Captain Candy's Starlog, Entry 5

Post Mission Florn

Character Art work by Ana Karenina García Lamas

A little backstory...

People you should know:
Captain Candy - The Duros (see upper large left hand picture)
Hell Shepard - The Clone (top left)
Vidar Starhawk - "The General" Jedi Knight (top right)
Mandragore - The Mandalorian (bottom left)
Vidar - The Miraluka Engineer/Black-ops (bottom right)

NOT in the picture above: 
Jess - Night Sister (ally)
Snidely - Candy's ID9 Seeker Droid 
R8PR "Reaper" - Vidar's R2 Droid

Things you should know:
We started as a party of 5. Vidar had a R2 unit droid and Candy has an ID9 Seeker droid. Mandragore came a little late to the games but we were all set to start our adventure. We went to Florn and meet HK (a killer droid for those who don't know) who set us on a mission to "destroy the female" which was the GM run Night Sister (Jess). We were also there to investigate a place on Florn. Which turned out to be a Sith temple. 

On our way to the temple, we met Jess. She had just finished fighting these gorgeous mandrake creatures (a cross between a lion and a  scorpion). We knew she was powerful and we made a deal with her instead. Sometime in-between she licked Jaris in the face. Full tongue. On the cheek. Like he was dessert. 

We all went to the temple and everyone started acting weird except for me, the Duros (and I think Jess too). The others had hallucinations and started firing on each other while Candy found a Sith Holocron (very evil item) and pocketed that item. In fact, you can see the holocron in the image. That's what Candy is holding. 

They make it out of the Sith temple with stuff and got back to the ship and pissed off the HK unit.

Our GM was going to use Jess as a rival that stole our ship however our black-ops engineer, Jaris, rolled a 20 and actually convinced Jess to join the party. Epic. And he couldn't tell anyone until about half-way through the game (6 months after the fact). 

One other thing... Calling a Duros "Traveler" is to honor the Duros. They travel the stars and are a race of star travelers. The more they've been to other worlds, the more they are reveared. Their own kind only call another Traveler as a means of great respect. It means the Duros has traveled to many places that no other has.

Knowing that, you should be armed to read the interchange between the characters.

Carry on!

Character Art work by Ana Karenina García Lamas

Traveler Candy sets The Desperate Measures on a course for Corasant and walks down the dorm-like corridor of bunk rooms to the back. Her large Durosian eyes set on the soldering arch’s metal sparks illuminating the shadow of a Miraluka behind a white bedsheet.  She knocks politely and waits.

The sheet is pulled open by a droid arm usually worn on Jaris's back, him sitting at a small desk working on his helmet which sits in front of him. "I am pleased the sign is effective, can I help you Captain?"

"Of course.” She chuckles. “I'm here for the safety and comfort of the crew. Now, about that night-time part of the voodoo you guys do..."

Jaris tilts his head to the side as he turns his head towards Candy, the Miraluka equivalent of raising an eyebrow, placing his helmet down. "The night-time voodoo? I do believe the voodoo man, the jedi, is in another bunk."

"The general? Ummm... yeah, I'll talk to him too, and reaper, but there was some weird stuff going on in that pyramid. Jess says it's best to leave the shiny's in there alone and I believe her, but..." She shrugs. "The thing disappeared. How? Why?"

"Ah that's right, I did say I needed to teach you about the force didn't I?" Jaris rises and bids her to sit on the second of two metal stools he made from bits and pieces taken from the cargo bay. "Whatever happened to it, it's best to push it from our thoughts. Only trouble has ever come from with holocrons...or so I've been told. Those ghosts that attacked us in the temple, they were dark side, just like the holocron, and I have no desire to deal with more of that do you?"

She sits after making sure they aren't parts of Snidely. "We came out alright. Thanks in part for not walking past the guy the second time. You're a friendly guy, I like that about you, but you step all over my stealth. A girl sometimes has to get the first jump on someone, ya know?"

"I also don't want you to get hurt." Jaris sits back down on his own stool, the paint on it making it seem as if it was made from spare parts for Vidar's ship. "Well it didn't work the first time so I wasn't confident it would work the second." He then picked his helmet back up, working at making edits to the front of it. "Friendly huh? Don't hear that often, then again most of my work was solo stuff. Stealth isn't my thing, prefer to shoot from a distance where sneaking isn't needed, but I suppose I can work on it. If a girl indeed needs to get the first jump on her target after all, who am I to stand in the way."

She laughs, her lids squinting over her red eyes. “I hurt 'em first, you finish 'em, deal?"

"Sounds fair, you all just have to agree to stop getting shot and sliced so much. Our fearless leader, Hell Sheperd, even Jess made sure to give me plenty of work protecting them."

Just as Jaris says that, Jess happens to be walking by and overhears that last bit. Jess pops here head in for half a second. "I don’t need the physical protection." She looks back and forth between Candy and Jaris for a bit then retreats.

Jaris turns towards Jess, glancing between the two women for a moment before the nightsister retreats. "Wait, what does that mean? Then what protection DO you want?" He then sits back down, shaking his head.

"Awww... she likes you." Candy leans back and sets her hands behind her bald head.

"What could possibly make you think that? Yea she licked me but, again, I have no idea what that means."

"She's just tsundre." Candy murmurs. "How to explain...” She sits forward and taps her lip. "You trusted the general to go do what he needed to do, yeah? She doesn't want to feel weak by needing your assistance, but everyone wants help sometimes. So, don't think of it as protecting her but as assisting her, like a partner. Yeah?"

"To be fair, I was fairly sure the general was going to mess it up and the troopers would bail him out. But point taken." Jaris replied after a moment of silence. "And besides I put a lot of trust in her, she hasn't let me down yet."

Candy nods. "Good. You'll find your way." The captain stands up. "Have fun. I'm checking in with everyone. I'm here if you need me." As she goes to leave she stops. "Oh, if you see any extra parts for another Snidely I want to make a pal for him, let me know." With that, she departs the engine room.

Jaris turns back to his work, pulling out the electro staff and the arm of the super battle droid to begin reverse engineering them. "What would she name a new droid? Maybe I don't want to know."

Wanting more answers, Candy knocks on Vidar Starhawk’s door.

“Come in.”

When she opens the door, Vidar is sitting on a meditation stool, legs crossed with arms resting on his knees.

"Hey, I just wanted to check on you. Anything I can get you?"

“Count Dooku?”

She looks at him quizzically.

He waves a hand dismissively. “We probably should see if Mandragore and Jessi need dropped off anywhere… or what.”

"I'll check on them. Hey, may I borrow reaper sometime? Snidely says he's got some astro charts I haven't memorized yet?" Candy taps her head.

“Sure. Any time. He may refuse some jedi specific routes but otherwise you should be good.”

"Great, thanks. So, hey, can you maybe explain something to me?"

“Sure, what do you need to know?”

"Well..." Candy shuffles her feet. "There was this thing. A glowy pyramid thing. Is it like dangerous?"

“Is it red?”

Candy perks up. "Yeah, yeah, and glowy! Was it worth a lot of money?"

“It’s extremely dangerous. Imagine if Jabba the Hutt offered you everything you wanted. Only if you accept the offer it would corrupt or kill your friends and twist you in ways you would not recognize. The only friends you could have wouldn’t be friends but would rather be people who would use you and eventually you’d end up dead because of how it twists those around you.”

"Oh, so like, the infinite empire, got it."

“And only worth money to horrible people who would more likely kill you rather than pay you. So again like a Hutt. Only Hutt’s might actually have compassion. Unlike this thing. Also they are hard to destroy, and tend to twist those around it in evil ways.” He pauses, then asks, “Why? Did you find one in the Sith Temple?

"Yep. Had it too, but the thing didn't like me. If it's that evil, then I'm glad it ran away."

Vidar narrows his eyes. “I don’t think it ran away. It might have hid itself. Or it enticed someone...”

Candy scoffs. "Figures"

“They are not self-mobile, but they may convince someone to move them...”

Candy shrugs. "Well there's a whole bunch of creepy crap in there, I thought it wouldn't be unlikely to grow legs." Candy thinks for a moment, noticing Vidars countenance shift as he focuses and remains silent.

“Candy.” Vidar focuses on the Captain. “Set a course for the Jedi Temple.”

"In Corrosant, right?"

“Yes Coruscant.”

"Okay," Candy stares off, calculating in her head the route with her near photographic memory. When it came to star charts, she never needed maps. "That will take seven days.”

Candy signals Reaper to come with her and strides to the navigation panel in the cockpit.

Vidar follows them both. “We have to get there sooner.”

Now nervous this wizard that's usually so together is freaking out, Candy navigates her ship, using calculations with reaper. "So, why are we rushing?"

“Because I want to give that holocron as little time as possible to turn friends on each other. I don't want to have to try and stop people from murdering each other if I can avoid it. I am hoping an archivist can deal with it safely.”

"Oh." Candy shuffles, contemplating her thoughts and suspicions.

"Giving into Fear Jedi?" Jess said through a mouth of food. She leaned up against the wall.

Candy eyes Jess.

Jess looks at her sandwich "Oh, sorry was I not supposed to help myself?"

Candy snorts. "Of course you can have food."

The air thickens with tension as Candy makes the calculation to speed up the process of traveling to Corusant. Reaper beeps softly to Candy and they both murmur in compliance. She pulls out of hyperspace, readjusts and pushed forward. “Well, be there in six days.”

After the stare down between the jedi and the nightsister, the silence is broken between them. “I worry for the clones,” Vidar crosses his arms. “They are young, inexperienced. And while disciplined I don’t know if their lack of experience might make them easier to manipulate.”

"Maybe a dark sider would know how to handle such things." Candy turns in the navigation seat to face them.

Jess smiles and nods to Candy. "I am no darksider, nor am I with the light. I worship the old majiks handed down to our kind. we respect knowledge no matter where it comes from. We do not fear it."

Vidar grits his teeth, keeping his eyes on Jess. “I do not know how some on the ship might react to the manipulations. I have seen the results of the darkside to people. I did not like what I had to do. So yes, I am being cautious.”

Candy looks back at Jess. This situation needed diffusing. "Eat your fill.” Candy waves to Jess. “I can't imagine how long you've been out in HK land."

"Thank you." The nightsister nods again then turns to Vidar. "If you decide you would consult with someone such as me, I will be around... for now at least. I do not think I would be welcome at your temple."

Maybe because she was a female, or because she seemed experienced, Candy felt much better having Jess’ opinion on the matter. “Do you need to be anywhere soon? Or will you stay a while?" Then uttered "Goodness knows I need help wrangling these yahoo's."

She looks at Candy contemplating, then almost imperceptibly over her shoulder back to the bunks and the engine room. She shots a glare to Vidar. "I guess that depends. My sisters have not faired well with jedi or sith before."

Candy frowned at the thought of her general not being fair with Jess. "You've done nothing to warrant discrimination."

Vidar nodded. “I bare no ill will. As long as you do not harm the innocent we shouldn’t have a problem.”

Candy gave a satisfied nod. “You have a place here, if you want it. Until you don't."
Jess looks inward and a great pain sweeps across her face before schooling the emotion crossing her face. "I am one of the last ones left of my sisters. They are gone now... destroyed by a once Jedi and a Sith.”

A shadow crosses Vidars face. "Dooku," he curses the name.

"I believe that was his name. He had trained my sister for a time, and a few others of us as a test. She was always better though."

“He is a corrupting influence. destructive.”

Candy shakes her head. "Wait, Dooko? Is that... who is that? A jedi? A sith?"

"Two sides of the same coin." Jess said, argumentatively.

"So, anyone care to explain jedi and sith, dark side, light side to me?"

"He used a great power for his own gain,” Vidar began. “Instead of living with it he bent it to his will."

Candy lets out a suffering sigh. This was always how one of Vidar’s riddles started.

“He also used it to dominate and harm others.”

Jess begrudging nods

“For personal gain,” Vidar continues. “For power.”

From down the hall, Jaris spoke up. He snacked on a piece of dried fruit as if the conversation were entertainment. "Well I do believe the light side is what you would call blue, and the dark side tends to be red."

Jess turned, looking surprised.

Candy picked up the ship wide comm, then upon hearing Jaris puts it back down, shrugging in a what gives motion.

"I live in the engine room and I could hear you all from back there over the engines, why did we drop out of hyperspace for a moment?"

"Oh, yes, I was just about to comm everyone." She picks up the comm and dials in. "Attention crew. Please stay in your bunks. Course reroute to Courasant. We'll be there in six days. Thank you."

"We changed course. The Jedi is heading home to his temple." Jess snears at the last word.

"The general freaked out when I told him about my pay day. He wants to go back to the temple. We need to ask Easy if he needs a ride anywhere."

Jaris nods his head. "I see, well that’s going to be a long flight isn't it? Plenty of time to start work on a few projects then."

Candy sits up, proud. “You have six days.”

"I think I’ve enough of this conversation." Jess mutters "Thank you for the food.... Captain." She heads off to the room she has claimed as hers.

Jaris sighs, turns to look down the hall Jess disappeared down. "Why do I feel as if there was more to that conversation than a change in course? I'll go check on her." He turns to follow. It’s a short walk  before he’s knocking on her door.

There is a pause then the hiss of a door opening.

​Jaris steps into Jess’s room, closing the door behind him. The door closes with a hiss... then a few seconds later the lock engages from the inside.

I'll let your mind run away with that one! 

Until next time...
...happy reading!
​~ Stephy