers bringing that up."

He'll head over with Ikia in a moment, maybe if these troopers have as short an attention span as it looks, having to look back and forth will distract them from GIGGLES ARE ILLEGAL.

Mits does the same hide face / thumbs-up she did before to answer Ikia's question.  The angry trooper glances between Mits, Ikia, and Matt, apparently distracted by Matt's statement.

"You sound surprisingly familiar with such things.  What's your occupation?"

"Speaking of recognition.  Suppose some rebs were to steal trooper armor.  How are we supposed to tell them apart from the real troopers?" helmet face asks.

"They wouldn't make it past the first security checkpoint without the right codes."

"Suppose they have a slicer," other trooper says.

"You're not helping!"

"Uh...  speaking of security checkpoints, we're about 94 seconds behind schedule."

"So we walk a little faster."

The troopers stand up, the techie looking over at Mittens.  "You're lucky your polite friends smoothed things over for you."

He and the others march off.

"So what are you going to put on the incident report?  'Female alien laughed because HUD accurately identified gender?'"

"And how do you know for sure that one was female without a HUD?"

"Good question.  Since the most useful thing my helmet does is hide the fact I look like you."

The voices quickly fade.

"Thanks," Mits says, finally regaining control of herself, "Name's Mittens!  A pleasure to meet you both!"

Ikia waited for the troopers to be out of sight and out of hearing range before turning to look at Mittens again. "You are welcome. My name is Ikia. Are you alright, ma'am?" Those guys WERE ridiculous. Ikia, thankfully, doesn't laugh easily. Well, OK, we're only thankful for that in THIS situation. XD

  "Mildly passable handyman.  I could fix up a broken holorecorder, but probably not a busted droid." He'd also need to be able to afford a datapad if he wanted to even try slicing things... Yes, we know he bought a blaster, what's your point?

 Then off the nameless helmet heads go.  Eventually, he heads on over to the hairy ladies coming to a stop next to Ikia, instead of putting Mittens between them.  "I hope you got to at least finish most of your sandwhich before it became a choking hazard."

"Mittens!  Nice to meetcha, Ikea the polite, and hilarious human mechanic!  Methinks you to are the same Ikea and Matt my teacher assigned me with seeking out.  While I do not carry with me physical proof of my good intentions, I do have a name - the name of my teacher, that is - that you can verify with your teacher, whom I'm told went to the same school as yours.  I would urge you to please do so right away.  For I have a very urgent assignment I would ask your help with."

She grins at Matt, shows off the last bit of her sandwich, and begins woofing it down.  Meanwhile she shows the two her datapad.  On the screen is the name Bram Ordanis.

Ikia gets to contacting her master, confirms the information, then hangs up. She looks at Mittens. "What is it you wish to share?"

  "Just as long as I don't try to tell any actual jokes, then I'm just terrible."

  The Jedi verification email is sent, and he adds "Was it the fact it's lunchtime that lead you here to find us, or the space voodoo?"

"Space voodoo," Mittens giggles, "Never heard it called that before.  I like it!

"Our meeting was arranged by my teacher, so nothing magical about my finding you when he's all 'Search the station for an Ewok named Ikea and a human named Matt,' and gives descriptions and stuff."

She taps on her datapad then shows the screen to Ikea and Matt.  On it is written, "Greetings, students of my classmate.  He spoke well of you.  Mu student Mittens will do well to follow your example.  While I would love to oversee her next assignment myself, circumstances prevent me from doing so.  I will trust your assessment of her performance in my stead if you are willing to assist in this matter, which, your teacher assures me, will count as credit toward your own courses.  Her assignment is to locate and interview a person who openly supports the recent declaration of rebellion.  Thank you.

(OOC: Another case of "had it written, but never posted it." <.< )

Luke! Use the instrument panel! Advanced technology, designed to help you hit small targets! That's what it's there for!

And other sensible things like telling people a place where an Ewok and human of certain descriptions hang out.

Ikia looks up at Mittens and says, "Then if it is your assignment, you are to take the lead and we will follow. This person you are supposed to find; are they someone specific, or will anyone supporting the rebellion do?"

  "I'll admit, grades have not been my largest concern in my training so much as knowing I won't cause accidental property damage."

  At Ikia's question, he nods.  "I somehow doubt finding the first person spraypainting 'Troopers suk' on a wall is the best course of action."  OR IS IT!?  What does searching his feeling say about the matter?...   Why does searching his feelings keep trying to give him fashion tips?

"First in a series of assignments," Mits answers Ikea, "Details on assignment 2 pending my satisfactory completion of assignment one.  I'm guessing teach wants me to find an actual card-carrying  member and not just an armchair rebel.  But just in case, I'll ask you:  What are your thoughts on the recent declartation?  The rebellion overall?  The Empire?"

She smiles and points an imaginary microphone at Ikea and Matt.

Ikia says, "I think the declaration was more for the people and needs to get out to more viewers if possible. People need to know why the rebellion is doing what its doing. I do not know enough about the rebellion to give an opinion outside of the declaration. My opinion is they are doing what they need to and are going about it in a responsible way. The Empire: Well... is run by slaves who know nothing other than slavery. Organic droids, really. It is a sad state of affairs that those who follow the Empire are generally beyond hope."

  Matt shrugs,  "PR stunt if there is no followthrough on their own part.  There is a big difference between asking for help, and asking others to do all the work that involves any personal risk for them.  The Empire is one of those problems I wish I could ignore but know it's only a matter of time where they will want to kill me even if I behave myself."

"Mittens is first hand witness to the Empire's systemic evil."

The kitty's pupils shrink as she recalls, "I was discovered to have the same 'special talent' you two have and was forcibly recruited, tortured, brainwashed, indoctrinated to love hating, pitted against my peers, and eventually unleashed upon my master's rivals and whatever else who's death would amuse her.

"Fortunately, Teacher killed her, rescued me, and un-brainwashed... brain-dirtied?... he fixed me.  So yeah.  You are both quite right in your saying the Empire is full of hopeless beings who will kill you on a whim.  So I'm curious.  If you had an opportunity to put yourself in extreme danger for the chance to strike at the murderous heart of the Empire, joining the rebellion's military for example, would you take it?"

Ikia looks at Matt and says, "You are human, at least. That will get you further than any other species."

Ikia then looks at Mittens and says, "I am sorry for your troubles. As for if I would take a chance if presented with one? I would want more than a remote chance. If I am to sacrifice my life, I would want it to mean something. Though why would you ask such a thing of us? Are you looking to measure our zeal? I can assure you Matt and I are not zealots. Neither are we complacent. We do what we must."

  "Yeah.  It would be funny if a bunch of stormtroopers weren't even Human under those helmets."  Egads, Trooper #127127 is actually a Jawa on stilts!

  Then tragic backstory commences.  Matt has the deepest sympathies "Well, that sucks."  he's just not very good at conveying this  "I'm glad to hear your life is less horrible now though.  As for striking at the murderous heart of the Empire... Guess it depends on the odds I wouldn't miss or find out stabbing said heart deals no damage."  Wait, did absorb work on sabres or not in this system? We forget.

  "I think it is less a case of patriotism vs selfishness and more a case that me and Ikia like practical results for our efforts."

Mits nods a bow to Matt.  "Appreciate that."

To Ikea she nods.  "Good to hear.  Mittens agrees with wanting the payoff to exceed the risk, but when there are trillions of sentients at stake the numbers can get skewed.  'If H is the risk that a hero is willing to take to rescue one life, and V is the likelihood a villain or circumstances will succeed in killing the hero in the process of saving them, as the number of citizens who need saving C increases, chance of hero death approaches 100%.'  Glad teach clarified he thought the specific formula he was quoting was rubbish, but at least the point was made that risk vs. reward is something worth taking seriously.  Dark Jedi mindset in contrast tends to be one of, 'Risk?  What risk?  I kill you, and that's that.'

"But yeah.  You figured me out.  There's more to my assignment than I first let on and eventually things could eventually get quite dangerous.  But considering the subject matter and associated risk, it would probably be wiser to talk about such things in a less public place.  Shall we?"

She gets up to leave the canteena.

Ikia says, "Very well." and follows Mittens out of the canteena. Though she is very sure to keep an eye out for Matt and any dangers that may be lurking in ambush.

Ikia comments, "I am not one for formulas ruling my life. They are a useful tool. But life is not an equation. Chaos is real."

"Ha! I saw that coming! The force told me you would swing that wa-ACK!" and the poisonous slug that was creeping up on you slowly noms your ankle. The end.

   Matt follows along after the hairy ladies "I thought that was also the normal Jedi mindset, considering how a majority of their problems get solved."  Matt is going to need another level before he can really apply the traditional 'glowstick of justice' solution so good.

  That's what the gun is for, of course.  As well as lighting people on fire with his mind.

OOC:Chaos, AKA GM dislikes you.  Also, now I'm remembering how funny I thought it was the Sith Code in the TOR MMO sounded more like a hero code than the Jedi one.

Mits heads for the room where she had checked in.  No ambushes on the way.  Once inside, she digs out a holo recorder and presses play.  A holo projection of herself chatting with a human gentleman who looks like a businessman appears.
"That's Teach," Mits explains, "This is gunna blow your mind."

"So wussup, Teach?" Recorded Mits asks.

"The time has come for you to begin your trials," her teacher answers.

"Already?  The archive made it sound like it would take 10 years minimum."

"These are exceptional times.  Under the old order it's doubtful The Council would have ever allowed you to advance to knighthood considering your history with the darkside."

"So unfair.  Lucky me the council is all dead."

"Not all dead, but that is a matter for another time.  I want to keep this recording brief for the sake of your future friends who will be watching this."

"I'm being recorded?  That would explain the droid staring at us.  Hello, future friends!"

"They come highly recommended by their teacher.  A human man named Matt and an Ewok named Ikea."

"Ewok?"

"Brown.  Furry.  Yey tall."

"Like a midget wookie?"

"In appearance only.  Her teacher says he could not have asked for a better student."

"How 'bout my teach?  What's your opinion of your student?"

"You too are more agreeable to teach than a Wookie."

"Gee thanks."

"And that you escaped the darkside is extremely exceptional."

"Rare as hair on a Hutt according to the archive."

"I want you to seek them out at Sel Zonn station.  Rent a room there so you can show them this recording in private.  Do please be on guard.  I sense that you will be in mortal danger due to an outburst of emotion."

"Yea yeah, I know.  'Emotion is from the darkside.'"

"More that you'll blow your cover."

"Sounds familiar.  Hey...  That example you gave me earlier.  Was that another prediction?"

"Kindof?  It likely won't be the announcement that causes you to spit your coffee all over the helmet the trooper obsesses over."

"I don't drink coffee."

"Farseeing is not an exact science.  Just be as discreet as you can.  Avoid using the force to pull pranks on troopers or even talking about the force.  I am a teacher of sociology, you're on a field trip, nothing more."

"I can play secret agent, sure."

"Good.  Now to the assignment.  I want you and your friends to help protect a certain young man with a destiny that could free this galaxy of Palpatine's tyrrany."

"Aww.  Why can't we save the galaxy?"

"No man is an island.  This young man will be in a unique position to strike a devastating blow to the Empire only because of the combined efforts of the Alliance, his friends, and you and your friends.  I have no doubt that if destiny provided you with the same opportunity that you could have the courage to give your life at that moment to save the galaxy but so far I do not see that as part of your future."

"Oh so his is a suicide mission."

"Yes.  But he will not be the only brave hero.  Many will die that day."

"Dang.  Were they at least told they wouldn't be coming back?"

"They'll be trying to blow up a space station point blank.  I'm sure they'll know."

"Epic!  A space station?  Which one?  Why's it so important to the Empire?"

"I don't know yet.  But I sensed much darkness from it.  Could be a cloning facility for building an army of dark Jedi."

"But you told me each person chooses for themselves if they'll be good or bad.  What if the clones all turn out good and the Empire's evil plan backfires?"

"You're a clone.  Enslaved.  Tortured.  And drugged.  What are your chances of not succumbing to hate?  Besides.  That was just a stab in the dark.  The space station could be for something else entirely."

"Your stabs in the dark are right more often than not."

"Now I want to address Matt and Ikea.  Do you have any questions?"

"Wait.  You're going to predict their questions and answer them before they even ask them?"

"Yes.  But to them it will seem as though I am answering after they ask."

"Why not just have them call you in the future?"

"Com silence will be preferred.  And the point is to demonstrate my farseeing to them."

"So because it looks cool."

"... In a sense, yes.  Now please allow me to concentrate."

Present Mits looks about ready to burst with excitement.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:52, Sat 08 Nov 2014.

Ikia asks, "What part of Mittens is being tested by asking her to seek and find a member of the rebellion? Or is this more to test how well she works with other jedi?"

  "What are the two most vital force skills I do not know at this moment?  Also, how long until lighting people on fire with my mind becomes ineffective due to enemy hitpoint and damage reduction inflation isn't the best offensive choice I have in situations where being flagrantly force sensitive will not make things worse."

OOC: I really should put up a Matt Carzac sheet. Just as soon as I find where I put it.  Though at least I remember my Starter powers were Move Object, Force Stun, and Combustion.

The master rubs his temples, concentrating.  "Violence... combat..."

"They're already in danger?!" recorded Mits asks.

"Hold on...  no.  Seems I'm picking up hypothetical violence.  Including pyrokinesis.  Ah.  I see now.  One is asking for details about your trial.  The other is expressing interest in focusing his own studies toward the most effective use of the force.

"To the first question.  Mittens' trial will be an ongoing mission to protect the young jedi destined to foil the Empires evil space station...."

"A quest!  To slay the dragon!"

"Her first task will be to connect with other students of the force to aid in her trial..."

"Form a band of heroes!"

"The next part is to make contact with the Alliance."

"...Having ties with the Alliance will be convenient later on when the Destined One joins them."

"Does this guy have a name?"

"I don't know yet what it is."

"Can't you have future you contact past you with the name?"

"It doesn't work that way.  Now to the second question.  I'm sure your master has already guided you in the most effective way to advance your training."

"'Teacher,' not 'Master,' remember?"

"Ah yes.  Excuse me.  His 'teacher.'  Old habits die hard.  While I do not know you well enough to give specific advise for now.  I would encourage powers or tricks that mask that you are using The Force.  For example, pointing a weapon instead of waving a hand when using pyrokinesis."

"Wouldn't a pyrokinetic weapon be more enticing for the Empire than a newbie Jedi?"

"Uh...  Good point.  Poor example.  Hmm.  Sorry, no good ideas for masking pyrokinesis.  And for future training I've got nothing better than 'search your feelings...'  which historically results in Jedi that are anything but subtle so these days that's not likely the best advice.  I find Vital Transfer and Mind Trick to be two of the most useful powers I know, but your circumstances may be different.  Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.  Any other questions?"

Bump!

Ikia glances at Mittens. Then looks back at the hologram. "...Mittens mentions a dragon. If we are fighting a dragon, clearly we are under-equipped. Have you predicted some means of us getting some form of dragon slayers?"

  "I do not think there is a literal draogon involved... Unless the Empires big plan is a big dragon.  That was the complete opposite thing to my question regarding Pyrokenesis."  Maybe the force did translate larger words and concepts like 'flagrantly' and 'not make things worse'.  Matt will assume 'super useless, super fast'.

 "Reducing the need for doctors or just skipping persuasion straight to hijacking brains does sound useful for fugitives on the run, though."

"I'm hearing a concern about being under-equipped.  Unfortunately I will be unable to safely supply you with anything more than what Mittens can carry on her person.  As time goes on I may be able to help you acquire more substantial gear as your mission progressions, such as a ship or speeders.

"A ship?!  Speeders?!  Awesome!  You didn't tell me you were rich!  Been using your fortune telling power to play the markets?"

"No.  That would draw too much attention to myself."

"So you would if you could."

"Yes.  Some may consider it unethical, but I believe that millions of lives are worth more than potentially offending people.  But I must proceed cautiously."

Ikia says, "Thank you. I can not think of any more questions. May the force be with you."

500 xp each.
Each character is also given:
3 medpacks
5 ration packs
2 frag grenades
1200 credits

You may spend some of your 1200 credits to have Mittens' master conveniently anticipate what you wanted to buy with it then give to Mits to deliver to you.

  Hey hologram, if Mittens will inevitably betray them sigh, snort, then sigh again.  No sane person would do that on purpose.

  Out loud, Matt says "I probably won't think of anything else until it's too late to be answered."

OOC: I'm too tired to look up items (but I suspect I may be blowing a chunk on actually having a datapad or something). Owning a blaster on a Jedi's allowance was kind of <.<

"No more questions that I'm sensing from your friends.  However I know you are going to try and trip up my ability by asking a silly question then change your question when you show this video to them.  Well it doesn't work that way.  What I see is a likely future.  If you purposely try to alter the future I see, any other visions I may have had will become inaccurate.  For example if you pick a fight with the troopers I'm expecting you to encounter, it isn't likely you will have a chance to show this video to your future friends and all the questions I predicted will never be asked.  Nor will you have time to give them the supplies I'm sending with you.

"So no.  You won't be triggering any time paradoxes with my power.  Only avoiding potential snags.  For example I'm expecting you will succeed in avoiding violence with the troopers but not without arousing suspicion.  He will file an incident report that will be ignored by his superiors.  But he'll be looking for an excuse to detain you.  The least amount of vigilance should be all you need to leave the station in a timely manner.  Simply do not draw attention to yourself."

"Pff... Ok...  What was I going to ask I going to ask you before you spoiled my fun?"

"You asked me not to read your mind.  And I cannot predict what will never happen.  But it doesn't take a psychic to expect your question to be a silly one."

"Uh... I totally wasn't going ask about woodchucks.  Not at all."

"I leave my student in your capable hands.  May that Force be with you."
The recording ends.

"Mind-blowing, isn't it?  What I can't figure is how it would work if he ran into a dark-sider with the same power.  They'd be stuck in an infinite loop of predicting and thwarting each other's plans."

Ikia says, "An interesting thing to think on, I'm sure. But we have a mission to attend. And since we are still in the same building as the troopers were before they left, they will likely look for us at this room. We should head out as soon as possible like was suggested by Master... you never introduced him..."

She goes to peak out a window to see if there are troopers or trooper vehicles.

  "Well in that case, I guess I'd just simply think 'I'll farsee against my rival, once he is done farseeing for the day'.  Then maybe nobody ever gets around to it because they don't want to go first." Could be worse, it could be rival time travelers.

  Matt double checks that the power pack in his generic blaster is full.  It is of no surprise that among the items his player has not decided on yet, a lightsabre crystal found upon the naturally irradiated surface of the Barbel homeworld is unsurprisingly NOT one of the items.

OOC: For reference, the "Barab Ingot" is one of the "Extremley Rare" Type sabre crystals.  What it does is switch your Sabre to Fire Damage (still bypassing Damage resist), as well as light people on fire when you hit them. How pleasant.

Mildly related, If you want a Stun Saber sometime, get the ION crystal INSTEAD.  Ion = Stun on living things.  While Stun is useless on robots.  Both are on the "Traditional Crystal" list.

No troopers in sight at the moment.  "Mittens doesn't think delay will work for long against a darksider.  While your busy in a staring contest their minion's busy causing mischief.  So let's not dally and get started!  Our first order of business is to pick a destination.  Somewhere we're likely to find some rebs without also running into imps.  Or at least some place where we can figure that out.  Ideas?"

OOC: Knowledge roll?  I don't really know.

Ikia says, "I'm sure finding recruiters isn't too hard. They need as many as possible, after all. The hard part is likely getting trusted enough to be officially recruited. They need to be cautious who they let in so they don't have a bunch of imperial spies in their ranks. My guess would be to find a protest or demonstration and see if we get handed some kind of contact info."

  It doesn't occur to Matt to suggest the rebels might trip all over themselves to get them signed up if they show off the glowsticks, because he won't be any good at hitting things with his own until level two so has a biased outlook there.

  "Well, if we want to talk about this more someplace less likely to be interrupted, I'd just head for where the Imps don't care as much to keep nice and orderly around here for PR photos."  When in doubt about knowledge rolls, fall back on cynical government standards!

OOC: Finally got around to creating a cast listing and putting up my rough draft sheet from months ago.
Matt's token knowledge skill is Lore, alas.
RPOLroller got me a 6 on the raw die.  So I either have an, 8 (generic), or 13 (Lore) knowledge check.

"Sounds good to me!"

Mits opens the door, marches out, takes a few steps, then freezes.

"Erm...  I haven't a clue how to get 'there' from here.  Wherever 'there' is.  I'm fine with taking point, but I'll need directions."

Assuming she's given directions she'll head that way.  "Mittens is curious about Idea's uncommon race.  Not that Mittens' race is terribly common either.  Trianii it's called.  Known for being very acrobatic.  How 'bout yours?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:08, Sat 20 Dec 2014.

Ikia says, "To your first inquiry; we gain access to the holonet. Then look for any reports of protestors. To your question of race: I am an ewok. My kind comes from Endor's moon; also referred to as Sanctuary Moon, but oft times referred to by the same name as its parent planet Endor. I highly doubt you know about it as it's in the farthest reaches of the outer rim and neighbor to nobody of note. My kind are only found there normally since they are of a tribal society. I, however, was picked up by a jedi master at an early age by chance. What can I say of my race as far as physiological difference from most races? We have sensitive noses."

She begins tapping on the holonet to look for reports on protests or even planned Imperial events that look like tasty protestor targets.

  "While that's probably the opposite direction of where troopers would not be looking, it does also seem more likely that rebels are in that direction too.  So I guess considering the end result will be annoying the empire eventually, may as well go with what finds rebels faster."

"Fascinating," Mits responds to Ikea, "You are quite right that I had not heard about Endor nor it's moon before now."

Ikea finds innumerable such events then narrows it down to one that will be nearby and soon.  The primary planet below will be holding a welcoming parade in honor of it's new Imperial governor and an organization known as "Bug Spray" will be picketing the event.

"Mittens is very happy to hear her new friends are brave and bold enough to take the more direct approach!"

Ikia says, "We are not trying to avoid all troopers. Just the ones who were talking to us." she then looks up at Mittens. "Thank you, but I am not sure bravery would describe my actions." She leaves it to others to fill in the blanks. "I found something. The planet below us is about to have a welcoming parade at its capital in honor of its new governor and there will be picketers. Let's get going."

  "I wonder if there's a point to their name, or the ones they wanted were just already taken?" No, The Empire are pests don't you get it argh nobody understands.

  "Our goals are to talk to strangers, not people we know, got it."

"Yes indeed," Mits cheers, "Yes indeedy doo!"

She follows along.  "I can make a few guesses, but it would likely be best to get answers directly from the source.  Speaking of, what would you call it if not bravery?"

An affordable shuttle to the surface isn't hard to find.  Nor is the parade.  Throngs of thousands cheering can be heard from quite a distance.

Ikia says, "I would call my actions necessity. Neither bravery nor cowardice. I do what must be done. However, when my actions go into immediate risk, such as running at a trooper who is shooting at me rather than find the safest route to run from him, I would likely call that bravery."



Ikia nods to Matt. "Correct."

  "My conscience occasionally promotes stupidity, which to an outside observer look like bravery."  Now Matt, if that were true you wouldn't bother with those deflection checks in the first place.

  He sees Ikia easily handle his commentary as usual, and decides against 'searching his feelings' in favor of using his eyeballs on the massive crowd.  Sith don't care about good eyesight, but emotional shortcuts may get more attention of there are particularly paranoid inquisitors.

"Mittens is unsure what to make of her new friends' unexpected definition of bravery, but decides against continuing a semantics discussion.  Instead, I shall simply reserve the right to compliment them regardless of what self-deprecating stance they may take on their actions.  Compliment: You're both modest."

When the group arrives, the noisy parade can easily be heard.  A hover bus arrives at the landing area and people begin filing off while others line up to get on.  A voice calls out from the bus loudspeaker, "Hold on to your bus token!  All passengers who disembark at any stop ahead of the parade may have their fare reimbursed at any available Moth Welcoming Committee booth.  (Some restrictions may apply.)"

Mits heads for the line to get on the bus.

Ikia looks at Matt as he calls his actions "stupidity", then looks back to Mittens and says, "I will at least admit I am not proud. So your modesty assessment has merit." To Ikia, Matt is obviously saying he tends to act more on instinct and not think things through. But she does not voice this thought.

Ikia gets in line also. Like Matt, Ikia is looking around. Using the force for a short cut is not only the way of the dark side, it is exactly what her teacher taught her NOT to do during this day and age. Sadly, there are way too many people here for her nose to help her much with spotting anyone hiding.

  As Ikia tries to look around through the crowd of those mostly taller than her, he says "Would giving you a shoulder ride stand out too much?  Or not worth the time unless the bus line is really, really slow?"

A Human at the front of the line can be heard saying, "They're filthy, Rebel-sympathizing animals that spread disease.  I say we put 'em all on an asteroid and blow it up."

"Meh," the guy behind him says, "I don't buy into the 'alien epidemic carriers' hoopla.  Don't know a single soul that got so much as a cold from an alien."

"Your assessment has merit," Mittens echoes in a monotone, metered voice, "Statement:  Ikea sounds way too much like a Je..."

She glance-glances at the people in line giving her weird looks, most of whom leave in a hurry upon laying eyes upon her or Ikea, covering their mouths.

"...Academic.  Methinks you should loosen up."

"It speaks Basic," one of the fleeing people mutters, "Remarkable."

Mits grins and frames her face with two thumbs-ups.  The wait to get to the bus entrance is very short.  Each passenger without passes receives a bus token as they get on.  The driver is a droid and is very polite, however it shuts the door on Mittens before she can get on.  It then broadcasts, "Empire Health Law forbids alien species from boarding public transportation on this planet.  Please visit your nearest Empire Public Health office for more information.  The bus heads off.  Several passengers make rude gestures from behind the windows.  Mits looks like she was about to make a Force Choke gesture, but quickly switches to merely returning the same rude gesture she was given.

Ikia watches as the bus closes and drives off. Then looks up at Mittens and replies in a calm tone, "I do not need to loosen up. Loosening up for me would mean that bus would no longer have a tire and we would be needing to run from the law. I try to keep my emotions in check for times exactly like these. This is one of the most alien-intolerant places I've seen. I've seen worse, but those are either war zones or places run by martial law."

Ikia looks around. "Speaking of; if this place is so xenophobic, how did we even get to the surface without being told we are not welcome? I vote we leave, mark this planet as one we can not go to, and then look for the next rebel demonstration. This place is, at best, going to be a roadblock for our quest. At worst, a trap for killing aliens like you and I."

  Matt comments "Wait, the Empire officially recognizes cooties as a health hazard?" It WOULD explain everything wouldn't it.

  At Ikia wondering how they reached the setting in the first place, he comments  "Because if they didn't let you in, they couldn't go on about how lame you are to your face all day.  Though yes, a galaxy wide organization if it is to be believed, would probable be more convenient to find when people aren't looking for silly excuses to deny you public infrastructure or arrest you for shedding in a non shedding zone."

Mits grins at Ikea.  "Wow!  Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's pissed off at our mistreatment."

Mits hails a cab, but the driver ignores her and picks up one of people who fled the bus line.

She laughs at Matt's cooties comment.  "I'm sooo tempted to pick up some fake barf and pretend to barf on random xenophobes we pass by.  I'm not worried about being in much danger...  well...  No more than normal.  So long as we keep our tempers in check.  Master said that while he sensed there would be a good chance for some action soon after we make contact with the alliance, at which point he encouraged me to show off, before then standard restraint should be enough to keep us in the clear.  So I'd hate to waste the trip only to wind up in another place just as bad or worse."

She tries to hail a cab again and an Ithorian cabbie pulls up.

<Ithorian>"Where to?"</Ithorian>

Ikia hops in and says, "To the welcoming parade, please."

She buckles up, then looks over and up at Mittens and says in a calm, but sturdy tone. "I will entrust my life into your words, Mittens, and the words of your master. That said, I will defend myself. If someone uses physical force on me, they will be met with physical force. I have played it safe by not venturing into these kinds of places, but I have a zero-tolerance policy when the line I have drawn is crossed. There is no gray for me. Only on or off."

  Matt passenger seats up.

  "I don't think passive aggression was quite what was meant for keeping tempers in check, but it remains to be seen if you or I are the bigger problem there."

  He shrugs in regards to Ikea,  "Self defense is always considered a heinous crime by those people are doing the defending from, that doesn't just go for the Empire."  Those stormtroopers are shooting back! The bastards!

"Zero tolerance for those trying to kill you," Mits echoes contemplatively, "So unreasonable!  That was sarcasm.  And yes.  Silliness is not just an Empire thing.  Nor villainy.  Nor virtue.

"'You're surrounded, out numbered, and out-gunned.  Surrender!'
'Never!'
'Jerk!  Die!'

"But admittedly, I would rather my enemies choose death over surrender to save me the hassle of taking prisoners."

<Ithorian>"If I may ask," the cabbie pipes in, "Am I to understand that you all hold no love for either the Empire or Rebellion?  Mercinaries, perhaps?  I may have overheard a lead you could cash in on.  I'd only ask the small finder's fee of 30 credits from each of you."</Ithorian>
This message was last edited by the player at 04:01, Wed 04 Mar 2015.

Ikia doesn't bother with a speech about how precious life is. Mittens may have admitted preferring killing over dealing with prisoners, which is honest enough, but she insinuated that she would take prisoners because surrender means she HAS to bother with prisoners.

Ikia answers the Ithorian, "30 creds? Very well." and pays up. "Speak freely."

  If you go by his character sheet, Matt has 35 credits.  Alas, The Force is telling him this is where the plot leads.  "Some days you just take what turns up, really."

Mits hands over her 30.  "I reserve the right to demand a refund if the tip turns out the be something stupid like, 'Tip: The parade organizers will hire garbage collectors after its all over,' or 'Tip: Don't slam the Empire so openly.  Even oppressed aliens might rat you out.'"

The Ithorian points at the registration code on his dash.  "Not many Ithorian cab drivers here.  I know better than to cross the kind of folks who can track me down and take their refund out of my hide.  No, the tip I have in mind should more than quadruple the small fee I asked for.  And maybe you'll be happy enough to become repeat customers."

The cabbie is living up to the "Ithorian talk slow" stereotype, so Mits interrupts, "Gettothepoint, man!"

The Ithorian nods.  "Big Shoes is hiring muscle.  500 credits each.  Today only.  Till the parade is over.  Human.  Alien.  Doesn't matter.  His office is on the is on the way.  If you want to stop by, I can wait for you outside."

"Seriously?!  This guy's going to try and shakedown folks during a huge Imperial march in broad daylight?!"

"I doubt that's what he's planning.  He's not stupid.  But you'll have to ask him what the actual job is.  I don't know."

Ikia says, "Thanks for the tip." she didn't realize they EACH had to pay 30 creds. But if the tip is right, and she believes it is, it will pay for itself shortly. "Where do we find Big Shoes?" She gets the feeling asking anyone else will cost more than whatever the ithorian charges.

  Admittedly, Matt can only blame himself for buying a blaster on a Jedi's budget (which could not afford a spare lightsabre either).

  "I have some of my own suspicions, but like he said we would have to get there to know for sure."  Well, or consult force powers, but the party is trying to avoid that as long as reasonable possible, on top of actually meaning that unlike most Jedi trying to lay low.

The cabbie parks and points.  <Ithorian>"You're welcome.  You go up this alley and take the first left.  you should see Eyebrow sitting outside the door.  He'll ask what you want.  You'll tell him you're here about the job.  He'll ask what's the password.  you'll tell him, 'yellow shorts.'  He'll probably toy with you some - don't let him know I warned you.  Just insist you're positive that you're right.  When inside, Gloves will hold your weapons while you talk with Big Shoes.  Don't worry about staring.  He's rather proud of the size of his feet.

"I'll wait here.  If you don't come back in 30 minutes I'll assume you don't need a cab."</Ithorian>

Mits looks impressed.  "Huh.  I'm beginning to feel we're getting our money's worth."

She gets out and pays the fair.

Ikia says, "Thank you." and takes the lead, going straight for Eyebrow.

She proceeds to do exactly as instructed. "We're here about the job."

"Oh yeah? ...well... what's the paassworrrd?"

"Yellow shorts."

http://i.imgur.com/HbFLI96.jpg

  Matt refrains from commenting on why the shorts might be yellow.  Nobody would take them seriously if they talked about mustard accidents out loud.

  Well, maybe that time he caused a guy to be maimed just with a bottle of musta-wait wrong setting and wrong character.  The sort when told they will have to pay the hospital bill asked if they could pay the second one in advance.

The cabbie gave an Ithorian "You're welcome" when thanked.

"Are you sure?" Eyebrow asks, "Huhuh.  Maybe that was the old password.  Huhuh."

Mits sweatdrops.  So may things she wants to say, but manages to keep them to herself.

"Yes.  We're sure.  The password is 'Yellow Shorts.'"

"Oh...  Oooh Kaay."'

He knocks, looking disappointed.  "Visitors."

A butler wearing white gloves unlocks and opens the door.  He presents a couple lockers that have key cards in the locks.

"Please place all weapons, recording devices, etc. in the lockers.  The key cards are for you to keep until you retrieve your items.  There are curtains if you need privacy.  Thank you."

"And if we refuse?"

"Then you will be asked to leave.  Our business is based on mutual trust.  If a visitor cannot trust us to keep their items and persons safe, they any business negotiations will be a waste of our time and theirs."

"'Trust' would mean letting us keep our weapons."

"No, Mam, that would be naiveté."

Mits shrugs and draws a curtain her locker.

Ikia simply puts her light saber in the locker. With the curtain drawn, of course. Then follows the butler dude once everyone is ready.

  Matt eyerolls, removes the power pack, and places his blaster in the locker (he totally keeps the power pack though).  Weapon safety is important!

  He starts to leave, then turns around and tosses his comlink in because you just know somebody would dial a wrong com frequency during the meeting or something.

OOC: File this under "I thought I had posted but RL happened while I was on the previews screen weeks ago whoops".

The office is filled with cigar smoke issuing from the nostrils of a smirking Bothan reclining behind a desk, his large, yellow shoes, larger than half his leg length, are propped up on the desk.  There's a holo-projection of a sour looking Empire law enforcer coming from a holo-com device on the desk.

"So not only would we be making you look good for 'protecting the good citizens' of this world from anarchists and aliens, we'd be making your protesters look like violent and dangerous thugs.  All free of charge.  Consider it my welcoming gift of goodwill to the administration."

"Filthy vermin," the officer answers, "We have no use for your 'gift.'  And I warn you that any illegal activities will be dealt with harshly."

The holo-call ends.  The Bothan looks annoyed.

"Something tells me our services will not be needed after all," Mits surmises.

Ikia asks anyway. "Greetings, sir. We heard you were looking for some helping hands for the protest?" After all, maybe now he is going to pay them to make the imperials' day Hell.

  "Political issues getting in the way of business, I guess." He doubts the Bothan will turn right around and join the protest over this.  There's only one of him, so no 'many Bothan's died to hold this protest' jokes could come of it.

The Bothan curses up a streak in the general direction of the deactivated holo-projector before turning his attention to Matt.

"More like an arrogant imperial blankety-blank who thinks he owns the planet!"

He cranes his neck to see the polite little teddy bear over the edge of his desk.

"Yeah.  My informant tells me that he plans to 'make an example of the protestors.'  Round 'em up as 'plague carriers,' no doubt.  Well I mean to teach him a lesson.  You all will make him look incompetent by disabling his first float, thus halting the entire parade!"

Mittens gasps!  "Stopping a parade!  Fiendish!

"Out of curiosity, what was the original plan?"

The bothan looks annoyed with her.  "Like you could come up with any better on short notice.  The old plan was to have you all dress up as rebels and harass the crowd for supporting the Empire.  But I'm glad he turned me down.  I'd hate to make a blankedy-blank like him look like a hero."

"So how do we get past security and disable a huge float in broad daylight?"

"The floats will go over man-hole covers from time to time.  Security below them will be weak because the tunnels are narrow.  I'll have my mechanic give you a monkey wrench to throw into the float's works."

"Sounds fun!  I'm in!"

Ikia asks, "What is the pay?" for one, she would like compensation so as to afford gear and/or a ticket off this world. For another, if she DIDN'T ask what the pay was, that would look suspicious.

  "Admittedly, the fastest 'better plan' would depend on if your sources had video or audio of his plans.  Turning the parade props into a roaming confession of medical fraud would be a larger PR disaster than it stopping in the middle of the street."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:54, Sat 08 Aug 2015.

"500 for each of you," the Bothan answers Ikea, "And before you think it, No I won't pay a dead or missing merc's 'friends' or 'family' the share they were due.  I've heard of people turning on each other after a mission to try and get a bigger cut."

He answers Dackson, "I wish.  I'll pay good money if any of you can get your hands on damning evidence like that."

"A reliable teammate is worth way more than 500 creds," Mits says, "I doubt you have anything to worry about us turning on each other."

Ikia says, "No need to reassure him of our loyalties to each other. Only that the job will be done. His reassurance comes from his policies; which are born of the depravity of others."

She then looks at the bothan. "Thank you for your time."

Ikia then looks back to her team. "Are you two ready?"

  We can't blame you for using such a cool name instead of Matt's name.  "I'm sure he'll believe it when he sees it."  Maybe.

  He nods to the shortest one, "May as well get this over with." 500 may be pocket change in many regards, but it's definitely more than a Jedi's starting budget.  Which he well knows considering he actually paid for a gun.

"I was born ready!" Mits answers enthusiastically.

The bothan puts on a self-satisfied smile, kicking back in his chair again.

"I like your professionalism.  I'll send a guy with your pay the moment I hear of your success.  If for some reason you have to vanish before he gets to you, log on to the Bothowy Global account 1337 BUCKS, password: D15N3Y.  I hate owing people."

Mits thumbs-ups and heads out.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Thu 13 Aug 2015.

Pocket change or no, Ikia is just happy to have any money in exchange for more or less doing what she would have done anyway.

She heads out with the other two and says, "Less guarded. Meaning the sewers are still guarded. And considering how few people actually wander the sewers, they will likely shoot first and ask questions later. But we don't know if these are just hired help trying to make money or if they are part of a conspiracy. So stun settings in this case."

And this is why Ikia has a phaser. Distance and stun. Sure, she has a stun saber, but why get in close and lose surprise and cover when you can just shoot from the darkness at a distance? Oh right. Accuracy. Well.. this is a case she may prefer distance.

  "You have no idea how nice that is to hear these days." Yaaay actual profesionalism.

  Force Stun may be one of the selection of force powers Matt knows, but yes a blaster is much more practical.  Plus they are in the sad situation where shooting somebody in the face attracts less unwanted attention.

  "It does make 'shoot first' less of a moral quandary, yes."

On the way out, the group is given a schematic of the sewers, along with an overlay of the parade rout and schedule.

Once outside, Mittens begins a hand puppet dialogue.

"'Murderdeathkill should always be your first choice, my pupil,' Flashback Darksider instructs.

"Flashback Mittens then asks, 'Then why do we carry around a melee weapon?  Wouldn't a  rocket launcher be more murderdea.'ZAP!  'Hold your tongue, fool!!  Do not question the millennia-established ways of your betters!'

"Later, Flashback Jedi Master says, 'Killing should always be a last resort.'

"Flashback Mittens comments, 'Props for being opposite of Jerkface McDarkside.  Mmmm, I like Jerkside McDarkface better.  But why do Jedi carry around lethal melee weapons instead of stun blasters?'

"'Many reasons.  Primarily because the ability to use The Force to improve the effectiveness of any weapon outside a lightsaber is extremely rare.  In your case...  I really should look into getting you some stun options for your trial.

"'Yay!  An actual answer!'"

Mits stops hand puppeting.  "What Mittens didn't admit was that she really likes lightsabers regardless of their practicality."

Ikia says, "It's also impossible to deflect blaster bolts with a blaster without frying the blaster you're holding. Do not forget the lightsaber serves as a shield as well as a weapon. And yes... the darkside offers power quickly. But the lightside offers answers and, if you are patient, you wind up with the same level of capability and skill as a darksider anyway. After all; everyone hits a roof some time."

  "Their opinions are probably skewed by the fact the time they are your teacher, they are basically immune to conventional weapons.  Same for most Jedi."

  He sighs "I'd prefer some of those crystals that turn your saber into Ions. But I guess those are a bit harder to make while on the run from the Empire."  Stun: = Stun vs living, useless vs bots.  Ion: = Stun Vs living, Super Effective on bots.

  The Darkside only offers power quickly if you are an NPC, but that's way too meta for Matt to articulate or grasp.

"Offers, quick power," Mits emphasizes, "But the reality is that the offer is a lie.  If you survive the introductory trial, there's weeks of stewing in a bacta tank afterward.  Then they might deign to carve a moment out of their busy schedule of harassing bureaucrats to teach you the tenants of the Sith Code, which is a bunch of nonsense, by the way, 'if you're lucky.'  But teach a power?  NooOOoo.  'Only after you've proven your worth.'  Which is a trap.  They'll kill you if they think you're improving faster than them.

"So no.  Opposite is true.  I got way more powerful way faster with the Jedi than I ever did with the Dumb Side.  But thanks for defending the usefulness of a lightsaber to a lightsaber fan."

She ear-wiggles at Matt's point.  "Oooh that sounds neat!"

A cab is eventually found that takes the group to where they need to start then drives off.

Ikia sits in the cab with her hands on her lap. "Truly, I am happy you are with us, Mittens. Rather than with the dark side. Both for your sake, and mine. If the dark side had your common sense on their side, they would be far more dangerous."

She then looks at Matt. "That's a thought. Firkaan crystals are common, relatively speaking. If you would like, Matt, when we get off this planet, we can go hunt for some and make ourselves some ion sabers for alternate use."

  "Honestly, as terrible as it sounds it seems like so many Jedi dying made him reevaluate the usual Jedi training policies to something useful, in your teacher's case."

  Then it's cab ride time wheeeee.  "It would definitly help against droids built specifically for tanking weapon energy, at least."  Though he wonders if he'd be able to make or get his hands on one of those 'deflect/block better, the crystal makes you do this better because-' crystals.

OOC:  Alas, half remembered rules mean I was TOTALLY WRONG.  The Ion rules are basically word for word identical to the Stun rules... with "except this" thrown in the middle.

I did remember right the 'turns to fire and lights things on fire' crystal wasn't darkside though... Though it's also high rare "on the irradiated surface of barbal" or whatever

Mits blushes from Ikea's compliment.

"Never been accused of having so much common sense as to alter the balance of power between light and dark."

She shrugs to Matt's comment.  "I guess that's technically accurate.  Master told me that he did predict a 'terrible, dark tragedy at the Jedi HQ.'  His warnings were 'taken under advisement.'  But he kept his student away from the place in spite of curricular requirements to the contrary.  He and student survived the purge."

The group finds the utility access in the nearby dark alley.  It is locked, of course.

Ikia glances to Matt. "Everything a Jedi Master teaches you is useful, Matt. I think what you mean is that he switched to the summarized version of the lessons he was going to teach her."

Upon seeing the lock, Ikia says, "Unless you bunch have a key to unlocking this..."

She activates her lightsaber. "We do not have the time for wrestling with a lock."

  "Well, if it takes me longer than a minute yes we should just slice it open." Look, we're actually glad this is shifting over to Free Form but his player already shoehorned Mechanics skill onto his build so may as well give it a token attempt at usage.

Feel free to roll it.

Admit I was a bit vague, I was more considering the fact I went to the effort of making sure Mechanics skill was A Thing (as good as Force Skill, even) than wanting to roll for it.

Either way, Door opened without having to slice it in half!  Alas, this took a whole 37 seconds longer.

"Breaking the law, breaking the law," Mits sings.

"Yeah, My training was comparatively hurried.  'Ordinarily there would have been a many years-long review process before you would be allowed to take your trials.  But circumstances force me to allow you to take your trials much sooner than is traditionally advised.  I at least can warn you against specific dangerous choices most likely to get you killed.'"

Mat discovers and disables the silent alarm then unlocks the lock.  The air beyond is humid, but smells more like cleaning chemicals than dirty water.  Lights flicker to life automatically.

"For a city supposedly with a disease problem, I was expecting a swarm of mutant plague rats to attack first thing.  Yay for things going smoothly so far."

The map looks to match the corridor that follows the street above.

Ikia looks around, and raises an eyebrow. Clearly, the clean underground surprises her. "Nice work, Matt." she comments before heading down and saying, "So much for surprise... they'll see the auto-lights and know we are coming. Be very careful when turning corners."

She takes her own advice and cautiously pulls out a mirror to peak around the corner with it.

The coast is clear.

   "Proper automation means a proper sewer.  This isn't Tatooine."

  At Mittens's reasonable caution (ow my BRAIN. It hurts to type that.  Like saying a Darkthorne's reasonable TactOHGOD)- Matt comments "Anyone else down here with us would trip the automated lights as well... Probably."

Mits gives a thumbs-up to Ikea's caution and waits for her go-ahead before continuing on.

"I'll take point.  I'm pretty used to being shot at."

She snorts a chuckle at Matt's comment.  "Now I'm imagining those ultra-rigid royal guards down here standing so still that the lights go out.  'So uh... How are we supposed to follow our orders of, "Stand guard" and "Watch for rebels" when we can't see in the dark?'

"But yeah.  They're probably normal uniforms who pace, keeping the lights on from their movement."

She consults the map.  "Looks like it's a few blocks straight down thataway.  Maybe we should take a round-about rout to avoid being spotted from a mile away."

Ikia shrugs. "As long as we have a sufficient map, we can do so."

She proceeds to follow the map to circumvent the direct route.

  "No reason not to take the safer route when you have the time for it, after all."

  Matt follows after the hairy ladies.  Or would that be the ladies are followed by the mostly bald man?

Mits tip-toes at a hurried pace to ensure she stays in front.  At corners, she stops with her hand out and open.  Caaareful peek around corner...  Close hand and thrust forward to indicate the coast is clear before darting around the corner.  If not for the impish grin on her face, one might almost mistake her as a pro of some kind.

At the 4th corner, she doesn't continue on.  Instead she backs up, faces the group, holes up 3 fingers, and mouths, "Three of them."

Ikia holds up 3 fingers (which is all the fingers on one hand for an ewok) and mouths "three of us" while thumbing at herself with the other hand.

She then draws her blaster and waits for the others to prepare their weapons.

  Ikia, like Ninja Turtles, have an adequate amount of fingers for the important things.  The odd number allowing rude gestures.

  Matt nods, drawing his own blaster.  Maybe after all this he'll get a nice Deathhammer ™, it had a cool name so it had to be good right?

Zap!  Slash!  Combat ensues.  Goodguys get hurt.  Badguys get knocked out.  And they apparently failed to think to call for backup.

"Woohoo!  That was exciting!" Mits cheers before working on looting the baddies.

Ikia looks down at the bad guys and then gets to aiding her own wounds as best she knows how. Which is to say not really anything beyond basics. "It is good you remain cheerful in the face of being hurt." Ikia says calmly. "But be mindful not to cheer at every victory. Stealth was key to our having the jump on these guys and will be key in the future."

  Yeah, the downside of being able to just meditate your injuries (and damage to droid body, if applicable) away is that tends to take time.

  "Blocking full auto wrong is a touch painful, yeah.  But beats being shot up directly."

"Oops!  Sorry!" Mits whispers, "Now that you mention it, it is kinda new for me to be happy after a fight.  Back in my dark days it was angry angry angry; before, during, and after combat.  I could get used to this not angry stuff!"

She grins sheepishly at Matt.  "Sorry.  That was the best I could do."

Taking cover helped a lot with avoiding getting shot, but Mits was sure to try and take up position closer to the enemy to draw fire away from her allies.  It might have worked if she could hit reliably with her blaster.  Seems that marksmanship is something Mits does not excel in yet.

Ikia looks up at Mittens and says, "What you have inside shows through. If you fill yourself with rage, that is what will come out. If you fill yourself with light, you will shine. If you ever have a problem, be sure to come to me about it." She glances at Matt. "That goes for you as well, of course, but I figure you know that."

  "Don't worry, Annoyance isn't the Darkside because it doesn't sound wise to warn your students against it."  Though being giddy as a schoolgirl over decapitations probably wasn't health either... Nevermind that there were no casualties in that offscreen fight.

  And if what Ikia said was to be taken literally, no wonder Maverick was so good at hiding.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:52, Mon 07 Sept 2015.

Mits chuckles and thubs-ups at Matt's comment.  If she had an everburning torch she'd nom on it to prove Ikea's shining light assertion, but sadly can't get away with nomming on a lightsaber.  She can't help but smile at the teddybear's offer and nods.

"Thanks for the offer!  Right now I need to humiliate an Imperial Jerkface.  Let's go!"

The map / parade rout overlay shows that the lead float will soon pass over the manhole above them.  There is only room for one person at a time on the ladder up to it and the red light on the card reader next to the manhole suggests that it is locked.  A keycard isn't found on the baddies.

Ikia motions to Matt. "You're up again. And again, if it isn't opened quickly, we always have our sabers as backup lock picks."

  Okay, so it makes sense for doors, but why is there a lock on the inside of a manhole?... Oh right, you're trying to apply common sense to imperial/"We didn't get the rights to Buck Rodgers" design again, stop doing that.

  Fortunately, Sci-Fi manhole covers have worse security than Sci-Fi ATMs (Just ask John Connor).  "I know it's imperials and all that, but hopefully the float isn't as paraniod as their sewer system."

"You can be sure that if they went to this much effort to secure the sewers, there'll be at least as much security on and in the float itself," Mits speculates.

The lock popped, and the rout schedule double-checked, the lid is opened to the shadowy underside of the colossal cargo repulsar platform upon which the lead float rides.  The fancy skirt around the perimeter blocks the view of the noisy crowd gathered at the sides...  Cordoned off at sufficient distance to allow six rows of troopers on either side room to march.

But, for all the noise, one would have to shout to be noticed by the soldiers.  At it's ponderous size and speed, the float will be a few minutes before it is done passing over the sewer access.  There's access panels aplenty for mechanics to do maintenance, most of which can be opened by the same enormous impact wrench.  (If the heroes had one, it would certainly be loud enough to draw attention.)

"Huh.  Looks I was wrong and they figured they didn't need locks on the underside."

Mits offers the "monkey wrench" to Matt.  It's a high-yield ion ordinance about the size and shape of a gaming laptop.  A note taped to it reads, "For maximum effect, place inside outer plating.  Press red button to start 5 minute timer."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:31, Mon 14 Sept 2015.

Ikia never pictured herself as someone to crash a parade. Party pooper. Sure it is a party in honor of villains, but that won't stop Ikia from thinking this way. Lucky for her, her allies can't read her mind as she continues with that cold, calculating expression.

Ikia looks at the manhole cover then to Mittens. "So we set the timer, go back into the sewer, and that's it?"

  "I am impressed they provided this at all, and didn't make us crouch walk while fiddling with a hydrospanner"  Well, Hydrospanners do at least come with a built in plasma torch...  Of course, if you are gonna use that part instead of the wrench part may as well glowstick it.

  He comments while dealing with the setup,  "We set up, head back down sewers, and run as fast as we can to an exit to be out of there before it pops."

While crouching is required for the taller two of the three Jedi, the lightsabers are a good stand-in for the proper tools.  Mits grins, thumbs-ups to the plan, and joins in the vandalism.  The only hitch arises when heavy panel begins bending toward the pavement under it's own weight, threatening to begin scraping loudly against the road.  But that also allows room for the device to be placed inside the vehicle.  Mits does her best to hold up the sagging panel, straining against the weight and awkward angle.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:05, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

Ikia says, "I am at a less akward angle. Allow me to assist you." and she walks over to the panel to push upward on it from her half-height self. Heavy or no, Ikia does have a wonderful angle as she can use her entire body to hold it up.

...still the continued holding by Mittens will make things less of a strain on the little ewok.

  "Right, got my hands busy at the moment with the device but if you can manage to reach into my side pouch, you should find a bunch of mesh tape."  If Duct tape can do so much, imagine what the STAR WARS version of duct tape can do!

  He will be done setting it up in that totally exact method of time measurement that is 'after you two post'.

"That's a big help, thanks!  Also, yay minor telekinesis!"

Matt's pouch opens and a roll of tape floats out.  If this were Tatooine, even a whole roll of tape wouldn't do much thanks to the caked-on dust.  But this isn't Tatooine so the mesh tape does the trick for keeping the panel from sagging!  Once everyone's ready, she heads for the manhole.

---

OOC: Wound up spending a lot of time thinking about how to improve duct tape.  Already has a lot of amazing features.  Perfect balance of strong yet relatively easy to cut off a piece.  Extremely strong glue, but won't superglue your fingers together.  So how do you make it stringer and stickier without the drawbacks?  Maybe if there were micro capsules of a fixant embedded in the glue that burst and mix when the tape is applied, making the tape harden and adhere to 2-part epoxy levels of strength and bond.

The moment the device is secured, Ikia hurries with the others to the manhole cover and waves them to go before her. She won't argue if anyone else starts insisting on being last, though, considering the manhole cover still needs to be placed back and she is trying to keep her force power usage to a minimum out of habit.

Once back in the sewers, she looks at the other two. "Now to put a safe distance between us and the float." and heads off.

  Matt totally lets the short lady go first, we'll let you guess when it comes to the tall one.

  "Getting out of here fast would be preferable."

OOC: Mesh Tape is "reusable" according to item descriptions, so it's got that much going for it.

Mits hurried to go first, expecting to be be more likely to encounter hostiles below than above.  And she wanted to do the fireman slide down the ladder.

"Wheee!"

Thump.  She waits for the others to catch up before taking the lead again.  The group meets no resistance, but when they exit the utility door, they find a man waiting for them with a briefcase in hand.

"Got word you succeeded.  This here's your payment."

Mits sweatdrops.  "Awfully convenient.  Don't tell me that's actually a bomb."

The guy loos at the briefcase nervously.  "It better not be!"

Ikia says, "It is fine. If it is a bomb, we will survive and everyone will know Big Shoes is a double-crosser. I doubt he would do such a thing. We'll take it from here. Thank you for the delivery."

She waits for the messenger to leave before she waves a hand to cause the briefcase to levitate to a safe distance and then she opens it from said distance using the same telekinetic power.

  "I'd ask why the drop off, but I can understand not wanting to be seen anywhere near us for a while."  Though yes, 'your payment is DOOM' had crossed his mind.

The messenger sweatdrops at Ikea's answer but nods to her and the other two and heads off, leaving the briefcase behind.  When Ikea opens it, no boom.

"Yay!" Mits cheers.

She runs toward it, hand outstretched, and it slides toward her.  Soon she returns with the promised reward and divvies it up.  Suddenly, a megaphone voice can be heard coming from the direction of the parade.

"FOOLS!  You soon will learn what happens to admitted saboteurs!  Troops!  Execute them!"

Screams ensue.  Mits looks annoyed.

"Looks like it didn't take them long to find patsies for our parade stop."

Ikia says, "Being aliens, Mittens and I will stick out. Depending on the number of armed enemies, it would be suicide to go rescue people."

She looks up at Matt. "Would you be willing to scout ahead for us and see what we are up against? Mittens and I could shadow you."

Since technically, all they have seen is the underside of a float and a general estimate of how many were around that particular float, there really is no way to know how many enemies there are. "Alternatively, all three of us could scout from the rooftops, but then we won't be in a position to strike the enemy quickly if we see the chance to."

  "I can take a look, but you don't need space voodoo to know the answer will be 'an entire parade of soldiers'"

  He will take a look though, street executions loudly announced will naturally attract even more onlookers who thought 'parades are boring and for nerds', after all.

When Matt peeks, he sees a crowd of civilians running from the few dozen soldiers who had the lead float surrounded...  but they aren't even pointing their weapons.

The angry megaphone man on the float barks orders, "What's the matter with you?!  OPEN FIRE!"

The soldiers squirm and glance at each other.  Some of them start shooting at the sky.  Others shoot the ground.  The crowd flees all the more vigorously.

"Imbeciles!  They're getting away!  I'll have the lot of your court-martialed!"

Some of the soldiers start to act like their weapons are jamming.  Mits wiggled her ears at the shouting.

"Dissension in the ranks?"

She craned to peek around the corner as well.

"..."

She slaps her hands over her mouth to try and keep from laughing.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:12, Tue 20 Oct 2015.

Ikia sweatdrops. "What in the world could possibly cause them to ignore orders?" she says to nobody in particular. She begins sneaking her way to the megaphone man.

  "Well, aside from the shocking possibility not all faceless soldiers are mindless?  They may have soldiers hired on from locally.   I mean, it's Coruscant.  It's probably harder to gun down your neighbors in the capitol planet of the Empire, than it is when you are shipped off to tatooine and you got sand in you armor and wish you were back home."

  He gives Mittens a -.- look "Please do not laugh at the lack of public executions." ...okay it's kinda funny, but the alternative is kind of a downer.

"I'm laughing at how stupid the meanie-pants is looking," Mits clarifies, "But yeah.  Probably because these guys aren't cold-blooded killers.  But they're still soldiers.  So let's stay away from them, please."

Ikia takes a look at the officer. Then to Mittens. Then returns to Mittens. "If this man is not stopped here, many innocent will die at his hands. But I suppose until we witness this, we can not punish him for a crime he has not committed."

....even if, in her mind, ORDERING the murder of innocents makes you guilty of attempted murder.

  "If they had gotten what they wanted just now, we still wouldn't be doing anything."  Sure, the job they took wasn't exactly laying low.  But getting into open combat with the Empire forces was a comparative air horn to the kazoo of sabotage.

"Matt has a point," Mits agrees, "Even if he were already guilty, we're way too out-numbered to risk taking him out."

The frustrated imperial commander raises his megaphone over his head, about to throw it to the ground.  But he reconsiders and uses it to shout, "Cease fire!  There's too great a risk of injuring bystanders!  Pursue the culprits and apprehend them hand-to-hand!"

The soldiers look relieved, sling their rifles over their shoulders, and give chase leaving the float unguarded.

Ikia nods. "We confirmed the numbers. Our purpose for being at this location is done. Now we need to make our escape. Since they have decided to choose scapegoats to chase, we simply need go the opposite direction."

Which is the direction she chooses to begin going toward.

  Matt follows along.  Walk casual and all that... Well, at least as hurried as the civilians freaked out about the recent blaster fire.

The group gets away safely.  Writer's block sets in for the narration department.  The group finds themselves in a generic part of the city.

"So...  Next stop: Join the Alliance?" Mits asks.

Ikia nods, "Still need to find them. Part of the point of coming here was to hopefully gain some of the alliance's attention to seek us out for recruitment."

  "There is that, I guess."  On that note, he glances around for anyone else who seemed as (well okay, ALMOST as) amused at the Stormtroopers not firing into a crowd as Mittens was.

Mits nods.

"The catch is that we also have to keep a low profile to keep from getting hunted down by the authorities, but yeah.  Joining the Rebels is on the agenda."

Matt doesn't spot any amused people, but he does catch sight of a group of four human men dressed in similar civilian funeral clothes standing next to a fake coffin covered in anti-empire messages such as, "The death of democracy," "Our founders are turning in their graves," and so forth.  They're listening intently to a holo-news feed about the parade incident with grim faces.

Perc check, DC: If you feel like succeeding:  One of them mutters, "We owe it to whoever it was that disabled that float for exposing the Moff's true colors."

Ikia doesn't quite hear what is being said, but she knows "obvious rebels" when she sees 'em. "...let's try those guys." and heads over to the suits. "Pardon me, sirs. But do you know where I might find a quieter place to talk with you about this incident?"

  Matt has much more relevant questions to the importance situation at hand  "Does a spooky Empire Official pop out of the coffin?"

  Toootally need to know info.

The guys give a weirded out look to the strange trio.  "No..."

Mits smiles and says, "Then you won't mind talking openly about the rocke tlaucher you have hidden in your coffin."

"What the hell?"

"We have no such thing!  Is this some kinda shakedown?"

"I'll prove it."

One of them opens the coffin.  Inside are several stacks of anti-empire fliers and signs.  Mits looks a little disappointed.

"This is turning out to be more challenging than I expected.  I'm tempted to resort to the space voodoo."

Ikia says, "To be upfront; We're looking to join the rebellion. But we don't know how."

  "Ah, well you'll never catch anyone's attention that way long enough to remember you more than ten minutes later."  Matt starts reading one of the fliers considering this is supposed to inspire thought in the local people, apparently.

  "Or we could very specifically say we are in no way owed any thanks for what you were in no way just talking about."

Most of the fliers have very simple messages in gigantic print that fill the entire page with a small subtext at the bottom.

SAVE THE GALAXY!
FIRE THE EMPIRE!
Stand up and defend your world from martial tyranny!  For more information, visit ghn.bugspray.org

I ♥ CIVIL LIBERTIES!
But the Empire hates them!  For more information, visit ghn.bugspray.org

And so forth.  Some have more extensive info, such as copies of the Declaration of Rebellion or a page full of pro-freedom quotes from famous historic people.

"What she said," Mits agrees.

"You bunch are from off world, aren't you?" one of the guys concludes.

"Not much of a rebellion here... yet."

"Give it a year and people will wake up to the reality of the Empire's oppression and finally fight for their rights."

"But we do have contacts.  Give us your contact info and we'll get it to them."

"Why exactly did you want to join?"

Mits keeps her mouth shut... for now.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:10, Thu 19 Nov 2015.

Ikia offers her contact information. "To fight the Empire, of course." she thumbs at the chaos going on. "That man ordered the deaths of people who had nothing to do with this latest occurrence. Under normal circumstances, the troops would have obeyed without question. And that's just what the Empire does to everyone. Upon arriving here, we were met with hostility just for being born another race. That is Empire propaganda. Aliens like myself simply have no future that involves the Empire. My being three feet tall and covered in fur should be enough of a resume on that fact alone."

Mits hands hers over as well.  "What she said.  Also, I was enslaved and tortured by an imperial big-wig.  So it's kindofa personal vendetta for me."

The protesters sweatdrop.  "Yeah.  The Empire is bad news, that's for sure."

"How can we be sure it was you three who disabled the float?"

  "Wait, you want there to be incriminating evidence of who took action against the Empire?  No wonder you guys are having so much trouble."

  He sighs.  "But really, how many people are you going to get walking up to you suggesting such a thing, five minutes after the ones in charge ordered people to fire into a crowd just to LOOK like they caught the right people?  Would you prefer if we walk back to the blimp and loudly announce ourselves, if so you can **** right off and we'll leave you to your fliers.  Because you're the ones really risking life and limb for your cause here right?"

Ikia looks up at Matt, reaches to put a hand on Matt's hip and says calmly, "You do not need to get upset at these men for asking a genuine question. After all, they just met us." she looks back to the men. "But Matt's point about incriminating evidence means you can't be sure. You have to take our word for it. But that is beside the point. Whether we did the float or not doesn't change the fact we wish to find a way to join the alliance."

"Thanks for understanding," one of the guys answers Ikea.

Mits grins to see Matt tell off the suspicious protesters.  She shrugs to Ikea's point.  "That shoe fits both feet.  Could be they're undercover wires trying to get us to confess."

One of the guys scoffs.  "Undercover is a thing of the past.  The Empire doesn't care about confessions or who's guilty.  They just shoot the nearest scapegoat."

"Well I'm convinced.  I'll get that info to our contact.  And thanks for putting an end to that publicity stunt of a parade."

  Could be worse.  Could be Bothans.  Matt has just enough tact to not say it out loud (despite his recent outburst).  "Thank you.  Sorry about that, it's been one of those days."

Ikia looks up at Matt. "It has." she says as if to assure him she feels the same, even if she refuses to show her frustration on the outside.

Keeping her hand on Matt, Ikia then looks at the men, "Alright... in that case, where and when do you recommend we meet up?"

(( Oh and I figure we'd be the equivalent of level 3 by now. ))

"Heh.  You could always ask those three guards in the sewers we knocked out in order to get below the float, but uh...  Could be pretty risky."

"Speaking of risky, setting up a meeting time and place is probably not the best move for you all right now.  You should disappear for a while and wait for the call."

Mits thumbs-ups and heads off with her new friends.

"Let's ditch this planet!"

  "Yeah, I could stand to have some regular paranoia instead special occasion paranoia."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 08:28, Tue 01 Dec 2015.

Ikia says, "All we need to do is find transportation that hasn't been closed off by the empire and/or refuses us service because of our non-human status."

"Shouldn't be too hard to convince these racists to punt us off this planet."

Mits' holo-com rings.  She answers and her master's holo-image appears.  "I had a vision of the three of you arrested at a star port.  Probably best to avoid such a place for now."

"How else are we supposed to get off this planet?"

"I don't know."

  "I would assume something along the lines of 'spend all the money we just made on a private flight'.  Well, that or not leave because we didn't exactly give the pamphlet brigade our contact information"

  We've set up a meeting with-oh they left the planet.

Ikia shrugs. "Maybe what your master is saying is we don't go off world. So we find a place on-world to lay low. Maybe it would be best to just follow those guys from earlier?"

"Why spend when you can steal?" Mits says with a mischievous grin, "We just commandeer one of the Moff's spare vessels and fly ourselves outta here."

Master face disagrees, "Even if one of your new friends is an expert pilot, I wouldn't recommend trying to steal something that valuable from the Empire just yet.  Perhaps after you've joined the Alliance and have an army to retreat to."

"In that case, alien slums is prolly best."

  "Well, maybe we could grab some takeout before we head to the slums then." Such dedication and priorities to your cause and survival, Matt.

Ikia says, "At the high-alert status, and the fact this world very firmly hates aliens, I nominate you for fetching the takeout, Matt. Mittens and I will rendezvous with you at these coordinates." she provides the coordinates of a location in the slums. An alleyway.

If this is agreed upon, Ikia gives Matt her order, waits for Mittens to give her order, and then heads out to the slums.

Ikia is an omnivore like humans. She wants a tuna sub.

Mits is fine with the plan and asks for a tuna sub as well...  with bacon sprinkles.  She'll hand over some creds to cover the cost.

Law enforcement along the way are easy to spot and avoid.  The slums are slummish, but nowhere near the over-the-top death-trap that is the Corescant Undercity or various other hives of scum and villainy in the galaxy.  Just low income aliens who wouldn't think twice about swiping your tuna sub if you set it aside to tie your shoe.

Yeah, Matt figured as much.  Which is why he omn nom nomned his own food by the time they got to depressed land.

Look, it can't all be high profile life or death grade precautions.

Ikia eats her sub once it is delivered. "Thank you, Matt."

While eating, Ikia heads off with Matt and Mittens to find a place to lay low.

"Thanks a mil, Matt!"

Nomnomnomnomnom.   Mmmm!

The slums have a few low-cost rental units here and there.  In the process of getting rooms, the group is approached by a timid Sullustan who bows low, muttering something about awaiting permission to speak.

Mits sweatdrops.  "Sure.  Speak."

<alien>"Please forgive your humble servant this interruption.  I am Girtram, and am at your service, oh powerful visitors.  My generous master is a respected member of the community to whom the lowly citizens of this neighborhood present their concerns.  He wishes to calm their fears and assure them that our most illustrious visitors mean them no harm.  That is why I was sent to welcome you."</alien>

  Highly diplomatic response is go!  "They don't have anything to worry about, unless they are assholes or something."  Good job!

Ikia says, "Then lead the way." and begins following.

Mits chuckles at Matt's answer and follows along.  "I wonder what it is about us that is so scary."

The guide offers no explanation.  The group is taken to an empty apartment where a technician is plugging a clunky looking holo projector into a battery droid.  http://vignette3.wikia.nocooki...st?cb=20071013152305

Buttons are pressed and a holo image of an overweight sullustan appears.  http://wiki.starsidergalaxy.com/images/8/83/Chiggs.jpg

"I'm Nod Byngull," he wheezes, "Welcome to the 5th District."

  Maybe it's the competence?  Having more than a single hitpoint?

  Also what is it with overweight slumlords?  Maybe they are taking it for disadvantage points towards all the black market stuff?

  "Hello, Mister Byngull."

OOC: One gimmick I've heard of is people bolting the SW blaster equivalent of amounted machinegun turret onto those battery droids.

Ikia says, "Greetings. I am Ikia. This is Matt and Mittens. I was informed you wish to assure your people that we mean no harm. It is true that we do not take pleasure in harming people."

"We need code names," Mits muses, "And why are people so scared of us?"

Byngull sweatdrops.  "Nice to meet you all too.  Thank you for your assurances.  The people of my community are mostly 'alien' so they are nervous about the change in government.  Will they be hiring alien provocateurs to defame the community with blatant and public acts of rebellion to give all aliens a bad name?  Who are these newcomers who carry themselves so fearlessly?

"You can see how easy it is to jump to conclusions in times such as these."

  "They might hire such if they have a specific reason to, but they are more likely to just declare 'they totally did something, open fire!' on anyone who happens to be nearby.  Keeping up appearances isn't a concern for the empire."

OOC: I'm remembering Red Faction: Gurilla.  As loudspeakers proclaim from the military leader "You have the right to peaceful demonstration. You will not be harmed. We will reach an acceptable compromise to your demands", the military is busy gunning down unarmed protestors in plain view.

Ikia thumbs to Matt. "What he said. The empire would sooner hire a human to mow down aliens or glass a planet than to bother hiring an non-human to frame alien kind. I would caution any non-human against working for the empire; once they are done their job, their payment won't be credits, but death."

Mits nods.  "I can attest to this.  Seen it first hand.  But even humans don't have it much better.  Sneeze at the wrong moment and get your head lopped off kinda thing."

"It's worse than the rumors, then.  Force preserve us.

"You all must be well traveled.  What advise would you have for the poor people who live here?  Escape isn't an option.  Even if the whole community pulled together, there wouldn't be enough to relocate even one family."

  "Unfortunately, comforting wisdom was skipped on my lesson plan.  Though despite that display of guilty if convenient mindset earlier today, you are still potentially safer from the Empire on their doorstep.  It's harder to wipe a piece of coursant's infrastructure off the map no questions asked, than it would be to torch an offworld settlment."

Ikia says, "When there is no escape, the only option left is to fight. The smarter, the better."

Mits thumbs at her allies.  "What they said.  There's much to be said about fighting smart.  Never go to the authorities for help with problems you can solve yourselves.  Aid any rebel spies that hide here.  Expel Empire boot-lickers quietly.  Do not riot.  If troopers come looking for trouble, have some young man get caught breaking some minor law like spray-painting a dumpster.  Being too squeaky clean is suspicious."

Dudeface rubs his chin in thought.  "What you all say makes a lot of sense.  I would like to extend you my hospitality so I can ask you more.  My assistant can show you the way."

  Matt hopes said hospitality doesn't result in heavy explosives to dudeface's face.  That would be unfortunate.

  "Thank you, for the offer." At least it would be people ordered to be shot for reasons not made up entirely?  Hard to think of a bright side when it comes to the Empire.

"Thank you." Ikia says as she follows along. She looks to Mittens and gives a small smile. "Those were all very good suggestions, Mittens. Sounds like either you have been at this a while, or your master was thorough..."

Techie gets to work un-hooking the holo-projector as the humble secretary guy leads the way for the group.  Mits smiles and bow to Ikea.  "Yay!  I'd like to think my time as a dark jedi's slave can be turned around to spite the Empire.  Both your guesses are close.  'Thorough' is a very kind way of putting it.  More like obsessive paranoid."


The group is led to a slumish bar then to the back room behind said bar.  Looks like a dingy office that has been tidied up as much as possible, very much similar to the one the bothan gangster from earlier had.  Dudeface is seated behind a desk.  In front of the desk are set three chairs for the guests.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable.  Would you like snacks or a drink?"

  "We just ate on the way here, but thank you for the offer."  Hey, Mittens is the one who just brought up paranoia.

Ikia says, "What he said. Thanks for the hospitality." doesn't stop her from being seated as offered. "So why meet us in person? Just being polite, or is there more you wanted to discuss?"

Mits takes a seat and thumbs at her allies.  "What they said."

Big boss nods then looks to his assistant.  "Take notes, please."

The humble secretary nods and takes a seat behind a beat-up computer.  Big boss nods to Ikea.  "Discussing how to resist the Empire publicly is not prudent, I imagine."

To Mits he asks, "Can you give me some examples of what you've seen that led you to say, 'Don't be too clean?'"

Mits rubs behind her head.  "That's a principal I made up from what I've seen earns people a thorough inquisition.  So while it won't keep the low level Empire bullies from harassing you, you'll at least improve your chances of avoiding the notice of the high-level monsters who'd sooner bomb your neighborhood than bother proving that there's a rebel cell in it.  So there may as well be one anyway.

"Example.  Back when I was the slave of a dark jedi, we came upon a vacation planet..."

She recounts a horror story about an entire town being destroyed for being "too perfect," "They're obviously hiding something," etc.

The Sullistans look nervous.

Mits concludes, "I'll bet had they simply had a punk do something mildly illegal, my former master would have been satisfied with killing one or two townsfolk and moved on.  It's like those sea slugs that spew guts at their predators in order to distract them with a small meal so they can get away."

  Somewhere, somebody is spray painting 'Bane Rulz' on an alley wall.

  "Not exactly the most comforting advice, to be fair.  But there really isn't much to go with comfort wise when 'eh, less of a hassle to just kill em all' is A Thing"

Ikia says, "The only way such a plan would work is if you have someone willing to every once in s while do some minor crime and get caught. Someone human. After all, aliens will simply be killed on sight for so much as looking ugly in the eyes of an empire soldier."

"Your friend here is the only human in the neighborhood that I know of."

Mits chimes, "Bright side is that while bullies are common, genocidal type xenophobes are not the norm in the rank-and-file."

"What of the new Moff?"

"Erm... Yeah, he strikes me as the murderface type."

Big man looks grim.  "I have a serious problem, then.  About the only source of income for this community is the black market trade that passes through.  The old government overlooked this because of the sizable bribes they were given.  How are we to survive if he'll kill a person just for approaching, let alone offering a bribe."

Mits recalls, "Yeah.  He didn't react favorably to Big Shoe's holo call."

  Uh... I'd like to buy a vowel?  I mean, Matt searches his feelings.  Because that always helps right?

Ikia says, "Human or no, the black market does not react well to interference. Big Shoes insinuated he was going to make this guy's life more trouble than its worth. But the Empire's power and influence is such that I doubt such annoyances to the Empire will last long. Just be prepared for the fact that some times, the only option is to die while putting a dent in the enemy. That said, I just had a thought... the Empire is occupying this world for a reason. Find out why they are occupying instead of destroying you and you may have a foot in the doorway to survival."

Matt gets the feeling that the neighborhood will do just fine so long as they don't do anything majorly stupid - like let it slip that three Jedi passed through.  Or hire three Jedi to do their dirty work...

"So you've met Big Shoes.  I know him by reputation.  I hear he's even-handed.  Unlike the crime lord terrorizing my neighborhood.  Extortion, kidnapping, slave trade, murder... the works.  Now I'm worried what'll happen when he tries to bribe the Moff.  Between him and the Empire, my neighborhood could sure use the ongoing advice of brave experts such as yourself.  Would 50 creds each per day on top of room and board be enough to convince you to help?"

Mits shrugs.  "I didn't really have any other plans, and it sounds like it'd be more fun than just laying about doing nothing.  I'm game."

   Thanks, feelings!  You're pretty okay.  "That would really depend on what you want us to do.  I'm sure there is plenty we could help with, but anything that could attract attention by getting 'solved' should probably be avoided.  Even if we were gone, somebody finally getting around to investigating who chopped a moff's head off could lead back to who asked for it to happen."

Ikia says, "Although... thinning numbers will lead to just hand-waving that it is the natural consequence of gang activity." she looks back to the guy. "50 creds coupled with room and board is quite generous, considering your circumstances. I assure you we will be doing as thorough a job as possible so as you won't be paying us long."

It's true because at the moment, the trio are just biding time until contacted by the alliance.

"But I thought the point was to teach how to not attract attention," Mits comments.

Boss face and secretary are both taken aback.  Boss wipes his brow with a handkerchief.  "Goodness gracious.  Of course I would not be so foolish or suicidal as to ask for the beheading of a Moff.  Nor do I expect you to do something else that will get my neighborhood tortured and killed in the long run.  So I'll leave the figuring of solutions to problems to you and learn from your expertise in subtlety.  Thank you for the help."

He slides 3 cred chips over.  Mits grabs one.  "You're welcome!"

She restrains herself from bragging how many more zeroes she was paid in her last temp job.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:26, Sun 06 Mar 2016.

  "That makes much more sense, we're not used to people asking us reasonable things."

Ikia takes one of the chips. And yes, bragging would be bad form. Ikia is grateful they are being paid at ALL rather than "we can't afford to pay you anything, but can you help anyway please?"

"Please show us where we are to be sleeping?"

Mits stifles a chuckle at Matt's comment, recalling all the silly errands she's been sent on.

Flashback:
"Wunna know what else you share in common with a dark jedi?"

"Yes. Yes, I know.  He also breathes air, eats food, and uses the bathroom.  Now are you going to complete your 'dumb quest'?  Or would you rather have nothing at all to do?"
/Flashback

"I'm expecting you'll be congratulating yourself for years to come for talking us into this, but on my end, I'll be happy to have something constructive to do rather than be bored."

Secretary face sees the group to their modest accommodations.  He gives his contact info in case the heroes need anything and heads out.

(( Planning time skip soon where you can describe the kinds of minor quests you successfully complete over the next few days.  ))
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:25, Sat 12 Mar 2016.

  Montage ensues!

  Plumbing fixed! (Wookies make poor sink owners)

  Wallets found! (it was behind your sofa not stolen)

  Mittens Bored! (Throw paper airplanes at her to swat down like godzilla)

  You don't get paid for that last one!

Ikia decided the best use of her time was to teach some basic self-defense techniques to those of this residential area who wished to learn any. While most of what she knows are jedi techniques, she is careful to go over the most basic stuff that could just as easily be considered karate (for the empty-handed techniques) or kendo (for the more sword-like techniques that a plain old stick works just fine with).

Between classes, though, Ikia does seem focused on getting the people to be extra aware of their surroundings. She wants them to know their exits, alleys, fire escapes, basements, and hidden passages. There is much to be said for home turf advantage.

Mits helps the others rid the 'hood of thugs by teaching the locals how to scare them:

Thug finds a wilted rose on his pillow.  When he demands what it means, the landlord gasps and wets himself!  "Reluctant" to say anything, he is eventually "forced" to give details about The Black Rose - a crazy Mandilorian hunter who makes sport of torturing people to death.  Hunts sentients like a highly territorial predator hunts prey.  My cousin told me his best friend's uncle's body was found clogging the meat grinder of a nurfburger factory a mere 36 hours after a black rose was found on his pillow.  Then the cousin's best friend went missing 24 hours later, never to be seen again.

Most thugs don't need any more convincing but a few need to have a laser dot appear on their chest, or another thug that was beaten by Ikea's students who doesn't want to talk about his mysterious injuries, or having a mysterious mass of hair found in their plumbing before they run for their lives - their dark imaginings running wild.

Mits of course enjoys the giant gorilla game.

"Never did manage to find The Black Rose.  Loved that they frustrated even an obsessive Dark Inquisitor to the point of giving up."

  Matt didn't have any hand in the Black Rose shenanigans.

 'Why is there ketchup in our mustard bottle!?'  'Why is their mustard in our ketchup bottle!?'

  That would be crazy.

Ikia does her usual preparations for preparing for bed; She sits at the edge of the bed, having changed from robes to pajamas, and is folding her freshly washed jedi robes into a perfectly neat pile of clothing, which she sets near her bed. Ikia isn't O.C.D., she is just very orderly.

At last the group is met by a rebel pilot.  He's a Sulistan wearing a shabby jumpsuit, so he fits right in.  "I'm your pickup.  But you'll have to wear disguises to get to the warehouse.  Then hide in boxes till I load you up in my ship and jump.  Won't be comfy.  Any questions?"

"Does this mean we're already members?" Mits asks.

"Eh...  Practically.  I'm sure there'll be formalities to go through when we get to base.  Nice work on that parade business.  I hear the Moff's been a laughingstock ever since."

  "Just what kind of boxes are involved?"  Eh, at least meditating is good for passing boring rides.

Ikia looks up at the rebel. "Thank you. What kind of disguises?"

"Disguises like whatever you can get your hands on that'll make you look like poor warehouse workers.  Dirty coveralls for example.  Up to you.  The crates are standard large animal transports.  You're being smuggled as pigs.  Customs doesn't like the smell so they tend not to peek inside."

The caper is pulled off without a hitch!  Once underway, the pilot opens the crates.  "Welcome aboard the Chuck Wagon.  We're on our way to a secret Alliance training base.  We'll be about a day getting there."

Mits cheers.  "Yay!  Thanks for the pickup!"

  Yup. Very glad for Jedi Meditation about now.

  "So, just how robust is the training?  It's hard to imagine you hiding a full scale setup even with how big space is."  It would be wildly incredulous for there to be advanced enough VR facilities to sneak onto people in their sleep and trick them into believing everyone was dying, for example.

Ikia took the entire smuggling in stride just like her two allies. And yeah... meditation. Prolly paid off for all three.

Ikia will be impressed if Alliance training is in any way more than anything she and her allies are used to from Jedi training. Well, OK... they might train her to use a blaster. 9.9 But honestly she would appreciate that because her aim currently sucks.

The pilot scoffs.  "Tsh.  Nothing you all need to worry about, I'll bet.  The three of you somehow managed to bypass a Moff's security, get away unscathed, and hide under his nose for days undetected.  I'd be surprised if they don't just wave the usual entry level training and twist your arms to go straight to elite qualification trials.  Hard to say for sure, though.  Things are in constant flux.  You might wind up with some stickler for the old ways who insists you have to go through two weeks of basic like 'everyone else.'  Even though plenty don't go through basic.

"You all must've had some kinda training already that should count against that, though.  You all former security?  Law enforcement?  Military?"

Mits considers.  "Kindofa combo.  And we're going to make some strange demands of our recruiter.  How likely is it that they'll get peeved if we tell them we can't promise to always go where ordered because we answer to a... um...  higher authority?"

The pilot sweatdrops.  "I'm sure they'll take what they can get.  They may treat you like mercs...  but don't expect big paychecks.  No one makes big creds in the Alliance.  I hear Alliance admirals make less than what Empire Sergeants make."

Mits shrugs.

  "Fixing the family speeder lends to affixing premade explosives in a rushed situation, apparently.  I'd hate to have to do anything technical from scratch though.  Getting paid at all is a change of pace but I will light you on fire with my mind if you tell the ones writing the checks I said that... Okay at most I'd make you're pants fall down in public. I am bad with threats."

Ikia says, "They may deal with me how they wish. My training background is my own and they can live without knowing."

Matt's last statement makes Ikia let out a quick breath as if stifling a chuckle, and she wears a Mona Lisa smile for half a second before she manages to keep a straight face again. "I am sure whatever we say to the Alliance, they will have heard it before."

Mits busts out laughing!  She's especially happy to see Ikea smile for once.

The pilot chuckles at the threats.  He clearly doesn't believe Matt can light people on fire with his mind.

"I'd say the majority of us working stiffs in the Alliance feel the same way.  Don't need anyone telling the brass to cut wages for our co-workers.  That just leads to cuts for everyone."

He nods to Ikea.  "Heh.  Yeah, I'll bet.  With such a motley crew, I'm sure the brass won't bat an eye at your mysterious background."

Mits grins and thumbs-ups.  "Alrighty then!"

The group arrives without incident!

  Surprising! The incident must be scheduled for 10 minutes after landing then.

  "Thanks for the lift, hopefully the view here has more variety than Coruscant." an entire planet of urban sprawl gets a bit samey when the only architecture styles are 'Slum' and 'future city type 17'.

Ikia gives a polite bow to the pilot. "Thank you again." and goes where directed in order to get in touch with the nearest rebellion recruiter.

She has no idea Mittens is happy Ikia smiled... Mittens seems to always be happy! Mittens will sort her out... eventually......... maybe.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:33, Thu 21 Apr 2016.

the planet has an Earth-like climate and appearance.  From jungles to deserts.  No cities.

The pilot nods to the group. "Sorry, but the garrison isn't located for nice scenery.  And you're welcome."

He flies into a canyon then into a huge natural cave that opens into the side of the canyon, and docks.  Inside is a small fleet of x-wings and a few larger ships.  Once the ship lands, a small ground crew gets to work sweeping the ship and doing various bits of maintenance.

The group is led to a pre-fab office building and introduced to a recruiter.

"Welcome to Dunkope," he greets, "I trust your ride was acceptable?"

Mits thumbs-ups.  "I'll cut to the chase.  We're beginner level Jedi.  Whe're here on our teachers' orders to help you all harass the Empire."

"Well well well," the recruiter answers, folding his arms, looking impressed, "I figured at least a few of your kind survived.  But can you prove what you say?  Got any Jedi powers you can demonstrate?"

Mits grins impishly and reaches for her lightsaber.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:19, Tue 26 Apr 2016.

  "Unfortunate emphasis on the beginner level."  Paperclips flee in terror from a rubber band ball chasing them around the desk.

Ikia holds her lightsaber up and it levitates above her hand. "Telekinesis is the most obvious jedi power to use for display purposes. Thank you for the warm welcome." she says before taking her saber and holding it. She has no idea what Mittens is planning, so she keeps her eyes on Mittens to see what she does.

Mits was gunna do the floaty thing with the lightsaber, but Ikea beat her to it.  She giggles at the paperclip chase.

The recruiter jumps a little in surprise, "For a second there, I thought that was a scorpion running across my desk.  be careful putting your shoes on in this place."

He nods to Ikea, "You're welcome.  Thanks for coming."

To Mits he says, "You came to the right place for Empire harassment training..."

Mits smiles and her pigtails spin around.  "Sweet!"

The recruiter sweatdrops.  "I have a lot of questions.  Why an emphasis on beginner level?  How do you go about getting more advanced?  How did you get past the Moff's security and slip away undetected?  What other Jedi abilities do you have?  Can anyone learn those abilities?"

Mits recounts the adventure for the recruiter and leaves the other questions for her friends.

  "As far as I can tell myself, no to that last one.  Because the force is wildly arbitrary.  Also the inexperience disclaimers are so you don't expect us to be able to backhand an E-Web turret's shots back at it or run off and kill Darth Vader for you.  It would end extremely poorly."

Ikia says, "That is a lot of questions to ask all at once."

While Mittens tells the story of the parade, Ikia jots down the questions that were asked. When finally, the story is told, Ikia says, "How do I go about getting more advanced? Like with any skill, this is achieved with training and practice. What other Jedi abilities do I have? I can enhance my physical capabilities that involve momentum, such as running and jumping. I can also deflect incoming projectiles with my lightsaber, but not reliably. Mostly, I am a melee combatant."

The recruiter ohs at Matt's answer.  He nods to Ikea, looking impressed with Mits' story.  "No Jedi training to be had here.  Mostly basic soldier training all the way up to advanced X-wing piloting.  Very useful skills for anyone..."

Mits interrupts, "I get to FLY?!  Sign me up!"

The recruiter chuckles.  "Appreciate the enthusiasm.  Considering you all are already pretty advanced, we may be able to put you all on the fast track to the specialized training each of you is looking for."

He slides forward three clipboards with sign-up sheets on them.  Mits' enthusiasm is doused.  "Nya.  Paperwork is from The Dark Side."

The recruiter sweatdrops.

  "Hard to say no to practical skills.  More ways to stay alive are better."

  He can't help but wonder why he feels something has gone wildly askew in the universe, when Mittens expresses excitement over learning to fly.

  Matt distracts himself from this by reading over the paperwork for anything more 'we will send you on suicide missions' than being a rebel normally is already, before filling it out.

Ikia nods to the recruiter and says, "Again; thank you. The sooner we can help more, the better."

Ikia looks at the paperwork and then looks at Mittens. "I am unsure how to follow your logic. I think paperwork is wonderful. It helps organize and keep good track of things. By bringing things together, it brings light to the shadow of ignorance and anarchy. What is dark about it?"

"You're welcome!  And thank you for joining!"

The sign-up sheet is very basic.  Please print clearly: Name, reason for joining, desired training focus, desired assignment, so on.  No legal statements, disclaimers, or even a signature line.

Mits holds her pen like a dagger and starts scrawling a spiral on her sign-up sheet.  "Oh, so you hate paperwork, do you, slave?  Eeehxcellent!  To help your hatred grow and fester, I will assign you a week of doing all the paperwork of this fascility.  An additional day will be added to your assignment for every mistake found in your work.  Meheh.  Mehah!  Mwahahahahah!"

Her bangs curl up to give them the appearance of devil horns.  "You must love hating paperwork, slave!  Already 52 mistakes in your first day!  At this rate, you'll be doing paperwork for the rest of your life!  Bwahahahahah!"

The recruiter sighs.  Not the first time he's had a deal with a loopy recruit.  "My apologies.  I'll be sure to let everyone know about your issue.  A proxy will fill things out for you whenever it's needed."

He fills one out for her and takes the clipboards back.  "I'd like to introduce you to the Post Commander and the Head Instructor.  Shall we?"

Matt Carzac
Empire hates me anyways.
Equipment maintenance, Marksmanship.
Whatever Mittens and Ikia are assigned.

Requests for not splitting the party is probably the most important part of the form filled out.

"Can't see why not."

Last Name: Moddell*
First Name: Ikia
Reason for joining: To support the efforts against the Empire.
Desired training focus: Melee Combat, Piloting.
Desired assignment: I am under oath to stay with Matt Carzac and Mittens

*Please note; this last name was given to me by others, in a desire to help me get along in society better. Moddell is actually the sector I am from and I have no ties to anyone of the same last name.

Ikia reaches over to pet Mittens' leg in a comforting manner, showing her immediate concern. "You have no doubt found the Dark Side's ability to sap enjoyment from life also means they put bad or evil connotations to things that would otherwise be good. I will never force you to do paperwork, but I hope you do not condemn me for my support of it."

Soon as the others begin following, so shall Ikia.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:25, Mon 16 May 2016.

"I know what I'll do.  I'll secretly threateeeh...  Hrm?"

Mits snaps out of her flashback.  "Oh.  Sure.  No worries."

The group is led through the office building to a somewhat fancy reception area with a door to the receptionist's left.

"The recruiter is here with the special recruits, sir," she coms.

"Send 'em in," the com answers.

The group is led through the door to a relatively fancy office decked with photos of various important people.  Seated in a repulsar chair is a silver-haired amputee wearing captain insignia, missing a left arm and leg.  He wears a half mask on the same side as the missing limbs, but plenty of scarring is visible on his "good" side.  With him is a harsh looking drill sergeant.  http://i.makeagif.com/media/7-07-2015/j5cutY.gif

"Welcome to Dunkope.  I'm Captain Kancho and this is Sergeant Yohan."

The recruiter hands over the sign-up sheets.  The officers skim them and the Captain continues.

"Your recruiter was kind enough to leave his intercom open, so you won't need to repeat to me what you've already covered with him."

"Handy," Mits comments.

"Any specific equipment maintenance?  Or will trash compactor units do?"

Yohan asks Ikea, "Already consider yourself a marksman?"

  As ever, Not Darkthornes are amazed they are not the most outlandish in any given group.  Then again, we've gone quite a ways off track compared to the original prototype Darkthorne, who would high give Mittens during an explosion competition.

  Matt answers "If you think that would be of practical benefit for the rebellion, sure I'll work on trash compactors."

Ikia's handwriting on the document is very neat and spaced perfectly.

She is also proud of Matt for his answer.

Ikia looks over and up at Yohan and shakes her head. "I am by no means a marksman. Why do you ask?"

She does not seem intimidated or offended by Yohan's question, even if she has a feeling she knows where Yohan's going with this question. If the alliance insists on training her on a gun, she is fine with that. But she expects a lot of failure for only an average turn-out. While she may consider that a waste of time, Ikia has to admit to herself she still knows nothing of warfare and such "wasted time" training a jedi to shoot decent could be downright vital to what the alliance wishes to use her for.

The Captain smiels at Matt's response.  Now here's a man who understands, he's thinking.

"Good answer.  I was testing your willingness to take on the less glamorous jobs.  But your talent would be wasted on trash compactors.  So don't worry about that."

The drill instructor answers, "It's my job to make sure you have the skills you need for your unit to survive.  So I'll be focusing on covering skills that need the most improving before we get to the ones that need less."

He looks at Mits.  "That goes for all of you."

Mits gets shifty-eyed.  "I assure you that I have mastered all of the boring skills and am in need of training in all the fun skills."

All three men sweatdrop.  The Captain continues.  "After your training, your commander will be putting you to work in key locations to maximize your impact on the enemy.  So we'll need you to give a full demo of your skill and Jedi power for our holo-recording droid.  We'll want your commander to know exactly what you're capable of so he won't be putting you on trash compactor duty or duel Vader duty.  Any questions?"

  "I do find staying alive preferable, even if that can seem counter intuitive to acts of rebellion."  But this way you get to annoy the empire, and maybe not die in the process!

  "Honestly my main problem with having such things recorded is the possibility of it getting out to the Empire.  They aren't the only ones who can have data files stolen."

Ikia nods to the sergeant. "Understood. And as a new recruit, it is my job to trust your judgement."

Ikia nods to Matt then looks at the captain. "It is true that if the empire learned anything about Mittens, Matt and I, we would become high-priority targets. The empire is especially interested in jedi. I have no questions as of yet, but I am sure I will as I learn how things are run."

Mits chimes in, "Seems counter-intuitive.  But as pointed out to fat sullistan face, may as well shoot for the chance at killing the behemoth that's sure to kill you if you don't take the shot."

The Captain nods to Matt.  "Glad to hear you're security minded.  I am too.  I'm going to keep the recording on my person and forbid copies from being made.  A chip is much easier to destroy on short notice than the pile of documents I'd otherwise have to deliver to the command staff as proof of my claims.  Without video, I'm not expecting them to easily believe in your powers, and I wanted to spare you the boring hassle of being summoned to a command staff meeting to prove my claims.  Your time would be better spent learning how we rig our data chips to self-destruct should they be stolen."

The Sergent gets a mean-looking smile.  "Empire especially hates you, huh?  Good.  I'll take great pleasure in making the objects of their rancor untouchable."

The Captain smirks at him.

  Common sense, and reasonable?  These guys are so going to die as soon as the PCs leave.

  "Well, hopefully your superiors can deal with the letdown of only being able to start small fires with my mind, rather than melt a tie fighter."  Lighting people on fire is light side! Because reasons!

Byron would disagree. Using the force directly on someone to harm them is dark side. Period, no exceptions.

Thankfully, the dark side and light side are completely up to Chris, Tim and Will.... poor The Force.

Ikia says, "Thank you both. I am ready when you are. I only ask I not be separated from my two comrades for prolonged periods of time."

Lightning is darkside in Byron Land as well.  Unless summoned by an airbender.  Why is lightning a thing for airbenders and not fire benders like in the cartoon?  Because lightning comes from the SKY!

...The Force can probably survive Tim, Chris, and Will Land.

The Captain chuckles.  "While larger scope pawers are nice and all, I'm expecting that the missions you'll be doing won't require melting ties with your mind.  Thermite will probably be more likely."

The group is taken to a firing range and is asked to demo their powers on disposable targets one at a time.  The name of the power and description of it's limitations are also helpful.  Mits goes first and demos all she's capable of.

(( Unfortunately, I don't know what she can do.  I need to nail that down some time. ))

Bog standard entry level Force Move, Pyrokenesis, and a shrug saying "Can't really try to stun a target.  Even if it doesn't cause lasting harm-" usually "I'd rather not showcase something that needs a living target."

On that note, hardly desiring to showcase being able to sleep off injuries <.<  >.>  But that's another thing not quite target range material either.

Ikia demonstrates her ability to suddenly run at impossibly fast speeds to get into melee range. Next, she demonstrates her ability to deflect blaster bolts; She has an automated blaster firing at a target and then without looking, smacks the blaster fire aside with her lightsaber. "The rest would be my ability to enhance my melee combat capability, which I can demonstrate with training sticks."

Mittens is happy to demonstrate the healing power of The Force.  Stab!  She jams a knife through her arm!

 "Ouch," Mits growls through her teeth.

 In a matter of moments the bleeding stops.  "Tada!" 

 The wound continues to heal.  She demos her other powers as well.  The officers are visibly impressed by all three of the PCs.  "How does that work?  Breaking the laws of physics with your minds."

 "'The Force cannot be understood by science,' Teacher told me.  And most attempts end in madness."
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:04, Sat 16 July 2016.

  ""Wildly arbitrary, was not an exaggeration.  Though I expect that as much as anything is why the Emperor has not taken to personally crushing rebels in a literal manner."

Ikia says, "I do not think of it as breaking the laws of physics so much as having a back door to the more secret laws of physics. But Mittens is right; many a great mind has tried to quantify the force, but it is akin to quantifying emotions. It works on a completely different scale where measurements do not really exist."

This concept still bothers Ikia's very lawful mind at least a little. But she had a VERY good, sensible teacher.

Ikia looks at Mittens and says, "Please do not ever do that again. That was entirely too painful when you could have demonstrated the power without hurting yourself so bad."

The officers look a little surprised.  "I'd dismissed the rumors that The Emperor is some evil sorcerer.  You're telling me that it's true he has The Force like you all do?"

Mits nods.  "It's pretty well known among The Empire's inner circles that he, Vader, and most inquisitors are Dark Jedi.  Each with differing levels of power and abilities.  For Vader and The Emperor, everyone's afraid of their mind-reading powers."

To Ikea she thinks for a bit then answers, "It's part of my...  Consider it a one-time exercise in self-discipline.  And a demonstration of my commitment to our cause.  But thanks!  It's nice to have an ally who cares if I suffer."

  "Teaching Math would be much harder if what 2+2 equals can change depending on if Math felt like being taught at the time or not."

  He looks back over to Mittens, and comments "I like you better when you are not bleeding Mittens, this is true."

Ikia pets Mittens' hand caringly, as if firmly believing the force was not enough; the hand needed love in addition in order to heal. For such a strict stickler, she has a gentle touch. "Do not be afraid of the emperor. Like any tyrant, powers or no, fear is his most powerful weapon. Just like myself, the Emperor may be powerful due to the force, but he is still mortal and can die."

Mits snickers at Matt's commentary about Math being selective with when it wants to be taught.  "Considering The Force is so moody, and is known to have a wildly different Dark Side, one could argue that it is bipolar schizophrenic."

She pretends to shoot her hand and then her hand dramatically coughs and swoons.  "On no!  I'm bleeding!  That means Matt likes me less!"

Mits grins impishly.  "Just teasin'!  I get what you meant.  Thanks!"

When she feels a gentle pet Mits freezes in terror!  Memories of an especially creepy dark jedi come to mind.  Bat at least the gentle pet isn't on the back of the neck this time.

"Eheh.  I uh... appreciate the sentiment.  Just try and understand that it isn't easy to stop being afraid."

The captain nods.  "It's good to avoid under-confidence and over-confidence.  I seriously doubt any of us will ever have to directly face off against The Emperor or Vader.  But if so, by the time we do, we'll be ready for 'em."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:50, Tue 26 July 2016.

  "Being blown to bits is often the great equalizer, yeah.  Though it can be avoided a lot better when the smaller stuff like thermal detonators U Turn away from you."

  Matt is glad that Ikia is adorable enough to get away with it, because he expects slapstick injuries to commence if he tried comfort pats.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:24, Fri 29 July 2016.

Ikia turns to face the commander and srgt. "We have demonstrated our ability. Now what shall we be learning?"

Mits is still working on not reacting poorly to people who don't mean her any harm, but at worst she'd yelp and jump from unexpected comfort pats.  Three Stooges eye-pokes are a thing of a past for her now.  (Those knuckleheads totally had it coming!)

The officers nod grimly to Matt's statement then turn to answer Ikea's question.  "Basic training.  There's a lot of useful survival skills you'll cover in basic.  Such as first aid.  We want to make sure you are at least as prepared as a standard grunt.  as you pass tests, you'll be advanced accordingly.

Mits shrugs.  "No one ever bothered teaching me first aid before.  Guess I'll see how quickly I can breeze through the other stuff."

---

I plan to grant us all a bunch of freebies.  A rank of treat injury for example.  And w/e else makes sense for basic.  Such as proficiency in rifles or w/e.  Anything redundant to stuff already paid for with chargen feat slots etc will be refunded for use however you want.

  "First aid training means being able to identify where I got shot better than 'the place that hurts', so there is that too."

Ikia seems to have a highly cooperative approach, be it to her teachers or her friends. Her teamwork skills require only the knowledge the srgt has, but once she learns the techniques, she has them down pat. Despite this, Ikia seems to have high expectations from her allies and a strong belief in finding a proper teacher for any given topic, never counting herself as a capable teacher. Her ranged combat potential seems average, but since she isn't terrible, she winds up learning all the same, just like the other recruits. Her melee combat with any saber-like weapon is phenomenal. Ikia learns first aid at about an average rate also.

"Mittens also really hates it when she can't name where it hurts."

As might be expected for a former dark jedi's apprentice, she finds certain aspects of basic training to be a breeze...  others notsomuch.  And it is really hard to not cheat and use The Force to compensate.

But when she gets caught, the drill instructor makes a good point.  "You already admitted that The Force is fickle.  Which means you shouldn't bet your life on it working all the time.  By cheating, you're only weakening yourself and putting your fellow soldiers at greater risk in the long run."

"Nya."

  "It hurts because it's true.  Also because of the bruising."  Matt is good enough at any given noncombat subject to never make things worse.  My, what an oddly specific phrasing.

  Both of the hairy girls are better at him in close combat overall, though his inclinations towards not getting hit in the first place will probably do wonders for not getting shot without playing blaster tennis.

  Speaking of blasters, he's hardly some crack shot savant.  But already knowing how to trust a gun sight instead of his instincts certainly helps matters in not missing targets in the first place.
This message was last updated by the player at 05:58, Sat 20 Aug 2016.

As some tests get harder, Ikia also finds herself tempted to cheat. While she refuses and in fact, becomes a bit upset with herself for being tempted at all, Ikia finds Mittens beginning to give in to temptation makes her feel like she's not alone. She secretly celebrates that she is a normal person underneath, but upon remembering how frustrating it feels to not only be caught cheating but how much the truth can hurt, Ikia heads over to Mittens and reassures her. "This is not an obstacle: It is a challenge. One I am positive you can overcome."

Ikia is also sure to give positive comments to Matt whenever he looks frustrated. For example, with melee, she assures him that in the case of Jedi training, he simply took a different route. So his lack of choosing melee is not because he lacks the skill to learn it. But in military training, learning it is less an option and more a prerequisite.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:23, Tue 16 Aug 2016.

Mits would sooo make things worse.  She's so bad at non-combat things, she'd blind and deafen the whole team if she were looking for an obvious ambush.  Kidding.  When it comes to lightsabers, she finds it hard to hold back and destroys a practice droid or three.  When it comes to guns, she's almost as enthusiastic, if nowhere near as deadly.  When time comes to again be comforted by teddy bear pets, Mits doesn't freeze up in terror!  Progress!

Mits beams at her friends and exclaims, "You two are the best friends I've ever had!  Thanks so much!"

  "Thanks Mittens.  You are the nicest Not Sith I've ever met." Best friends by default is an easy bar to meet.  Matt fortunately is not so cynical to think Ikia and himself do not rate too poorly anyways, though.

  "I'm sure my close combat results would look more impressive were I compared to other fresh recruits, instead of a girl roughly half my size kicking twice as much ass, Ikia."

  Parry and blade lock spam is a very particular mindset that would mostly bore enemies to death, if not for allies.  Now, if he could use Blade Mode™ after a parry? Things would be a different story.  But that is an entirely separate franchise.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:06, Sat 20 Aug 2016.

Ikia says, "I just do not want you to be discouraged, Matt."

Ikia nods to Mittens and even smiles. "Thank you."

(Short post is short, but I couldn't think of anything more to post)
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:22, Sat 20 Aug 2016.

Mits blushes from the compliment, thanks, and smiles.

"Aww, shucks..."

Being treated well in spite of failure is still a new concept for her.  Still, it'll take some getting used to.

The rest of basic is rather quick since the Jedi are already very fit.  The other recruits are amazed at how fast the 'accelerated recruits' are pushed through, (they haven't been told that they are Jedi), but no one can deny how elite they are in drills.  The three are given legit uniforms, rank, and unit insignia.  Then sent to the specialized classes they asked for.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:38, Tue 23 Aug 2016.

  Matt refrains from joking about trash compactor maintenance.  "I doubt we have enough time for career mechanic capability.  But with how much stolen or limited quantity hardware any rebellion has to work with, knowing enough to keep it working long enough to get the job done and leave sounds like a good idea."

  Sir, this bomb's timer is made out of an old tamogatchi... it will go off once it gets hungry?! You fool-*Kaboom*

Ikia says, "I am not personally looking for a career at being a mechanic, but if that is what you wish to do when all of this is over, I will support your decision. As for me, I plan to be a career jedi."

Ikia wonders what all she will be learning in her specialized class, but hopes her allies will not be far from her when they are each taking their classes.

Matt finds that his mechanics instructor agrees with the practical approach to patching stuff up.  But he also often reminisces about the glory days of the Republic where you could simply order in the correct replacement part and do the job right.  Now with the Empire in power, honest shops are forced out of business by the Moff's nephew who doesn't know a wrench from a hole in the ground, but customers have no choice but to put up with the shoddy work and monopoly prices.

Shayock's instructor has a "expect the unexpected," mindset and trains her in being effective in spite of being blinded, deafened, drugged, dismembered, etc...

Mittens' instructor is a believer in taking death-defying risks... if and only if you'll be saving the galaxy in the process.  Doing so just for kicks will see you grounded permanently and demoted.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:29, Sun 11 Sept 2016.

  "Some days it's hard trying to work out how the Empire can be both so lacking in talent, but still pumping out things like star destroyers."  Well, assembly lines are much more effective when it's the job that sucks the least for several lightyears even ignoring automation.

Ikia LOVES her instructor for doing this. No matter how frustrated she gets, she keeps thinking to herself that it is either be a little frustrated now, or die later.

Ikia answers Matt, "Law of averages. Throw enough people at a project and it will get done because they make up for each others' incompetence. An army, no matter how incompetent, would still spell certain death for you or I if we tried to take it head-on. On top of that is luck factor. Remember that before underestimating the competence levels of your opponent; I do not want to see you dead. And I'm sure you don't want your epitaph to read: Killed by an incompetent." She pauses a moment, as if thinking about something. "I'm saying this just as much to myself, Matt, lest you think I am lecturing you."

Mittens starts hand-puppeting, "'Slave labor!  The Republic was foolish to be so squeamish about slavery.  Well now those self-righteous fools are the slaves!  And churning out way more work hours than they ever did under their so-called "Civilized" government.  Why, we've made more progress in the past few years than they ever did with their vaunted "ideals" like "liberty!"  Fah!  Just flowery words for being lazy!  Well no more!  You'll be amazed at just how motivated an engineer is to make improvements to our technology with his family's lives hanging in the balance!  Mwah-hah-hah-haaa!!!"

While her hand laughs villainously, Mits headbutts it!  "Ow.  Got carried away there.  Point is that a star destroyer is over 99% slave and droid labor.  The villains who threaten the rest wouldn't have the gall to face Matt in combat for the most part.  So they instead hire thugs in droves to leverage frightened masses into lethal armies.  Who then make their evil masters more money.  Who then hire more thugs.  Who leverage more worlds.  And on it goes."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Sat 08 Oct 2016.

  "I suppose the phrase 'quantity over quality' falls a bit short when you have enough quantity to build quality."

Ikia says, "Mittens, has anyone ever told you that you are crazy? ...and that you make crazy look cute?"

That's right. The straight-laced jedi just called you CUTE!

"Mits is pretty sure she saw that, 'Quantity is Quality' slogan somewhere.  Was it the Tai factory?  Or the Tai Pilot Barracks?  I don't remember."

She grins sheepishly to Ikea.  "Look who's calling who cute!  You cuddle-licious fluff ball of adorableness, you.

"Thanks, though!  It's nice to have someone say something nice about my personality for a change.  Though I admit to often getting a kick out of hearing some jerkface officer scream, 'Darn that crazy cat!' after he found his datapad glued to his precious mahogany desk.  One of the few benefits of being an inquisitor's slave is getting away with sooo many pranks."

  Matt has tried to avoid outright calling Mittens crazy, but that's more because his barely functioning tact couldn't make it sound good like Ikia can.

  "I'm just going to assume there were many 'desktop computer' jokes at their expense."

Ikia lip-sinks "cud-dle-li-cious..." to herself, as if trying to figure out the word. "Uh... thank you?"

The tale of "sticking it to the man" (get it?) has Ikia chuckling. "Some day, we must share tales... but I worry my stories would bore you since I do not have a mischievous streak."

Many a tale of her and Matt doing many a straight-laced thing. Very exciting. Of course, Ikia IS a Jedi... there is bound to be excitement in there she takes for granted as "just doing her job"