Star Wars - A Change in Tides

[NStCH-root-sigma]

AN: Before anyone wonders why this exists twice: I posted one version in the Archive section for all the readers who feel that the comments in between would disturb their immersion. Hope that's alright! Other than that, nothing much to say right now.

EDIT: So I came to the realization that maybe a bit more info would be nice, before jumping into the text, here you go:


Title: Star Wars: A Change in Tides

Timeframe: End of Clone Wars/ Early Rebellion


Characters: A lot of Original Characters, Nejaa Halcyon and Family, later Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi


Genre: Action-Adventure with maybe a touch of crime novel or thriller here and there. Space Opera, (obviously?)


Summary: What was supposed to be an epic rendition of Star Wars, a campaign where the players could meet and interact with their heroes, instead throws Brian's entire life into disarray. He finds himself thrown into the cesspool that is Corellia, entirely on his own, his body changed forever, without even the slightest clue as to what happened, why it happened or what he's supposed to do now. If not for a chance appearance of Nejaa Halcyon, he'd probably jumped of the deep end already. An Adventure of survival, incredible fun and way to many close calls begins, but how it ends, only the Force can tell ...


Notes: I currently have the first 7 Chapters written and am in the process of editing them. The next 7 are completely plotted. The next two arcs are roughly plotted, plus an idea for the third arc. One Arc is going to have between 40k and 80k words, probably, with the first one starting at the shorter end and the rest growing larger progressively. I will upload what I have in the next two weeks and then a new chapter every week, plus probably a few more here and there if my backlog grows exponentially.


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I try to start a star wars campaign - Things don't exactly go according to plan.

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…", I began, trying to control the giddy smile that was taking over my face. Aaron, my twin brother who sat directly across from me at my living room table, returned the smile with an eye-roll.

I looked to my left, where Ethan, my best friend, sat. He grinned, too.

"A relentless war between the Galactic Republic and the Separatist Alliance rages through the known galaxy. Military disputes amass more and more victims every second, yet no end is in sight. At the same time, there are those who have much more mundane concerns than war. Concerns, that sometimes turn out to be no less life changing and dangerous than the ones of Jedi, Soldiers and Politicians fighting in the war. Among those are a young Miraluka Padawan who just lost his Master, a human fringer, trying to make a living in the outer rim, and even one of the last remaining Pureblood Sith in the galaxy. As the Republic and the Separatists threaten to drag everyone into their dispute, these three try to find a way to make it on their own, unbeknownst the fact, that the force holds much more for them in store, than anyone could imagine …"
I paused and reclined on my couch, throwing a routine glance at my prepared material for the following game session.

"Dude, did you seriously include an NPC into the opening crawl?", asked Aaron.

I shrugged. "Sure, With the kind of game you wanted and I tend to run, you need at least a third permanent crew member anyway. Might as well have him be part of it from the beginning."

Aaron thought about it, then shrugged. "Sure, why not. I guess, three's the magic number in writing anyway."

"Right. Can we continue now?"

He nodded.

"So. You find yourself in the "Brooding Grounds", one of the worst Cantinas on Socorro, a desert planet not unlike Tatooine. The -" I stopped. Looked around. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?", asked Ethan.

"Some kind of … whistling. It… There!" Now I heard it clearly. It sounded almost like wind whistling through an empty building … but in an almost mysterious melody. "Damn, this is making me crazy. Is the window open? I'll check." I got up and left the living room. Through the narrow hallway I stepped into the kitchen. But I found nothing. The window was shut. I looked around in the doorway again, but then shrugged. "Must have been my imagination."

"Yeah, yeah, just get over here. It's gonna be difficult to play this game without the game master!", Aaron said, mockingly. Ethan laughed. I chuckled. He was right. Still ...
Then, just as I stepped outside the kitchen, the headache hit me. Brain splitting headache, worse than the worst migraine I had ever had. Everything went blurry; I tried to hold onto the door, but the pain spread throughout my whole body, even into my bones. I doubled over and emptied my dinner onto the floor. My whole body was wrecked with spasms. A burning sensation came over me, almost undetectable, over the all encompassing pain, but still there. I tried to call out for my friends, but only a weak squeaking sound escaped my lips. Up ahead, I saw the blurry outline of the living room entrance. What the hell was happening to me? My breath caught in my throat. A helpless sob escaped me. I was going to die here. Why didn't Aaron and Ethan come and help me? A muffled sound rang out from the living room. Was that them? Where they in trouble, too? Dreck, I couldn't hear shit!

Then, everything went dark.

 

[NStCH-root-sigma]

I wake up in a strange place and bad stuff happens. Who would have thought?


The first thing I noticed, was the pain. Or rather, its absence. Even the migraine. All, that was left, was a deep feeling of alienness. The ground I lay on felt rough, cold and wet. My breathing quickened again. Panic. I was panicking again. Stop. Calm down! I groaned, and took a deep breath to calm myself. The stink that assaulted me, almost made me vomit again. Abruptly, I opened my eyes and lifted my head. Where the - oh. Bloody. Fragging. Dreck.

I was lying in some kind of alley. Trash bags, some ripped open, were strewn about everywhere. Cracks ran through the uniform, grey pavement; buildings soared impossibly high into the sky left and right around me, built out of some kind of metallic concrete. On my left side, I saw a tall, futuristic street lamp with flickering, octagonal lights. Cables went from it's top across the alley and into a crack on the wall of the building on the right. Everything was covered by the rumbling, bustling sounds of a giant city and the colourless black and white of nighttime outside of the street lamps light cone.

I tried to stand up, but struggled to stay upright and buckled over, barely keeping myself on my legs. Dizziness came over me again. "No. You're not going to puke again, damn it!" I reached out to the building on my left side, and leaned against it.

As I did, my eyes fell on my hands. My red, claw tipped hands.

I snickered. Something's wrong with my eyes.

But no, I looked at my right hand up close. What I saw, definitely wasn't a trick of the light. My skin had taken on a deep red hue. Also, where I should have had nails, I had claws. Tenderly, I touched them, then recoiled, blood pricked on the finger I had touched the claw with. Pretty sharp… I wonder if I can … On impulse, I tried retracting my claws. I imagined my finger muscles and ligaments contracting and with a feeling as if I'd just pulled back the first phalange against the second one, the claws retracted. That was a feeling I'd have to get used too. Still, now the claws looked like sharp, pointy nails. Kind of cool. I smiled and felt something on my face move as well.

Wait, I told myself. Come to think of it, my face felt different. Like, not bearded different. No. Impossible. I lifted my hands and felt for the full beard I should have had. Instead, I touched tendril like, sensitive growths. They still followed the basic shape that my beard had had, but … tendrils?

I gulped. I'm not human anymore, am I? Carefully, I touched my whole face, mapping it as accurately, as I could, without any reflective surface around. I didn't have Eyebrows anymore. Instead, I felt cartilaginous ridges. These tendrils on my cheeks felt somewhat similar, though after concentrating on it, I could move them.

Red skinned, tendrils in the face and ridges for eyebrows… also, now that I noticed all the changes, I had grown taller. The ground definitely was farther down than I was used to. And the night seemed way to clear for my negative two diopter.

I took a deep breath. Wow. Not only have I puked myself into a different universe, but I also either mutated myself, or changed into an entirely different species. Which had apparently, conveniently fixed most of my everyday-human issues.

Yeah. None of that wanted to click. Still felt wrong. Anyway. For now, I had to get out of this alley. Find some kind of reflective surface so that I could look at this new me. Get out of this alley stink. Only then, I'd stand any hope of making sense of all this. And how I could get back home.

Carefully, I took a step forward. This time, I was prepared for the dizziness. Taking shallow, controlled breaths, I worked through it and took another step. Then I pushed myself of off the wall. I struggled to stay upright without the support, but somehow, I managed it.

Step by step I fought my way out of that filthy alley, even if I more closely resembled a toddler, trying to learn how to walk, than a full grown, 27 Year old man. When I looked down, the ground seemed to be unnaturally far away. My logical mind knew that was just from my new height. Yet, coupled with the resident dizziness, it still made my head spin. Guess I'll have to get used to being farther away from the ground, he?

The sounds of cars and people had been growing for a few minutes now and the dizziness finally began to recede. I followed a turn in the road. In front of me, maybe a hundred metres away, the alley ended.

I don't know how long I stood there, staring at the sights, forgetting everything else. In front of me sprawled an impossibly huge expanse of a city. On the pave-walk I had just stepped onto, hundreds of thousands of people went about their business, not even remotely noticing me. Among them, all kinds of, I couldn't find another word, Non-humans. Reptilians, mammals, fish, some more anthropomorphic, some less, some I couldn't even categorize. On the streets, cars hovered through the air, a few feet off the ground. In the air, I could see more of them flying in what resembled something of a … literal highway. And the skyline. Damn. The skyline. I had never been much of a fan of architecture, always sticking to the tried and true 'every city is ugly in it's own way', but this … I couldn't believe my eyes. The tallest buildings on earth couldn't compare. This weird metallic concrete as well as glass was everywhere. And the lights. Only barely did I notice that it was night and that the sky was dark, so bright was the light from all the neon signs, the traffic lights and all the giant advertising surfaces.

So. I guess this was it. I had finally left Sanity City for good. I was hallucinating a full blown sci-fi city. Even down to the unpractical, almost runic script in which everything around me was written. But where exactly was I? Only one way, to find out. I stepped fully out onto the street in front of me and stopped one of the Passengers. Here's to hoping whatever mystical force mutated me also gave me the ability to speak and understand their mother tongue. "Excuse me? Can you tell me where I am?"

She, a relatively normal looking human female, maybe a head smaller than myself, turned around and stared at me in confusion, than said something even more confusing and continued on her way: "Coronet City, where else. What are you anyway? I've never seen an alien like you."

I stood there, dumbfounded. Coronet City. I guess, I didn't just leave Sanity City. No, I must have burned it to the ground. I looked around, taking in the cars on the street and in the air – no, the land- and airspeeders – all the species around me. Rodians, Twi'lek, Bothans, I even saw some of the otter-like Selonians and the hamster-like Drall. Somehow I had puked my way across realities, right onto the Capital of one of the most important planets in the whole Star Wars Galaxy.

The next few hours, I wandered around the city, waiting for the hallucination to end, but it didn't. So instead, I stared numbly at anything and everything. I had once read that, when imagining Coronet city, the concept artists for Solo: A Star Wars Story had imagined a high Tech "Space Venice". They hadn't been too far of the charts. Coronet City definitely had the Venice like port city vibe. Due to the size, I had a feeling I barely saw a hundredth of the city, but what I saw looked like the high tech, sci-fi love child of New York City and Venice. With a decent touch of cyberpunk, here and there.

Coronet City. Damn. I still couldn't believe it. I mean, Star Wars! The Force!

That thought brought me to an abrupt halt, in the middle of the pave-walk. If this really is the Star Wars Galaxy, then … I had red skin, face tendrils and ridges on my face.
I narrowed my eyes. Maybe…

I turned to one of the passersby floating around me like water around an island. "Hey, can you tell me what eye colour I have?" The Twi'lek looked at me like a lunatic, but still answered: "Yellow."

I couldn't stop the grin developing on my face. "Thanks."

He gave me a weird glance and continued on his way. I was left deep in thought. Taken all those changes to my body, no matter how crazy they were and how hard all this was to take in, I really only knew one species in the star wars galaxy that fit all those criteria. The Sith Purebloods. Now, almost all Sith Purebloods had been force sensitive, hadn't they? So, if I had become a Sith, maybe … I had become force sensitive, as well? That would at least somehow explain, how I ended up here. Force-bullshit and what not.
I concentrated. Listened for something. Anything. Any feeling or sense of something more.

"Move it, man!" Someone behind me bumped into me. Other than that, nothing happened. Of course not. Why should I be force sensitive? That would be stupid. I might look like a Sith, but I wasn't born as one and force sensitivity was hereditary.

My spirits drained, I stepped out of the main street I was on, into one of the alleys. Darkness descended onto me again even though I had no trouble finding my way, as I stepped into the cyberpunk parts of the city. I sighed and dragged my hand through my hair - which, by the way still had even the same haircut and full, curly locks I had had as a human. Together with my voice that made exactly two things that hadn't changed. Not that it helped much. What the hell was I supposed to do now? Stranded in an alien universe without any kind of usable money or identification. Stranded here, without any of my possessions except for the clothes on my body. Which by the way, were very uncomfortably tight and completely unsuited to the fashion. Stranded here … without any of my family or friends. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Alone. All on my own.

Calm down, that kind of thinking isn't going to help you survive. For now, just … find some place to stay.

Great Idea, but where? The only place I knew of, that would be willing to help a complete stranger, that didn't even have enough credits on him to buy a kaf, let alone some kind of room for the night would be the corellian Jedi enclave. The only problem with that: I didn't have the foggiest as to how to get there. Maybe someone could tell me? On the other hand, I wasn't entirely sure how the Jedi would react to me either, if I really was a Sith Pureblood …

I would just have to test my luck. I chuckled. I'm on Corellia. What do I care for my chances?

I turned around a corner, only half watching my steps, when something slammed into me. I stumbled backwards and could just keep from falling, even though pain laced through my ankle. "Hey! Watch where you're going!", I said staring down at the creature lying in front of me. The thing looked something like an anthropomorphous pig. Simple brown clothes covered it, though here and there a seam had flayed or ripped. A Gamorrean. Though, a pretty slender one, as Gamorreans went.

"You watch were go. Or else we beats you, too.", said a deep, gravelly voice.

I looked up. There stood two more Gamorreans. These ones fat and broad shouldered, just as one expected of them. Behind them, a door with a neon sign above it, which probably spelled out some kind of cantina name, closed with a mechanical hiss. I looked down on the Gamorrean in front of me. He had several bruises and bled from more than one open wound. I looked back to the other two Gamorreans. They both held hefty metal clubs in their hands. Their small, deep set eyes smoldered in what I imagined was lust for violence. The thin Gamorrean probably wouldn't survive the night, if someone didn't step in.

Barbaric animals. An feral growl worked itself out of my throat. I balled my fists so hard, I felt the pain as my nails drew blood. "Let me make you a counter offer. Turn around and go back inside and I will let you live."

Woah. Internally, I doubled back. Where had that come from? Starting a fight with two Gamorreans while unarmored and unarmed was going to get me killed.
The two of them looked at each other and smirked. They grunted something, then the left one answered: "You's dead now, redskin." They gripped their clubs in both hands and charged at me.

I guess, at least I had been lucky enough to run across the two Gamorreans on Corellia who could speak basic. Still, I hadn't sparred in years, let alone been in a real fight and talking probably wasn't gonna get me far. I hesitated. What to do, what to do, what to do? Right.

I lowered my stance, just as the left one reached me and swung at me with his bat. I stepped into his swing and - just before I could stop to be amazed at my reaction speed - tried the only thing, I knew would probably work on any male of any mammalian species: I kicked him in his balls.

He didn't even flinch. His club hit me dead center so hard, I lifted of off the ground for a moment. Grunting in Pain, I collapsed, just as I saw the other thugs club come down on me. I rolled away, but the club still hit me, again, in the shoulder this time. I screamed in pain. I had to do something! Run away? That was probably the smart choice. NO! I won't run from these animals!, I thought, in another moment of rage. Besides, they would still kill the thin Gamorrean, wouldn't they? What was with him, anyway? I threw a glance at him. He was coming to his feet. The other two Gamorreans had their attention fixed on me, he could surprise them. Maybe we'd both get out of this alive and these animals would get what they deserved, after all.

With renewed vigor, I fought against the pain and dizziness clouding my mind to get up as well, panting heavily. I needed one of those clubs if I wanted to have a chance at surviving this. So again, I readied myself, this time to wait for the moment when the thin Gamorrean would attack.

He stared at the two Gamorreans in front of me, then our eyes met. I saw fear in his eyes, but also determination. What if he just runs? No. Don't even think about that.
Finally, he nodded. Fierce joy shot a grin across my face, as he silently ran at the one to my left, who had hit me first. The Gamorrean, though, saw my grin and without hesitation swung his club around behind himself. He hit the poor guy square in the face. The thin Gamorrean cried out in pain and stumbled back.
The fat Gamorrean laughed gleefully. "Ha. Weak sow. Me break you in parts!"

But he did let his guard down, holding the club with only one hand. My chance. Even as, from the corner of my eyes, I could see the other Gamorrean already take his swing, I kicked at his hand. The Gamorrean screamed, more in outrage, than in pain, but the club fell to the ground. His scream changed from rage to pain, when a moment later, my ally Gamorrean rammed a knife into his chest.

Then everything went blurry again, as the second Gamorrean delivered his swing. Buckled over in pain and nausea, I stumbled backwards. My vision darkened and there was this whistling in my ears again. My head felt as if packed in cotton. Ugh. Damn it, you can't go down this easy!, I told myself. I have to make these pigs pay! A cold determination came over me. The pain faded. my vision cleared up. The club. Where's the damn club? There it lay, just in front of me. Already buckled over, I grabbed it, aimed and swung against the already hurt Gamorrean. I hit him on the arm he had held the club with before.

He barely grunted a reaction. Well, at least I had hit. A feral laugh wrestled itself out of my throat, as I saw my ally dive for the assholes legs and cut deep into his ankles. The Gamorrean screamed in raw pain this time, buckling over. That was one enemy more or less down for the count. Only one incredibly tough asshole left to deal with.

"No! I gut you for that!"

Apparently, that second incredibly tough asshole had other plans. He jumped at my ally and swung his club in a wide overhead swing. He missed his intended target, the thin Gamorreans head, but still impacted brutally on his shoulders.

Mimicking his attack, I gripped my club in both hands and jumped into the air. I hit him. Hard. Hard enough, this time. The pigs knees gave out and he looked over his back at me with rage and pain filled eyes. My ally rammed his knife into the pigs side, but he barely reacted. I had his attention.

"That's right. Asshole. I'm gonna show you how it's done."

The pig grunted. "You dead now".

Then he threw himself at me. I jumped back, out of the way, but I stumbled and had to fight not to lose my balance.

Rage filled my lungs with a bellow as I used the momentum from the stumble to swing the club right at his outstretched arm. With a sickening crack, his bone broke. The Pig screamed in agony, but only stared at me in fixated rage. Grabbing his club in his healthy hand, he charged at me blindly, swinging wild. Easily this time, I sidestepped the attack and tripped him.

The Pig fell over hard. Grinning, I hefted the club and brought it down on him. Again, something cracked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my ally Gamorrean pass me and attempt to ram his knife into the weakened Gamorrean, but the pig rolled out of the way. He tried to get up, but couldn't.

Time to end this. Again I hammered the club right into the pigs backbone. Again, I heard that crack. Delicious.

Again, the pig screamed in agony. I screamed in rage and lifted the club high above me. Just. One. More.

"It would appear, I am just in time. Are you sure, you want to go through with that, boy? You don't come back from murder."

What? Who? More Enemies?! I threw a look over my shoulder. Some meters away stood a slender man in a verdant green robe. His face was barely visible under the shadows of his hood. An uncanny aura of calm radiated off of him. He didn't appear to move. He just watched.

I looked back down at the Gamorrean at my feet. The pig looked literally bloodied. Wherever skin showed, I saw bloody bruises, wherever he wore clothing, it was ripped, dirty and just as bloodied. The smell of shit, piss and blood, mixed together with his natural stink, came off of him in a thick, nauseating wave.

I swallowed. The need to vomit threatened to overtake me. I almost … My hands fell limp at my sides, the club slipped out of them and hit the floor. I staggered back a step.
The man behind me sighed. "A terrible sight, to be confronted with one's own demons. I can relate. Now come. You are hurt and need heeling." He looked behind me. "And you as well, young Gamorrean."

I frowned. Oh, right. My ally Gamorrean. There he stood to my left. He looked badly bruised and beaten as well. He threw a look at the robed man. "I don't deal with your kind, Jedi." Then he turned back and limped down the street.

I followed him with my eyes. "Hey, can I at least get a name for the guy I saved?"

The Gamorrean looked over his shoulder, but didn't stop. " I am Goort. Goort saHrooka", he said, in an accentless, short clipped voice. A hundred meters away, he turned into a side street and disappeared from view.

I threw a glance at the Jedi in front of me. He still hid his face under his hood. A Jedi, huh. Hey, that was exactly, what I had been looking for.

"So? Are you willing to join me, or not?"

I shrugged. Play it cool, man. "Why not? Sure could use a place to crash for the night." I took a step towards him, but pain shot through my body. The dizziness came back, with a vengeance. I went down on my knees and held my head. "Ouch… damn."

"Here." I looked up and just barely managed to catch a thin, syringe like object that he must have thrown at me. "This is going to help you for both the pain and the stress. Don't get used to it, though. They aren't healthy for you."

That had to be some kind of stim pack. It looked kind of like an autoinjector. "A stimpak? Aren't they supposed to look like pis- like blasters?"
The Jedi chuckled. "Those are military grade. The one I gave you, isn't."

Interesting, I thought. Something to investigate later. For now, let's get on with this. I placed the autoinjector on my right arm, but then hesitated. Does this stuff have to be injected intravenously or intramuscularly? Probably IM. I pushed the button at the top of the syringe. The needle penetrated my shirt as well as my skin with a slight hissing sound from the autoinjector. The effects were immediate. My headache and the stiffness of my muscles receded. Even the pain in my shoulder lessened until it was bearable. I rolled it around carefully and stood up. The Jedi nodded under his hood and turned around. "Wonderful. Now, follow me."

He led me through the alleys and streets of Coronet city until we came to a tram station, bursting with people. There, he turned to me. "The tram should arrive shortly. Stay close to me, or else you'll get lost."

I nodded. Closer to him now, I could see under his hood, though our height difference made it difficult – he was roughly a head shorter than me. He had short black hair, brown eyes, a squarish face and a circle beard. He had some crow's feet wrinkles and generally looked to be in his mid-thirties. No one I recognized.

"Now, what brings a Sith Pureblood to Corellia?", the Jedi interrupted my musings.

I blinked. What am I supposed to answer to that? I suddenly appeared in an alley, mutated into a different species? He's probably not going to buy that … No, that wasn't an option, but maybe I could at least stay as close to the truth, as possible. "I … don't remember exactly. The last thing I know, is that I was at home, enjoying the evening. Then I woke up in some alley, without money or anything on my body, except for my clothes." I shrugged and stared at three Drall herding a group of children to the center of the station. "I guess someone mugged me."

The Jedi looked at me for a long moment. He opened his mouth, but I didn't hear what he said over the noise of the tram arriving. He turned towards the tram and motioned me to follow him. Together we boarded the train car furthest in the back.

"What's your name, anyway?", I asked in an effort to change topics.

The Jedi lifted an eyebrow. "It's considered rude by most cultures, to ask for somebody's name without giving their own first." He smirked. "I am jedi master Nejaa Halcyon. So who are you?"

Wow. I had to look away, in order to not give away my surprise. Nejaa Halcyon. Corran Horn's Grandfather! Out of all the corellian Jedi, I could have met, I had to meet the one that I know of. That also means I have to be at around 21 BBY at the latest. He died during that year, after all.

I started to answer, but stopped. The thought of using my given name, made my stomach churn. Come to think of it, the NPC I had built for our pen and paper game had been a Pureblood … I guess I could use his name. "Jaes'aurran. Jaes'aurran Glanmôr."

I looked at Nejaa apprehensively. Did he believe me? He didn't move a muscle. Still, something felt off. He just looked at me. So that's what it feels like to have someone gaze into your soul. He has to know I'm stretching the truth. My heart sank. Not the best first impression to make. "Where are you taking me?"

He broke eye contact. I sighed internally. Finally.

"To the corellian jedi enclave. There we will have a room for you, too recuperate.", he said.

The rest of the way, he remained silent. I hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid, like putting me in a cell, but I didn't really have a choice. My aches were coming back with a vengeance and anyway, I still didn't have any better option than to place my hope in the compassion of the Jedi. At least the corellian Jedi weren't supposed to be quite as bad, as the Coruscant based ones.

We were underway for about another hour until we arrived at the Jedi enclave. The enclave was a tall, cube-like structure made of what I assumed was durasteel and transparisteel windows. In front of it stood two ancient looking, weather eroded statues of female Jedi.

Next to them, two Jedi in the same green robes as Nejaa wore stood watch. They nodded at him, but one of them stepped up and stopped us.
Nejaa spoke with him, in a language I didn't understand, but guessed to be Corellian. The guard threw a long glance at me, but then nodded and stepped aside.
I suppose, he just inquired why Nejaa is bringing a sith to the enclave. Things are looking bright already. At least he hasn't demanded my execution. I hope. I chuckled mirthlessly at my silent attempt at gallows humor.

Nejaa strode further into the enclave and I hastily followed. Inside, The decor was opulent. Tapestries in royal green and gold, impossibly soft, thick red carpets and all kinds of vases, statues and ornaments. I raised an eyebrow, as I looked around. Jedi sure like their splendour.

Nejaa led me to a room at the end of one of the winding hallways. He turned around, as the door slid open, to reveal a remarkably austere bedroom. Inside I saw a bed, a desk, a chair, a cupboard. Nothing more. "There. You can rest in this room. Nobody will disturb you. I will send a medical droid, to take care of your wounds."
I nodded, all the while a bad feeling rumbled in my stomach. "Okay. Thanks, I guess." I stepped into the room. Behind me, I heard Nejaa sigh. "You're no prisoner. Nonetheless, I would be thankful, if you could refrain from moving around the enclave too much. Your kind will elicit a certain kind of response, that you might not want to elicit."
I grimaced. "Yeah. I had figured as much." Should I tell him the truth? Right now? I turned around, measuring Nejaa. He definitely hadn't bought my lies. Telling him about what I knew of this world could get … complicated, though.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Ah. Cursed Jedi sharpness. I sighed. "Fuck it. I hate lying anyway." I met his eyes, my decision made. "Yes. You should come in. And sit down. This is going to be a lot to take in."

 

[NStCH-root-sigma]

I talk to a Jedi and try something stupid. Surprise, right? Also, I hate mirrors.



An hour later, we sat on the ground of the small bedroom, I had been given. I leaned against the bed, Nejaa sat cross legged in the center of the room. He looked at me, a pronounced furrow in his brow. "So. Let me sum this up. Before today, you lived on a planet called earth and you were a human."

I nodded.

"Then, you suddenly collapsed in pain. When you woke up, you found yourself in an alley here on Corellia. And you had somehow turned into a Sith Pureblood."

I nodded.

"A Sith Pureblood, a species thought to have gone extinct thousands of years ago."

I nodded.

"Also, despite the fact that that planet, "earth" ,is not known to us – certainly not to me – you somehow speak a perfect, accentless basic."

I nodded, again. "Crazy, I know."

"And, as though that wouldn't be enough, the people on your planet were subconsciously force sensitive and received visions of the galaxy around them, which they then used to create art."

"Yeah, a few of them, at least." I had tried to explain it in different terms, but Nejaa had disagreed with me on the possibility of George Lucas creating a universe identical to the one I had ended up in out of coincidence.

Nejaa groaned. "Force, this should be impossible. But here you are. Dressed in clothes that not only look nothing like the ones typical for any region of the galaxy I know, but that also seem to be very much too small on you."

"Tell me about it. I'm killing my chance for offspring here."

Nejaa smirked. "I don't think they are that tight." He sighed. "Still … For hours before we met, I felt a disturbance in the force … which led me to you. As impossible as all this sounds, it would at least explain the disturbance."

"Yeah … but shouldn't something on this scale have caused a seriously massive disturbance? Why are you the only one who felt it?"

Nejaa shook his head. "I do not know. I will have to meditate on that question."

Now it was my turn to sigh. Why couldn't the Force just come out and say what all this was supposed to mean?
"I have one more question."

I looked at Nejaa. "Yes?"

"Why did you not tell me your given name?"

I shrugged, looking away. "I guess … I … don't want to think about what I've lost." I stared at the ground. "I doubt, I'll ever be able to return home. Honestly, I don't even know if I only traveled through space or through time as well. Using my given name would constantly remind me of home. I … I guess I don't want that."

"Hm. That is certainly understandable."

An awkward silence stretched between us. As it went on, my thoughts wandered, until, suddenly, a foreboding idea manifested in my head. I narrowed my eyes. "Say, Nejaa – I can call you Nejaa, right?"

Nejaa smiled. "Of course. It is a refreshing change from every Non-Jedi always calling me master with every sentence."

"Good. Anyway. Did you … sense anything around me? In the Force, I mean."

"Like what?"

I grimaced. "Like … the dark side? If I am informed correctly, Sith Purebloods have an innate connection to it."

Slowly, Nejaa nodded. "It came off of you in waves, when you were about to kill that Gamorrean."

I ran my fingers through my hair. My beard tendrils quivered in agitation, a keenly disturbing feeling. "Great. That's just great. That explains why I suddenly got overwhelmed with that much anger and hate back there. I guess I'll have to find a way to deal with that. I don't suppose, you could teach me a bit? I don't think I'm force sensitive, but there should be mental techniques that should help me nonetheless."

Nejaa's brow furrow, that had persevered the entire time, deepened. "I … I'm not sure. I do think you are force sensitive. The amount of non-force-sensitive Sith Purebloods was astonishingly low. And teaching someone with such a strong connection to the dark side … you have to understand." He looked at me apologetically. "It can lead to disastrous results."

I clenched my teeth. "Right. So, what do you propose? Should I just take this apparent influence the dark side has on me in stride and go with it? Because ultimately, that's what it's probably going to come down to, if I don't learn how to control it." I huffed. "Especially, if I'm really force sensitive. You'd think the danger of someone naturally talented in the dark side would be bigger, if left unchecked."

"I truly am sorry. I can't make promises I can't fulfill."

He sighed deeply, then stood up. "What I can promise you, though, is too seek advice from those wiser than me. For what it's worth, for now, you have not fallen to the dark side, though I feel it's presence is strong in you. Be careful about your actions. I will send the medical droid shortly. Good night, Jaes'aurran."

I didn't look up, as he left the room. With a hiss, the door closed. Frustrated, I hit the side of the bed I leaned against. "Damn it." That had gone entirely as I had feared. Now, Nejaa would either talk with the corellian council, or worse, talk to the actual high council. I doubted either would react positively to my arrival. Why did I have to turn into a Sith Pureblood, out of all the species in the star wars galaxy? Why not a Chiss? That would have been awesome. At least then, I wouldn't have had to fight uphill as much, to be accepted here. At least going from what I knew about Thrawn.

I let out a frustrated sigh. The pain was coming back. My shoulder hurt like hell. I couldn't move it much, anymore.

"You can't do anything to change their mindset, all you can do is change your behaviour.", I told myself. It sounded as hollow and cold as that sentence always had sounded to my ears. Still. Right now, the best thing I could do, was rest.

A few minutes later, the medical droid knocked on my door. It hovered a meter and a half above the ground and talked to me in a kind and patient voice, as it patched me up. According to its diagnosis, I had several major bruises on my chest, the shoulder and the arms, where I had taken most of the hits. Despite my symptoms, I luckily did not appear to have a concussion. The worst was the shoulder, which had been sprained pretty badly. I was to rest for at least a week before "engaging in strenuous exercise or, Force forbid, fights." I agreed outwardly, but doubted that I would actually get the chance. Something told me I'd have to do something reckless, if I wanted to be accepted into the Jedi order. For now though, the droids advice seemed awfully compelling. Not even a minute after it had left, I fell asleep on the bed.

When I awoke next morning, I felt much better. The sores from yesterday's fight still made themselves known, but my head was clear and I could even move my shoulder more or less freely. That stuff the medical droid had injected me with had to have been Bacta.

Nonetheless, I didn't feel like getting up. I lay there in the darkness of my windowless room, thinking. I couldn't wait for Nejaa to make up his mind. Somehow, I had to prove that I wasn't a danger to my surroundings. However, how was I supposed to do that? Sitting here and waiting patiently would probably send the message that I had patience. On the other hand, it could also be interpreted as weakness and insecurity.

This bed is pretty hard. Uncomfortably, so. Don't the Jedi know that a too hard sleeping surface can cause back issues? I sat up, throwing back the covers. I felt around in the room for a minute or so, until I found the light switch. On the desk I found a change of clothes. Another droid must have brought that while I was asleep. A plain Jedi robe as well as underwear. I chuckled. They probably don't have anything else. I donned both. The robe proved a surprisingly comforting fit. Not as much merely a sign of simplicity, as I had expected, but who was I to argue.

Still. I needed a plan. I sat back down on the Bed, musing. Sitting around definitely wasn't going to cut it. I needed to prove myself. But how? "Maybe if I prove that I am 'strong in the Force' they'll be willing to teach me.", I mumbled. Or they'll see me as too much of a threat. I sighed. I'll have to go about this with care.

"Well, what are the hallmarks of the Jedi code? Patience, but that's already out. Compassion, but I have no Idea how I could prove myself through that. It's more like they should be the ones exhibiting it. Mindfulness. Can I maybe do something with that?"

I grinned, as an idea formed in my head. What if I meditated, tried to let the Force guide me. As long as I made sure not to use the dark side – or rather that part of the Force the Jedi dubbed the dark side – I should be safe.

Following the lead of the Force. That didn't sound like much of a plan, but, if Nejaa was so sure that I really was Force sensitive, I guess it couldn't hurt.

So I tried. I sat cross legged on the bed, and meditated. It took me a while to get into a trance. Whenever I'd calm down, something would throw me of. The feeling of my tendrils on my face, the claws on my fingers, the smell of the linen covers, the sound from people moving outside my room, the lights, pricking at my eyelids. So much had changed. I was a stranger in a strange land and a strange body.

Still, I stayed where I was, always bringing my concentration back to my breath. Then, finally, the switch got flipped. Every disturbance that had been nagging me until just a moment ago, disappeared. Instead, a steady, powerful tug took its place, drawing my consciousness out of my body and into the void surrounding it.

Out of that void, a vision manifested itself. A two story laboratory with a giant, globelike structure of some kind on the lower level. On both levels, dead scientists, strewn about like ragdolls.

A group of survivors worked on the structure, which hummed with power. One stepped over a carcass, without even looking down.

I tried to hone in on their faces, but already, the vision began to fade. Just then, the scene almost completely joined back with the dark void, everything sharpened again. A door at the far end, not previously visible, burst open and a slender Gamorrean entered. His face couldn't have been more clear. Nor his ragged, torn clothing. Goort. In his hand, a blaster, the barrel glowing from recent fire.

Abruptly, I found myself back in the dark bedroom. Pain shot up from my tangled up legs. I groaned, slowly untangled them and got up from the bed. I must have sat there for hours, my entire body felt stiff as a log.

Never before had I meditated that long, never mind the depth of meditation I had reached. A Force vision. I am Force sensitive. That … I can't even … A stupid grin crossed my face. I laughed out loud. "Nejaa was right!"

A second later, the need to pee pressed itself into the forefront of my mind. I had been meditating for hours, after all. Nejaa had said I wasn't supposed to go outside except when necessary, which basically made me an unspoken prisoner, no matter what he said. But this room didn't have a toilet. I guess this qualifies as necessary., I thought, still giddy with joy.

Not even the slight apprehensiveness that I felt as I stood up and moved to open the door could really drown out my emotional high. Still grinning, I left my bedroom and went on the hunt for a bathroom. on the circular wing my room was in, all looked the same, but hopefully they had marked out the bathroom. I went up and down the entire floor, but didn't no luck.

I looked around me. There were a few people on the floor, but no one took notice of me. A perk of my wearing the traditional Padawan garb, I supposed.
I snorted. Guess I'll have to break that cloak mode and ask someone for help. I approached a young orange skinned Twi'lek. "Hey … I'm new here. Can you tell me, where the bathroom is?"

She threw me a confused look out of vibrant green eyes. "The refreshers? They're down that hallway. Through the first door on on the left. It's the doors with the droplet of water on it. Droplet up's the males rooms, down's the females." She smiled. "You really have to be new, that's the first thing the instructors tell us. "

I smirked. "You have no idea. Thanks, I'd like to stay and chat, but it's really urgent. See you around." Without waiting for a reply, I hurried past her in the direction she had shown me. I turned around a corner and indeed, there I saw the teardrop signs on the doors. Why would they mark out the individual baths but not the entry room itself? I didn't know. I didn't care very much either right now. Instead, I hurried into the room with the upside down teardrop on it and into one of the stalls.

A minute later, I sighed in deep relaxation. "Finally I can think again. Now, about that vision." I stood up, left the stall and washed my hands in one of the many sinks across at the other side of the room. "I'm sure that had to have been Goort. But … was that the future? I mean, he did look beat up …"

I turned of the water and, looking for something to dry my hands, I looked up. Amber eyes looked back at me from the mirror. Wha-

I stood up straight. In the mirror, I saw what had to be my face. There was no one else in the bathroom. It had to be me. But still, that face … the dark red skin, the brow ridge instead of eyebrows, the tendrils … It all looked reminiscent of what I remembered my face to look. The brow ridges followed the same general pattern my eyebrows had had. My cheekbones were still high. Even the face tendrils evoked the look of my ducktail beard. Yet, still. It all looked so wrong. So alien. Slowly, I touched my face. The guy in the mirror touched his as well. I opened my mouth, the mirror image did as well. Another discovery. I had a pointy tongue.

I gulped. This is going to take some getting used to. I stared at myself for a moment longer, at the same time fascinated and abhorred by what I saw. Then, I tore myself away from my reflection. Don't focus on that. Focus on what you can do. Plan your next move!, I told myself. Pensive, I went back to my room. I could either wait for Nejaa and tell him about what I had seen, or I could try to do something on my own. I was sure, that vision had to have been a warning. All those dead scientists, simply ignored by the ones working on the … had that been a generator of some kind? And what about Goort? He had had a blaster readied. Glowing, even. Something about this feels off. I have a really - no, stop it right there. Don't even think that thought.

Having arrived back at my room, I flopped myself on the bed and stared at the Ceiling. "Does Goort need help? Am I supposed to tell Nejaa about the vision? Argh!" I ran my fingers through my hair. "What is all of this supposed to mean?!"

"I do believe I'd be grateful, if you told me about any vision you received, Jaes'", an amused voice interrupted my thoughts.

Surprised, I looked to my side. There, next to the desk, on the bedrooms single chair, sat Nejaa, an amused glint in his eyes. I groaned. "Dreck. I said that out loud, didn't I."
Nejaa smiled. "You sure did."

I sat up, facing Nejaa. "Well, at least that helps me decide. Earlier today, I meditated in the hopes of, you know, proving your assumption of my Force sensitivity."

"And it turned out I was right?"

Why doesn't he sound even remotely surprised about that?, I thought. "Yes. I … I had a vision. but I don't know how to interpret it."

"What did you see?"

"I'm not sure. A laboratory. A lot of dead scientists. Some working on a globelike structure, a generator of some kind, I think." I hesitated. "And … Goort. The Gamorrean, I saved yesterday."

"That is curious. What did he do there?"

"I don't know. But he had a blaster at the ready. With a glowing barrel."

Nejaa furrowed his brow. "Maybe he was the one who killed the scientists."

I shook my head. "I doubt it. I saw way too many scientists for him to have killed them all on his own without alerting security. I was just debating whether telling you would be any good or if you'd just have me confined to this place and go off doing Jedi stuff on your own."

"That is an unkind way to word things."

I shrugged, smiling bitterly. "Well, we both know I'm barely more than a prisoner, right now. So. Change of topics. What did the council order?"

Nejaa raised an eyebrow. "You are not a prisoner. The council ordered me to, first of all, make sure you were in good health before anything else. Afterwards, I am to evaluate in which service corps you fit best."

"Ah. So you don't want to train me as a Jedi because I'm too old to be indoctrinated, but you also fear that I'll be able to get strong enough to be a threat if left alone." I paused, looking for a reaction in Nejaa's face. We stared each other down for a moment, but this time, he lost the fight. He averted his gaze. Bitterness rose in me. "I thought so. Let me rephrase that again: Since I am too old to be trained but also too dangerous due to my heritage, you plan on putting me under close surveillance for the rest of my life, in order to be able to take action, when - not if - I fall –"

"That is unfair. We'd never judge you solely based on your species."

"But you do, don't you?" Anger rose in me. Those damn fools will – no, control yourself! I took a deep breath. Then another one. "You do. Any other Force sensitive my age you'd probably just send away. I mean, I'm 27. I guess I didn't expect you to train me. But instead, you forcing me into the service corps is just cruel."

Nejaa raised his hands, maybe trying to calm me. "For one, you do not look like 27. When the council asked me, I told them I guessed your age at around 18. And nobody is forcing you into anything. We would like you to join the corps and I expected you too, as you seemed to be interested in learning from us, but if you don't want to, you are free to go."

I blinked. "Around 18? Impossible. I just saw my face in the mirror and … well, maybe I was a bit distracted by all the other changes." I grimaced. " Who knows, if I actually did grow younger. It's not as if that would be the craziest thing to happen to me in the last 24 hours."

Nejaa smiled, but didn't answer. I took the chance to think about what he had said. For a moment, silence reigned between us.

"If I want to, I can really go?"

"Of course."

"But no matter what happens, you're not going to accept me into the order as a Padawan learner."

Nejaa shook his head. "I fear that is impossible."

"But you need more Jedi, don't you? And Do you think it is a coincidence that you found me? Who knows if I had been unable to keep from killing that Gamorrean if you hadn't intervened."

Nejaa shook his head slowly. "I do believe that I was destined to find you and make sure, you didn't commit murder, yes. But by no means does that make me your destined master."

"Then why do you –", I groaned in frustration. "You know what? It's not important right now. I have a bad feeling about this vision I had. We need to do something about this. Something tells me, if we don't, people are going to die."

Nejaa got out of the chair he had been sitting in and looked down on my sternly. "We need to do nothing. You need to rest. I will look into that Gamorrean and try to find out if any laboratories on Corellia are working on a new generator design." He turned around, moving to leave the room, but I jumped up from the bed.

"I can't just sit around and twiddle my thumbs, Nejaa. Let me help, please."

At the door, Nejaa turned around. "Help, how? Even though you appear to know a great many things about the Known Galaxy for someone who has never had contact with any space faring civilization, you did only just arrive on this planet yesterday. You have no identification, no money, no connections." He smiled apologetically, a bit of that mirth coming back to him. "There is no way for you to help, Jaes'aurran. You can however investigate the temple freely. All the Masters who know of your lineage have been informed of your presence and predicament. Tomorrow, when you have rested, I will talk to you about the service corps." Nejaa gave me another reassuring nod, then left.

The door closed behind him. I was left alone. "But what if my connection to the force could help us find Goort?", I whispered. Of course, no one answered.

 

[NStCH-root-sigma]

I behave like an idiot and talk about stuff I shouldn't talk about


An hour later, boredom drove me up the walls. It had to be early afternoon at best, though I had no way of knowing without a clock or at least a window to ascertain the daytime. I paced around the room for what seemed like an eternity until finally, I had had enough. Before I could actually go crazy, or worse, fall to the dark side, I stepped outside and began exploring the enclave.

Yesterday, when Nejaa had brought me here, I hadn't really had the mind to take in the enclave beyond the superficial looks. Now, I did. Through the entire complex stretched an atmosphere of calm and somber peace. The people running to and fro looked relaxed for the most part; at worst, they seemed worried in that benign way you get about a test in elementary school. Most of those seemed to be Padawans, going by their identifying braids and robes. A terrible feeling to have, but unable to be compared to the real worries that make themselves known throughout your later life.

Economic deprivation, genuine fear for one's life, the loss of loved ones. None of that seemed to survive for long in here. Even I felt myself relax, the longer I walked through these halls. It almost made me believe that maybe the Jedi were indeed the peaceful order of wise monks they saw themselves as. Almost.

Of course, in reality, which this officially had to be, Jedi were as human - or let's say as humanoid, no, as organic - as everybody else. That also meant they had to eat, which was a good thing. I hadn't eaten since before I prepared for my tabletop session with Ethan and Aaron. That had been long before all of this madness had happened.

Before the thought of home could wreck the inner peace the Jedi Enclave had fostered in me, I stopped a passersby and asked for the way to the cantina. They didn't even flinch when they saw me. I supposed, Sith Pure-bloods really weren't well known anymore.

Following the directions given, I soon smelled an almost dizzying array of scents, all of them food related. I followed the scents and stopped in front of an open, double-door. Behind it lay what had to be the cantina. It looked more like a cross between Hogwarts' great hall and a military mess hall than anything else: A large common room decorated with long, wooden tables and chairs as well as a serving counter almost as long as the whole room stretched out in front of me.

Several people, mostly human, sat on the tables and behind the counter, ready to serve food, stood a characteristically hammerheaded Ithorian, a human and a huge specimen of a species I couldn't name – though he was huge, easily two and a half meters tall, and had four arms as well as a bony head-crest. The three of them all wore the same brown robes coupled with an apron. On the huge guy the ensemble looked outright comical.

Other than them, the only alien currently in the room was an orange Twi'lek with very familiar, circular lekku markings.

Isn't that the girl I asked where to find the bathroom? I threw a closer look at her. She had high cheekbones, jade green eyes, a feminine jawline and from what I could see a very feminine figure as well. She looked very attractive, beautiful even; she had a feminine grace to her posture and movement that turned even her eating the weirdly coloured green meat on her plate into a sight difficult to ignore. No surprises there. I guess Lucas wasn't wrong at all about the Twi'lek and their sexuality.

More importantly, she seemed calm, friendly and approachable. Maybe I should talk to her again? I did kind of run out on her. I mulled that thought, slowing down a bit on my way through the cantina. Nah. For now, let's get something to eat.

I went past her and stopped in front of the counter. The huge four armed alien behind the counter – Besalisk, that's what they're called, I remembered – scrutinized me, crossing all of his four arms. "You're new here. Haven't ever seen someone looking like you 'round here. Whaddaya want?"

"I only just arrived yesterday. I dunno, what do you have?" I checked out the food they had prepared under the glass-, or probably plastisteel-, counter. Most of it looked surprisingly normal. There were several kinds of meat - grilled, cooked, fried - lots of vegetables, a few stews and I even saw what I thought were potatoes and rice. Next to all that they had green sludge that didn't smell even remotely as good and farther down, something that looked akin to roasted insects. The smells all mixed together into one heady cocktail that almost made it impossible for me to think. Saliva gathered in my mouth so much, I had to gulp it down. Damn. What do I try first?

"Give him the Nerfsteak, Krell, he looks like a meat kind of guy to me.", said a familiar female voice from behind me.

Krell the Besalisk shrugged, but his look changed into an amicable one. "Sure thing, Selima." He looked at me. "Potatoes, noodles or rice as a side?"

I threw a look behind me. There, the orange Twi'lek stood, smiling at me. I smiled back, apologetically. "Actually, yeah, I am. Thanks for the help. Which of this is the nerf? And what's all that other stuff? Except for the potatoes, noodles and rice I don't know any of it." I gestured to the assorted foods in front of me.

"You must have come from a pretty far off system if you've never seen nerf meat. That over there is humbaba hoof, then we have murra filet and that slightly greenish meet over there is from a carrion spat. Tastes much better than it looks."

"Potatoes, noodles, or rice?", Krell repeated, louder this time.

"Oh, right, uh, potatoes, thanks. Mashed, please."

Krell harrumphed, grabbed a ladle and heaped on a huge dollop of mashed potatoes as well as one of the grilled steaks.

I turned back to Selima. "Yeah, I've been told it's called wild space where I come from …" Actually, I haven't but that's about the best explanation I can give right now ...

Selima cocked her head, her lekku twitching upward a bit. "Really? Your accent sounds like you're from the core."

I looked at her, taken aback. "It does?" Crap. Think of something, quick. "Well, if it helps anything, you sound a lot like you're from a country on my planet, too. We call'em French." I grinned. Ha. Weaseled myself out of that one.

Selima's eyes widened. "I've never heard of anyone who sounds like a Twi'lek other than a Twi'lek. You must tell me of your home planet."

Krell harrumphed again, shoving the plate full of food into my hand. "Get a table, you two."

Selima smiled again - she seemed to be doing that a lot - nodded at the Besalisk, whose grim exterior melted again, and turned away. "You can sit with me."

We sat down together and I began to eat. The meat tasted like beef. The rest of the food … didn't taste much different to earth foods either. Luckily. I dug in with vigour.

"So, stranger. You know my name already. How about you tell me yours?"

I looked up at Selima who had begun eating, again, herself. On her platter the carrion spat meat still looked kind of gross. I wondered how that tasted. "Ah, sorry. Kind of a bad habit, I guess. Jaes'aurran Glanmór. You can call me Jaes. Can I have some of that carrion spat? I'd like to taste it"

"Take it, I'm almost full anyway."

I speared a piece of the carrion spat meat on my fork and put it down on my plate. "Thanks. And sorry for running of like that, earlier." I smirked. "I had been meditating for what had to have been hours, directly after waking up. Not such a smart Idea, as it turned out."

Selimas right lek twitched, accompanied by a smirk. "No, it wasn't. Not that it's an uncommon one among Padawans. But you're no Padawan, aren't you?"

I looked down on my food, my appetite gone. "No. How did you know?"

Selima giggled. "Well, for one you have a full head of hair, but no Padawan-braid. Also, you would know what nerf steak is, if you'd grown up in the Jedi Temple."

"Touché. You got me."

Selima leaned closer to me. Her vibrant green eyes sparkled. "So, what's your story?"

Damn. Did she have to go there immediately? I sighed. What do I say? Lie again? My stomach churned at the thought. Tell a half-truth? Maybe. I've basically already forced myself into the wild-space story, haven't I? Even then … how do I explain my Basic? I groaned. Absently, I felt my beard tendrils move in agitation. She's never going to believe me.

"Whoa. I didn't know it was such a deep topic."

I looked up. Selimas brows were furrowed, her eyes full of worry. "You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to."

I shrugged one shoulder. "No, it's not that, its just … it's complicated." I looked around. The closest people to us were sitting a few tables away. They probably wouldn't hear me.

I guess it won't hurt to talk with someone about this who isn't a Jedi Master. And who doesn't know about my Sith heritage. I poked around my food. "I guess, the gist of it is that until yesterday I didn't even know any of this", I spread my arms, looking around, " actually existed. Or at least, I didn't think it was real. Not the Non-humans, the tech, hell, the Force."

"Since yesterday? I thought you said you came from a planet in wild space?"

"Yeah … I think I did. I don't actually know where in the galaxy the planet is located. Or, if it is extra galactic, even."

Now, Selimas Mouth stood open. Her Fork had stopped midway on the way to her mouth. It actually looked kind of cute.

I smirked. "Yeah, it sounds crazy, I know. But it gets better. Yesterday evening I suddenly woke up on the streets of Coronet City, without any recollection of how I had gotten there."

Selima closed her mouth audibly and dropped her fork. "But … how … were you kidnapped?"

I thought about it for a second. "I doubt it. The last I remember is puking on my apartments kitchen floor and blacking out in pain. Though I guess, with the Force you never know. Could have also been some kind of tech. But then that would mean they kept me sedated for the whole flight back. And I really do believe Earth - that's my home planet - has to be somewhere either in wild space or in the unknown regions, otherwise it would have been found long ago."

Slowly, Selima began eating again. "How else do you expect to have been transported to another planet? And anyway, what did you mean, when you said you didn't think non-humans were real? You are one yourself."

"I think I got teleported here through the Force."

Selima choked on the piece of carrion spat she had been eating. She coughed heavily, then grabbed a drink of green fluid that I only now realized she had sitting next to her plate. She took a deep gulp, then a breath of air.

"What?" She grinned. "You're crazy. That's impossible."

I rolled my eyes. "Right. And Jedi moving things through the power of their mind is less impossible."

"Well, yes. There are rules to what the Force can do and what it can't. Teleportation is one of the things it can't."
Tell that to the Aiing Ti monks. I laughed. "Right. Keep telling yourself that. Look at it this way: What do you think is less probable: that some guy found a new planet somewhere in wild space or the unknown regions, then promptly decided to kidnap one of its inhabitants – and mind you, only one – and keep him sedated for however long the trip back took, only to then drop him off in some unnamed, dirty alley; or that through some weird coincidence, I got transported through the Force equivalent of a wormhole?"

We exchanged glances for a few seconds, before Selima looked away, chewing on her lower lip. "I guess, it could be possible, but …"

"Yeah … and about that last part, the nonhuman thing … well, you're probably not gonna believe me and I honestly don't know why I'm telling you this even though we've barely met, but, before yesterday I was as human as one could be. No red skin, no pointy teeth, no tendrils in the face. Not even my eye colour was out of the ordinary. Which is another reason why I think the Force is behind this."

Selima shook her head. "What? You were a human?"

"Yeah."

"I repeat myself, but: that's impossible. Humans don't just randomly change into other species. Nobody does."
I shrugged. "How is it possible to travel thousands of light years in a matter of seconds without a spaceship of any kind? Or, heck, even with a spaceship?" Suppressing a smile, I added: "Oh and while I am dropping bombs on you: I know a lot about this galaxy because apparently some people back home were force sensitive or something like that and able to perceive visions of what happened in the rest of the galaxy. They made it into movies, books and games and it was a huge phenomenon."

Silence stretched between us. My appetite returned, so I finished my meal. The Carrion Spat was good. It tasted a bit like ostrich.

Selima ate mechanically, her eyes staring into space. Finally, she leaned back, met my eyes and smiled uneasily. "I guess, I shouldn't have asked."

I grinned. "Probably, yes."

Silence again. We both ate; I didn't know how to proceed. Selima hadn't reacted to the part about me knowing stuff about the Star Wars galaxy at all. Actually, she hadn't reacted much at all. Had she believed me? I had no idea. As long as the atmosphere stayed like this, I wasn't going to poke around about it, either.

I coughed awkwardly. "How about a change of topic to lighten the mood. You're not young enough to be a Padawan. Had any adventures lately, master Jedi?"

Selima's lekku twitched. She smiled awkwardly. "I'm not a Jedi."

Oh. I guess now it was my time to put my foot into my mouth. "Ah. Sorry … you're younger than I would have guessed, then. My mistake. I pegged you at your early twenties."

Selimas shook her head, her lekku still twitching. "Thank you, but no, you aren't mistaken. I'm 21. And I'm also not a Padawan. There are no Padawans older than twenty. I'm part of the medical corps."

Yep. I really did put my foot into my mouth. "Oh. Sorry about that."

"It's alright. It happens a lot." She got up from her table. "Anyway. I should get going. Master K'tosh is going to expect me back. See you around, Jaes." She smiled politely, then turned away, before I could react.
Damn. That could have gone better. I watched Selima hurry out of the cantina, feeling regret churn in my stomach. Here's hoping she at least believes that I believe what I said. I could use a friend around here. I sighed, then stood up. Time to return to my cell.

On the way back, doubts brewed up a storm inside my head. I couldn't keep going like this. All day I had been planning, planning and planning. If I wanted to have a chance at this Padawan thing, I had to act now. Nejaa wasn't going to help me find Goort, so I had to find him myself. Except I had no Idea, where to look. No Idea, where to go.

I did have one thing. The Force. I'd have to find a way to access it, though, to make use of the connection. The question was how. I didn't know any techniques, nor did I have any practice in how to harness the Force.
Right in front of my doorway, I stopped in my tracks. I grinned, slowly; absentmindedly, I felt my face tendrils coil. The Flame and the Void. Oh, this is going to be so cool.

I turned around and closed my eyes. Taking deep, slow breaths, I imagined a black Flame in front of me. A Flame, made from Void. Then I poured every thought, every emotion into the Flame, let it consume everything I was and grow bigger and bigger.

It took a few tries until the Flame stabilized, but eventually, there was only the Void around me. I felt dispatched from my body, like in an out of body experience. It's working! Joy flooded my body at the thought. It almost threatened to break the Void, but somehow, it held.

Now the Force. I called out to it, felt for it around me. The concentration disturbed the calm inside my mind. Still, the Void wavered, but somehow, it held.

There. At my side. I heard a melody. It sounded mysterious and eerily similar to what I had heard back in my kitchen, when all this had begun. I turned my face towards the sound and lights danced across my closed eyelids, rising and falling in intensity with the melody.

Is that it? Hesitantly I reached out with my mind. The gleam brightened, the Void wavered, but, somehow, the Void held. Even more so, it joined with the light. Now the melody rang all around me, bright and powerful.
At the same time, restlessness came over me. It pulled at me, away from here. I stepped into it, following the pull.