More Living Force obsession
Jul. 3rd, 2005 02:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walbournPortents
Turning out the light in her Gadrin home, Sara Ives lays back into bed and tries to clear her mind enough to sleep. Somehow the bed felt empty with Dennis gone on a training exercise. The Cularin military forces had lost a lot of good people in the recent conflict with Thaere and getting the remaining units back to full strength was a major priority for the newly independent government of Cularin eager to prove their readiness to join the Republic as a full member system. Yet Sara felt lonely and a little bitter with him gone after having gotten so used to his presence by her side. She prided herself on her ability to sleep just about anywhere when pressed--the dirt floor of a jungle hut, the passenger seat of a shuttle during severe turbulence, sitting in a tree in the driving rain--and the emptiness she felt being in her own home but without Denny's presence made her feel a bit foolish. "Silly damn woman," she thinks to herself, "if you can sleep on the way to the Sith Fortress on Almas you can sleep without a man in your bed." Rolling over to face away from Denny's side of the bed, she forces herself to think about other things.
So much to do and she felt pulled in so many directions at once. She had a wedding to plan, although thankfully Da'Iana, the Stendans, Chaika, and others were willing and able to help with much of the work. Lu'Taak's training had stalled the past few months, and while they had made some recent progress she was increasingly feeling that she had taught him as much as she could. Lu'Taak, like Ennia, had the potential to be powerful in the Force and a great aid to his tribe, but she would only be able to help him so far and soon would have to let him find his own path, perhaps sooner than she would wish. Having helped create and run the survival training course for the Militia, she was being asked to return and help with another round of recruits for the Cularin military and while she put them off for a few months it was important work. With recent events in the Cularin underworld, pirate attacks were increasing and Renna needed every experienced transport crewman on the job, and she needed to get some rest before her next shift. And with all this, the Clone Wars rage on, the Senate is increasingly happy to let the Supreme Chancellor make all the decisions, and the Jedi Order continues to be more and more distracted by the demands of fighting the war.
Taking deep breaths, Sara tries to let all her thoughts drift away.
As had happened many times before, she felt her consciousness shift away into the Force, open to visions of friends, of places far away, and glimpses of the future. Scenes flashed before her: Denny's face colored in streaks of camouflage as he and his team moved through training grounds, Lu'Taak's sleeping form in a Tarasin hut, Jewel and Ril in the cockpit of The Dancer shooting through the asteroid belt at break-neck speed. Her visions often followed her train of thought, and with her friends on her mind she was not surprised to have them appear.
It was the future, however, she was dwelling on. Sara could not help but wonder what the future held for her and Denny's life together. The night of his proposal, Da'Iana had spoken of a 'large family', but it wasn't clear what exactly she meant by that. Her teacher had told her of future vision; admonishing her to be careful in taking too much from it. "Trust what you can see and know is true," she had said, "but avoid reading too much into what you see. Visions seldom show the whole picture, and only knowledge of what lead to that moment will tell you the whole story. Prescience is a trap, don't fall into it."
More scenes flash by: smoke rising from the city of Fornard on Almas, Republic Army troopers streaming into the Sith Fortress, the sounds of thousands of beings applauding somewhere far away. A waver in her future sight, and she sees a small settlement deep in the jungles of Cularin. A large structure that looks to be made from the parts of a YT-1300 sits deep under the canopy, with numerous smaller huts and make-shift outbuildings, and surrounded by shield emitters humming softly. "Sensor scattering shields," Sara thinks to herself, "Who are they hiding from?" Children of a dozen species can be seen playing nearby.
Another waver and she finds herself inside the ship-building. Around a fusion lamp sitting on woven mat rugs are several figures: a Tarasin adult male sits speaking softly and reverently to a middle-age human woman sitting cross-legged whose face is obscured by a hooded robe. Standing to her right is a human woman perhaps in her 20s, a well-used and battered blaster rifle slung over her shoulder, dressed in Tarasin-made clothing. The dim lighting makes it hard to see the faces, and she cannot make out the conversation other than a few words in Tarasin. Focusing on the sitting woman, Sara can see she is wearing her jewelry: the soft blue glint from Kirlocca's honor blade, the Tarasin amulet discovered in Cloud Mountain, and hanging from a tied leather thong is the engagement ring Denny gave her. "If that's me, where's Denny?" Sara thinks, "Is the ring there in his memory or simply to keep it safe in rugged conditions?" She calms the small voice of worry in her mind to focus on the vision at it unfolds.
The Tarasin finishes speaking, and the middle-age woman waves the other woman closer. Leaning down into the light, Sara sees a familiar face: the younger woman looks like her, although not quite; the eyes remind her of Dennis more than herself. The sitting woman speaks a few hushed words in Basic, then the younger woman nods curtly and then towards the Tarasin. They both gather up their gear and head out to leave. Sara tries to hold on to the vision a few more moments, but it slips away and she finds herself again in her own bed with the light of dawn approaching.
She feels rested, but flickers of the vision float through her mind, the clarity already beginning to fade. She had seen herself in the future--"One possible future," she reminded herself sternly--the leader of a small settlement of non-Tarasin hiding deep in the jungles of Cularin. Hiding from who she couldn't say. She and Denny have a daughter, but where was he? Was that Lu'Taak coming with a request for help? As with most visions, it often left more questions than answers, but it did make up her mind about one thing. She had been considering getting a YT-1300 at a good price she had been offered recently, and wasn't sure what need she really had for a transport. She knew now it might be prudent to get it and stock it full of supplies and perhaps a few dozen spare shield emitters.
Turning out the light in her Gadrin home, Sara Ives lays back into bed and tries to clear her mind enough to sleep. Somehow the bed felt empty with Dennis gone on a training exercise. The Cularin military forces had lost a lot of good people in the recent conflict with Thaere and getting the remaining units back to full strength was a major priority for the newly independent government of Cularin eager to prove their readiness to join the Republic as a full member system. Yet Sara felt lonely and a little bitter with him gone after having gotten so used to his presence by her side. She prided herself on her ability to sleep just about anywhere when pressed--the dirt floor of a jungle hut, the passenger seat of a shuttle during severe turbulence, sitting in a tree in the driving rain--and the emptiness she felt being in her own home but without Denny's presence made her feel a bit foolish. "Silly damn woman," she thinks to herself, "if you can sleep on the way to the Sith Fortress on Almas you can sleep without a man in your bed." Rolling over to face away from Denny's side of the bed, she forces herself to think about other things.
So much to do and she felt pulled in so many directions at once. She had a wedding to plan, although thankfully Da'Iana, the Stendans, Chaika, and others were willing and able to help with much of the work. Lu'Taak's training had stalled the past few months, and while they had made some recent progress she was increasingly feeling that she had taught him as much as she could. Lu'Taak, like Ennia, had the potential to be powerful in the Force and a great aid to his tribe, but she would only be able to help him so far and soon would have to let him find his own path, perhaps sooner than she would wish. Having helped create and run the survival training course for the Militia, she was being asked to return and help with another round of recruits for the Cularin military and while she put them off for a few months it was important work. With recent events in the Cularin underworld, pirate attacks were increasing and Renna needed every experienced transport crewman on the job, and she needed to get some rest before her next shift. And with all this, the Clone Wars rage on, the Senate is increasingly happy to let the Supreme Chancellor make all the decisions, and the Jedi Order continues to be more and more distracted by the demands of fighting the war.
Taking deep breaths, Sara tries to let all her thoughts drift away.
As had happened many times before, she felt her consciousness shift away into the Force, open to visions of friends, of places far away, and glimpses of the future. Scenes flashed before her: Denny's face colored in streaks of camouflage as he and his team moved through training grounds, Lu'Taak's sleeping form in a Tarasin hut, Jewel and Ril in the cockpit of The Dancer shooting through the asteroid belt at break-neck speed. Her visions often followed her train of thought, and with her friends on her mind she was not surprised to have them appear.
It was the future, however, she was dwelling on. Sara could not help but wonder what the future held for her and Denny's life together. The night of his proposal, Da'Iana had spoken of a 'large family', but it wasn't clear what exactly she meant by that. Her teacher had told her of future vision; admonishing her to be careful in taking too much from it. "Trust what you can see and know is true," she had said, "but avoid reading too much into what you see. Visions seldom show the whole picture, and only knowledge of what lead to that moment will tell you the whole story. Prescience is a trap, don't fall into it."
More scenes flash by: smoke rising from the city of Fornard on Almas, Republic Army troopers streaming into the Sith Fortress, the sounds of thousands of beings applauding somewhere far away. A waver in her future sight, and she sees a small settlement deep in the jungles of Cularin. A large structure that looks to be made from the parts of a YT-1300 sits deep under the canopy, with numerous smaller huts and make-shift outbuildings, and surrounded by shield emitters humming softly. "Sensor scattering shields," Sara thinks to herself, "Who are they hiding from?" Children of a dozen species can be seen playing nearby.
Another waver and she finds herself inside the ship-building. Around a fusion lamp sitting on woven mat rugs are several figures: a Tarasin adult male sits speaking softly and reverently to a middle-age human woman sitting cross-legged whose face is obscured by a hooded robe. Standing to her right is a human woman perhaps in her 20s, a well-used and battered blaster rifle slung over her shoulder, dressed in Tarasin-made clothing. The dim lighting makes it hard to see the faces, and she cannot make out the conversation other than a few words in Tarasin. Focusing on the sitting woman, Sara can see she is wearing her jewelry: the soft blue glint from Kirlocca's honor blade, the Tarasin amulet discovered in Cloud Mountain, and hanging from a tied leather thong is the engagement ring Denny gave her. "If that's me, where's Denny?" Sara thinks, "Is the ring there in his memory or simply to keep it safe in rugged conditions?" She calms the small voice of worry in her mind to focus on the vision at it unfolds.
The Tarasin finishes speaking, and the middle-age woman waves the other woman closer. Leaning down into the light, Sara sees a familiar face: the younger woman looks like her, although not quite; the eyes remind her of Dennis more than herself. The sitting woman speaks a few hushed words in Basic, then the younger woman nods curtly and then towards the Tarasin. They both gather up their gear and head out to leave. Sara tries to hold on to the vision a few more moments, but it slips away and she finds herself again in her own bed with the light of dawn approaching.
She feels rested, but flickers of the vision float through her mind, the clarity already beginning to fade. She had seen herself in the future--"One possible future," she reminded herself sternly--the leader of a small settlement of non-Tarasin hiding deep in the jungles of Cularin. Hiding from who she couldn't say. She and Denny have a daughter, but where was he? Was that Lu'Taak coming with a request for help? As with most visions, it often left more questions than answers, but it did make up her mind about one thing. She had been considering getting a YT-1300 at a good price she had been offered recently, and wasn't sure what need she really had for a transport. She knew now it might be prudent to get it and stock it full of supplies and perhaps a few dozen spare shield emitters.
