GemaJinn

Star Wars: Galaxy Divided

OOC: Apologies for late response; uni work is picking up the pace again ^^;!

Bridge of the Pirate Vessel:
Talia kept her eyes on the droid as it aimed the weapon it held at her and heard the hum as it charged up. Perhaps she'd miscalculated with regard to the nature of the droid? Perhaps it was programmed for indiscriminate slaughter, regardless of threat presented? That line of thought however, was soon disproven as the droid held still, not firing upon her but not relaxing its guard an inch either. Talia estimated that it was likely running differening scenarios, calculating the probability of each possible outcome, to determine its next course of action. It had clearly seen that she was armed, yet it also just as clearly had realised that she hadn't drawn her weapons when she had the opportunity and that she was seated in a position that made her an easy target for it. Her musings as to what the outcome of that might be were ended when the droid took a single step forwards and spoke.

"RELINQUISH YOUR WEAPONS," it demanded as it motioned towards them with it's weapon before aiming back at her middle. "IF YOU SHOW ANY SIGNS OF HOSTILITY YOU WILL BE FIRED UPON," it warned her as it slightly adjusted it's stance, its glowing orange eye's staring into her own. Talia kept her golden eyes locked to the droid's orange ones, before slowly moving her hands, making sure that the droid could easily keep track of her movements, as she unfastened the weapons from the belt of the space-suit and dropped them at her feet.

"I have not, in the entire time you have been aboard this vessel, shown you any hostility whatsover," she replied in tranquil tones, "or even before that, for that matter. It was the crew of this vessel- a group of pirates- who made the ill advised decision to fire upon you. However, you need not take my word for it. I don't doubt that you're perfectly capable of playing back the memories you have of the battles aboard this ship and keeping me in your sights. Take a look and see if I ever once made any hostile move towards you". Having said that, Talia watched the droid carefully. Though neither of them broke eye contact as an instrument panel beeped again, the sound did remind Talia that there were others aboard the vessel and she addressed the droid again.

"Whatever your estimation of me," she said, still keeping her voice calm and even, "you should know that there are now others besides us aboard this ship. Given the sector of space we are in, the type of ship they arrived in and the manner of their approach, I would say that they are smugglers. They aren't here to help any survivors aboard this vessel, but to help themselves; primarily to information such as star-charts and communication frequencies, and also to anything in the ship's hold that catches their eye. Again, you need not take my word for it," she added as she slowly, clearly gestured in the direction of the instrument panel, "the instruments that will tell you what you need to know- the ones that are still functional- are over there. As you can see for yourself, you can easily move to check those instruments and keep me in your sights. If anything I have said proves false you are, of course, entirely at liberty to shoot me whenever you will. If all I have said bears out however, you might wish to consider that I am presently the one life-form aboard this vessel you know for certain poses you no threat and wishes you no harm".

Star Wars: Galaxy Divided

Bridge of the Pirate Vessel, Present time
Talia watched the instrument panels- those that still functioned- as the new arrival made its approach. It wasn't a vessel that she recognised as belonging to any of the pirates in this sector of space; a fact confirmed by virtue of their not hailing a companion vessel on the necessary frequencies- or indeed, at all. Given the type of vessel and the actions of those aboard it, Talia guessed they were smugglers exploiting a golden opportunity: A pirate ship this heavily damaged would likely have no-one aboard who could offer resistance; making now an ideal time to take some loot for themselves- and to take the maps and codes needed for safe passafge through the area. Talia smiled a small smile to herself; this might be a golden opportunity for her as well. It might come as a surprise to the smugglers to find no trace of maps or communication frequencies aboard, but once they learned that she knew them, she'd become an individual of surprising value to them. Talia turned her head as she abruptly heard thudding, mechanical footsteps in the hallway. Speaking of surprising...

She rose from her seat, taking a quick peek down the hallway before just as quickly pulling her head back. The droid had evidently used the repair bay. It was fully functional again and headed this way. It had openly announced an intention to claim both vessel and cargo. Looked like she wasn't the only surprise the smugglers would encounter. She thought for a moment. There was little point in attempting to hide on the bridge. The droid seemed to be a cutting-edge military model; it was only a matter of time until it found her. Fightining it was pointless; even though she had blasters at her belt and vibro-blades too, with a space-suit on, she couldn't bring her tail or wings into play, and her lightsaber was tucked inside her tunic, under the space-suit. Even if the droid weren't formidable, even if she weren't able to bring all her abilities to bear, there was no essential argument between her and the droid, whether the droid shared that opinion or not. It was the pirates who had attacked it; not her. On the heels of that thought came another. A droid as sophisticated as this one more than likely had a memory-playback system, in order to review previous battles, analyse the attack-patterns of opponents and adapt and learn accordingly. If so, it could determine from those memories, that footage, that she was no threat. The best course of action then, might be to remain in the open and let it find her, not hiding, but not attacking or threatening either. It was risky, but it might be worth it.

Her decision made, Talia took another seat, not the captain's chair but one where, nevertheless, the droid would be certain to see her, even before it arrived on the bridge. she kept her hands in plain view, away from the weapons at her belt and waited for the droid to arrive, to see what action it would take when met with a non-threatening life-form.

Star Wars: Galaxy Divided

The Pirate Vessel, A Little Earlier
As the alarms sounded, announcing the damage to the vessel and loss of air to the void of space, one individual didn't head immediately towards the commotion. Clad in an outfit mostly of midnight blue and with a deep hood shadowing her face, Talia Wei'Liret (or Twilight as she had let herself be known to the crew) maintained a purposeful stride, though quickened her pace, as she made her way to the cargo hold, careful to lock the door after her. She'd been assigned to taking inventory of the haul gained from a successful raid some hours prior, an opportunity she had long been waiting for. It was the ideal moment to complete her mission, and she wasn't about to let an unexpected attack ruin it! The tranquil disposition native to her race served her well as the first thing she was careful to acquire upon making it to the hold was one of the space-suits stored in lockers scattered strategically throughout the vessel, should a hull breach or some similar misfortune befall it. Donning the suit, she opened the comm to the frequencies used by these particular pirates, to keep an ear open to events as they progressed, conducting a careful inspection of the contents of the hold at the same time and recollecting the events that led her to be here now...

Almost two months prior, Talia had been contacted in her capacity as an Information Hound by a wealthy businessman in a considerable state of anxiety. One of his cargo vessels had been raided by pirates, incurring considerable damage. That though was a secondary issue next to his primary concern: The vessel had contained documents pertaining to several other branches of his business, the ships they used and the nature of the cargoes they commonly transported. Further, the documents had contained the blueprints for several new experimental weapons systems that his business was developing. Since those documents were not to be found anywhere aboard the vessel after the raid, they must now be in the hands of those pirates. The notion of the pirates using those documents and the harm they could potentially become capable of as a result was unthinkable- the documents had to be recovered. Talia had needed little persuasion to accept the job- the tension between Jedi and Sith was bad enough, with the conflict allowing the practices of piracy and smuggling to flourish. The last thing they needed was one group of pirates acquring deadly new weapons and becoming the next major threat to be added to an already bloody war. It had taken considerable research, involving interviewing the crew of the ship, reviewing the shipping schedule and the route taken and visits to several knowledgeable individuals in places of ill-repute to piece together precisely which pirate vessel and crew had been behind the attack. It had been even more challenging to find a suitable crew-member to persuade the others to take her on as one of their number, but Talia liked to think she'd played the part very convincingly... well, that and a little mind-tricking of course. From then until the present time, she'd been doing the grunt-work expected of a rookie, but it had given her an opportunity to observe the way the pirates worked, allowing her to learn one very useful piece of information about them: This particular crew tended to dump all their plunder in the hold and inventory it at a later date. The odds were, therefore, that they didn't know or didn't realise the nature of the documents they'd siezed, and so hadn't put them to use yet. Her musings were interrupted as a voice came over her comm.

"Twilight, report!" She recognised the voice as the captain's. He sounded a deal less confident than usual as he barked orders to her. "We've a- well dammned if I know what- rampaging through the ship and I need all hands on deck! Where the hell are you?" Talia took a moment, weighing her words, before answering. "Cargo hold captain," she answered, "when we lost the integrity of the ship's atmosphere I got a suit from the lockers, but one of the doors has malfunctioned," she was careful to scramble the circuits of the door even as she said the words, "so I'll have to detour and back-track before I can join you on the bridge. I'm on open comm though, so I can hear everything that's going on". There was sound on the other end that could have been static or blaster-fire, before the captain spoke again. "Try not to be all year about it," he said in clipped tones, "you're dammned good with blaster or vibro-blades and I'd prefer I had as many as can shoot straight up here". Talia swept her gaze over the cargo hold even as she made her reply, "understood captain- I'll be there a soon as I can," she assured him. That done she made her way through the hold, scrutinising everything. A lot of droid replacement parts, weapons crates, something that looked suspiciously like a shipment of spice... ah. There. An unobtrusive looking little data-file, but one with company's distinctive logo emblazoned upon it. Talia picked it up and inspected it meticulously. It showed no signs of damage, nor of recent handling. Apparently it had just been shelved for use whenever the pirates remembered they had it or realised what it was. Talia discreetly stored the device in a pocket on the suit, before giving consideration to her next steps.

She had what she'd come for now, and with the ship under attack, now might be a good time to leave. On the other hand, if she attempted to use an escape pod, she would not only be seen by the rest of the crew to be jumping ship, whoever their assailant was might notice as well and come after her. Even if that didn't happen, there was the potential threat of other pirates in the area to consider. Immediate evacuation was not a positive prospect. Perhaps though, if she were to take the maps showing locations where the pirates had ambushes ready and waiting and a list of all the communication frequencies they used, maybe that would give her a bargaining-chip, something to buy her way off this vessel with? If she wasn't shot on sight by the invader, or couldn't reason with them, it was something worth considering. This decided upon, she made her way back to the bridge.

Bridge of the Pirate Vessel, Present Time
Talia warily looked up from her hiding-place, presenting a minimal taget, as the droid- for so it seemed to be- began to make its way elsewhere. She wasn't certain whether, in its damaged condition, its sensors had failed to detect her, or if it simply considered her no threat. If the latter she was in luck; she had no argument with it, and would be happy to insure the feeling was mutual. If not... Talia ran the past few minutes through her head again. When she'd arrived on the bridge, the droid had already been making its approach. Under the pretence of making sure the invader at least couldn't catch others of their number at unawares Talia had- with the captain's wholehearted approval- wiped every trace of the maps and communications frequencies from the ship's memory-banks; after taking a copy for herself. Now she simply needed to abandon the vessel. She rolled her eyes at that though; there was likely to be nothing simple about it. After the droid exited the bridge Talia waited a few moments, before starting to cross the room to the door, when a beeping from one of the instruments panels attracted her attention. A proximity warning: There was another vessel approaching and, from what she could tell, not another pirate vessel. Her face took on a contemplative expression. Well, this development could be interesting...

Hollow Stone: Slaves of the Apocalypse

Whilst the purple hedgehog girl railed against her captors under her breath, the sudden shooting elicited less of a response in other parts of the camp. In fact, in a particular cell in the 'specialty cellblock' it garnered no response at all. That was due mainly to the unusual condition of the occupant. The raiders who had been at this particular camp longer- or more regularly- called her "Old Hellion", a nickname bestowed in jest and mockery. She was an unusual find indeed: Her ears were long and pointed and amazingly acute. Dark, leathery wings were folded close against her back. Her fur- where it was visible- had a tortoise-shell pattern to it, mostly in blacks and browns, but with some russet-reds and oranges to it as well, with even a few hints of yellow here and there, all with a slight metallic lustre and iridescence to it. The hair of her head, black like much of her fur, came down to just between her shoulder-blades. Her clothing was faded, but of hard-wearing and durable quality. Her build was slim- though with more than a suggestion of leanness to it- perhaps like the build of a dancer or athlete. Even within the confines of the cell she retained an aura of the exotic, but this quality was offset by the fact that she was also completely inert; neither moving nor speaking and with little to indicate that she was still even breathing.

She sat where she had sat for a long time now, the dust slowly gathering around her, though whether she had been placed in the meditative cross-legged position or had assumed it herself was a matter lost to memory. As if to emphasise the inert nature of this silent inmate a profusion of growths, not unlike leaves but more reminiscent of a pangolin's scales, appeared to have spread throughout the fur. Perhaps she should have sold for a very high price not long after her capture, for no one who looked on her would doubt that she was a "ghost" creature. But soon after her capture she had become strangely inert and lifeless. When it became apparent that no measure of force not resulting in permanent damage would rouse her- and fearful of permanently damaging a prize catch- the raiders had simply put her in the cell she now occupied, perhaps hoping for signs of life to return- or waiting for her to die completely. Here she remained, eyes closed. Unspeaking, unmoving, not even eating. But there were yet indicators of life. The strange growths that covered her served to keep her vital functions active. And the movements of eyes behind sealed eyelids showed that she dreamed.

The dreams were varied, often full of images drawn from memory. Sometimes she dreamed of strange and twisted ruins. Sometimes of tribes stranger than any ruins ever could be, in vast and ever-varying lands of great beauty and peril. Sometimes the dreams were of wild, primeval-looking, untouched mountains in far-flung places. But of all the dreams the dreamer dreamed, two were more frequent than the rest. One of these was the dream of ancient days. Though the ancient world had died its catastrophic death long before her birth, the dreamer often vividly dreamed of that time. In those dreams she would wander the great streets of the shining cities, with every corner every avenue and alleyway familiar to her as her own skin. She would gaze in wonder at the glittering towers that reared into the sky, farther than the eye could see, and sent dazzling sunlight bouncing from their flanks. She would see the mechanical marvels that were available and stare in wonderment at the vast, winged ships that sailed the skies. At other times she would dream of the terrors of that vanished era,and the horrors wrought by its people, that had reduced it to nothing but ash and memory. The second of her recurring dreams was of the day of her capture, of how her own lack of familiarity with the weapons of the raiders had cost her her freedom. And of how the sliver, the tiny fragment of metal implanted in her flesh had triggered the unexpected reaction that led to her present inert condition. And now, she spent all her time in a limbo of dreams, not completely asleep but not awake either, simply...dormant. Waiting. Waiting for the strange function of the metal sliver to be disrupted. Waiting for the deliberate aid or chance occurrence that would allow her to reclaim control of herself. Waiting for the day when she would rise from slumber into the waking world again. Waiting for the time when she would regain her freedom.

Hollow Stone: Slaves of the Apocalypse

Name: Caelin Ea' Draumir
Age: Undisclosed (Appears early 20's at the oldest)
Rank: Oversized Paperweight (High value slave, but long-dormant, a la Rip Van Winkle)
Species: Ghost creature (Bat)
Background: Grew up in the half-mythical country of Saecernir, before becoming a Herald (Saecernir's nearest equivalent to a 'world-seeker') and setting off to explore the wider world. Is well-travelled, and has acquired an impressive knowledge of several cultures and languages, along with having an impressive understanding of Old World writings. Thanks to her travels, she has an above-average capacity for survival. Has a lithe, athletic build and is skilled in unarmed combat, though quite probably has no skills with any weapon more advanced than blade or crossbow.
Personality:Calm and patient, but quietly determined, possessing an indomitable will, excellent memory, and a sharp intelligence. Is neither an extravert or an introvert, but somewhere between the two, although she generally doesn't speak unless she feels she has something important to say. Despite the above qualities, upon first tasting sustenance after a prolonged period without it (either through necessity or upon awaking from a sustained period of hibernation) she can become ferocious, and as much a danger to friend as foe, likely to attempt to turn either into her next meal until such time as her hunger is satisfied.
Psychology: Unbroken- having been rendered inert by the slavers, entering a state of deep hibernation not long after her arrival, Caelin has reained as she was upon arrival. Though her mind now mainly drifts through dreams and memories, her personality remains unchanged, and part of her mind still seeks the waking world.
Backstory: Many ages ago, before the fall of the Old World, some of the 'gods' who built that world were experimenting with a new form of nanite, designed to enhance whatever life-form became host to it. Amongst the creatures it was tested upon were the ancestors of Caelin's people. When the Old World came to its end, the nanites within their system insured their survival, despite the odds. When other creatures began to rise, to fill the void left behind by the 'gods', the nanites insured Caelin's people would be amongst them. When some began to develop hyper-evolved niches, to become known as 'ghosts', the nanites insured Caelin's ancestors too would develop such a capacity. Through these nanites Caelin's people became robust and adaptable, with life-spans that gradually increased over successive generations. However, this was all centuries ago and since that time the nanites have become inert, the only trace of their continued presence amongst Caelin's people being an increased sensitivity- and vulnerability- to electricity and, in some cases, recurring, vivid dreams of the Old World. Individuals experiencing the latter are given the surname/honourific of 'Draumir' and are selected to become Heralds. Caelin was amongst this select group.

Born to the nation of Saecernir, a nation regarded as myth, legend or utter fantasy by most beyond its borders, Caelin spent her childhood- and a decent portion of her early adulthood- amongst its mountaintop-citadels, learning the bulk of the wealth of knowledge preceding generations had collected on both the Old World and the present one, before setting of to explore, and to discover what more she could add to the knowledge of her people. Having spent several years moving from place to place, Caelin had the misfortune to encounter a raiding party on the outskirts of the territory belonging to The Terror. Despite putting up a terrific fight, Caelin was injured and captured, but when the standard chip was implanted into her flesh, this unexpectedly caused Caelin to suffer an involuntary reaction, going into an enforced state of hibernation. Faced with an inert prize catch they could neither sell nor revive, the slavers have pretty much left her in her cell ever since, to either waken in time or die completely. But though mostly dead to the world around her, a sliver of Caelin's conciousness remains trapped between sleeping and waking world; waiting for the external stimulus that will raise her into waking life again.

Star Wars: Galaxy Divided

Name: Talia Wei'Liret (Usually goes by either 'Talia' or sometimes 'Twilight' as this sounds like a contraction of her full name)
Species: Ullanthon
Gender: Female
Age: Undisclosed (appears 20)
Appearance: Detail required here, so please be patient ^^! While Talia doesn't come from a race of shape-shifters, her kind are chameleonic. Thus the colour (and texture) of hair, skin, eyes, etc can vary significantly. But, when using the colours she was born with, her description is as follows: Largely human in appearance, with golden-brown skin. Golden eyes, black hair cut in a bob. Has minimal facial markings, these being black lips, black upper eyelids & a small mark at the outer corner of each eye, like an upturned hook. She has slightly pointed ears and a long, bare tail, that she normally keeps wrapped around her waist so that it seems to be a belt (and has a metallic decoration worn over the tip). She also has batlike wings, which (while she can keep them properly folded), she tends to drape around her shoulders, using her chameleonic ability to make them seem like a loose outer garment. As far as actual garments are concerned, she wears an outfit like the one worn by a pre-Vader Anakin in Episode 3- with one or two modifications. The modifications being that Talia's jacket, tunic,or whatever you want to call it has a hood attached to it since she doesn't wear an outer robe with a hood (for the reason given above), and also has openings for her wings to fit through. In addition to this, the ends of the sleeves on her outfit tend to be gathered into wrist-bands, rather than left loose to flap about. Also, Talia tends to vary the colour she wears fairly regularly, and has some sleeveless versions of this outfit. One other thing she sometimes wears is a set of gloves not unlike the glove Anakin wore over his robotic limb for most of Episode 3. Since her tail is often wrapped over her belt, she keeps her lightsaber inside her tunic.
Homeworld: Hirion
Personality: Serene, collected and possessed of a seemingly endless thirst for knowledge. Likes to hear both sides of every argument, will treat most people impartially. Tends to keep herself to herself.
Force-Sensitive: Yes
Calling: Jedi Consular to Hirion/ Star-Wing Information Hound
Equipment: Tail-decoration, containing a hidden blaster, Jedi garb (think the outfit a pre-Darth Vader Anakin wore in episode 3, but midnight blue in colour), custom-made wrist-mounted computer (ideal and essential equipment for an Information Hound), 2 modified blaster scabbards at either hip (known to now and then actually contain blasters, but usually contain some credits, tools, spare lightsaber pieces and other useful items) and 2 lightsabers. Her lightsabers are joined together to form a dual-blade weapon after the fashion of Darth Maul's lightsaber, but can be 'unlocked' into two standard sabers. Each saber has a mainly-black hilt with some gold coloured components and projects a bright orange blade. Since she often keeps her tail wrapped around her waist, she carries her sabers inside her tunic.
Other Possessions: Extended family home on Hirion.
Skills and Abilities: Force-abilities remain largely unknown to all but certain of the Jedi Order she is close to, since she likes to keep herself to herself. Known Force-abilities include: Force empathy, Force-healing, Force-hold, levitation, with some mild capacity for Force-visions. A noteworthy feature common to Force-sensitives amongst her people is a natural talent for shrinking their Force-presence to miniscule levels, or alternatively to 'mask' their Force-presence, concealing their abilities and making them hard to detect. The drawback to this though, is that while their Force-prensence is shrunken or masked, they cannot use their powers to sense the Force-presence of others. Other abilities include excellent marksmanship, skilled combatant, excellent stamina and a high level of athletic/gymnastic skills.
History: Talia comes from a world far from the busy centre of the galaxy, and until recently, largely ignored. It could perhaps best be described as physically resembling something of a cross between Coruscant and Endor. Since it is so out of the way, Jedi presence is minimal there, and whilst Force-sensitive natives are not necessarily rare, neither are they common. Talia's people are long-lived, with the average life-span being between 1000-1200 years, and once they've entered young adulthood they age slowly. They are also a very naturally serene, calm people (unless you get between parents & children) and the majority are naturally ambidextrous. With Hirion only having been discovered (or rediscovered) in recent centuries, it is still only just beginning to open up to the wider galactic community, with some of its natural wealth and resources having the potential to draw the eyes of almost any kind of people. Talia was recognised at a young age as Force-sensitive and, after discussion with her family, took the unusual step of going to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to train, rather than remaining on Hirion to be trained by the similar- though very different- order of Force-sensitives known as the Star-Wings.

Talia spent the next several years of her life training in and studying the ways of the Jedi, whilst constant communication and visitations from her extended family allowed her to continue the education expected of her by her homeworld. Although Talia found her time on Coruscant enjoyable, and her training allowed her to see much of the wider galaxy, by the time she became a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, she had grown quite homesick, and requested that the Council might allow her to return to Hirion. This suited the Council since, with Jedi presence being minimal on Hirion and those who properly understood the native culture being even rarer, Talia was the ideal candidate for the position of Jedi Consular to Hirion. During her time back on her native world, Talia went on to study the ways of the Star-Wings, which placed considerable emphasis on the cultivation and understanding of knowledge and healing, with much less emphasis on combat. Now holding the position of both fully-fledged Jedi Knight and Star-Wing, Talia has again begun to explore the wider galaxy as an Information Hound for the Star-Wings, hunting information as others hunt people. It is perhaps significant to note that Talia is accomplished enough as an Information Hound to make a comfortable living from this occupation if she chooses, and also to note that, in the time since her training on Coruscant, Talia has questioned and researched as much Jedi lore as she can lay her hands on. This has resulted in her regarding much of the Jedi Code as guidelines rather than rules and- since her people have a love for hearing both sides of every argument- she may be seeking Sith lore, to gain insight into and knowledge of the Dark Side.