The normally chatty droid followed along quietly, it's optical sensors fixated on the peculiar old man. Being this close to him in the turbolift, the hairs on the back of your neck start to stand up. There's a visceral presence around him, that is both energizing and yet calm.

<Orange>10:42, Today: Midichlorians, on behalf of Kalidyn Sunrider, rolled 22 using 1d20+2./Orange>

With the quiet and stillness forced by this place, you can more easily parse out that this Demarchus fellow is Force Sensitive. That might explain the unusual display a few minutes ago. Just as you detected this, he seemed to have his own suspicions.

"I'm sorry if I may have missed young man, but what did you say your last name was again?"

Kal gave Demarchus a side-eyed look as he felt...whatever that was. It was new...but vaguely familiar? That didn't make sense. He knew he'd never felt that before around anyone else. And yet...he knew...he knew what it mean, as if it felt a thousand times before.

He stayed facing the lift doors but a smile slid on to his face. "I didn't, actually, just as you did not. I didn't even give you my full first name, since we just met and under strange circumstances."

He paused a moment, long enough for the other man to possibly think he wasn't going to answer. then he turned slowly to face the older man. "My name is Kalidyn Sunrider." He raised one eyebrow questioningly to see if there would be reciprocation. Or at the very least to watch the other's reaction.

There was a visible look of surprise on his face. "You don't say? Sunrider, I know that name. I guess you must be here for the family business than"

The old man was being a little too friendly, turning to the young lady "You must be Theresa than" As he gently took her hand and kissed it.

The veteran officer resisted, but only slightly, and may have even blushed through her pink skin. "It's just Tess."

"Of course. Please, forgive my poor manners. I get so tangled in my mission that I often fail to come up for air, appreciate the everyday beauties of the world around me..."

Kal kept looking at Demarchus, frowning slightly. Not many knew his family name. And they didn't really have a family business, per se, outside mining. And it wasn't like they ran a mining company or anything. Maybe he'd been to Bes....oh. Right. THAT family business.

Then he sort of got cute with Tess. That didn't help. Kal stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Or looking too jealous.

"And you are Demarchus...what?" He made it clear he was looking for the man to return the asked request.

"Demarchus Dustlane." he said with a smile, followed shortly after with the ding of the turbolift.

"Here we are." The door opened up to a private floor, with a grandiose double door. The opulent appearance here was a little out of place with the rather pedestrian appearance outside, and the rest of the city.

"Drinax was attempting to expand their economy into tourism a few years back, if you can believe it. The war put a cold freeze on that idea, and so the few places that tried to capitalize early on the market are mostly unused, with many having gone under, which is to our benefit."

He walks slowly, hands at his side, opening up the room with the side terminal "So, what does a human and a Zeltron come to a remote world controlled by the First Order for, when they hate the First Order?"

Kal nodded to the name given. Obviously he didn't know of any famous Dustlanes or where the name came from. Or if it was even really the man's last name for that matter. But he filed it away and moved on.

He slowly followed in to the...wow. Very nice place, that the lift opened up in to instead of a hallway with doors to normal lodgings. This looked very different from everything he'd seen so far and it was a bit of a shock. But a pleasant one. Like finding out your 'wingman' was a very attractive Zeltron that kissed you on first sight.

He looked around a bit from the doorway as Demarchus talked. When the question was asked, he slowly turned to face them once more. "I could ask the same thing almost, except in place of human and Zeltron inserting...jedi?" He watched carefully for a reaction even as he spoke.

He gestured at DD-3 and said, "Also, we have a droid with us, don't forget them."

He paused and looked back at Demarchus once more. "Hate's a strong word but...someone's gotta stand up to them." He glanced at Tess to see what she seemed to be thinking before he revealed anything specific.

"A Jedi?" Demarchus asked, entering the suite first. His smile showed all of his teeth, as he held his arms across his chest "That's a rather odd allegation to be making? The Jedi are extinct, thought everyone knew that."

Kal kept his face a bit neutral. "Are they? Interesting. I don't know much about them really." Clearly, Demarchus knew at least a little about them. "If not a Jedi, then what? You were able to throw those guards against the wall without touching them using...hence...The Force."

OOC: Nope. Seems legit! <eyeroll>
21:29, Today: Kalidyn Sunrider rolled 9 using 1d20+7.  Perception to sense deception.

"You noticed that, did you?" The smile quickly faded from his face, becoming gravely serious. "I'll make this offer one time. Tell me who you really are, and what you're really doing here, and I will do the same. We are serious people, living in serious times, with serious consequences."

Kalidyn leaned away from the man a little at the sudden shift in tone and attitude. One eyebrow rose upwards. But then he stared at Demarchus for a moment. He didn't glance at his companions this time, just spoke up again.

"I'm Kalidyn Sunrider. My companions are Tess and DD-3." He paused for just a second before continuing on, realizing that with this Demarchus they were already in a bit deep so it was sink or swim time. "We're here on a mission for the Resistance, looking to find and contact other members. You were in trouble with the First Order so we stepped in, kind of hoping you might be such a contact or someone to ally with."

"Than we are on the same mission, for different reasons." His arms dropped, though his smile did not return "I was a Jedi, long ago. I left the Order, left the Clone Wars, buried myself under so many layers even I believed I was someone else. Even I couldn't hide from myself forever, but by the time I chose to take a stand, Kylo Ren had already destroyed the new Jedi Knights and Master Skywalker was presumed dead. So, I carried on my own mission, trying to help how I could, but it appears something terrible has happened on Coruscant. I'm here to demand answers, and a solution."

Kal watched Demarchus very carefully as he listened to the man. He tried to hold in his surprise. Huh. I guessed right. Sort of. Go figure. One talk with an ancient ghost and I'm an expert. Yeah, right.

He frowned slightly. "I...see." He hesitated and the asked, "And...who on this planet do you think has the answers you seek? The First Order? Members of the Resistance? Someone else?"

He glanced at Tess and then back. "I don't know if we can provide any answers to you, though...I wouldn't mind speaking with you about a more...personal matter later." Having heard a last name for the second time now he did put forth, "Though...I do know a name that might interest you considering what you said before, though I don't know them personally or...strictly how to contact them or anything." He gave a small shrug, "Rey Skywalker."

He did NOT look back at Tess at this point and even looked down a little. "I was...actually told I should try to find her recently."

"You two should probably sit down..." Demarchus said, as he took his own seat, speaking morosely as he went.

"Nobody knows where Rey is currently, or what she's up to. She defeated the Emperor at Exagol, and shortly after vanished without a word. My mission though, isn't to find her, though it would have involved her, if we were successful."

"Covert entities within the New Republic have been trying to restart the Jedi Order, even before we knew about Rey. To that point, we were trying to take children that we thought were force sensitive away from harm's way and out of the hands of the First Order, find someplace safe so that, in time, they could become the padawans of the next generation of Jedi."

"Somehow, the First Order found out what we were doing. They attacked the rebel soldiers, and for good measure, slaughtered every child we were in charge of protecting. All of them, dead."

08:19, Today: Midichlorians, on behalf of Kalidyn Sunrider, rolled 22 using 1d20+2.  Use The Force.


He runs his hand through his long hair before standing in anger. "I should have been there! I could have kept them safe! Killed all of those First Order thugs and marched right up to the Jedi Temple while I was at it!" He plants his hands on a dresser with a heavy thud, as he takes a moment to collect himself.

Sitting back down, his calmness slowly returning "I'm sorry that you had to see that, truly. This has been a long and difficult fight, and I clearly struggle to maintain clarity and peace when I think about it. In any case, in looking over what had happened, the only answer we came up with is that someone was listening in on our comms, Knew what we were doing, and struck before we were able to get them offworld. If they could overhear that, than they could have their ears in almost anything the Rebellion is doing."

Kalidyn watched the other man with only a slight bit of wariness. There was not enough trust there yet. The news regarding Rey was sort of as expected, though he had hoped that Demarchus might know where she was.

His face fell as Demarchus described what happened with the children. "oh no. i'm so sorry." He looked down, but just then he felt something he hadn't felt before, something that made him look up sharply even though his eyes were of no help. A seed of darkness growing in the other man.

He leaned a little away from the anger rolling off Demarchus, but recovered as the man composed himself once more. Kal wasn't sure how to feel about all of that, how to proceed. He wished he could talk to...the ghost again. They might have answers. But...what if they showed up and Demarchus could sense them, hear them. How would he react? Kal didn't dare risk it.

"It doesn't sound like it was directly your fault. You couldn't have known."

He nodded, however, to the next point, and decided to open up a little. "That...is actually why we are here. We are trying to locate how the First Order is able to listen in on communicattions."

"Hang on! I need to back up a second." Tess piped in, looking at you rather than Demarchus "I feel like we kinda glanced over something completely, like it was no big deal."

She points a hand at the old man "So, he used to be a Jedi? Okay, fine, with the way those goons got tossed, I can see that. But you? Kal? Are you a Jedi too? And you never chose to bring that up?"

Kalidyn winced slightly as Tess caught on to the only-slightly-unspoken or at least danced-around subject. He shook his head. "No...no, I'm not a Jedi." He pursed his lips for a moment. looked over at Demarchus, then back at Tess, and then let out a sigh.

"So. No. I haven't told you two things because...well...I didn't want to sound like a crazy person before." He gave a small shrug.

But then he continued slowly. "Back around the time that Exagol...happened...I heard...or felt...something. I couldn't explain it and didn't try. I kept it to myself. And then very recently, after I met you in fact, I was..." He looked down and then gave up searching for a word, "visited I guess by someone claiming to be my ancestor, Nomi, a Jedi Knight in the past. She told me things, said I...." He looked a bit uncomfortable but also strangely hopeful, "will become a part of this rebirth of the Jedi, and that I should seek out Jedi Master Rey Skywalker...to train me."

The young Zeltron tried to absorb the information as well as possible, but was clearly struggling.

"This is crazy talk. Like, if I was saying what you two are saying, in public, they'd tell me I need help, and they'd probably be right. I mean, ghosts don't just wake up out the blue, giving people missions to go some mythic adventure to change the galaxy. Charming old men don't go around the galaxy looking for children to turn into their little pet projects. Well, unless you're the first order, but that's different. And the craziest part about all of this, is I actually believe the two of you, and I want to help."

Tess' eyes thin as a new thought enters her mind. "Hey, wait a second. If Kal can be trained than I can too, right? I mean, what's so special about him? Why can't I become a Jedi? Or anyone else for that matter?"

Kalidyn smiled at Tess and gave a shrug while spreading his hands. "You see? You asked why I didn't say anything before..." He gestured. "This is why."

He shook his head. "This is all still fairly new to me. I don't understand it myself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tess asked, angrily "You're making it sound like this is all my fault."

"I believe what he is saying, my dear, is that he didn't want to speak about something that he knows nothing about, which is understandable." Demarchus spoke up on your behalf, trying to defuse the situation.

Tess relented her point but was still angry "Yaaaa, I get that I guess. Still, that's an important thing to know, could help figure this out too, at least try to."

"That's an understandable feeling to express as well, as is your desire to be a Jedi. I wish that were enough."

"What do you mean?"

"Not everyone can become a Jedi. People who can be trained to use the Force are very few and far between."

"But why!?" Tess rose from her chair "This human farm boy is no better than I am. I could be great at anything I put my mind to, so who are you to say who can and can't use the force?"

"I wish I knew. Truly" Demarchus raised his hands and tried to get her to sit back down "it's one of the oldest mysteries of the Force itself; there's little rime or reason to it, and I would be the first to defend you that you have the tenacity and eagerness that would be necessary to walk among the Knights of the Jedi Order. If I may, know that Sunrider becoming a Jedi makes him no more greater a person than you, just as the Chancellor of the New Republic is no greater than an urchin on Coruscant. That is the ideal you are fighting for, is it not?"

"Yaa" Tess slowly sat back down, her arms crossed and visibly upset "It's still patently unfair."

"You're not wrong, and if it's any consolation, you will never hear Kalidyn or myself disparage you for not using the Force. You are integral to the mission we find ourselves in as anyone."

Kal looked at Tess, "He's not wrong. I know almost nothing about all of this stuff. And I meant, as I said, it makes me sound crazy, and I didn't want to sound crazy. I thought I might be going crazy when I...saw and heard...a ghost?" He raises both hands helplessly and shrugged.

He shook his head, looking down. "Nothing like any of this has happened to me before Exagol. It was like..." He frowned as he searched for a word, "it was a...catalyst, or something. I don't know."

He blinked in surprise. "Huh. I didn't know that. I thought...anyone could learn but like...not many were taught. But I guess that makes sense, otherwise there would be...so many force-users running around."

He then tuned and moved to kneel next to Tess and gave one arm a reassuring squeeze. "Tess, never think anyone is better than you, 'cause they aren't. And no matter what I learn, I will always look up to you." He stopped himself from trying to make a joke to lighten the mood. He didn't think it would go over well.

"That's..very nice" Tess said, as her body relaxed her face turned toward a faint smile "That hasn't been the norm for me. Everyone wants me to just be a waitress or a dancer or...worse, even in the Resistance that's popped up" She said with a grimace "But, this isn't about me."

Her head moves visibly back and forth between you and Demarchus "So, we're all here for the same reason. Unless I've missed something, we're no closer to actually finding these folks from Hypo Station. Either of you have a new plan?"

Kalidyn moved back from Tess and re-took his seat. Maybe he shouldn't have done that, said that. Things between them were a bit awkward sometimes, and - at least on his end - there was some tension. But to hear say she thought that was...he couldn't just let it lay there.

To her question, however, he smiled and gestured towards Demarchus. "Hey! At least we made an ally shortly after landing here, right? Progress!"

He sobered and thought, finally speaking a bit slowly as he organizes his thinking. "Welllll...can't really call it a plan yet, just putting out feelers really. We need information." He reiterated what he'd said before to Tess, "We need to find an information broker and/or a slicer to dig in to information about people that could be involved - check out backgrounds, payment histories, communication logs, something that will give us a clue as to who might be the ones we're looking for."

He turned to look at DD-3. "Actually...are YOU any good at slicing, DD-3?"

The small astro droid spun in a circle as it contemplated the question.

[Language unknown: Ntpe, mi sedica. E ncmant ri hatthaous heetek iv icaun ma usalon, t iv atewithou lesticter. Nde laee hohari lesratbutwhe k ainereredave thma ndeestugh asica usaica, ho laas...]

OOC: Sorry. Had some rl tragedy to deal with.

Kalidyn feigned a look of hurt and put a hand to his chest. "DD! How could you? You know I'd never let anyone scrap you!"

He then sobered and gave a firm nod to the droid. "If you don't wish to help us, then I understand. I don't want you to do anything you don't want to, even if we as a group have to. And have already."

He shrugged looking at the others. "Guess we'll do it the hard way and ask around, hoping not to get shot."

The Droid rocked back and forth a little before it made a response "its for the mission. I'll do it. Not fair that everyone else risks everything it all and I dont."