freedomliveson

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Her cozy embrace was one that he had gotten familiar with over their course of time together, said gesture sometimes including picking her up off the ground when they were particularly happy, this qualifying as one of those times. Coupling his recent return from a failed rescue attempt on stranded diplomats on Hoth(he wouldn't talk about that one just yet) with not seeing Aria for a week because of a dangerous mission across the galaxy made him overjoyed to see his diminutive friend. After collapsing onto her cot and Yerbol placing himself on the floor next to Aria's bed, she asked about the Force Users that they had been monitoring for a few days. There was some information he was going to share when she silenced him, then proceeding to share her harrowing experience with an older woman. He chuckled, extending the open package to her as an invitation before telling her:
"Ari, how many times have I told you to NOT go after old women? I mean honestly, it's becoming such a trend these days. First it's old ladies, then it'll be one legged nursing home retirees and the cycle of preying on the helpless will never end." Taking some jerky for himself, he chewed on the stuff for a few seconds before speaking, words interspersed with meat:
"You know...this...stuff is...worth fighting...an old lady for...keep doing what...you're doing..." He swallowed, placing the package aside before looking her over, shaking his head.
"I don't understand it. How on EARTH do you look that good after dealing with diplomats for a week? The hot air alone should've displaced some of your hair, made your eyes bleed, but no, you somehow manage to look unscathed. I, on the other hand, go to a planet where there's quite literally NOTHING but snow and look!" He pointed at a newly minted cut on his forehead, then to his clothes.
"Bloody Wampa came at us when we weren't looking...and don't you laugh! They're good at hiding with all their white fur and their white...everything else." He sighed.
"Of course, I'd much prefer to deal with Wampas than politicians." A smile creased his features.
"I'm glad you're home safe, though. Can't exactly be the dynamic duo when there's just one of us." His comm unit buzzed on his cot, having taken it out of his ear when he undressed. Rolling his eyes, he crawled to the other side of the room and planted it back inside his left ear.
"Yerbol here."
"I saw you both come in." This wasn't spec ops Neta, this was teasing "I'm going look out for you kids" Neta. He didn't know which one was worse at this point.
"Do you need us to do anything? Please say no."
"Don't worry, sweetcheeks, you're off the hook for a while. The prisoners are still off our radar, which means that if their flight plan is as valid as Tooks says it is, then they'll be coming across our screen in about half a day."
"So we can rest? Actually rest?" Neta chuckled as she whispered:
"Or do other things. I'm not gonna judge." Yerbol's face flushed a deep pink as the line went dead, choosing not to turn around but instead deliver the good news while pretending to look for something underneath his cot:
"We've got twelve hours! That's something." After a few moments of searching and trying to suppress the color in his cheeks, he felt bold enough to return to his original position.
"Couldn't find my gum." He lied, badly, but at least he didn't have to tell Aria about what Neta so inappropriately suggested.
"So...I'm thinking we don't leave the room for a while or if we DO, we'll need to know where we're going to take shortcuts. Suggestions? Well, wait, suggestions that include us hanging out and not being saviors of the galaxy for half a day. Options that I suggest include walking AWAY from base and trying to spot that weird bird that kept following us the last time, trying our hand at pazaak or that strategy board game Manso brought for us or...well, anything that doesn't involve a lot of work."

Witcher interest check (The last time, I promise xD)

A bump again

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Oh it so is. Carving through people is much easier as a 50 xD

Aaaaand bam. Took a couple of liberties that, if desired, can be corrected.

Wphew! Sorry it took longer than normal, but I was trying to make sure I fleshed out enough about the workings of the galaxy. Feel free to mop up any of my messes

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

He was going to caution Aria about going down that particular avenue of thought, but his partner had already made the connection and much faster than he had imagined. It was startling to feel Renso's presence in his mind, the incorporeal "Master" seeming to fill every inch of free space in his skull as he and Aria traded barbs, although the Master didn't seem very interested in verbally sparring. No, instead, it felt as if he were...happy? Benevolent? Conniving? Cutthroat? It was hard to gauge his feelings towards them, but from their intertwined bond, he COULD feel a sincerity to his words that Yerbol hadn't heard before in his dreams when the Master had boldly proclaimed the death of the Force. Speaking of that particular concept, it would be good to clear that up before they proceeded any further. Following up on the cryptic clue the Master provided, Yerbol spoke for the first time since Aria had tugged on Renso's presence:

Wait, wait. You claim this bond is helping you already and that you'll need our continual help. Weren't you the same voice that proclaimed the death of the Force just a few days ago? The same person that assured "Balance" across the galaxy by way of destruction?

A light sigh followed Yerbol's line of questioning before a reply laced with regret came:

Indeed, I do believe that harmonization of the Force, of balancing the galaxy around us can lead to the kind of peace I once knew, but Bracknell twisted my words. Death is necessary, a component of ensuring the Force does not become a twisted shell of itself like it has become, but Bracknell twisted my words, as did you. I do not have the ability to explore questions of philosophy now, but understand it was never my intent for Force sensitives and users to die meaninglessly.

Then what on EARTH were you trying to accomplish with him? And how did I twist your words? Death is pretty straightforward.

As I've said, harmonization. Balancing. The Force as you both know it has been corrupted and must be set back in order. I cannot answer all your questions now, but as you progress down your destined path, you will both see what I see.

And with that riddle inspired statement, his presence was gone. Yerbol strained to grab at the thread that Aria had, but it had vanished completely, leaving the duo with more questions, which was quickly growing to be an aggravating pattern.
"Destined path..." He trailed off, looking up at the black and blue night sky lit up with twinkling stars in the distance.
"What does he know about our fates?" He mumbled, looking to Aria with a defeated shrug.
"Suppose we'll have to find out ourselves." From inside the complex, he heard Neta call out:
"C'MON YOU TWO, LOAD UP, WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY! HAVOC, AT ATTENTION, LET'S GO, LET'S GO!" Her normally boisterous voice had been ratcheted up a few levels, severity of tone increasing, showing off her regression to Specs op leader very quickly. As he helped Aria to his feet, he couldn't help but quip:
"I have a feeling she's going to be doing that a lot."

____________________

-Six Months later-

"WHAT ON TATTOINE'S SANDY SURFACE ARE YOU DOING, JENKINS?!"
"Ma'am, I..."
"DON'T YOU EVER FIRE A RIFLE WITHOUT SCOPING THE ENEMY FIRST! HIP FIRING IS FOR THE MOVIES, NOT FOR REAL COMBAT!"
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"
"BACK ON THE RANGE, ALL OF YOU! YOUR AIM IS WORSE THAN A BANTHA CRAPPING OFF A CLIFF!" Their gleaming green and white armor clanked through back of the main hall, past the pop-up tents and communication posts towards the clearing that Bek had managed to make their second week there for Havoc Squad and, as he had called it, "the future armed forces of our insurrection". Yerbol had chuckled at the thought of having armed forces to command, but it was Bek who would be chortling at Yerbol's doubt. In six months, things had drastically changed, so much so that the young Knight felt like he had to take a step back and actually take it all in instead of moving from mission to mission without so much as a drink of water or a stick of jerkey(which was quickly becoming a base favorite).

Sneaking past Neta and the hubbub of portable terminals, haphazardly placed datapads and hunched over technicians and strategists(Manso among them), he quietly made it back to their quarters and shed his tattered, sweat stained clothing in favor of some cotton shorts and a t-shirt, both of which had been included in the latest supply drop courtesy of their smuggling team(or as they liked to be called "Captains of Enterprise") that had grown exponentially after their second month in. The Alliance was cracking down hard on enterprise across the galaxy, which meant more and more smugglers were getting put out of work. Even the Hutts were getting strong armed by the Alliance, Chancellor Saresh smugly proclaiming that the "Hutt Reign of Terror would not be tolerated" under the new regime. True, the Hutts were involved in some shady practices, but Saresh had flexed her muscles by cutting off Nar Shaddaa and the rest of the Outer Rim with a trade blockade until they gave into the Alliance's demands of total control. In a sense, Saresh out-Hutted the Hutts, a feat that reflected not only the growing solidarity and power of the new government, but also the terrifying potential it held. Many saw the latter and from that group of many, some joined on with their rebellion. They trickled in slowly that first month after the two strike teams managed to leak information about the True Sith on the holonet, but most of it was dismissed as fabrications of the enemy or, as Bracknell has labeled them many times over the past half year: "terrorists of the highest caliber of evil". Many in the galaxy believed the propaganda, seeing as the Alliance combined so many resources that people were actually getting access to more of the galaxy than they ever had before. With no war, Republic and Imperial worlds became open ground for settlers and job seekers, scout teams were joining together to scope out new worlds and the governments that were once separated by ideologies seemed to be coming together.

It looked so smooth and effortless on the vids, sounded so utopian during interviews that dismissed the "True Sith" and warned the public to not give into "informational terrorism"(a phrase coined by Bracknell). Soon after this "honeymoon period" of about a month, their rebellion had gathered enough forces from both former Republic and Imperial militaries that Neta, who had been put in charge of all things military, decided it would be best to start exposing True Sith leaders for who they really were.

"They can deny one or two, but five? Ten? Twenty?! We can win this war of attrition in the shadows!" Neta exclaimed in their first strategy session. Yerbol had been wary of playing up to the reputation that Bracknell and Saresh were pumping into the public eye(as were others), but they had no choice but to go on the offensive, which was exactly what they did with surprisingly good results. They broke up supply chains to Galactic Alliance outposts, killed True Sith leaders in the Alliance Cabinet that had been identified in the list gleaned on the True Sith homeworld(now known as Quensu...Roan found that bit out from a scroll) and exposed their dealings with Bracknell as best they could through whatever channels.

Leaking information to the public began to divide some populations, a few small colonial settlements on outlying planets outright rejecting the Alliance and moving to the planet their main base was on(Zinuthra...again, deduced from a scroll by Roan). Over the past two months, however, Zinuthra was being populated seemingly every day by more and more dejected Alliance forces that wanted nothing to do with the "despotic" and "iron-handed" government that smoothly hid their mass killings, imprisonment of dissenters and overall totalitarian tactics by pointing to the massive successes("No more rogue Force users to plague the galaxy!" "Wealth and prosperity for the galaxy and beyond!") the Alliance had managed to achieve.

Things were reaching a breaking point, however, and all who were a part of their contingent against the Alliance knew it. Their strike teams were getting intercepted more frequently, smugglers getting thrown off their routes by Alliance cruisers and blown to spacedust and more soundbites were circulating on the HoloNet about "crushing the threat to our wonderful peace" from both Bracknell and Saresh. Their time in the shadows was going to be up very soon. He hoped they were ready for their grand reveal.

Yerbol sank to his cot, running a hand over his face as a smile crept to his lips when he saw the package of jerky laying in the middle of their quarters, a sticky note on it. He took the package, reading the note aloud:

"Heard it was rough out there. Know this'll make you happy. See you soon!" -Ari

"You know me so well, my dear." He said with a chuckle, ripping the package open. Indeed, they both had gotten to know each other extremely well over this stressful(to say the least) course of time. Going through training sessions with the makeshift council of Masters to sharpen their bond, walking together through the woods to talk about anything OTHER than war, throwing snowballs at each other on those walks...Yerbol wasn't afraid to say that Aria had become his best friend as well as the best partner he had ever fought with. Missions they went on helped sharpen the clarity of their bond, fighting almost seamlessly now as a pair. They were unstoppable most days, although some of the True Sith leaders had given them quite the headache. Yerbol had underestimated a couple, seeing as their guise as harmless politicians gave way to powerful Force users when fighting. He remembered one particular instance three months ago when Senator Yan Iwoi, an Ithorian of slight build, sent him flying out a window with a flick of his wrist. Thankfully Roan had come with them on that particular operation and saved him. Aria had made a lot of "the bigger they are, the longer they fly through the air!" jokes after that.

They got old. Fast.

Speaking of Aria, he knew that she was scheduled to come back from protective detail any minute now. They hadn't seen each other in a couple of days due to her being throttled across the galaxy to protect some important contingent of defecting diplomats. She was due for a hug...

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yup, yup and yuuuuuuup. Grinding sucks, but hey, you leveled! That counts for something!

Awesome, ok! Will post once I get my calendars up for my kids(they're coming back tomorrow)

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Yay for holidays filled with eating and messing around! I had so much pie it wasn't even funny xD

Ok, so then we skip forward...right, so then would you like to skip to that one final mission half a year later that eventually breaks Bracknell's back hard enough for him to go "I'M DONE!" and go after them full force? What would you like that to be? I was thinking of intercepting a transport of Force sensitives that were taken off an Outer Rim world that Bracknell desperately wanted for their power. Supervising that mission would be one of his most trusted allies(we can make someone up...maybe that admiral we introduced that bombed Tython?) They take the Force sensitives PLUS the Admiral as prisoner PLUS take out the protective convoy? That would tick him off xD

Thoughts?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Just like Renso awakening from stasis after hundreds of years to bring order to the galaxy, so have I crawled out of my sickened stupor to emerge! Back to normal, might I add! Thanks not only for your patience, but for your well wishes. I'm basically 100% minus a few sniffles here and there. My wife isn't quite where I'm at, but I was the one who got sick first and...well, you know how that goes. Living with a person/other people means that once YOU get sick, others are going to get sick. Other than illness, our trip went wonderfully! Had a great time in Canada/Washington eating, playing video games and other such fun. How were your holidays?

Also, I'm back to posting regularly again, which means I want to reply right away, but need to clarify a few things before I launch:

-Our mid-season cliffhanger(aka my hiatus xD) featured Aria trying to reach out to Renso, successfully talking to him. I'm going to assume that Yerbol also contributes to the conversation before Renso pulls away again, but not before Renso encourages them to take the fight to Bracknell as hard as they can? I'll throw in some other details I've been thinking about once I get a post up(about what Renso will point them towards)

-AFTER that dust up, there's the planting of information on both Dromund Kaas and Coruscant. Would you like me to fast forward to that mission? Or do we want to just skip ahead a few months AFTER that mission?

-In either case, we did discuss(we did, right? Or did I dream that? xD) a time skip of a few months(5? 6?) wherein Yerbol, Aria and the rest of their growing contingent not only amass forces to fight against Bracknell, but make coordinated strikes against embedded leadership within the newly formed Galactic Alliance. How would you like to do that? I was thinking that assassinating a few leaders and leaking their allegiances along with breaking Force users out of prisons(because they can't ALL die...that'd be morbid), disrupting supply lines, that kind of thing.

-After all that chaos,I would think Bracknell just says "I'm done with you people" and launch a full on strike, which is when that final battle commences and...well, if I remember correctly, poor Roan dies and Ari takes her rightful vengeance with Yerbol fighting by her side(that'll be a fun scene to write).

Wphew! Just kinda spit it all out in one post. Hope that's alright!

Edit: I know it's not "Star Wars" per se, but this soundtrack for a DLC in the Witcher 3 seems very appropriate for the chaos that's going to ensue as well as the calmness/serenity that our duo will have afterward(well, relatively). Feel free to take a listen whenever :)

youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annota..

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Update: Flying back home tonight with both me and wife sick. Will be back ASAP. Send soup if possible xD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Hey, so I'm currently on vacation and THOUGHT I'd have some posting time, but I do not :/

I think I SHOULD be able to get you something tomorrow...I think. I'm going to Canada for the rest of the week and...well, you get the point xD

Sorry for springing you on this last minute! I'll be sporadic for the next week or so, but I'll be back to consistency very soon. Thanks for understanding and I hope you have a good Christmas!

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Awesome! Will post Sunday or Monday :)