(Starting for Tache)

The ship Tache had stowed away had been in Hyperspace for a considerable time before he was discovered by the crew. They were sympathetic to a fault; they certainly couldn't have let you stay on Exegal to die or be corrupted by that evil place. Doesn't mean they weren't without some questions.

"Right, let's do this again," Bruce Brightmark, the Captain asked you. He was a bit of an older fellow, gray hair having already snuck among the rest of the short black. His physique, clearly once having a strong, stocky frame, had begun to sag and betray him. "What were you and your friends doing before Exagal. Why did you go there? Now that you're with us, what are your plans?"

Tache was compliant and as nice as he could be. A drowning rat need not bite the hand of the new ships crew after all. He nodded at the questions. "Any fight has two things after is done. Stranded people and salvage. You'd be suprised as to the number of fighters who eject and get stranded. Our goal was to life boat it up and likely get our hands on the most choice cuts of order tech before pulling a round trip for seconds." He tilted his head side to side as it was really hard to shrug. "Most of the time right over a high priority target is a fairly safe no fly zone. If you're wayyyyyy up above an AI core in a droid fight they may shoot at you but it's not effective. And they have better things to shoot at."

"What we did not expect is to have the ship torn in half. What ever they used, never seen it before. Snapped the ship like it was made of foil."

"Jumped ship and I am looking forward to finding out what could discharge thst much power all at once. The ohm resistance of that single point is a fantastic calculation." he tilted his head side to side again. "Perhaps I'll see about repaying you in kind. If you've no need I am sure I can find trouble."

"I think I've a lot of reading to do and people to talk to in order to find out what really happened down there."

The captain sighed briefly, unimpressed.

"Winners can't be choosers I guess. What you need to know, for now, is that we helped stop the near total destruction of the Galaxy. Freedom gets to live another day. Anything more specific than that is for the egghead historians."

A small chirp could be heard throughout the ship indicating exiting Hyperspace "You're welcome to stay among the crew if you wish, at least until you put your feet back under you. I'll warn you though, that this is going to be more involved than working a scrapping vessel. If you want to walk away, find some other work to do, I won't judge you, or give you a seconds thought after you depart."

He stands up to head to the cockpit "You'll have until we dock to have a decision, friend. Come on, best you take a look to see what we all earned for our trouble."

Heading to the cockpit you see the ship be brought into the atmosphere of Chandrila, the tentative capital of the New Republic, and the home of the venerated Mon Mothma. Without her tireless vision, none of this would have been possible.

Mon Mothma, never was there a person who showed free will still had a place in grand powers. Appointed to the loyalty council by Palpatine himself, she was the one to dismantle emergency powers. Then later she authored the galactic demilitarization act and doomed many, but still she sacrificed herself and won a major victory.

She was an icon that people changed the universe and groups maintained it. An odd one but important. He smiled at the captain, "I am afraid my life has to take on a new route. I was a ship hand for some time but I've got a new wind to follow."

"Never fear the future" Bruce said as he patted your shoulder firmly "It's going to come at ya one way or the other. All you can do is prepare for it as best you can."

"Make sure you have your walking shoes on Tache." He hollars behind him as leaves the cockpit, letting you view the descent into the planet "If you're sticking around, I have someone I want to introduce you to. I think you two could become fast friends."

That means he likes you Said Strat, his Bith pilot. She kept her eyes on her work "Why, I don't know, but I don't get paid to ask questions"

"A person who isnt paid for answers often has the best for little time to waste." He wasn't sure what Bruce meant by sticking around but he was following events as they occured. There was a wild voice he heard so he was going to follow it.

But right now he followed Bruce. This whole living with the flow was entirely alien to him.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:20, Tue 01 Sept 2020.

The journey through the capital city was a sight to behold, and it almost seems that Bruce is taking the scenic route on his way to his friend.

"Give you a fair warning. This person, well she's a bit intense. She's not the easiest on the eyes, but I think you can understand that. She's a good person with big plans. I'm sure you'll work out great together. Just don't get in her way. I'm sure she'll have a lot of questions for you, and I'll bet you have questions for her, and me for that matter. Whatever comes to mind, let it out."

Tache would have smiled if he had the physical ability to do so. "About the only questions on my mind are, what weapon could have dumped that much power all at once. And, why did I hear voices when it did." He tilted his head side to side. "A lot of crazy things on that horrid planet. Likely space fever or something."

"That's all above my paygrade son. Old General Calrissian made a call for help and we answered. All that stuff about the Force and an ancient home of the Sith, means nothing to me. As for voices? I'm sure with all the chaos going, explosions and whatnot, you may have just thought you heard something. Minds can play tricks on you like that when you're in fight or flight mode. If you did hear something, I would suggest mentioning that to Vin."

"And noone else"

The journey led into an area of noted wealth and stature. A collection of streets colloquially known as Embassy Row. Because of the fluid nature of the Republic, no system was ready to create the obnoxiously decorative facilities that one have seen in Coruscant in the old days, but the rented out commercial and residential buildings proudly show flags and emblems of the planets and systems that call them a second home.

Going to one of the smaller buildings, and finding the top floor, the passageway was dimly lit by human eyes.
"Don't let the darkness freak you out or anything, if you can even tell the difference." Bruce mentioned. A simple wave to the droid at the front desk, he took a strong turn into a humble office.

Behind the desk was a young Umbaran woman. Gaunt and with severe features in the face, even by her people's standards, the dark circles around her sockets only further accentuated the pale purple irises.

"Vin?" Bruce called out "We made it back in one piece, and I have someone I would like you to meet.

Tache nodded, "I will make it a point to keep it quiet then. Can't go having the neighbors think I am someone who talks to walks or something" He followed along and kept his silence if not his peace. He really did like how people made their cities. It was like some rambling equation that was working itself out, and that work kept everyone busy. It would be interesting to see how that equation worked out, or perhaps it already had once.

When they entered the darker part he shook his head. "Dark is dark to me. Being a little tougher and surviving space is all I differ from you."

He bowed a bit, "Tache, a pleasure." He was entirely distracted by trying to see or get some sense of what he was feeling as off. Like an equation coming up with an inverse equation, like a cat to a dot he was interested more than he should be.

"We picked him up at the Battle of Exagal. Well, he stowed away on the ship, but we'd have taken him had he asked. And glad he showed up."

"That is quite interesting." She said quietly, bowing herself "Vin Dalto. Have a few too many hats to be concerned with titles for the moment."

She moved to look at Bruce "Would you mind giving us a few minutes alone? Closing the door behind you?"

"Certainly Vin. I'll just be out in the lobby."

As the door closed, Vin returned to her seat, and motioned for you sit as well.

"Exagal? One of the planets of the Ancient Sith Empire. That must have been quite a sight."

Tache watched the Captain go. There was no small amount of gratitude there. "I really did not get a chance to see much of it. Seemed like their primary export was brooding and mysteriousness. The whole place in and of itself felt like half tomb and half church."

"But it may be worth while if a single point can produce enough electrical power to ionize capital ships and break wreckers in half without snapping the point of origin like a small fuzzy creature between two transformers. Never mind the fact the planet makes you think it is talking to you or the fact its haunted."

"Honestly that part likely ups the local property value when you think onit."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:45, Thu 03 Sept 2020.

"Such a place is certainly haunted." She said without a seconds thought "Just as Korriban, Dromund Kaas, and all the other allegedly great Sith words are. Their lives are built on so much rage and contempt that it's no wonder that their souls do not rest well, and continue to haunt the living."

Her head moves to the side slightly "Though, it's remarkable that's what you picked up most from that place, given that by reports, you were part of the largest space battle in a century. Would you care to elaborate?"

Tache tilted his head side to side. "That is where the numbers go. In a cloud of one minus ones, the one dividing by zero is the one who got my attention."

"We showed up hoping to life raft anyone who went down and to get choice salvage. Then a pillar of thunder and pain cracked the ship in half. I latched onto a droid and sailed to another ship."

"That was why I got any look at the fight at all. Two tiny dots and a bunch of ships who suddenly had no reactor power. A number of them being ripped appart. Just chaos and the, words gather them all."

"After that it was ships falling like snow with many lucky ships regaining power as their droids regained control."

"What of your comrades? Were any of them as fortunate as you?" She asked, a slight sympathy in her tone, seemingly predicting the answer.

Tache got still, "Some in the middle of the ship for all I know vaporized to what hit us. Due to altitude some passed out right as we lost pressure. Six free fell having been dumped out once the front disconnected from the back. Fifty people, four had higher than a one percent chance to survive. Many died before the ship fell entirely." It was always numbers to a Givin. Going over the numbers was a Givin way to say "many good people died".

"That is regrettable. Truly. By preventing the Final Order, we were able to stave off what would have been the greatest atrocity our galaxy has ever known, but we lost a lot of friends. A lot of brave people went there knowing they would not come back."

Vin let a slight smirk break through "I had been spending the morning doodling, of all things. Trying to create a monument dedicated to the sacrifices of that battle." Her smirk fades as quickly as it came "Victories we remember easily. What is spent to achieve it is quickly forgotten, expect by those who pay the cost themselves. We have to make ourselves remember, if anything positive comes out of this."

Vin, seems distracted for a moment, speaking as she looks down to remove something from her desk. "If I may, I'd like to go back to this idea of haunting. The undying Sith, ghosts and spirits have been known to materialize in some way, to communicate with the living. Did you experience anything of that sort?"

When she mentioned a doodle and a memorial Tache, being a Givin, went full attention surplus disorder. He picked up a wayward doodle device and started drawing with both hands. Easy when you had three fingers and two thumbs on each hand. "Just a voice and a sense of paleness. A whisper to 'gather them all'." He drew a circular pattern that obeyed both the golden ratio and its outer circle was perfect to circular calculation. Within was a walk way that made the shape of the republic icon with three channels of water. One in the middle and one arcing in on each side to naturally draw the eye to the top.

"It is unsolicited advice but if it's a monument people can enter they become part of it and they give it more importance. At equal points have a small idol of a ship present in the battle. Have a slate with the ship name, captain's name, and crew of X amount of people." he pointed at the top. "The fighter ships most important to the win should be at the end of the water ways so the water looks like their warp trails."

"If the top then points at the Capitol building within view it will influence people toward that end." It was all a many tiered equation that was built around the idea that the viewer was a participant rather than outside looking in.

Vin looked at the design of the small datapad intently after she retrieved the item from her desk.

"This is..very nice" Her slow speaking could cause some to doubt, but her normally harsh eyes softened "Certainly better than anything I drew up, but than again, I'm not an artist. Tell you what, I'll take a copy of this and I'll show it with the next meeting we have with the Umbaran Senator. It may not go anywhere, and it may get mangled along the way, but should anything happened with it, I'll ensure you get credit."

She placed the item she had retrieved on her desk. It was an iridescant crystalline rock of some kind. It was what was responsible for that pulsing feeling from earlier.

"Now, to the matter at hand. Do you know what this is?"

OOC: Make a Galactic Lore Check. Open the spoilers down below depending on your score.

DC15:

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
It's associated with the Jedi in some way

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DC20:

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
It's a lightsaber used in lightsaber creation

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DC25:

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
This is the type of crystal in a lightsaber that creates its distinctive hue. This one in particular is uncut, so it would be difficult to know what color it is just by looking at it.

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