Living Force Character Story
Nov. 22nd, 2005 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walbournThe First Step
Covered in sticky sweat and irritated by the weight of her pack, Col. Chaika Sunbolt was beginning to wonder if her old buddy Denny had any idea that his bride-to-be was a sadist.
Sitting in the Cross Town a few weeks ago, Sara Ives had taken notice of something about Chaika and had made a point of speaking to her privately. While it was hardly news to Chaika that something had happened which had made her sensitive to the Force--Master Lanius of the Almas Academy himself had pointed it out a year earlier--, she was a bit taken aback by Sara's earnest offer to train her in its use. Chaika had enough problems keeping out of trouble with the military's standards of conduct; she had known for sure that she'd hate the monastic and austere life of the Jedi Order, and turned down Lanius' offer almost immediately. Yet Sara was not a Jedi. Instead she had been trained in the use of the Force by the native Tarasin. Chaika had balked at the idea of some touchy-feely philosophy or hokey Tarasin religion, but Sara had reassured her any training would be focused on self-discipline and practical application. Chaika reluctantly admitted that she was worried about being tempted to use her new-found abilities in anger, but Sara had countered that her initial training would not make her any more open to the influence of the Darkside than she already was and training would actually help arm her against such temptation.
"Damn but that girl knew how to make the hard sell," Chaika thought to herself.
Sara had not even asked for years of commitment. "If you want to take me up on my offer, clear your schedule for a week and give me a call," was all she said.
She had been trying to ignore the strange impressions, the dreams, the disturbingly accurate hunches, and the flood of feelings from those around her for the past year or so by spending a lot of time down at the Cross Town and rabble-rousing with her squad. The truth was that it didn't really help--and it was beginning to take disturbing amounts of alcohol to have any effect at all. She kept having the same damned nightmare--the one where the Eel was going down in flames, hurtling towards the jagged black claws of an alien mountain range while she wrestled with the controls in vain. She could hear screaming... not just her terrified passengers (she was kinda used to that, anyway!), but hundreds of beings crying out in terror and despair while dark, malevolent laughter rolled through her mind. There had to be a way to pull out of this spin, to stop that terrible screaming... but nothing she tried ever worked, and the laughter got louder, and the rocks got closer.
After the third straight night of jerking awake in a cold sweat, she decided to take Sara up on her offer by leaving a holonet message in the wee hours of the morning. The reply came only a few minutes later: "Meet me at Artom's Square, 0800 hours. Dress for jungle travel."
Col. Sunbolt had never been a fan of traipsing through the jungles of Cularin. She had made it through the required survival training course, but she would rather sleep sitting in the cramped cockpit of a Headhunter or even a survival pod with half atmosphere than to camp in the near constant rain while covered with biting bugs. Still, she could hardly be surprised that someone trained in the ways of the Tarasin would expect her to tromp out into the wilds to get in touch with her feelings or what-not.
True to her word, Sara had picked up Chaika in her Koro-2 airspeeder and taken off into the darkest recesses of Cularin's thick, world-covering jungles. She had laughed to herself over the fact that Sara had clearly taken the time to hand-paint the vehicle's hull with the mottled greens and browns of forest camouflage, but had never covered up stenciled mottos that were a decade or more out of date by galactic political standards. "Wren for Senator" was particularly amusing.
A few hours of travel weaving through groves, along riverbeds, and taking what seemed like a nearly random series of turns they sat down at the edge of a small clearing. Sara had opened the cargo hatch, pulled out two field kits, a rifle, and a fresh power pack from what looked like a second-hand Thaerian Military recharger and tossed one of the field kit backpacks to Chaika and they set off.
Checking her chrono, a weary Colonel verified that they had just past the 20 hour mark. Sara kept fairly quiet during the trek, leading the pair on kilometer after kilometer of game trails through the densely-packed foliage. They took very short breaks every few hours, but other than energy bars and sipping from canteens they hadn't really stopped even for meals. Chaika had tried to strike up a conversation a few times, and Sara responded, but after several hours they had run out of much of anything to talk about. A few times Chaika had started to feel irritated and fed-up at the whole thing, and Sara seemed to choose those particular moments to halt for another break, point out some particular detail of the landscape, and let her resettle her pack before pressing on.
The whole thing was driving her mad because it seemed like they weren't doing anything particularly like "training in the ways of the Force". Where was the meditation or staring at spoons trying to bend them with your mind? Since Sara wasn't Jedi, she knew they wouldn't be spending the week stunning each other with training lightsabers, but the whole thing seemed boring and exhausting to boot. It seemed particularly so since they traveled around twelve hours through near pitch-dark of night. Chaika prided herself on her reflexes, but she couldn't see in the dark; the more tired she got, the more often she stumbled over some stupid tree root in the dark and fell, and the more often she fell, the crankier she got. Naturally, Sara didn't seem at all particularly tired by the lack of sleep or the darkness, and kept moving through the hours; she didn't stumble once.
"Definitely a sadist," Chaika thought to herself, growing more bitter by the step. "Maybe Denny likes that sort of thing."
Finally after another half-hour of travel and the full light of the second day finally filtering down to the jungle floor, Sara dropped her pack and took Chaika's pack from her. Before she could settle down, Sara got her attention. "OK. You see that trail up ahead, you need to get to the end in," pausing to check her chrono, "five minutes. It's about a click and a half, so you should hustle."
Chaika blinked at her in complete disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"
Sara grinned and responded, "Nope. Look, Chaika, you're just going to have to trust me on this one. Besides, it's a long walk back to the Koro." Checking her chrono again she added, "4 minutes, 45 seconds."
Chaika glared blaster bolts at Sara, who took no notice. Scowling, she let out a martyred sigh and started running. She was stuck in the middle of the light-forsaken jungle with this madwoman, so she might as well get it over with. As she left the clearing she muttered, "Sadist."
In spite of her hectic schedule as the commander of a starfighter squadron, Chaika worked very hard to stay in shape. Even if she hadn't been practicing all those martial arts forms with Denny (who, now that she thought about it, had a sadistic streak of his own... yep, he and Sara were perfect for one another, all right...), there were several pairs of pants in her closet that Trace really liked which would cease to fit if she let herself get fat. The run would've been a easy thing had she not just spent the last 20 hours in a non-stop forced march. Reaching a cliff face exposing deep tree roots, Chaika felt her lungs and legs burning. From above her about 20 meters, Sara's voice drifted down, "Come on up!"
"How the hell did that woman get up there so fast?" Chaika thought. Taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh, she began clambering up. The climb itself wasn't too difficult at first with plenty of hand and foot-holds, but the climbing got much tougher near the top. A few meters short of where Sara was standing looking down at her, likely enjoying seeing her little student struggling up the wall, one of the roots she was using to hold her weight suddenly gave way. She slid down nearly two meters before she managed to get a solid hold on another branch with one hand, which felt like it almost pulled her arm out of its socket as she jerked to a stop. Her CAF commlink was knocked loose from its fastener on her belt and fell to the ground below as she dangled by a single root.
The whole time Sara never moved, she just continued to watch her intently.
Mustering her fading strength, Chaika felt a surge of energy as she pulled herself up and got a solid grasp on the cliff again. She easily finished the climb, rolling over the edge and lay on the ground trying to regain her breath. A tiny shiny device came floating up over the edge and dropped to the dirt by her side. Her commlink. Cocking her head to peer down the cliff she saw a young tarasin standing at the base nodding up to Sara standing nearby.
"Don't fight it, Chaika. I know you can feel the Force flowing around you, but you fear to allow it to pass into you. Relax. Close your eyes and let it in."
Exhausted, and her shoulder aching from the jerk of stopping her fall, Chaika closed her eyes. She could feel a warmth coming from all around her, something more than just the humid heat of the jungle. Concentrating on the sensation, she felt it surge into her and fade away. Her breathing slowed quickly, the pounding of her heart faded to a normal rhythm, and she felt her fatigue fade a little. Even her arm felt a little better.
"Excellent," responded Sara. "Well done." She reached down to offer her a hand up. Standing at the top of the cliff, Chaika noticed her pack sitting nearby, her bedroll laid out on a tarp under a make-shift poncho lean-to.
"You spend all your energy keeping the Force and the connection it brings you at bay," Sara continued with a serious look on her face. "You must overcome your fear of that connection, and not try to smother it with your anger. You have taken your first step into a wider world, but you must learn to be mindful of your feelings." Pausing a moment, Sara's expression soften a bit and she nodded her head in direction of the camp. "Come on, let's get some rest."
---
Waking up from several hours of deep sleep, Chaika saw that night had come again and the dark jungle canopy blocked out a view of the stars, except for a small open patch above the cliff top. Sara was sitting cross-legged near a small camp fire talking quietly with the young tarasin she had seen earlier. The smell of cooking rations reminded her that she hadn't eaten in a while and that encouraged her to join the others at the fire rather than stay in bed until morning.
Nodding at her arrival Sara indicated the young tarasin, "You remember Lu'Taak? He's my first student and has agreed to help with our little project this week."
"Hi, Lu'Taak. Nice to meet you. I've seen you around the Cross Town a few times, but we've not formerly met."
The young tarasin bows his head in response speaking in accented Basic, "Pleasure to meet you, Chaika Sunbolt, Hero of Cularin. You are known to many of my people."
"Um. Right." Feeling her usual discomfort at being referred to as a hero of anything, Chaika changed the subject. "So, is the grub ready?"
Sara nodded, tossing her a mess kit and the three shared the meal in pleasant conversation. Afterwards, Lu'Taak headed off to take care of the clean-up, leaving Sara and Chaika sitting quietly around the fire. Sara broke the silence.
"Chaika, it is traditional for a teacher of the Tarasin Way to search the future in the Force for a potential student. I have sought visions of your future, and must tell you that your destiny holds a great choice. A tide of evil is coming to Cularin, to the Republic, to the Galaxy as a whole. I think we've all felt it. Your choices will determine the outcome of your destiny, and whether it will serve the dark forces coming our way, or lead to a life of joy, love, and fulfillment in family. I cannot see. My hope is that we can find whatever potential you have in the Force so that you will be prepared to make that choice. What's more, your choice will influence the destiny of many others. I promise to help you as much I can, but when the time comes only you can choose."
Unsure of what to say, Chaika searched for some response. She certainly didn't have any intention of serving any dark forces; any dark forces that came to Cularin looking for a fight were sure as hell going to get one. Unless, of course, Sara was talking about that whole "aggression is the Dark Side" clause that the Jedi were always prattling on about. Chaika knew her temper got the better of her more often than it should, and she honestly wanted to try to change that or she wouldn't have been sitting here... but she also had a hard time believing that anger was "Always Bad". What was she supposed to do when bad guys started hurting innocents so that they could have their way-–pat them on the head and give them a cookie?
Then again, she had a hard time seeing the Fulfillment in Family side of things, too. She'd tried, ever since all this wedding talk had started. Hell, the thought had certainly occurred well before that--but as much as she loved Trace, she couldn't see herself in the Wife and Mother role. She liked kids... when they were somebody else's and she could give them back when they started getting irritating.
Then again, if anybody had told her two years ago that she'd not only be in the military, but that she would be a high-ranking, decorated officer responsible for the lives of an entire squadron, she would have fallen over in a fit of hysterical laughter. Hell, she wouldn't even have believed she'd stay in the same star system for that long; she'd certainly never done it before. So who knew?
Yet Sara had spoken so earnestly it was clear that she was telling Chaika precisely what she had seen. She hoped some profound wisdom would come to her, some measure of clarity... but everything was, as usual, as clear as mud, and all she could manage was, "Thanks."
Sara nodded. "Well, no time like the present so let's get to it. I hope you know how to swim, or at least hold your breath..."
Editor's Note: This one was a collaboration between a gaming friend of mine out east (the player of Chaika Sunbolt), and myself. As a quick character sketch, Chaika's character is disturbingly like Starbuck on the new BSG.
Covered in sticky sweat and irritated by the weight of her pack, Col. Chaika Sunbolt was beginning to wonder if her old buddy Denny had any idea that his bride-to-be was a sadist.
Sitting in the Cross Town a few weeks ago, Sara Ives had taken notice of something about Chaika and had made a point of speaking to her privately. While it was hardly news to Chaika that something had happened which had made her sensitive to the Force--Master Lanius of the Almas Academy himself had pointed it out a year earlier--, she was a bit taken aback by Sara's earnest offer to train her in its use. Chaika had enough problems keeping out of trouble with the military's standards of conduct; she had known for sure that she'd hate the monastic and austere life of the Jedi Order, and turned down Lanius' offer almost immediately. Yet Sara was not a Jedi. Instead she had been trained in the use of the Force by the native Tarasin. Chaika had balked at the idea of some touchy-feely philosophy or hokey Tarasin religion, but Sara had reassured her any training would be focused on self-discipline and practical application. Chaika reluctantly admitted that she was worried about being tempted to use her new-found abilities in anger, but Sara had countered that her initial training would not make her any more open to the influence of the Darkside than she already was and training would actually help arm her against such temptation.
"Damn but that girl knew how to make the hard sell," Chaika thought to herself.
Sara had not even asked for years of commitment. "If you want to take me up on my offer, clear your schedule for a week and give me a call," was all she said.
She had been trying to ignore the strange impressions, the dreams, the disturbingly accurate hunches, and the flood of feelings from those around her for the past year or so by spending a lot of time down at the Cross Town and rabble-rousing with her squad. The truth was that it didn't really help--and it was beginning to take disturbing amounts of alcohol to have any effect at all. She kept having the same damned nightmare--the one where the Eel was going down in flames, hurtling towards the jagged black claws of an alien mountain range while she wrestled with the controls in vain. She could hear screaming... not just her terrified passengers (she was kinda used to that, anyway!), but hundreds of beings crying out in terror and despair while dark, malevolent laughter rolled through her mind. There had to be a way to pull out of this spin, to stop that terrible screaming... but nothing she tried ever worked, and the laughter got louder, and the rocks got closer.
After the third straight night of jerking awake in a cold sweat, she decided to take Sara up on her offer by leaving a holonet message in the wee hours of the morning. The reply came only a few minutes later: "Meet me at Artom's Square, 0800 hours. Dress for jungle travel."
Col. Sunbolt had never been a fan of traipsing through the jungles of Cularin. She had made it through the required survival training course, but she would rather sleep sitting in the cramped cockpit of a Headhunter or even a survival pod with half atmosphere than to camp in the near constant rain while covered with biting bugs. Still, she could hardly be surprised that someone trained in the ways of the Tarasin would expect her to tromp out into the wilds to get in touch with her feelings or what-not.
True to her word, Sara had picked up Chaika in her Koro-2 airspeeder and taken off into the darkest recesses of Cularin's thick, world-covering jungles. She had laughed to herself over the fact that Sara had clearly taken the time to hand-paint the vehicle's hull with the mottled greens and browns of forest camouflage, but had never covered up stenciled mottos that were a decade or more out of date by galactic political standards. "Wren for Senator" was particularly amusing.
A few hours of travel weaving through groves, along riverbeds, and taking what seemed like a nearly random series of turns they sat down at the edge of a small clearing. Sara had opened the cargo hatch, pulled out two field kits, a rifle, and a fresh power pack from what looked like a second-hand Thaerian Military recharger and tossed one of the field kit backpacks to Chaika and they set off.
Checking her chrono, a weary Colonel verified that they had just past the 20 hour mark. Sara kept fairly quiet during the trek, leading the pair on kilometer after kilometer of game trails through the densely-packed foliage. They took very short breaks every few hours, but other than energy bars and sipping from canteens they hadn't really stopped even for meals. Chaika had tried to strike up a conversation a few times, and Sara responded, but after several hours they had run out of much of anything to talk about. A few times Chaika had started to feel irritated and fed-up at the whole thing, and Sara seemed to choose those particular moments to halt for another break, point out some particular detail of the landscape, and let her resettle her pack before pressing on.
The whole thing was driving her mad because it seemed like they weren't doing anything particularly like "training in the ways of the Force". Where was the meditation or staring at spoons trying to bend them with your mind? Since Sara wasn't Jedi, she knew they wouldn't be spending the week stunning each other with training lightsabers, but the whole thing seemed boring and exhausting to boot. It seemed particularly so since they traveled around twelve hours through near pitch-dark of night. Chaika prided herself on her reflexes, but she couldn't see in the dark; the more tired she got, the more often she stumbled over some stupid tree root in the dark and fell, and the more often she fell, the crankier she got. Naturally, Sara didn't seem at all particularly tired by the lack of sleep or the darkness, and kept moving through the hours; she didn't stumble once.
"Definitely a sadist," Chaika thought to herself, growing more bitter by the step. "Maybe Denny likes that sort of thing."
Finally after another half-hour of travel and the full light of the second day finally filtering down to the jungle floor, Sara dropped her pack and took Chaika's pack from her. Before she could settle down, Sara got her attention. "OK. You see that trail up ahead, you need to get to the end in," pausing to check her chrono, "five minutes. It's about a click and a half, so you should hustle."
Chaika blinked at her in complete disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"
Sara grinned and responded, "Nope. Look, Chaika, you're just going to have to trust me on this one. Besides, it's a long walk back to the Koro." Checking her chrono again she added, "4 minutes, 45 seconds."
Chaika glared blaster bolts at Sara, who took no notice. Scowling, she let out a martyred sigh and started running. She was stuck in the middle of the light-forsaken jungle with this madwoman, so she might as well get it over with. As she left the clearing she muttered, "Sadist."
In spite of her hectic schedule as the commander of a starfighter squadron, Chaika worked very hard to stay in shape. Even if she hadn't been practicing all those martial arts forms with Denny (who, now that she thought about it, had a sadistic streak of his own... yep, he and Sara were perfect for one another, all right...), there were several pairs of pants in her closet that Trace really liked which would cease to fit if she let herself get fat. The run would've been a easy thing had she not just spent the last 20 hours in a non-stop forced march. Reaching a cliff face exposing deep tree roots, Chaika felt her lungs and legs burning. From above her about 20 meters, Sara's voice drifted down, "Come on up!"
"How the hell did that woman get up there so fast?" Chaika thought. Taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh, she began clambering up. The climb itself wasn't too difficult at first with plenty of hand and foot-holds, but the climbing got much tougher near the top. A few meters short of where Sara was standing looking down at her, likely enjoying seeing her little student struggling up the wall, one of the roots she was using to hold her weight suddenly gave way. She slid down nearly two meters before she managed to get a solid hold on another branch with one hand, which felt like it almost pulled her arm out of its socket as she jerked to a stop. Her CAF commlink was knocked loose from its fastener on her belt and fell to the ground below as she dangled by a single root.
The whole time Sara never moved, she just continued to watch her intently.
Mustering her fading strength, Chaika felt a surge of energy as she pulled herself up and got a solid grasp on the cliff again. She easily finished the climb, rolling over the edge and lay on the ground trying to regain her breath. A tiny shiny device came floating up over the edge and dropped to the dirt by her side. Her commlink. Cocking her head to peer down the cliff she saw a young tarasin standing at the base nodding up to Sara standing nearby.
"Don't fight it, Chaika. I know you can feel the Force flowing around you, but you fear to allow it to pass into you. Relax. Close your eyes and let it in."
Exhausted, and her shoulder aching from the jerk of stopping her fall, Chaika closed her eyes. She could feel a warmth coming from all around her, something more than just the humid heat of the jungle. Concentrating on the sensation, she felt it surge into her and fade away. Her breathing slowed quickly, the pounding of her heart faded to a normal rhythm, and she felt her fatigue fade a little. Even her arm felt a little better.
"Excellent," responded Sara. "Well done." She reached down to offer her a hand up. Standing at the top of the cliff, Chaika noticed her pack sitting nearby, her bedroll laid out on a tarp under a make-shift poncho lean-to.
"You spend all your energy keeping the Force and the connection it brings you at bay," Sara continued with a serious look on her face. "You must overcome your fear of that connection, and not try to smother it with your anger. You have taken your first step into a wider world, but you must learn to be mindful of your feelings." Pausing a moment, Sara's expression soften a bit and she nodded her head in direction of the camp. "Come on, let's get some rest."
---
Waking up from several hours of deep sleep, Chaika saw that night had come again and the dark jungle canopy blocked out a view of the stars, except for a small open patch above the cliff top. Sara was sitting cross-legged near a small camp fire talking quietly with the young tarasin she had seen earlier. The smell of cooking rations reminded her that she hadn't eaten in a while and that encouraged her to join the others at the fire rather than stay in bed until morning.
Nodding at her arrival Sara indicated the young tarasin, "You remember Lu'Taak? He's my first student and has agreed to help with our little project this week."
"Hi, Lu'Taak. Nice to meet you. I've seen you around the Cross Town a few times, but we've not formerly met."
The young tarasin bows his head in response speaking in accented Basic, "Pleasure to meet you, Chaika Sunbolt, Hero of Cularin. You are known to many of my people."
"Um. Right." Feeling her usual discomfort at being referred to as a hero of anything, Chaika changed the subject. "So, is the grub ready?"
Sara nodded, tossing her a mess kit and the three shared the meal in pleasant conversation. Afterwards, Lu'Taak headed off to take care of the clean-up, leaving Sara and Chaika sitting quietly around the fire. Sara broke the silence.
"Chaika, it is traditional for a teacher of the Tarasin Way to search the future in the Force for a potential student. I have sought visions of your future, and must tell you that your destiny holds a great choice. A tide of evil is coming to Cularin, to the Republic, to the Galaxy as a whole. I think we've all felt it. Your choices will determine the outcome of your destiny, and whether it will serve the dark forces coming our way, or lead to a life of joy, love, and fulfillment in family. I cannot see. My hope is that we can find whatever potential you have in the Force so that you will be prepared to make that choice. What's more, your choice will influence the destiny of many others. I promise to help you as much I can, but when the time comes only you can choose."
Unsure of what to say, Chaika searched for some response. She certainly didn't have any intention of serving any dark forces; any dark forces that came to Cularin looking for a fight were sure as hell going to get one. Unless, of course, Sara was talking about that whole "aggression is the Dark Side" clause that the Jedi were always prattling on about. Chaika knew her temper got the better of her more often than it should, and she honestly wanted to try to change that or she wouldn't have been sitting here... but she also had a hard time believing that anger was "Always Bad". What was she supposed to do when bad guys started hurting innocents so that they could have their way-–pat them on the head and give them a cookie?
Then again, she had a hard time seeing the Fulfillment in Family side of things, too. She'd tried, ever since all this wedding talk had started. Hell, the thought had certainly occurred well before that--but as much as she loved Trace, she couldn't see herself in the Wife and Mother role. She liked kids... when they were somebody else's and she could give them back when they started getting irritating.
Then again, if anybody had told her two years ago that she'd not only be in the military, but that she would be a high-ranking, decorated officer responsible for the lives of an entire squadron, she would have fallen over in a fit of hysterical laughter. Hell, she wouldn't even have believed she'd stay in the same star system for that long; she'd certainly never done it before. So who knew?
Yet Sara had spoken so earnestly it was clear that she was telling Chaika precisely what she had seen. She hoped some profound wisdom would come to her, some measure of clarity... but everything was, as usual, as clear as mud, and all she could manage was, "Thanks."
Sara nodded. "Well, no time like the present so let's get to it. I hope you know how to swim, or at least hold your breath..."
Editor's Note: This one was a collaboration between a gaming friend of mine out east (the player of Chaika Sunbolt), and myself. As a quick character sketch, Chaika's character is disturbingly like Starbuck on the new BSG.
