freedomliveson

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Ah, gotcha. Well, that helps a lot, you're right! Bless your heart for working in retail xD

Also, feel free to direct the post in whatever direction. I don't mind going for either planet

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Dads have a wonderful ability to help with driving...I think it's a superpower xD

Hey, so what are you doing right now, work wise? You mentioned you had a position now? Or...well, you know what I mean :p

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Yerbol had been laying in bed himself when he heard Aria clamber up onto the bunk above him, more than likely to get away from the acolytes and Roan. Instead of engaging her in conversation, he stayed silent, allowing for his companion to get the well-deserved rest she needed. As a potential Sith Lord, she probably never was able to truly fall asleep. How could she? The backstabbing politics of the Sith academy were the stuff of legend and those who wanted to ascend the ladder had to always keep an eye open for potential backlash for a perceived slight or a power hungry peer who wanted to dispose of a rival. It sounded exhausting, which made Yerbol quite happy she could lay her head on a pillow without being concerned about getting stabbed in her sleep. Speaking of sleep, Yerbol managed to participate in the process himself only to be awoken a few hours later by Neta, who told the entire ship that they had landed safely in Wild Space(the undercurrent of relief in her voice was rather audible).

After a few observations, Aria asked for Neta's input, the pilot scanning the radar screen to her right before clicking her tongue off the roof of her mouth.
"Well, I'll say this much: it's going to be hard to break into that atmosphere." She pointed at the circular blips going off at random intervals above the solid dot.
"See that? Those are disturbances in the atmosphere from what I assume are the mountain ranges or whatever those huge things are below. If I take us down there, I don't know if we'll make it to the ground in one piece."
"What about the planet there?" Yerbol pointed at the speck in the distance, to which Neta shrugged.
"Can't say. Sensors can't pick up readings from that distance. We can swing around and see what's there, but it might be a worse situation than what we've got below us." The Knight glanced from the window to the radar screen once more, studying the readings as best he could before realizing aloud:
"That might serve as a really good shield between us and the Sith." Neta raised a brow.
"Honey, we'd more than likely be torn to shreds by the time we hit thirty thousand feet above land."
"Not if we help." He motioned to the group assembled.
"You've got people who can use the Force onboard."
"You don't have to remind me." Neta mumbled, prompting Yerbol to poke her right shoulder teasingly.
"Come on, spec ops, trust in what we can do. If you can get us in an initial descent, we can all collectively focus our power to form a barrier around the ship that should get us down safely."
"And what about if we want to leave, hmmm? What if some of you get injured? I don't trust the stabilizers to get me out of the atmosphere alone."
"Well...well I haven't thought that far ahead yet." Manso crept forward from his position in the very back of the group and meekly added:
"I might be able to help with that." Neta turned her eyes up to the young Twi'lek with an almost patronizing smirk.
"And how might you do that, hmm?"
"Well, if we can get on the ground, I can take a look at the secondary power systems...seems like you're wasting a lot of power needlessly."
"So what you're saying is you can manipulate power circuits? Without the proper tools?" Manso raised a hand.
"All I need are these and a few hours." The pilot groaned in disapproval, prompting Yerbol to retort:
"It's either we bet on our resourcefulness now and take comfort in the fact that anybody trying to hunt us down is going to have a difficult time finding us OR we try to find another planet to touch down on, which will make us targets in Wild Space, which I'm not comfortable with." Yerbol turned to face Aria, asking:
"Think we can do this, Ari? Or should we come up with something else?"

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Yeeaahhh, I've graded 400 essays with another 120 incoming. yaaaaaay 0_0

But see, I love my job, you know? It makes the grading worth the trouble...most of the time :p

HA! Yeah, driving is strange. Here is no different. We learn a ton of rules, are told specifically to follow them and then...well, no one listens to them. Well, scratch that, MOST people listen in other states. In the great state of Texas(where I reside at the moment), driving laws are more "loose guidelines" than actual hard and fast laws.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

I appreciate the well wishes! The kids are awesome, but going through their papers can be mind numbing at the very least xD

That's the spirit! There have been so many jobs I got passed on, but the one I ended up getting was normally exactly what I was looking for(which, funny enough, is how I got to the position I'm at now!)

Oh man, I hear that. I used to live in New York City, so bus routes were a familiar source of contention. I also hear that the U.K. driving test is SUPER hard. Is that the case?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

So I'm reviewing a TON of essays(it's finals time around here, so kids are more stressed than normal), which means I might not get around to posting today. If I can, it'll be later in the evening for you, but if not, I'll defo get you one tomorrow.

Semester is almost over for us, so I'm barely hanging on xD

Speaking of something positive, did you get that work experience position? Or was it a position? I'm confused at how you British people talk about jobs :p

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Haha! I think it'll be fun to see how the kids develop alongside Yerbol and Aria, who are ALSO growing in their own right.

Fair enough! I'll try to come up with names and elaborate a bit on planet lore/history :)

Sure! I'll take care of that tomorrow. Have a great night!

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Left you some wiggle room for Ari to talk to Roan if need be. Feel free to skip to Wild Space in next post if desired :)

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Yerbol chuckled at the apology, responding:
"You don't have to worry about me, Ari. He's your father. I'll respect him for your sake, even if he won't refer to me by name for the rest of the trip." It must have been a way to de-humanize those around him. That was it. Easier to marginalize someone than actually try to understand them. Much easier. He had to be wary he didn't fall into the same trap and shove Roan into the "Evil Sith Lord" stereotype, no matter how much he acted in line with how Sith were commonly perceived.

Neta put the coordinates in and frowned.
"You weren't kidding about the coordinates being incomplete. No way am I going to try and make a hyperspace jump on something this shoddy. I might, however, be able to do a little...something..." She fiddled with the nav panel to the right of the pilot's chair, then nodded in approval.
"Alright, so with a bit of extrapolation, I've come up with what I HOPE are manageable coordinates. If we end up on the wrong side of an exploding star, just remember what I was given, ok?" Neta sat back in her chair, left hand hovering over the power systems.
"I can't believe I got myself into this." She mumbled, the gravity of the situation hitting her between the eyes like the butt of a rifle.
"Kids...once we leave known space..." She glanced up at them, a note of grave sincerity in her voice:
"I don't know what we'll find when we come back." For the first time since their meeting, Yerbol could detect anxiety emanating from the normally collected Neta. Whatever nerves had lit up in her mind seemed to calm down instantly, shaking her bright red mane as she brought the ship to life.
"Might as well not put it off."

________

The jump INTO hyperspace wasn't difficult, but the destination was going to be an "intriguing surprise that'll be revealed in about twenty four hours". Neta's sardonic comment was followed by a wish for sleep, shooing the duo away as in their initial encounter.
"Come on, I want to talk." He brought Ari into their quarters, brushing past the Padawans, who were now awkwardly staring at the newest addition to the crew.
"Before we touch down, we've got to make it clear to both the Padawans and the Acolytes that we're...well, we're not Padawans or acolytes anymore. All those distinctions, the lines we drew to separate us don't matter anymore. I don't mean for us to have some grand speech in the map room where we 'rally the troops to victory', but I think taking some time to address the younger ones would be beneficial. We've got some time. so I say we do it now." He could hear Janika squeak something to Roan, then the shuffling of hurried feet back to their quarters.
"Let me go to talk to them before your father throws them through the hull of the ship."

___________

"What do you mean we're not Padawans?" Manso griped, his aqua colored skin seeming to turn a more indignant blue.
"For the fifth time..." Yerbol ran a hand over his face, continuing:
"Guys, there IS no Jedi Order anymore."
"What about the Masters?" Janika asked, chin in her hands.
"There are a few left, yes, but if we keep the same walls of Jedi and Sith, we're not going to have a chance at making progress against the real enemy." Manso shook his head.
"They're still Sith, Yerbol. They'll stab us in the back the moment we turn around."
"And go where, Manso? The True Sith want to kill ALL Force users. Pragmatism is going to motivate them to work with us for now and then...then I don't know. I really don't know."
"What WILL happen if we actually pull this off, Yerbie? If we're successful, then...then we have to rebuild the Order, right?"
"I don't know, Jani. This is uncharted territory, for all of us. All I'm asking is that you work with us, work with me to take down the True Sith." Manso snickered.
"Don't have much of a choice, do we?"
"None of us do."

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Sounds good!