Jedi Academy Grounds & Entrance Hall

*Syren drew in a shuddering breath, keeping hold of the thoughts of flowing water. Slowly she opened her eyes to find herself in the Corellian Jedi Academy, not a burning beach. There was nothing she could do about the past. She had taken great strides to let it go.

But here was Lance. Alive. Mostly whole. She reached out to touch him again not really believing it. Solid muscle under that blue skin.*
"Are...are there other survivors?" *her voice quavered as she asked. How many years had it been? How many years had she thought she was the last? One or two others over the years, exiled to the galaxy for their fall to the dark side... she had fought to reach past that fall. Rise and rise again until there was no breath left. How long had she been alone in this alien galaxy?*

Still posing as the crew of a civilian freighter, the strike team made its way through the academy grounds while doing their best to pass as nothing more than panicked civilians looking to flee from the commotion in the hangar, where their ship had been rigged to catch on fire just a few moments earlier. Holding onto the duffel bags as if they were the last few possessions they had left, they made a beeline towards the entrance, as if they sought to exit the academy as quickly as possible, while looking confused and frightened.

But at the last minute, they slipped down a side corridor and then doubled back towards the stairways leading to the second floor, stopping in a deserted section of the hallway, under a ventilation duct. At a signal from their leader, the pretense of confused civilians vanished in an instant as the commandos sprang into action. A long, cylindrical object was retrieved from one of the duffel bags, along with several bandoliers of grenades which were distributed to the team. Twisting a knob on the cylinder caused a bright red flame to erupt out the other end, revealing the object to be a simple signal flare, the kind found inside almost every first aid kit on almost every ship in the galaxy. With a flick of the wrist, the flare was unceremoniously dumped into the ventilation shaft, where the heat and the smoke would trip some fire alarm. This was their secondary diversion.

The rest of their equipment was distributed and brandished in less than half a minute, with the practiced ease and efficiency that only a special forces unit was capable of. Toggles on their blasters clicked and beeped as their weapons were switched to their stun settings as the Sith Lord and the two lead soldiers dropped smoke grenades to provide further cover for their approach. In a V-shaped formation, the strike team quickly dashed across the main hall.

It was impossible to remain unnoticed as they cut across the cavernous chamber. Luckily, the confusion, along with their reflexes and experience gave them the edge they needed over the two unlucky Padawans who happened to run into them. Rifles snapping up, the commandos struck fast and the last thing the padawans would see, were the distinctive blue halos of stun blasts as the soldiers stormed up the stairway to the second floor's western side.

Outside the main entrance of the Jedi Academy across the street, a public air-bus descended to the smooth flagstones of a service stop, setting down to allow its passengers to disembark. A hydraulic hiss sounded as the exterior door slid open and all manner of Corellians stepped off the transport. The last off was no Corellian, however, but a human all the same like most of the rest of them. He brushed a hand through the thick brown hair on his head, streaked with grey like his beard. Two eyes of the deepest blue swept from side to side, always seeking but never seeming to find what he was looking for. He was wearing a casual pair of grey trousers, a faded white shirt, and a thin brown robe that ran from his shoulders to mid shin. Over his shoulder he carried a large duffel bag with all his worldly possessions, which admittedly wasn't much at the moment.

The human stared at the entrance of the Jedi Academy, waiting hesitantly across the street from it, his mind drifting to past events. Had he been here before? Things weren't as clear as they used to be and sometimes the line between memories and dreams was blurred. What he did know was that he was here now with a purpose in mind. He took a step forward, then another.

Before he knew it he was standing at the entrance of the Jedi Academy. There he waited.

It would have been difficult to miss the large man walking out the temple entrance, even if he hadn't already been looking around. His left brow rose while a breath slipped past his lips, whistling an impressed tune as he eyed Halmner from his toes to his top. They made them big on Corellia, that was for sure. Either that or the guy in front of him has been drinking his blue milk. He let the duffel bag slip from his shoulder and placed it on the ground beside him, before extending a courteous hand towards the muscular fellow who had just introduced himself.

"I'm well, though a little lost." That much was true in more ways than one. "The name is..."

Wait. Should he really be telling anybody that? Once upon a time he had something of a piratical reputation. The Holonet News Network had always tended to leave out the part where he had been stealing from the Sith and then giving to the needy, which had created more than a fair share of problems for him in the past. Still, it had been years since he had been active and he was planning on leaving that in the past where it belonged. If he was going to do this, to truly commit himself to this path, he had to be honest.

"...Endor." He finally finished. "I've come to enlist."

A wry grin split his features. It had been a long time since he had heard someone say that, it was almost refreshing. Though by the way the large man had said it, he couldn't quite tell if he was making a joke or was actually serious. He let loose a chuckle and nodded his head a few times, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm sure they would; unfortunately I'm just the man you see before you." He shrugged his shoulders. "The Jedi recruiter that found me as a child didn't have a translator properly programmed with ewokese. Mistakes were bound to happen, though I give him points for trying."

It was then that he noticed the cylindrical object in Halmner's clip band.

"Oh, you have a lightsaber. You're a Jedi." He stated, immediately feeling foolish at the obviousness of the statement. Mind you, there were plenty of beings in the galaxy that carried lightsabers that weren't actually Jedi, but given where they were, it stood to good reason. "Then I guess I'm really in luck. You could call me something of a Knight errant, though it has been years since I've been a formal member of any Jedi Order. I actually used to be loosely associated with the Order out of Rodia, but I don't think they are there anymore. "

Endor's lips parted as though he was going to say something, but instead he paused, genuinely lost for words.

Wait a second, does this guy actually think I'm an ewok? The fact that Halmner was so deadpan about it led him to believe that he probably wasn't making a joke, though he didn't know enough about this particular Jedi Knight yet to say for sure. He supposed there was a first time for everything, though he was glad his childhood friend Tarfang who happened to be an actual ewok wasn't here to witness the confusion. He never would have let Endor live it down.

He shook his head tried to not let too much of the humor slip into his voice.

"Yeah, I suppose I am a little tall...for an ewok." There didn't seem much to gain at this point by correcting the man.

When asked what he could do, a tremor of excitement flutter through his being.

"Good question. Why don't we find out together?" He looked Halmner up and down once again. "You look like you're dressed for a work out. How about a race?"

Endor looked down at his duffel bag on the floor and blinked. This guy was expecting him to carry his bag while they raced? Well, he supposed that would make it more of a challenge. Still... He looked back up at Halmner and nodded once.

"Yeah, I guess that would make it easier...for you." He muttered the last part under his breath before looking around again. The question now was where the race should take place. He wasn't as familiar with the Academy grounds as the Jedi Knight, but there was always the tried and true method of taking a lap.

He reached down and grabbed the strap of his duffel, lifting it off the ground and swinging it over his shoulder to rest against his back. He then performed a couple of standing squats to limber up before pivoting back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"How about we make this interesting? Say, last one to lap the Academy owes the other a drink? Nothing says Corellia like a wager over a drink."

[ Ami-Lee Westar | Entrance Hall | Jedi Academy | Corellia ] Attn: Endor & Halmner Strom

“The blazes are ya doin', Millie,” chastised the woman to herself in a soft murmur as she gazed at the entrance to the Jedi Academy.

Having spent some time on the fringes, Millie had found herself serving with all manner of factions and organizations...to the point they'd all begun blending together, and she was nearly going cross-eyed trying to keep everything straight. She'd even run into her uncles, and there was an honest-to-goodness clone of herself, around seven years old and cute as a button.

She very much wanted to ask, but as she wore a helmet during that entire pseudo-reunion, her identity was never revealed to them. Seeing them with that little clone of herself, and the light in their eyes that took years off their faces, Millie suddenly felt like all her years of baggage since her forced separation from them would just bring all the bad things back, and after some stilted conversation with them, she'd left, even more bereft and alone than she'd ever felt.

With only a faulty BB-unit for company, and an even faultier ship, Millie had sold the vehicle for a one-way trip to Corellia, her home. Her uncles and her clone were probably somewhere here, possibly even on the same farm they used to live in. But there was something else here, she was certain.

Something connected to her parents.

Uncle Jaime was a Jedi once before, and Uncle Ruubin definitely was strong in the Force. They had tried to keep it hidden, but Millie suspected her parents were certainly Jedi Knights themselves.

So what better way to find out about the Jedi than from the Jedi themselves?

With the Empire gone, Millie had kept out of the way and avoided attention, but without purpose, and drive or ambition, and without family, Millie realized just how empty she felt inside, and now sought her past to fill that void.

With a sigh, she began placing one foot in front of the other, taking slow but sure steps closer towards destiny...or two men about to take part in a race?

She only caught the tail end of the conversation as she got close enough, but she decided not to interrupt them. Instead, she watched with casual interest, wanting to see just how this was going to play out. The big lug certainly was...impressive. Her lips quirked up when she heard him suggesting jawa juice as a treat for winning the race. How intriguing.

The other man was much older, and had an air of mystery about him. Where the big man exuded a sense of sincerity, the other was like a shroud.

Trying not to be too obvious about her interest...and her lack of anything better to do, she paused to examine...a slightly cracked floor tile.

What an interesting floor tile...

Hey! Wait! What....! That's Not fair! You can't just start like that! That is cheating! Halmner spends about 15 seconds protesting before he realizes how much time he lost. It was all he needed to forget about the length of the race and he took off at a sprint to catch the other man. His strong legs fired quickly, but they had a lot of mass to move. He slowly began to remember that he had to save some stamina.