Cyphor Fey'lar
Pandorum, In orbit of Comra's Moon
Private Hanger Bay 2R2-AT0 rolled into the hanger bay alone and lowered the ramp to the Ashlani Traveler by remote before proceeding to board the craft. The little R2 unit had been built and outfitted especially for the Ashlani Traveler when Cha'alla commissioned Too to construct the vessel. Cha'alla had no mechanical skill herself beyond knowing how to construct and repair a saber or other simple mechanical faults, so Too had included Ayteeoh to act as the ships mechanic when he drew up the Travelers specs. On top of mechanical repairs Ayteeoh also assumed the role of copilot and was capable of running the vessels basic systems alone, vessel start-up and simple maneuvering among them. after reaching the top of the ramp the little maroon R2 unit made its way to the interface socket in left rear of the cockpit, plugged itself into the Travelers control systems and began running through pre-flight checks.
After a few minutes another entered the Travelers cockpit, Clezo, Cha'alla's young rodian padawan. Clezo had grown both physically and in the force in the past year since he first became Cha'alla's padawan, Cyphor had remarked a few times that the dynamic the two of them shared mirrored his own with Cha'alla for many years. Clezo was a little impulsive, he took chances when he thought they could pay off, even when there was little certainty. This had a few times prompted Cha'alla to pull him out of the fire so to speak, but it had also accomplished mission goals where Cha'alla may have been more cautious or by the book. As a result Clezo found himself listening to the same lectures Cyphor had heard from Cha'alla for years, which had caused Cyphor to break out in laughter the first time he witnessed the young rodian being chastened. of course Cyphor had been the leader in the dynamic before so he had summarily chosen when he could ignore Cha'alla's lectures, Clezo had no such reprieve.
"Hey Ayteeoh, the Traveler ready to fly yet?" Clezo asked cheerfully, the little R2 unit beeped an affirmative which a monitor above the droid translated into galactic basic. "You going to be ok without us?" Clezo asked, his tone a little more sombre this time. AT0 Beeped a positive affirmative and followed up with a statement that it hoped the mission did not take long. "I'm sure you'll be back with Cha'alla and I in no time, Ayteeoh." Clezo said once again cheering his tone. No sooner had he finished speaking, he heard voices coming from the boarding ramp.
"Captain Matrix and his team is more than capable of protecting the ship should we run into pirate or the like, Cha'alla." Clezo heard, the voice belonged to Mara Bell, one of Cyphors inner circle and one of the best pilots in the small fleet. Though Cyhpor and Nikan were regarded as
The best in the fleet, Mara often claimed that was only because of their connection to the force. She had trained most of the pilots aboard the Nebulae Queen and usually acted as flight leader when the Nebulae was on a combat mission. She was also a naturally gifted navigator, which was the reason she was aboard the Traveler and assuring Cha'alla that her ship would come back in one piece. Cyphor had been contacted by a CIS liaison officer that was acquainted with Colonel Drogan Hosh, whom Cyphor had protected on his landing on Jabim over a year earlier, though he had not been a Colonel at the time.
"The task is very simple," Mara said to Cha'aala as the two of them walked into the cockpit. "I'm just mapping some Hyperspace routes in the mid rim, its a bludge assignment practically." She concluded as she took a seat at the pilot controls and ran her hands over the primary controls, committing their location and feel to memory.
"The lanes you are to map are unstable and unpredictable, thats why they're not mapped in the first place." Cha'alla responded with a cautioning tone. Clezo had heard that tone many times over the past year after he had done or suggested something rash.
"You are not my master Cha'alla, don't presume to take that tone with me. Smugglers and other less reputable types have maps of these lanes already, incomplete as they may be, a skilled navigator and pilot can ride the lanes so long as they use caution and pay attention, Believe me this is not my first rodeo." Cha'alla looked about to say something more but Mara spoke again before she could utter a sound. "As we already discussed I'll have Captain Matrix aboard with his commando squad in case I do run into any of those less reputable types and the stealth systems on the Traveler should allow me to avoid detection even if we do encounter any of them. I promise, your ship will come back without a scratch."
Cha'alla raised an eyebrow and smiled a little as Mara finished her sentence. "I was going to say I trust you." Cha'alla replied, her smile turning into a soft laugh.
"Well...uh..." Mara said looking a little embarrassed.
"Come along Clezo, Captain Matrix has his team aboard and I expect Ayteeoh has the Traveler ready for departure by now." Cha'alla said as she turned towards her padawan. Ayteeoh beeped a cheerful affirmative at the statement and as if to emphasis the point the vessels docking thrusters began powering up. Mara odded at the droid and began making a few quick checks of her own, not that she didn't trust the R2 unit, it was just a habit of hers.
"You take good care of her Ayteeoh, Clezo said as he left the cockpit and headed for the boarding ramp. Weather he meant Mara or the Traveler was unclear and Ayteeoh's translated reply in the affirmative gave no hints either.
A few minutes later Cha'alla and Clezo stood side by side at the hanger entrance as they watched the Ashlani Traveler's main engines come ro life and shoot the black vessel out into the void of space. "Come." Cha'alla said as she placed a hand on her padawans shoulder. "Let us see if Cyphor has anything for us to do for him while the Traveler is on assignment with Mara. If not, maybe its time to have a discussion with Too about his former peers." Clezo nodded and the two left the hanger to seek out Cyphor.
Pandorum, Lightsabre Practice ChamberCyphor shifted his stance as Kalmi struck out at him with both the training sabres she was wielding, the twin blades came from the same direction, had the same orientation, and the same force behind each of them. Blocking the strike was not difficult. Cyphor applied just enough pressure to stop the blades momentum and then pushed back hard, now inside Kalmi's guard he started on a back swing strike... only to watch Kalmi spin away from the blade and bring one of the two she held up to deflect the strike and then thrust with the second as she completed the spin. Cyphor countered by leaping backwards a short distance rather than try to recover his blade and block the thrust. it was the first time in the last few weeks that Kalmi had been training with twin sabres that she had started to incorporate actions she might normally take with her staffsabre, only without the two blades mirroring each other constantly she was able to perform similar strikes in less time and with slightly different angles.
Cyphor raised an eyebrow at this development, he had watched the others training with her as she practiced with paired blades, they all knew she was unused to the style and most had allowed her to take the offensive, Cyphor himself had allowed her that when they had started their duel 10 minutes earlier. It was interesting that it was during a defensive action that she started adapting her more standard form. Curious to see if the pattern would continue Cyphor loosened his grip slightly on his sabre and stepped forward into a Juyo stance.
Kalmi had only a moment to see Cyphors shift before he charged her, his sabre raining relentless blows as she struggled to keep up with the onslaught, the two blades gave less stopping power than she was used to, only one hand on each hilt to stabilize as opposed to two hands on her usual sabrestaff hilt. it made defense less an act of strength and more one of avoidance and deflection, getting her blades into just the right angle to let Cyphors strikes slide off them and away from her as she desperately tried to hold her balance and get the other blade up for the next incoming strike.
Cyphor smiled as he saw the reaction to his aggressive strikes, Kalmi had previously been following the same strikes with both blades most of the time even in defense against the less meaningful strikes her opponents had attacked her with up till now. Her strength with the staffsabre had always been in defense, using the polar blades and constant movement to catch strikes one after the other, often alternating blades.
Just as she was doing now.
Being forced onto the defensive, a situation she was comfortable with for the most part, she had resorted to adapting her practiced style rather than trying to use the twin blades as one.Alternating one blade to the other, spinning between blocks to better bring the next one up as if she was still using a sabre staff, even her grip on the hilts had shifted as if mirroring that attitude as she now held her offhand in a reversed grip. Each block flowed into the next and as Cyphor backed off his vicious strikes those blocks flowed straight into attack using the same merits. Constant movement from both blades as she returned Cyphors strikes and put him on the defensive this time, each strike flowing into the next weather it struck air or his blade. When she did meet his blade with one of hers she didn't push back against the block as some did, instead she let the strength of the block reverse her motion and brought the second blade up from a opposing angle without missing a stride.
Another few minutes of back and forth strikes across the length of the chamber went by as Cyphor switched from attack to defense and back again, forcing Kalmi to shift as well most of the time as she was still unaccustomed to the style and unsure of her capability despite her progress in this session. Stepping back from an attack and deactivating his sabre, Cyphor signaled that the duel was over, Kalmi likewise deactivated the two blades she held and performed a short bow which Cyphor mirrored.
"You've made progress this session," Cyphor said as he stood erect again and returned his sabre to his belt.
"I realised that despite their differences in configuration and handling I still wielded two blades." Kalmi replied as she used the force to guide the hilts she had been using to the rack on the side of the chamber where the training hilts were kept. "I just needed to adapt my thinking to the less solid grips."
"Did you realise this before or after you were already doing it?" Cyphor said with a smile.
"I think about the same time you did, just before you started attacking with Form VII." Kalmi said in reply. "You were inside my guard and I reacted without thinking as if I was wielding my staffsabre, when you backed off I had a moment to think about it, then you went on the offensive and I started reacting as I normally would." She added as the two of them started heading for the benches along the side of the chamber.
"You were not as sure of yourself still, you would have countered many of the attacks I made had you been using your sabrestaff." Cyphor said, half questioning and half stating fact.
"The feel is different, the gyroscopic force of the blades do not match and I need to control each one with only a single hand rather than guiding the blades with both. Its not as stable." Kalmi replied as they reached the benches and picked up a bottle of water each.
"It will come to you in time if you keep practicing, try encouraging your training partners to attack you, defense is always where you have felt the most comfortable, Form III may not be as practical with paired blades, but it does still work." Cyphor said before taking a long drink of water. "Maybe try stepping into Form V it emphasizes a strong defense with immediate counterattacks, two blades lends itself to the form well." Kalmi nodded at the advise as the door opened behind them and Zane approached the pair.
"Hope I'm not interpreting sir, But we've received a report from Captain Valko that may interest you." Zane said as he came to stand before Cyphor.
"And what might the report contain Zane?" Cyphor replied before he took another shorter drink of water.
"There is tell of a legend on Kashyyyk of a jedi living on the forest floor, some of what the captain heard has been around for thousands of years, but there were a few wookiees that claimed to have seen the jedi in the shadowlands recently when the captain was on kashyyyk a few days ago." Zane replied as he held up the dataslate he carried. "The full report from the captain is on here."
Cyphor took the data slate and nodded to Kalmi to go about her own business, afterall she had a padawan scampering about the ship somewhere, hopefully in the ships library studying but one never could tell with newly raised younglings, and Kathlyn was only a month raised from the creche. Looking over the report the details were sparse except for a few positive points that strongly implied that Captain Valko believed the Wookiees he had spoken too while on Kashyyyk. "This war has brought many of our kind out of hiding, its worth investigating at least." Cyphor said as he handed the slate back to Zane, "Find Hayle, have her prepare her ship for a trip to Kashyyyk, taking the pandorum into that potential conflict is a bad idea so the Nightclouds Reward will have to suffice. Tell her the passengers will by Myself, Kalmi, Kathlyn and a squad of blood hunters."
"Cathar sir? A squad of my brothers would be more than capable on Kashyyyk." Zane replied as he took the slate and tucked it into a pouch on his belt.
"Kashyyyk is on the point of open conflict between the Sepratists and Republic, Id rather not spark an invasion inadvertently." Cyphor replied, "Besides the blood hunters have good tracking experience and are more familiar with forested regions. They've lived in such places, not just trained in simulations or practice drills."
"Point taken sir." Zane said with maybe a touch of forced civility to his voice, he didn't like his brothers being considered second best at much, though he grudgingly accepted Cyphor's reasoning. "I'll go find Hayle." Zane added before turning and leaving the practice chamber. Cyphor took another drink and shook his head a little, he was going to have to find someone among the Cathar troops to bring into his inner circle, someone to help counter the preference Zane had shown over the past year since Cyphor had taken on more Cathar troops. That was however a task for another day, for the moment all he wanted was a shower.
Pandorum, Cyphors QuartersCyphor had not long stepped out of the shower and dried off when his intercom interjected into the quiet of his quarters. Finishing getting dressed by throwing on a lose shirt he went to the desk and activated the audio. "Whats up?" He said while he grabbed his belt and latched it around his waist.
"We're picking up a distress call on one of your private frequencies sir, its from one of the other jedi." A crewmember on the bridge said over the comm.
"Pipe it down here, I'll give it a listen." Cyhpor replied as he took a seat at the desk. a few moments later the file for the distress call appeared on his system and he started the file playing.
"This is Ba'alkyri -- We've crash landed on the planet Arkinnea after being attacked without warning by the CIS on the way to a rumoured ruins of a jedi enclave on-world. I think they're trying to jam signals. Please provide assistance."
Coordinates to their crash site were attached to the message along with a timestamp that was nearly half a day old. Cyphor grinned slightly to himself. Ba'alkyri had been outspoken about their collective lack of progress as a group at the first meeting in Neia Kaleesi's space station, she had been similarly unfavourable after Theodis' death, the first time he hears of her making a dedicated effort to act and she gets shot down and stranded. The universe had a sense of humour afterall. The message started to loop again and Cyphor ended the playback. in doing so he noted messages from his assets on Coomra's moon. The construction bay aboard the Travellers Respite had accepted a small contract from the local business on coomra to build orbital transport shuttles and the droid foundry was building protocol droids on order from the local government. Neither really concerned Cyphor at the moment however. Cyphor through for a moment and contacted Cha'alla's commlink, a few moments later she responded.
"I was just on my way to find you." She said as her voice came through the intercom. "Something up?"
"Ba'alkyri had her ship shot down on Arkinnea, I'll be leaving for Kashyyyk soon so I want you and Nikan to take the Risk vs Reward and pick her up, you'll likely need to clear the hanger to get her ship aboard as well so have the risks fighter compliment transferred to Yexn we'Be Cbetabin before it leaves there." Cyphor replied simply.
"Nikan will want to bring his fighter along if there's a chance we'll get shot at." Cha'alla said after a moment of silence.
"I have no doubt he will, one fighter wont prevent you fitting Ba'alkyri's ship in the hanger. Besides, Ba'alkyri was shoot down by the CIS, having Nikan in his fighter may just prevent you from having the same issue if you also run into them." Cyphor replied simply.
"Then I shall make arrangements immediately." Cha'alla said before the connection was closed.
The last month had been two quiet anyway through Cyphor to himself as he reflected on everything that had happened this morning, first the contact from the CIS about a scouting mission, then the kashyyyk thing and now Ba'alkyri. Things were about to start getting interesting again...
>Mara Bell takes Cha'alla's ship on a scouting contract for the CIS.
>Cyphor Duels Kalmi in a training match as Kalmi slowly learns to wield paired sabres.
>After the duel Zanearrives and imforms Cyphor of a recent information burst from one of his Explorer contacts.
>Cyphor receives a distress call from Ba'alkyri and details Cha'alla and Nikan to take the Risk vs Reward (Modified Action IV Freighter) to go and pick her up.
>Contracts accepted for Travelers Respite Construction Bay for 5sp per month and the Coomra Moon Droid Foundry for 30sp, zero risk for either.