[IC] Star Wars: KOTOR Academy

[TheUnknowable]

As the Ebon Hawk entered the atmosphere Lokk Vao reconnected the last wire inside of M1-B6 and closed the panel. "Well, that's about all I can do until until we get on the ground. I want to be on the ramp as soon as we get there. I don't want to make them wait." He grabbed his backpack from his quarters, walked to the ramp, and waited. A few minute later a voice came over the ship's intercom.
"We've now landed on Dantooine." the voice that had recruited him several months ago said. "Please gather your things and head to the docking ramp." A few minutes later Atton walked up. "Well, here we are." he said, dropping the ramp to reveal a newly built landing pad built to be just like the one that was destroyed over a decade earlier, lit by the early morning sun. Atton walked down the ramp and Lokk and M1 followed him. "If everyone will come with me." the knight said, as he walked towards the council chambers.
Lokk was impressed with the work that had been done. He had heard that the bottom level still needed work, but the top had been rebuilt based on the blueprints of the original, only with far more rooms for the students to stay in.
When they got to the courtyard near the council chambers Atton walked the to the top of the dorms ramp, turned around, and motioned to his left and right. "Find yourself a room, girls to the left, boys to the right." When they had placed their things in one of the rooms he lead them to the council chambers where Briana and Mikal stood. "This is Knight Briana, in charge or the temple and your saber training, and this is Padawan Mikal, in charge of your force training, as well as lore." he said, pointing to each one in turn.
Mikal stepped forward, "I hate to bother you, as you've just arrived, but I need to give you these." He handed each student a Datapad. "These contain the Jedi code, as well as basic meditation instructions. I'll give you until tomorrow morning to get used to this new world, but I want to see all of you in this room tomorrow at sunrise to begin your training. If you'll familiarize yourself with the data on the pad, things will be easier tomorrow morning." Briana motioned to him and he stepped back.
"Tomorrow afternoon I'll be testing your skills with a weapon," she said. "After that I'll give you the rest of the day off to practice on your own. Don't worry, once you get the basic skills down we'll relax your routine a bit and let you study what you want at your own pace. We just want to get the important lessons finished soon. Are their any questions?"

[knighthawk]

Zzzzzzzzzzk-
He could hear it, he knew he could hear it and no one else could.
Zzzzzzzzzzk-
Maybe he could tune it out, they were almost there.
Zzzzzzzzzzk-
It started when they took off and turned off when they hit hyperspace.
Zzzzzzzzzzk-
Now they were back and so was that sound!
Zzzzzzzzzk-ZzzzzzzzKUNCH

A weapon wielding wolf began to attack a sputtering speaker with his sound system skill. In moments the panel was in his hands with bare wires exposed. Snarling and muttering, he popped a sticky-stick into his mouth to start chewing as he worked over the electronic auditory enhancer. He reached between his teeth and stuck the binary organic epoxy to the exposed metal threads before putting the whole thing back together.

Finally, blessed silence.

"We've now landed on Dantooine. Please gather your things and head to the docking ramp."

Of course.

Around the corner came a human with short blackish hair with lighter skin in a white shirt under a leather jacket with overset shoulders but a black longsleve under the white. So many layers of clothing made Rar so glad for his fur but his species also came with a mighty drawback, reaching into a pocket, he took out some allergy medicine and a dap of gel under his nose to keep his nose open. A downside to an interstellar musician is lots of travel and he always gets sick when he comes to a new planet like now. In a month he'll be fine but he rarely performs gigs for more than a day per planet so he is constantly miserable, adding to his moody broody persona on stage.

The ramp drops and the golden light of the verdant world pours in, a cropball planet known for only producing food. Well he always wanted to cut a Farmer album, those ones where the guy looses his house, looses his wife, looses his droid. Walking back to his shoulder bag, a dewback leather with his bands name embroidered upon its surface, he put away the servodriver into its pouch and went down the ramp with all his possessions in tow.

"Well, here we are. If everyone will come with me. Find yourself a room, girls to the left, boys to the right."

Part of him wanted to be a bastard and claim gender identity just to file left with the rest of the girls, but manners won out and he made his way down to the end of the right hall, poking his head in each room with a snapping of the fingers to test the acoustic absorption. All the rooms were identical so he'd have to talk to the people who built this place for some muffling panels so he could get a good night sleep. Superior hearing, lowlight vision and ability to track by smell make trying to get any rest a living nightmare, thankfully he had a sensory deprivation hood from the last album shoot in his bag. Originally a novelty, but it did help when he was on tours to catch a nap.

Staking a claim on a bunk with his bag, he adjourned back to the new area with several seats in a circle where the jedi stood now flanked by two others both with fair skin and shades of hair

"This is Knight Briana, in charge or the temple and your saber training." He gestured to the white haired woman. "And this is Padawan Mical, in charge of your force training as well as lore." Now he pointed to the male with golden locks.

Mical stepped forward and began to hand out data pads. "I hate to bother you, as you've just arrived, but I need to give you these. These contain the Jedi code, as well as basic meditation instructions. I'll give you until tomorrow morning to get used to this new world, but I want to see all of you in this room tomorrow at sunrise to begin your training. If you'll familiarize yourself with the data on the pad, things will be easier tomorrow morning."

Briana motioned to him and he stepped back so that she could speak.
"Tomorrow afternoon I'll be testing your skills with a weapon. After that I'll give you the rest of the day off to practice on your own. Don't worry, once you get the basic skills down we'll relax your routine a bit and let you study what you want at your own pace. We just want to get the important lessons finished soon. Are their any questions?"

Slowly the shistavanean singer raised a hand. His mind was on his band-mates, fugitives from the sith temple of korriban who didn't join him on the shuttle, were they on another temple on another planet, were they mindwiped to forget about him? What about the band itself?

"This place is pretty remote, and after what happened with Darth Nhilus wiping out planets, are we allowed communication with the outside worlds?"

[Draconis Nevyn]

Adado stood tall, analysing the engine of the ship, the Ebon Hawk. It was more efficient than anything he had ever flown so far, indeed it was an impressive set-up. He had spent most of the journey contemplating what it would be like to learn the ways of the force and what he would do now that he wouldn't be teaching Lelila, looking after her by himself. She would have others to talk to, a place to finally stay and be safe. Well he hoped it would be safe, he would look after her though, succeed at every test and learn everything possible so he could watch out for Lelila as he had done for her since his old mentor had killed her parents.

As he left the engine room he heard the intercom "We've now landed on Dantooine. Please gather your things and head to the docking ramp." he heard Atton say. It brought back his memories of when he had first met the man. Finally he had an explanation to why he sometimes saw things that were happening or going to happen in his dreams, he was force sensitive. After a while, with Atton's help he had managed to learn how to hone his abilities, to repel things from himself. After a few moments he walked into the cargo bay, where he saw his ward, Lelila. She was standing next to their luggage, it wasn't much but it was everything they owned including a couple of weapons he had managed to stash away.

Lelila had spent the most of the trip by herself, reading, though she had spent a couple of hours practising her Echani. She was rusty but it kept her in shape both in body and mind. To accompany the art, she incorporated her only force power into it, pushing gently on her luggage as she moved. While it was easy to fling it into the hull, it was not her intention to do so.

After a short while of this, she stopped, and wiped her brow with a cloth before hearing the intercom crackle and a voice she knew fairly well said: "We've now landed on Dantooine. Please gather your things and head to the docking ramp." With this, she got excited, she was going to be a jedi, and Adado was going to be with her too, it was perfect. Almost too perfect, nagged the voice at the back of her mind, but she ignored it as she was obviously here, it was a long trip to play a prank like this on her. Lelila smiled as she saw Adado and a few others enter the cargo bay to collect their belongings and leave again, heading as Atton had instructed. Lelila grabbed Adado's and her own things and walked up to him, her smile growing larger by the second.

"Don't get cocky now, Leli, this is real and dangerous. Keep a level head and be careful." Warned her mentor, and she hesitated as he took his belingings and left for the docking bay. It was harsh but she knew he was probably right, she shouldn't get too excited about it. She remembered hearing about the jedi having to put emotion aside. Was she too emotional for the Jedi? Only one way to find out, she eventually decided and left to join Adado in the docking bay with the others.

Upon leaving the ship, Atton said "Well, here we are. If everyone will come with me. Find yourself a room, girls to the left, boys to the right." Adado nodded to his ward and motioned for her to go as indicated, as she looked unsure, possibly as they had never spent a night separately before, always having watched one and another's backs no matter what. But these were new times, and they both had a lot to learn and get used to. Walking in to his room, he immediately left his suitcase on his bed, to be sorted later and moved on to the council chambers, where he grabbed a seat and waited for the others to turn up.

Lelila, on the other hand, had a harder time, as she was stuck trying to decide which room felt right, which gave the best cover from break-ins. It took her a while to calm her mind completely and remember that this was unlikely to happen and Adado had probably had no trouble finding a room. She eventually settled on one and left her suitcase under the bed before leaving to head to the council chambers. As she entered, most of the others were already there and she sheepishly grabbed a seat.

Atton Rand, the man who had found them, addressed all of the pupils, and indicated the other two jedi in the room as he said: "This is Knight Briana, in charge or the temple and your saber training, and this is Padawan Mikal, in charge of your force training, as well as lore." he said, pointing to each one in turn. Then, Mikal stepped forward, "I hate to bother you, as you've just arrived, but I need to give you these." He handed each student a Datapad, which Lelila and Adado studied intensely, scanning the information briefly before listening to him explain further, "These contain the Jedi code, as well as basic meditation instructions. I'll give you until tomorrow morning to get used to this new world, but I want to see all of you in this room tomorrow at sunrise to begin your training. If you'll familiarise yourself with the data on the pad, things will be easier tomorrow morning." Adado hoped so, it wasn't his first sunrise start, but he knew Lelila wasn't good in early mornings, but he again listened intently as Briana motioned to him and he stepped back.

"Tomorrow afternoon I'll be testing your skills with a weapon," she said, causing Lelila to stir, this was something she had been looking forward to, not as much as Adado but it was a very interesting subject, along with the force itself, which didn't interest her old mentor as much.

"After that I'll give you the rest of the day off to practice on your own. Don't worry, once you get the basic skills down we'll relax your routine a bit and let you study what you want at your own pace. We just want to get the important lessons finished soon. Are their any questions?" Adado and Lelila looked at one another and shared a grin, this was really happening. They were Jedi initiates. They continued smiling as they saw the Shistavanen, a species that (of the pair of them at least) only Adado was familiar with, raised his hand.

[shivershiver]

The Ebon Hawk’s regulated temperature and humidity didn’t feel so comfortable for the Tusken huddled away in the ship’s cargo bay, his tan rags tightly wrapped around his frame. Mrak had spent the entire night, or at least what he interpreted as a night aboard the ship, in the depths of the cargo hold rather than join the other jedi recruits in the cramped barracks. The thought of shedding his robes and sleeping in a single room with a group of strangers sent chills down his spine, though that might have been from the ship’s temperature as well. Although Thul had done his best to acclimate the Tusken to modern civilization, Mrak’s tribal customs still persisted. Exposing bare flesh to anyone who wasn’t your mate within the confines of your own tent was a death sentence in Tusken culture, and Mrak could barely stand to go without his mask, let alone his robes. No, Mrak would rather freeze to death in the cargo bay than break his old habits; it was too much of a shock for him to handle. Upon initially boarding the Ebon Hawk on Tatooine, the young Tusken eagerly explored the ship in awe, examining the engine bay in particular, though was completely unfamiliar with the system. The most advanced piece of machinery he ever operated was a small speeder, and Mrak was fascinated by the idea of a “speeder” this large. His infatuation was quickly cut off, however, when he found himself in the cockpit as the ship took off into the atmosphere. The pilots had a good laugh when the Tusken ran in terror as the ship left the ground. After this incident, he became even more reclusive.

”We’ve now landed on Dantooine,” a voice declared seemingly from nowhere. Mrak searched for the source, fearing his hiding spot was compromised, but couldn’t find anyone. “Please gather your things and head to the docking ramp.” After a couple more minutes of exploring the cargo bay, Mrak figured the person must have left, so he decided to simply follow their instructions. He grabbed his bag, filled with his armor and various other belongings, and made his way towards the landing bay. Although he only ventured through the ship for a brief time before retreating to the cargo bay, Mrak knew exactly where to go. His sense of direction was uncanny, developed from years of trekking through the endless desert landscape. At the ramp, Mrak was met by the other recruits, a wide variety of species from all reaches of the galaxy. The Tusken kept his distance from them, as he was completely unfamiliar with almost anything other than native people of Tatooine. With a hiss of the hydraulics, the ramp lowered, letting in a gust of warmer air and much needed natural light. Here, Mrak was one of the first off the ship, eager to get his feet on familiar ground. When he hit the landing pad, however, the world around him was anything but familiar. The first anomaly Mrak noticed was the world’s lack of a second sun; it felt cold without it, and dark. The climate, while warmer than the ship, was still uncomfortable for the Tusken. He sighed, immediately longing for his harsh homeworld. The architecture of Dantooine struck Mrak as curious as well; why were these buildings constructed of metal and concrete, rather than clay, like the great cities of Tatooine? They failed to complement blend into the surrounding environment, a sweeping green and yellow landscape. He had little time to take in the world before the group shuffled off, and he trailed behind, his eye still observing every minute detail of Dantooine.

Upon entering the dormitories, Mrak tossed his pack into the nearest empty room, hoping no one would join him. Seeing a bed positioned across from his made him uncomfortable, knowing that he might have a roommate, but it was better than the barracks on the shio. The idea of segregating housing based on gender struck him as odd, but he made no complaint. Mrak followed the jedi with the other recruits to the council chambers, where he was introduced to his future instructors. He was unsure how a female, Briana, would be capable of training him in saber combat, since combat positions in Tusken culture are generally restricted to men, but Mrak knew he was in a whole other world now. Force training, he dreaded. Thul, his old friend, had attempted to teach Mrak the basics of Force “tricks”, but to limited success. The lore section interested the Tusken though, as he greatly enjoyed the stories his tribe’s shaman would tell; perhaps this would be similar. When he was handed a datapad, however, Mrak’s heart sank. He peered into the screen, which contained the strange symbols Thul identified as Basic. He had a rudimentary grasp of the written language, but the text on the screen was beyond his level. Mrak had faced challenges in the past, but always focused on physical, rather than mental strength. When Thul said he would be trained to become a great warrior, Mrak assumed it would simply be combat training, not history lessons. This would be a struggle, but the Tusken was certain he would prevail. He had to. Once weapon training was mentioned, however, Mrak’s spirits rose, and his confidence was restored. He needed the familiar feeling of a weapon in his rugged hands in the unfamiliar world. Before the group disbanded, a strange, furry creature raised his hand, and suddenly all eyes were upon him. The beast reminded Mrak of his bantha mount at home, and the thought of riding this sentient creature around the temple forced him to stifle a chuckle.

[TheUnknowable]

"This place is pretty remote, and after what happened with Darth Nhilus wiping out planets, are we allowed communication with the outside worlds?"

"You are allowed to contact others if you wish, in your own time." said Briana, "but they should not come to visit you until you have completed the initial training, and I would be careful as to how often I contact them and how much time I spend talking to them, as you shouldn't allow them to distract you from your training. A Jedi should learn to discipline themselves, including limiting their time with family and friends if their relationships interfere with their duties to the order. We won't, however, be as strict concerning the relationships of our members as the old order was, as they tended to separate people from their families at a young age to prevent the formation of bonds which could turn them towards the dark side."

She took a breath. "As for the Sith threat, Darth Nihilus is dead, and we believe the Sith have left this part of the Galaxy. We are in contact with the Republic fleet in case we should come under attack, and have informants across the galaxy who are constantly searching for threats against the order, including Knight Atton. The best thing we can do to protect ourselves against the Sith threat, however, is to rebuild the order as quickly as possible. The Jedi were the only thing that stopped them the last two times, whether you are referring to the Revan/Malak incident or the Nihilus incident, and we will be the galaxy's best bet at defeating them if they return."

"Are there any other questions?"