Jaina Solo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sticksofthejedi) wrote2013-01-20 08:39 pm
sticksofthejedi) wrote2013-01-20 08:39 pm
Entry tags:
memory 55
Memory: The Apprentice.
Received: Day 212, night
Form: Two cookies, both obviously shaped like a girl. One is burned and one is not. Shareable, two uses.
Summary: Jaina, in her Vong war slip to the dark side, coerces Kyp Durron into teaching her how to wipe minds, and she sneaks about to use a mad scientist to work on her Trickster plans against the Vong.
--
Jaina, dark and sexy Kyp Durron, wookie pal Lowbacca, and one-armed Tenel Ka are traveling to the Hapan world of Gallinore in a small freighter. They take a moment to observe how pretty the planet is. Jaina takes a moment to observe dark and sexy Kyp despite a horrible age difference. She thinks about how Kyp's offered to take her as an apprentice, and a big contrary part of her wants to continue rejecting anything he says out of hand because he talked her into a war crime against the Vong. But she also WANTS to hurt all Vong now, so figures they're thinking along the same lines now. Tenel Ka gives directions to find and land at the city they want; it's camouflaged and difficult to find. Kyp's an ass and asks what they've got to hide.
Tenel Ka wants to know why Jaina wanted to come to Gallinore. She borrows Tenel Ka's lightsaber, ignites it, and discusses how it was made with Gallinore rainbow gems as focusing crystals. Gallinore's rainbow gems are actually bioengineered living creatures. She goes on to explain that Anakin had likewise attuned Yuuzhan Vong living "lambent" crystals in his last lightsaber.
Understanding dawned on the warrior woman's face. "This similarity leads you to hope the scientists of Gallinore can help you understand the Trickster, " she concluded, naming the living ship that Jaina and Zekk had stolen from a Yuuzhan Vong worldship.
They land, and Jaina being an engineering geek, she takes some time to admire the architectural setup that lends to the city's camouflage. Tenel Ka will be going to customs, where officials are waiting for her. But Jaina can sense disapproval with her empathy as Tenel Ka glances as Kyp. Jaina decides to confront.
Jaina: "All right, let's have it."
Tenel Ka: "I understand your desire to learn from Gallinore's scientists. But why is Kyp Durron with us? Surely you're not considering his offer of apprenticeship."
Jaina: "Maybe I should. Kyp is an exceptionally powerful Jedi. He'd have to be. The only reason he's still alive is that people who mattered believed that his talent overbalanced his past crimes."
Tenel Ka: "It is not like you to be cynical."
Jaina: "Practical. Kyp Durron knows things I don't. I could learn from him."
Tenel Ka: "Fact. That's what concerns me."
Jaina: "Master Luke trusts him."
Tenel Ka: "Do you? Can you, after what he did at Sernpidal?"
Jaina: "The mission was a success. The destruction of the Vong's new worldship strengthened the Republic position."
Tenel Ka: "Perhaps. Yet I wonder if your willingness to attack Sernpidal had as much to do with vengeance as tactics."
[Lowie interjects, indignant.]
Tenel Ka: "I apologize, my friend. I meant no disrespect to your uncle Chewbacca's honor, or to the life debt you assumed in his name. His sacrifice on Sernpidal would indeed be diminished by vengeance."
[She gives Jaina a meaningful look at that last.]
Kyp comes and plays on the fact that nobody likes him to get Tenel Ka to go to her meeting already. Jaina thanks Lowie for his unwavering support (Lowie has at this point basically become the Jedi Chewie to Jaina's jedi Han.) She tells him she doesn't know what she'd do without him, and she makes a joke about how Em Teedee would have translated it if the droid hadn't been lost; they declare they don't miss the little translator, a moment of Multiple Author Syndrome: they actually used to really like the little guy.
A letter from Ta'a Chume, former Hapan Queen Mother, gets them access to a research facility, but not unsupervised access. Jaina asks him to get security information, and sends him mentally a reminder of how much it sucked for their team to wander around the Vong worldship without knowledge of where they were trying to go. She's trying to speak with a man named Sinsor Khal.
Jaina takes some time to do a little recon of the facility with her own eyes, and they head out. Kyp's waiting for her at the ship, and they address a little secret between them: there's a Hapan Vong collaborator in a Force-induced coma hidden in the ship so Lowie and Tenel Ka won't sense/find him. The man had apparently attacked Tenel Ka and been captured; he would have been executed if he weren't smuggled out. Kyp points out Jedi are sworn to protect living things, but he doesn't exactly feel sorry for the collaborator; Jaina explains the man did it because he had a Vong slave implant that served as a communication and control device. She wants it removed, tested and modified to try using Vong biotech against the invaders.
The plan: using the security info Lowie procured, she and Kyp sneak the prisoner in, and Lowie wipes and records remaining of the Jedi ever having been there. She wants to utilize his memory wiping skill as a final precaution. There's a slight sign in his body language of doubt at that last, and before he can say anything, Jaina tries to head it off.
Jaina: "You asked me to be your apprentice. This is where it starts."
Kyp: "You have a high opinion of your value."
Jaina: "Thats the asking price. Do you want me or not?"
Kyp: "You know we could never speak of this, not to anyone."
Jaina: "Who would I tell? Uncle Luke?"
Kyp: "All right, then. Let's get it done."
Kyp wakes the prisoner up, and Jaina lies: he's alive because Tenel Ka issued a conditional pardon, understanding the influence of the Vong implant in the attack. He's at Gallinore to have it removed, he'll recant his desertion, and if a Jedi inquiry shows he's free of any further treasonous intent, he'll get a full pardon. She claims they're trying to win back deserters and get information about the Vong from them. His two companions in the attack will be picked up and hidden, listed as dead to avoid legal problems. She backs the story with a mind trick nudge in the Force.
They set out for the infiltration. Kyp disables lights to sneak in darkness, and the two Jedi use their abilities to lower all three of their body temperatures to get around heat sensors. They start going through ventilation and drainage tunnels. They're almost to where they want to be when the Hapan suddenly goes on the attack, using kickboxing skills of all things. He's good enough at it that the two Jedi are having trouble using purely physical skills to take him down, since they can't exactly use weapons. So Jaina hits him with Force Lightning. Kyp grabs her wrist, angry -- but they can't argue now. The flash of lightning set off some light sensitive sensors, so they haul the dazed prisoner along. Security kicks in: a wall drops and the tunnel begins to fill with coolant to drown intruders. They find and manage to get into a drainage tunnel. Kyp has to use his saber to open the exit latch, coming out in a tank. Guards are waiting for them there. The coolant, obviously having been numbingly cold, has them nearly unable to stand, so they can't fight physically -- there's a flare of light, and the four guards are incapacitated. When Jaina's recovered enough from a strange disorientation, she asks who did that, Kyp or her? Kyp and the Hapan prisoner just glare at her. Kyp's pumping a guard's chest to keep his heart going until the guard's body starts working for itself again.
He urges them to get a move on. She insists Kyp show her to wipe memories then and there, because the guards can't remember they were there. Kyp tries refusing, saying he doesn't want her to know how to do it. "An apprentice should learn from a Master, not repeat his mistakes." She likens the skill to a mind trick, which Jedi use all the time without guilt, and tells him again to show her. He reluctantly shows her.
Jaina felt the older Jedi's power reach into the mans mind. Kyp formed the image of a morning-misted sun, barely visible above the forest horizons of Gallinore-- about the time, Jaina recalled, that they had landed. With smooth, cool strokes, Kyp swept away the memory from that moment to this. He eased away, like a thief creeping from a plundered home.
Slowly Kyp broke the contact with the fallen guard and lifted his eyes to hers. His face was still pale from the chilling tumble, and the deep shadows beneath his eyes made them look vividly green. The power in them, though fading, was both eerie and compelling.
"Now you."
Jaina nodded and reached out to another guard. But instead of envisioning the morning sun, she focused upon an image of a chronometer. Slowly she forced it into backward motion, stripping away moments from a man's life.
When the task was done, she looked to the Jedi Master. He studied her for a moment, his expression unreadable.
"You have a knack for this," he said at last. "Good control. Very precise. You take that one, I'll do the other. Lets get this over with."
The two haul their prisoner the last stretch to Sinsor Khal's lab. Khal is a captive Hapan scientist, kept shut away for certain despicable research projects. She notes that in her empathy, all she can sense about Khal is a detached curiosity about the dazed man they've brought him. The people around Khal are not "people" to him, but "specimens." He tells them to leave the prisoner on a table that's clearly designed to handle a lot of blood being let loose. Kyp's dubious, and the prisoner is starting to try struggling again; Khal sedates him. Suddenly Jaina feels something strange in the Force; she looks at Khal, and he's giving her a creeper look. He claims he knows her, but Jaina points out Ta'a Chume told her he's been a Gallinore captive scientist since Jaina was learning to walk, and this is the first time she's been to the planet. Khal uses telekinesis to get a sharp tool from his tray of instruments. "I didn't say we'd met. I said I know you."
Jaina and Kyp decide to leave the creeper to what he wants. Kyp goes back to the ship, and Jaina, feeling a lump in her stomach, goes to find Lowie combing through Gallinore's research files and waiting to wipe records for her.
Lowbacca was still seated at the terminal, his furry face engrossed. The dark-haired tech had grown bored of her assignment and sat wearily at another workstation. A faint smile touched Jaina's lips. The Wookiee loved computers. He probably had scant perception of the hours that had passed since his arrival. In a way, that made her task easier.
Jaina came up behind him and leaned down, resting her chin on his shoulder. Her eyes drifted shut, and she drew in a long, steadying breath. The familiar, musty scent of Wookiee fur filled her senses. She reached out through the Force and for a moment savored the solid, loyal presence that was Lowbacca. The only friend who truly trusted her, the only Jedi who looked at her and saw the Jaina she once had been.
She stealthily slipped him a holocube. The Wookiee quickly transferred the needed information and returned it to her. When he slipped it into her hand, she caught his big paw and clung to it for a moment. He tipped his head to one side and slanted a curious look back up at her. His nose wrinkled at the scent of coolant that duns to her nearly-dry flight suit.
"Long story," she said softly. "I need you to get into the security records. I was never there. Make that happen."
The Wookiee nodded and erased her footsteps with a few deft movements. When a satisfied grunt announced his success, Jaina reached out through the link between them and brought to mind an image of a Wookiee sun dial. Slowly, inexorably, she forced the shadows to deepen.
A few moments later, Jaina straightened up and turned toward the tech. Puzzlement and then concern swept the woman's thin face. Suddenly Jaina was aware of the damp tracks of tears on her cheeks. She wiped them away, as she'd wiped the past few hours from Lowbacca's memory.
Short story comes with an illustration:
Received: Day 212, night
Form: Two cookies, both obviously shaped like a girl. One is burned and one is not. Shareable, two uses.
Summary: Jaina, in her Vong war slip to the dark side, coerces Kyp Durron into teaching her how to wipe minds, and she sneaks about to use a mad scientist to work on her Trickster plans against the Vong.
--
Jaina, dark and sexy Kyp Durron, wookie pal Lowbacca, and one-armed Tenel Ka are traveling to the Hapan world of Gallinore in a small freighter. They take a moment to observe how pretty the planet is. Jaina takes a moment to observe dark and sexy Kyp despite a horrible age difference. She thinks about how Kyp's offered to take her as an apprentice, and a big contrary part of her wants to continue rejecting anything he says out of hand because he talked her into a war crime against the Vong. But she also WANTS to hurt all Vong now, so figures they're thinking along the same lines now. Tenel Ka gives directions to find and land at the city they want; it's camouflaged and difficult to find. Kyp's an ass and asks what they've got to hide.
Tenel Ka wants to know why Jaina wanted to come to Gallinore. She borrows Tenel Ka's lightsaber, ignites it, and discusses how it was made with Gallinore rainbow gems as focusing crystals. Gallinore's rainbow gems are actually bioengineered living creatures. She goes on to explain that Anakin had likewise attuned Yuuzhan Vong living "lambent" crystals in his last lightsaber.
Understanding dawned on the warrior woman's face. "This similarity leads you to hope the scientists of Gallinore can help you understand the Trickster, " she concluded, naming the living ship that Jaina and Zekk had stolen from a Yuuzhan Vong worldship.
They land, and Jaina being an engineering geek, she takes some time to admire the architectural setup that lends to the city's camouflage. Tenel Ka will be going to customs, where officials are waiting for her. But Jaina can sense disapproval with her empathy as Tenel Ka glances as Kyp. Jaina decides to confront.
Jaina: "All right, let's have it."
Tenel Ka: "I understand your desire to learn from Gallinore's scientists. But why is Kyp Durron with us? Surely you're not considering his offer of apprenticeship."
Jaina: "Maybe I should. Kyp is an exceptionally powerful Jedi. He'd have to be. The only reason he's still alive is that people who mattered believed that his talent overbalanced his past crimes."
Tenel Ka: "It is not like you to be cynical."
Jaina: "Practical. Kyp Durron knows things I don't. I could learn from him."
Tenel Ka: "Fact. That's what concerns me."
Jaina: "Master Luke trusts him."
Tenel Ka: "Do you? Can you, after what he did at Sernpidal?"
Jaina: "The mission was a success. The destruction of the Vong's new worldship strengthened the Republic position."
Tenel Ka: "Perhaps. Yet I wonder if your willingness to attack Sernpidal had as much to do with vengeance as tactics."
[Lowie interjects, indignant.]
Tenel Ka: "I apologize, my friend. I meant no disrespect to your uncle Chewbacca's honor, or to the life debt you assumed in his name. His sacrifice on Sernpidal would indeed be diminished by vengeance."
[She gives Jaina a meaningful look at that last.]
Kyp comes and plays on the fact that nobody likes him to get Tenel Ka to go to her meeting already. Jaina thanks Lowie for his unwavering support (Lowie has at this point basically become the Jedi Chewie to Jaina's jedi Han.) She tells him she doesn't know what she'd do without him, and she makes a joke about how Em Teedee would have translated it if the droid hadn't been lost; they declare they don't miss the little translator, a moment of Multiple Author Syndrome: they actually used to really like the little guy.
A letter from Ta'a Chume, former Hapan Queen Mother, gets them access to a research facility, but not unsupervised access. Jaina asks him to get security information, and sends him mentally a reminder of how much it sucked for their team to wander around the Vong worldship without knowledge of where they were trying to go. She's trying to speak with a man named Sinsor Khal.
Jaina takes some time to do a little recon of the facility with her own eyes, and they head out. Kyp's waiting for her at the ship, and they address a little secret between them: there's a Hapan Vong collaborator in a Force-induced coma hidden in the ship so Lowie and Tenel Ka won't sense/find him. The man had apparently attacked Tenel Ka and been captured; he would have been executed if he weren't smuggled out. Kyp points out Jedi are sworn to protect living things, but he doesn't exactly feel sorry for the collaborator; Jaina explains the man did it because he had a Vong slave implant that served as a communication and control device. She wants it removed, tested and modified to try using Vong biotech against the invaders.
The plan: using the security info Lowie procured, she and Kyp sneak the prisoner in, and Lowie wipes and records remaining of the Jedi ever having been there. She wants to utilize his memory wiping skill as a final precaution. There's a slight sign in his body language of doubt at that last, and before he can say anything, Jaina tries to head it off.
Jaina: "You asked me to be your apprentice. This is where it starts."
Kyp: "You have a high opinion of your value."
Jaina: "Thats the asking price. Do you want me or not?"
Kyp: "You know we could never speak of this, not to anyone."
Jaina: "Who would I tell? Uncle Luke?"
Kyp: "All right, then. Let's get it done."
Kyp wakes the prisoner up, and Jaina lies: he's alive because Tenel Ka issued a conditional pardon, understanding the influence of the Vong implant in the attack. He's at Gallinore to have it removed, he'll recant his desertion, and if a Jedi inquiry shows he's free of any further treasonous intent, he'll get a full pardon. She claims they're trying to win back deserters and get information about the Vong from them. His two companions in the attack will be picked up and hidden, listed as dead to avoid legal problems. She backs the story with a mind trick nudge in the Force.
They set out for the infiltration. Kyp disables lights to sneak in darkness, and the two Jedi use their abilities to lower all three of their body temperatures to get around heat sensors. They start going through ventilation and drainage tunnels. They're almost to where they want to be when the Hapan suddenly goes on the attack, using kickboxing skills of all things. He's good enough at it that the two Jedi are having trouble using purely physical skills to take him down, since they can't exactly use weapons. So Jaina hits him with Force Lightning. Kyp grabs her wrist, angry -- but they can't argue now. The flash of lightning set off some light sensitive sensors, so they haul the dazed prisoner along. Security kicks in: a wall drops and the tunnel begins to fill with coolant to drown intruders. They find and manage to get into a drainage tunnel. Kyp has to use his saber to open the exit latch, coming out in a tank. Guards are waiting for them there. The coolant, obviously having been numbingly cold, has them nearly unable to stand, so they can't fight physically -- there's a flare of light, and the four guards are incapacitated. When Jaina's recovered enough from a strange disorientation, she asks who did that, Kyp or her? Kyp and the Hapan prisoner just glare at her. Kyp's pumping a guard's chest to keep his heart going until the guard's body starts working for itself again.
He urges them to get a move on. She insists Kyp show her to wipe memories then and there, because the guards can't remember they were there. Kyp tries refusing, saying he doesn't want her to know how to do it. "An apprentice should learn from a Master, not repeat his mistakes." She likens the skill to a mind trick, which Jedi use all the time without guilt, and tells him again to show her. He reluctantly shows her.
Jaina felt the older Jedi's power reach into the mans mind. Kyp formed the image of a morning-misted sun, barely visible above the forest horizons of Gallinore-- about the time, Jaina recalled, that they had landed. With smooth, cool strokes, Kyp swept away the memory from that moment to this. He eased away, like a thief creeping from a plundered home.
Slowly Kyp broke the contact with the fallen guard and lifted his eyes to hers. His face was still pale from the chilling tumble, and the deep shadows beneath his eyes made them look vividly green. The power in them, though fading, was both eerie and compelling.
"Now you."
Jaina nodded and reached out to another guard. But instead of envisioning the morning sun, she focused upon an image of a chronometer. Slowly she forced it into backward motion, stripping away moments from a man's life.
When the task was done, she looked to the Jedi Master. He studied her for a moment, his expression unreadable.
"You have a knack for this," he said at last. "Good control. Very precise. You take that one, I'll do the other. Lets get this over with."
The two haul their prisoner the last stretch to Sinsor Khal's lab. Khal is a captive Hapan scientist, kept shut away for certain despicable research projects. She notes that in her empathy, all she can sense about Khal is a detached curiosity about the dazed man they've brought him. The people around Khal are not "people" to him, but "specimens." He tells them to leave the prisoner on a table that's clearly designed to handle a lot of blood being let loose. Kyp's dubious, and the prisoner is starting to try struggling again; Khal sedates him. Suddenly Jaina feels something strange in the Force; she looks at Khal, and he's giving her a creeper look. He claims he knows her, but Jaina points out Ta'a Chume told her he's been a Gallinore captive scientist since Jaina was learning to walk, and this is the first time she's been to the planet. Khal uses telekinesis to get a sharp tool from his tray of instruments. "I didn't say we'd met. I said I know you."
Jaina and Kyp decide to leave the creeper to what he wants. Kyp goes back to the ship, and Jaina, feeling a lump in her stomach, goes to find Lowie combing through Gallinore's research files and waiting to wipe records for her.
Lowbacca was still seated at the terminal, his furry face engrossed. The dark-haired tech had grown bored of her assignment and sat wearily at another workstation. A faint smile touched Jaina's lips. The Wookiee loved computers. He probably had scant perception of the hours that had passed since his arrival. In a way, that made her task easier.
Jaina came up behind him and leaned down, resting her chin on his shoulder. Her eyes drifted shut, and she drew in a long, steadying breath. The familiar, musty scent of Wookiee fur filled her senses. She reached out through the Force and for a moment savored the solid, loyal presence that was Lowbacca. The only friend who truly trusted her, the only Jedi who looked at her and saw the Jaina she once had been.
She stealthily slipped him a holocube. The Wookiee quickly transferred the needed information and returned it to her. When he slipped it into her hand, she caught his big paw and clung to it for a moment. He tipped his head to one side and slanted a curious look back up at her. His nose wrinkled at the scent of coolant that duns to her nearly-dry flight suit.
"Long story," she said softly. "I need you to get into the security records. I was never there. Make that happen."
The Wookiee nodded and erased her footsteps with a few deft movements. When a satisfied grunt announced his success, Jaina reached out through the link between them and brought to mind an image of a Wookiee sun dial. Slowly, inexorably, she forced the shadows to deepen.
A few moments later, Jaina straightened up and turned toward the tech. Puzzlement and then concern swept the woman's thin face. Suddenly Jaina was aware of the damp tracks of tears on her cheeks. She wiped them away, as she'd wiped the past few hours from Lowbacca's memory.
Short story comes with an illustration: