freedomliveson

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

Even if you don't like Corgis, you just HAVE to smile at that, right?

I may or may not adore that breed...xD

Anyhow, will be posting in a minute, but first wanted to ask a couple of things:

-With the tests over, Justin and Cam will more than likely be selected to stay in their little town. After the two discuss, they stay(just recapping what we talked about a while ago). My question is how long should they stay? I know Justin would be looking for a way out ASAP, but it seems like Cam is more comfortable with the idea of staying longer.

-I figure that when they enter the town, it'll be like "season two" of our story(I categorize arcs in threads as seasons...helps me keep everything straight xD). Part of this arc will obviously involve Justin and Cam in the city itself, but how would you like the story to progress from there? I thought of this...comments? Additions? Subtractions?

Cam and Justin are there for a few months when the trio in charge announce that plans for expansion along the east coast are finally ready. Our esteemed duo are sent as a part of a scouting party towards Boston. On the way, they encounter a nearly starved family that raves about the "Tradesmen" who "sell the souls of the broken" to those "who can pay". Once in Boston, the party fends off an attack from the Tradesmen, who use high quality weaponry and explosives to decimate half the party. Justin, Cam and a few other survivors win out and find their way to an encampment run by the Tradesmen, who have, among other things, prisoners locked in cages. Once freed, they talk of their abduction from the West, how they were just beginning to "rebuild everything they had lost" when the Tradesmen found them. Awakened to the possibility that there's a whole new frontier to possibly explore, Justin and Cam free the prisoners only to be assaulted by the Tradesmen. They escape and head back up to Portland where they confront the trio, who confess that they had communications with budding settlements in California and Washington, but were not considered "advanced" enough to be considered for gene implantation.

With the Tradesmen ticked off, they begin to march to Portland, intent on taking vengeance for their losses. Battle ensues between the settlement in Portland and the Tradesmen, forcing Justin and Cam to decide between defending their makeshift home or abandoning the cause entirely and heading West.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Haha! I can't wait to see what you have her up to xD

Aw, thanks! I don't know why, but I feel like she might be a more sympathetic figure in terms of the True Sith than the others. Multi-dimensional NPC's can be difficult in a universe like this one, but I'll try my best! Feel free to take control of her as you see fit :)

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Tried to leave it open ended for Aria. Let me know if edits are necessary.

Also, the more I think about her, the more I really want to somehow work Master Soto into this equation. Will see what I can think about and relay it to you ASAP

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

"I was...I thought I fell asleep." He checked the chronometer once more to find that not more than a few minutes had passed from their initial departure from the planet. It seemed as if their journey had taken much longer to get to the planet than their return...was there an error in the device or was something much stranger going on? He shrugged the feeling off, chalking it up as a side effect to the mystifying, near nightmarish words that pounded through his head just a couple of moments ago.

Well, not just his head. Aria had encountered the same pain and phrases, further emphasizing that a Force bond might have actually manifested itself between the two. Or maybe it was a side effect of spending a prolonged amount of time on a planet teeming with unchecked power. In any case, he agreed with Aria's premonition:
"Something's off. Maybe it'll be good for us to get somewhere quiet and refocus ourselves. I don't think we'd be in very good shape to talk to the Masters." He shook his head in a vain attempt to remove the tingling that shot through his brain.
"Just a couple of hours left. Probably should get some rest."

______________________

It wouldn't happen. It couldn't.

He sat on the edge of his bed, head buried in his hands, the walls of his quarters seeming to close in on him, suffocating any chance of hope. To think that they would leave a galaxy that had relatively known factors and return to such chaos was unfathomable. But he, no THEY, had to evaluate the chain of events with an eye towards the real instigators. It started when they arrived on Tython, greeted by a packed temple filled with Jedi of all ranks buzzing in discussion. The rumors were that the Council was having a heated debate about how to handle the widely broadcasted peace talks between the Republic and Empire. Both sides had publicized it on the holonet very quickly and stressed that these talks might bridge the gap between the two parties. Those who were near the Council Chambers when the announcement came heard fierce yelling coming from within, some of them attempting to check the disturbance out, only to be shoved aside an angry Master Soto, who had entered the chambers with a couple of the other Council members. They had been locked in discussion for almost an hour and any attempts at the Knights trying to restore order were met with apathy, seeing as the Knights assigned to guard the Temple were themselves lost in thought or checking the Holonet on their personal datapads for any updates. The lack of order was strange to see, but understandable. This was the first time any sort of event between the Republic and the Empire occurred without the Jedi involved. A few more minutes of waiting passed before the doors to the Chambers flung open, Master Soto screaming:
"AND THIS IS WHY THE JEDI WILL NEVER HAVE A PLACE IN THE GALAXY!" Jaws hung open along with a few gasps as the young Master surveyed the mass of Jedi, her dark blonde hair waving in defiance as she craned her head around, eyes piercing whoever met her gaze.
"You all deserve better than this." She firmly stated before forging her way through the crowd. Masters Satele and Bakarn emerged with narrowed eyes and scowls, the latter barking:
"All of you to your quarters, now! Knights on duty, punish any who disobey the curfew!" As the Jedi dispersed, Satele's eyes met Yerbol's and Aria's. Without a word, she motioned for the duo to follow her.

They were thrust in the center of the Council, Masters Bakarn, Satele and Braga situated in the three chairs nearest the center of the half-circle pattern the seats were organized in.
"What did you find?" Bakarn asked curtly, prompting the duo to recount their experience on the Sith home planet. The Council's faces remained stoic throughout the entire recollection, even when presented with the holodisks that they found in the archives. When they had completely exhausted their story, Braga was the first to speak:
"This is a deception."
"Explain." Satele retorted.
"How is it that recordings of a massive conspiracy within both Empire and Republic could be so easily obtained? True, what these two experienced must be meditated upon, but we cannot assume that this is nothing more than a red herring."
"A red herring? Master Soto was on one of those recordings. She was the one that lobbied for us to not join the peace talks, she was the one who encouraged us to pull all Jedi representatives from the Senate as a show of 'good faith' in lieu of the recent attacks on troopers."
"This could have been manufactured."
"It falls too easily into place.' Satele mused, pausing a moment before adding:
"For months the three of us have seen how Master Soto can easily exert influence over others. Ever since we appointed her Master, she has been elusive about her methods, but we've allowed it due to the results." She blew out a sigh.
"Even if a portion of these recordings are true, we must consider apprehending Soto and interrogating her for more information." She looked at the two standing in the center of the room.
"Go back to your quarters. We will speak to you again when we have decided a course of action." Yerbol wanted to object, but knew that trying to might actually cause him physical harm, so he simply nodded and left, guiding Aria through a number of winding hallways to his quarters.

Speaking of Aria, it had been about forty five minutes since they had gotten back to his quarters when she had suddenly vanished. He had been checking his datapad when he looked up to find the room vacant.

What kind of trouble was she getting herself into?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Awwww snap, stuff is about to hit the fan now! xD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

His mind was heavy with thought throughout the whole trek, the young Knight stunned to silence by the monumental weight of what had just been revealed to them. He almost didn't hear the hatch slamming shut or the wind that howled in protest, rain beginning to patter gently on their shuttle. After removing his tunic and sliding into the pilot's chair, he began to make preparations for take-off, the engines firing up right as Aria mentioned something about lore on Korriban. It wasn't until the shuttle lurched into the air and began ascending through the stratosphere that Revan was brought in as a factor.
"The boogeyman of every single Jedi and Sith mystery." He commented sardonically, the Sith home planet now completely left behind.
"You'll forgive me if I'm a little hesitant to believe that. We both know that Revan is almost ALWAYS brought into a discussion about something that can't be explained." The shuttle's engines let out a high pitched whine as they entered hyperspace, Yerbol now rising and joining his companion in the seating area. He plopped down on the singular row to the left and continued:
"But this does match up a lot better with what we know about Revan...or at least, what's been said of him. So much of his legacy is shrouded in hearsay and claims that have proven to be false time and time again." He sat back, the cold metal of the seat comforting him. They were entering known space to a stable entity. They would be fine. Things would get explained, the bad guys would get stopped and everything would go back to normal.

Whatever normal meant.

"Look, since we're throwing out possibilities that could potentially reshape the course of history, we might as well take it a step further. IF Revan somehow was turned to the philosophy of the True Sith, then that would mean he would have had a major influence on how the True Sith operated. After all, he was the one with the most up to date knowledge of the galaxy, had taken Darth Malak down and didn't seem to adhere to the Jedi Code as religiously as the Masters would have wanted him to. Maybe these True Sith we're dealing with are disciples of Revan's 'True Sith', not actual Sith. Maybe that Star map on Korriban, the relics on other planets...maybe that was Revan's way of guiding disciples to his cause. He was a charismatic leader from all reports, plus his reputation..." He trailed off, hand resting on his knee.
"Ok, so maybe it's not as far fetched as I thought." He blew out a sigh, head resting against the inner hull of the ship.
"I tell you what, if we somehow save the galaxy from a menacing external Order, I'm demanding you lose the title of acolyte." He gave her a playful smile as he shifted in his seat, shutting his eyes for a moment.
"I think I'm going to just close my eyes for a min-"

almost complete
Overthrow them
Destroy
Kill
The
Force
Kill
Th-

His eyes snapped open, ears assailed with the wailing of the comm unit. With a bleary gaze, he moved to the pilots seat, slamming his hand down on the receiving button to find a stern Master Satele.
"Master..."
"How close are you to Tython?" Rubbing his eyes, he spotted the chronometer on the panel in front of him.
"A couple of hours at most."
"When you arrive, go to your quarters and do not approach the chambers. We will contact you when we deem appropriate."
"Master, is everything alright?" The communique ended, leaving a very befuddled Yerbol to sink into his chair.
"Kill the Force..." As the words came out of his mouth, a sharp throbbing started at the front of his skull, piercing down his spine, seizing his legs. His teeth grit in agony, attempting to summon the will to stop the-

It was gone, leaving only a gnawing foreboding in the pit of his stomach. Something was going to happen. Something horrible.
"Aria? You feel that, too?"

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

-Oh man, yeah. I can see heated arguments emerging from all this. It'll be the first time since the two were forced together that they can actually choose whether or not they want to STAY together willingly.

-Oh right, yeah, that would be a problem xD. Uh...well, yeah, it might make more sense for Aria's dad to try and maintain order on Korriban while Aria and Yerbol make their escape. That way Aria can reach out to her Dad and he can direct them to a safe place to land, etc.

Anyway, I'm headed off for the evening. Looking forward to reading your post/creating quite possibly one of the most epic Star Wars alternative universes ever :)

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

-Done. Done, done and done. OH, maybe Aria and Yerbol can intercept a segment of that Task Force sent to the peace talks. They can get mistaken as a part of the task force and branded as criminals along with them? That way Bracknell sacrifices a small part of his task force in order to, you know, overthrow the entire Jedi/Sith spectrum xD

-And wow, yeah, that would work for the second part. Once Yerbol and Aria free themselves(and probably get some info from Bracknell's yuppies), they can visit Korriban in an attempt to see what has become of Aria's father. They can hit Korriban, find Aria's father maybe and then...well, I think a major choice would happen. With both Empire and Jedi at each other's throats, I think that Yerbol would want to save as many as he could that wanted to get away from the carnage. This might be a good point in the story for the duo to start rescue missions from both Tython and Korriban. How would Aria feel? Essentially everything they both knew is imploding, so no choice would be easy xD

-And yeah, maybe instead of Yerbol and Aria breaking out themselves, Aria's father springs them...that might work.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Thoughts I've had about where we're headed:

-With the True Sith firmly entrenched in Known Space, there have to be Masters pulling the strings. I dare say that we would need to come up with a couple of them that the others report to(the holorecordings would go to the Masters, who would visit the Sith homeworld every so often to review progress. Why choose this method? They're being ultra cautious so that no one could pick up on their communications, not even Force sensitives, who could feel and/or hear them communicating through the Force).

-There would have to be a series of events that lead up to a total Force vs. Non-Force war, most of which were put into place by the breaking of the Treaty of Coruscant. With the Empire and Republic destablized so much already by having to defeat the Hutt Cartel AND with the Emperor dead, there might be some in both camps that feel consolidation might be in order. This would be an interesting twist on Knights of the Fallen Empire, seeing as in the official expansion, Republic and Empire forces come together to fight the Eternal Empire. In this case, the Republic and the Empire would join forces to squash all Force Users out of existence. I assume the True Sith would instigate a number of conflicts started by Force Users, including, potentially:
-The Dark Council turning on themselves (reasoning unknown as of yet)
-The Jedi Council divided due to differing opinions on how to have proper relations with the Republic
-Exploitation of wandering Jedi/Sith who want to fight for a new cause
-Deception of younger Jedi/Sith who can be persuaded to lash out against a society that "oppresses" them("How dare they limit your power!"

-I would think that Yerbol and Aria would return to find the Council divided due to Republic and Empire officials hosting "peace talks" without them. Maybe the True Sith planted on Tython would begin to stir up rebellion and talk of overthrowing the Masters. This would spur Yerbol and Aria to try and unveil the True Sith, only to be foiled by knowledge that the Jedi Masters would be placing the entire planet on an enforced lockdown of sorts in order to discourage students from leaving. Essentially what would we have is a miniature Jedi civil war, with the True Sith Master leading a continent against the Jedi Masters. Yerbol would want to side with the Masters, but probably would see the big picture and try to get off world in order to expose the True Sith's plot to the convened Empire and Republic forces.

-From there, we could have them sneak onto the planet the meeting is being held only for the duo to be captured and held up as examples of why Force users need to be "systematically eliminated", seeing as they would be framed for trying to assassinate the officials gathered. The duo would break free and then might need to check up on Aria's Dad on Korriban.

That's what I've got so far...thoughts?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Hey, so I have a very big suspicion that our humble thread beginning with a Jedi and a Sith is going to turn into a gigantic space opera of epic proportions.

Saying that, I'm going to start posting thoughts, ideas and comments about our story in the characters thread so I can easily keep track of some of the things we talk about. You don't have to do that if you don't want, but I'm doing it for my own sanity so I don't scroll through pages trying to remember what we agreed on earlier xD