Five years ago... (6 BBY)

Dawn had barely begun to touch the leaden skies overhead as Cerena sat in the cockpit of her scout ship, running through her preflight checklist. Unable to sleep - unable to deal with her failure, yet again - she'd found herself lying awake in her bunk all night, her mind running through the previous day's meeting, again and again, with Jedi-enhanced clarity.

They were afraid - she'd sensed that much. Afraid of her; afraid of the Empire and its ruthless persecution of anyone with even a hint of Force sensitivity, let alone a true Jedi.

A 'true Jedi'... she thought to herself, looking down at her scarred hand in the dawn's grey light. What is a true Jedi? I don't know anymore. Shaelis... Oh, Shaelis. You would have known what to do, wouldn't you? You would have come up with something to strike through their fear, to inspire them. But no. I'm not you, master. I'm not a teacher...

Putting on her headset, she called for spaceport control and received takeoff clearance. She would leave this cold, dry planet behind her before Mirial's sun warmed the ground beneath her.

---
The launch went as well as could be expected. The engines were straining a little, as they'd been doing for... how long now? She hadn't stayed still long enough in the last few years to be able to pay for anything more than routine maintenance on her ship, though. Well, maybe that would change now. Maybe it was time to give up. She'd been on her self-appointed search for years now, with nothing to show for it. Mirial had been her main hope; hopping towards it from planet to planet along the Outer Rim territories, hoping to find something - someone - to give her hope...

Hoping for hope.

The navicomputer guided the ship into an unoccupied orbital slot as she stared blankly at the sector map. Where to now? Where should she take her hopeless search nex--

A noise from the rear of the ship startled her into alertness. She cast her senses out through the Force, actively searching for any presence there, trying to push down her anxiety. But an Imperial saboteur wouldn't have remained on the ship - and besides, if the Imperials had located her, they would have sent more than one operative to stop her.

Reaching across, she opened the starboard utility compartment and withdrew her lightsaber from it. Closing both hands around its polished hilt, she got up from the pilot's seat and stepped from the cockpit into the tiny living/sleeping area. Nobody could be hiding here; the intruder had to be down in the supply compartment, then.

"Who's there?" she called, her thumb poised on her lightsaber's activation stud.

Out of Character: FYI: I tried to locate Mirial on the Star Wars galaxy map(s). It's missing on most. I found one that places Mirial on the upper right hand side (of the map) in the 'Outer Rim', beyond Yavin and somewhat close to Korriban. Next to Telos on the so-called 'Hydian Way' route to the 'Corporate Sector'.

Everything started a few days ago with an odd sensation, a vague feeling Carr'Dyth could not pin-point. Then rumours started to spread in town. Nobody spoke openly about it. People behaved strangely and soon afterwards even his family started to 'occupy' him with little absurd tasks and tried to keep him home in an almost paranoid fashion.

Then he heard the magical word: Jedi.

A true Jedi shall have come to his home planet, courageously looking for a potential pupil. Now it all made sense. A true Jedi would finally oppose the empire. Everybody would be afraid of that - to say the least. Nobody would support the Jedi. He knew that much. All those years he had been cautioned and even been threatened to not developing his force skills beyond what was 'normal' on Mirial.

He had grabbed a few belongings and travelled with a public shuttle to the city, where the rumours had told the Jedi had tried to appeal to the local government. He had kept a low profile and pretended it all to be gossip, in order to get more out of people.

He had barely arrived in time to learn that - to everybody's relief - the Jedi had announced to leave. Which however made him quite upset. He didn't even had the chance to speak a single word with the Jedi. Without the Empire he'd be in training on Coruscant for eighteen years.

"Damn it, I would be a Jedi Knight by now." He cursed under his breath. Trying to figure where the Jedi had his [SIC] ship, without causing too much suspicion in the local authorities, which didn't want any trouble with the Empire.

He managed to get close to the battered looking scout ship, wondering if the Jedi was already on board. What if he would leave without listening to him first? What if the Jedi would even reject Carr'Dyth?

How many Jedi had been visiting Mirial in the last twenty years? None he had heard of. How many other chances might he get?

"Everybody has their place in history, everyone can make a change." Carr'Dyth told himself, idealising the religious concept popular on Mirial for his favour. Apprehensive that he might never get a second chance in his still young years he took the chance at a moment nobody seemed to be close to the ship and sneaked in, trying to find a place to hide in the considerably small supply compartment.

"I wish I was smaller." He whispered as he hid in some corner behind a couple of boxes and tried to meditate. For different reasons. For one to calm down, for another he had no idea how long he'd have to wait until the ship would launch... and then in an attempt to hide his presence.

~

In fact he had fallen asleep and woke up at the low hum of the ship's engines and the rumble of it's ascend. It was only now that he realised that he could be in trouble. A cargo hold might not have any life support, but then the hold had seemed closely connected to the other small rooms.

Another thing was, what when he was on the... wrong ship?

He sighed at his own recklessness and shifted his weight, trying to stretch. He yawned and was careless for a moment, pushing over a box next to him. The little metal crate shattered to the floor with an amazing amount of noise.

He closed his eyes and tried to make himself smaller in the corner he hid. For a couple of seconds nothing happened and he hoped already that this had gone unnoticed. He didn't want the Jedi to find him too early so that he might just return and bring Carr straight back. (But what if I am on the wrong ship?)

He held his breath as a female voice called out sth in Basic from somewhere above him. He gritted his teeth, he obviously ~was~ on the wrong ship.

(All right...) He pondered when was the right time to reveal himself and trying to make clear as peacefully as possible, that this was all a stupid misunderstanding. Apropos peacefully, he wasn't even armed. Certainly that was just a poor Mirialan trader he had climbed into.

"I know you're there," Cerena said, reaching out through the Force to throw open the small hatch that led down into the supply compartment. "Come out now. I won't hurt you."

Out of Character: Say, if you change posts it doesn't state so underneath the post?

He exhaled, this was the right time to come out.

"Excuse me, please. I do mean no harm either..." He said getting up, showing his hands as he approached the hatch. He wasn't exactly afraid of a woman, but if she had a gun and was of the trigger-happy kind, he didn't want to take any chances getting accidentally shot. "I... must have fallen asleep during loading your ship, ... working over hours, you know." He lied rolling his eyes at himself.

He climbed up and smoothly moved out of the hatch, up to where Cerena was standing. He politely kept his distance and smiled... awkwardly. He had put his long black hair into a ponytail. A few shorter strands 'surrounded' his face.

She ~did~ look like a poor trader and if she had a gun, it was the strangest looking hand-gun he had ever seen. She held it like a rod, only that the rod-part was missing. He frowned a little. The first and last time he had seen a Jedi face to face was at the young age of three and they hadn't exactly shown off their light saber handles as far as he could remember.

Out of Character: It does unless you're modifying the most recent post in the thread or you're a mod.

"No-one loaded my ship," Cerena said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as she tucked her lightsaber into her sleeve, having noticed the Mirialan's eyes drifting to it. "It was refueled on landing, but no-one had permission to come aboard. So... who are you? What are you doing on my ship?"

Carr shrugged. "I...? I was looking for..." No-one carelessly spoke about Jedi these days. He sighed and let his shoulders hang. She wasn't from Mirial. Maybe she knew sth, maybe he could use her to follow the Jedi?

"I am sorry, I guess I made a mistake. Perhaps you can help me?" He asked and looked concentratedly at Cerena. It suddenly happened to him, that she might not be the only one aboard. So he tried to use the force to sense for other beings around...

"A mistake?" Cerena repeated. "You certainly didn't stow away on my ship by accident! What exactly are you-- oh?" She paused, startled, as she sensed him reaching out - somewhat clumsily, it had to be said - through the Force. Was this the result of the Mirialans' suppressing their cultural heritage - the latent Force abilities of their younger generation going untested and untrained? Was he even aware of what he was doing?

"What sort of help are you looking for?" she asked, after a moment.

Out of Character: "Illimbuana Space Port" A name I just made up.

"Sure a mistake." He said with regained confidence as Cerena made a pause, being oblivious that Cerena ~was~ the Jedi he was actually looking for. She seemed slightly confused. Maybe she was afraid. He smiled smugly and walked past her towards the cockpit. He could feel that they were still close to Mirial, which was good.

"Help to find the person I was actually trying to meet."

Arriving at the cockpit he could see through the windows, that they had barely left Mirial. "Splendid." He expressed. Taking in the view he hadn't seen too often in his life, yet. "Beautiful..." He mumbled.

"To be precise I am looking for a... uhm... warrior, yes." He nodded confidently. In his mind-set someone who had survived the Jedi Purge must be male, tall, strong, smart and fearless. He looked at the consoles as if the ship would now belong to him.

"Say, can this ship scan the traffic coming from Illimbuana Space Port? It's important that we do not miss him."

"Help to find the person I was actually trying to meet," the Mirialan explained.

"And who were you trying to meet?" Cerena asked, half-intrigued and half-annoyed by the Mirialan's habit of answering questions with cryptic statements.

"To be precise I am looking for a... uhm... warrior, yes," the Mirialan said, standing in the cockpit with an altogether too authoritative attitude for Cerena's liking. Who did he think he was? "Say, can this ship scan the traffic coming from Illimbuana Spaceport? It's important that we do not miss him."

"Just give me his name," Cerena suggested, pushing past the Mirialan and sitting down in the pilot's seat. "I'll contact spaceport control and find out if he's departed the planet yet. Even if he has left, he might have logged his flight plan and destination before he departed."

"His name?" Carr turned pale. The woman had a point, but: "I... don't... know his name." He said slightly embarrased averting his eyes.

"And even if, I doubt that he'd lock his data, because... he... because... uhm." He looked around. "Are you the only one on this ship?" He reached out again. "I was told that this is supposed to be his ship." He looked Cerena up and down. "You are not his pilot?" He tried to scan her.

"Are you the only one on this ship?" the Mirialan asked, reaching out through the Force in his unrefined way again, like a toddler's first unsteady steps. "I was told that this is supposed to be his ship. You are not his pilot?"

"His pilot?" Cerena repeated, growing ever more certain that their wires must be crossed. "Look... this is my ship. There's no 'warrior' on board this ship - just me. That's all. I'm sorry if that disappoints you. Now..." She sighed. "If you'll just give me a minute, I'll contact spaceport control and get us a landing slot so we can get you home."

Wasting my fuel, she didn't add. Jedi weren't meant to be petty; well, at least not out loud.

"Then you can go track down this 'warrior' of yours," she added. "All right? I didn't know you Mirialans were so martially-inclined," she grumbled, as she reached over to the comm panel. "I thought the Force was more important to you people..."

Carr tried to get a word in as Cerena got ready to go back to to the Space Port. He was still slightly confused, that he could not 'read' anything in this woman. Then she used the magical words:

"I thought the Force was more important to you people..."

"It is...!" He suddenly burst out anxiously, passion gleaming up in his eyes. "For me...! I mean, it used to be! Without the Empire I'd now be a J...!" He stopped himself, glaring tensely at Cerena. When all is said and done, she could be an imperial spy. He stood there uneasily.

Out of Character: I don't think Carr's abilities should extend to something as advanced as a Force push yet. I think it's enough if he can sense people through the Force and perhaps have a limited ability to affect people's minds. He might also have a small talent for telekinesis. I just think that those sorts of advanced abilities would require specific training to master. He will definitely have those skills by the time we catch up to the 'present day' in the RP.


"It is...!" The Mirialan's outburst surprised Cerena for a moment. "For me...! I mean, it used to be! Without the Empire I'd now be a J...!"

"A J...?" Cerena repeated, cautiously. Could it be? Could it be that the Force had led her to cross paths with... with a Mirialan who actually wanted to be a Jedi? A Mirialan who didn't want to hide?

Out of Character: Agreed

"Never mind." He said nervously. "I guess you better bring me back now." He added, afraid of that time was running out and the Jedi might leave Illimbuana without seeing him first. He wasn't hiding is feelings.

He had noticed the scars at Cerena's face and now also noticed similar scars on her hand. "How did that happen?" He asked nervously. He was curious on one hand and wanted to get back urgendly on the other.