Aftermath Session XIV

[baronsamedi]

Nelvaan proved a lot more complicated than I expected. Also, it is cold. I don’t like being cold. But anyway Nelvaan…Nelvaan is cold. And complicated, and cold. But I would rather be there than where I am now.

We were approached when we left the Techno-Union base by a group of Nelvaanians. They were much friendlier then I had anticipated. They asked us about “Ghost Hand” (whom I assumed was Anakin Skywalker) and if we were his friends. They also asked us about our purpose. Jek spoke to them and primarily said he had met “Ghost Hand,” but we were not his close allies, and they offered us their hospitality. There was a kinda an odd feel to our chat, and Namri said they were wary and anxious, but did not mean us harm.

Also, some were kinda cute, but Namri did not mention that.

Anyway, we agreed to go, but decided to switch a few people out. We returned Sheela to the Yanab Sunrise to rest after her injury in the conflict in the Techno-Union base, and we got Elili and Tycho to come with us. I instructed Elili and Aya to stay close to me. We mounted some of the big furry critters they brought (who were less awesome then Varactyls) and rode toward their village.

I was walking beside Elili and Aya’s mount when I heard Jek and Khayall discussing the fact that we were too far out of their territory for them to just have happened to see our ship. They agreed the Nelvaanians had been tipped off, but felt it was likely the Jedi who had done it. That was the hope anyway. We were escorted to their village where many came out quizzically to see us. Jek, Aya and Sigma spoke their language, but we quickly decided Sigma doing anything but simply translating was a bad idea. We were given the chance to set up in a few of their huts briefly before a younger gal named Chipalwe came up with one of her older, mutated relatives named Abu. Chipalwe was thin and maybe around Elili’s age. She said the Elder wanted to speak to us, so we followed her up. Jek thought he spotted something technological under her robes, and asked us quietly about it, but we had not seen it. I promised to keep a sharp eye on what’s in her robes and Elili hit me. I can’t imagine why.

Actually, I can imagine many reasons.

The Elder spoke to us in somewhat languid tones. Jek introduced us all with little titles. He introduced me as a cunning hunter…that was kind of neat. He extended the tribe’s greeting, and asked us, essentially, why friends of this hypothetical person would have clone troopers and droids with us. It was a fair question, I think. Jek spoke of Sigma having chosen his own path, and the Clones not having been around when the “illness” came. It then came to me to tell them our story as best I could. I used the firelight to my advantage and gestured a lot, and made a lot of sound effects. I kinda tried to channel the style of the Nature Priests I had heard when I was little. Not that I was ever little, as my mother liked to point out. I was half again the size of my sister when I was born. They thought I was twins.

I should not think about my family. They are not here anymore.

Anyway, my story seemed to go over well, and the kids were impressed anyway. As I say…only Jek, Aya and Sigma could really talk to them. Jek made his plea to see the Jedi they were implying all over the place was there, and Chipalwe revealed that she was herself a Padawan, and that the Jedi was a Bothan who lived on planet named Jayla Se’lab. We knew Bothans came to Nelvaan to siphon water from glacial fields from time to time and were far from unknown there, so it made some degree of sense, but the Nelvaanians certainly were not Bothans. Namri then revealed that she herself was a Jedi as well, which Chipalwe clearly suspected. Chipalwe told us she would take us to Se'lab the following day, and to enjoy the Nelvaanians hospitality.

I saw Greegan go to try and get the hide of the creature he had killed with his wrench tanned, and Jek went to talk to Namri about…something. I don’t know...he seemed to be oddly put off by her since the Techno-Union base, but I am no Jedi and don’t know quite what was going on. Aya and Elili joined me to look at Nelvaanian cave paintings and learn about the culture.

Really, I was along for the ride.

Sigma was fascinated by their hallucinogenic slugs, used in certain rituals, and pushed really hard for someone to use them. Khayall surprised me by agreeing to do so, and they drew odd symbols across his chest and face as they crawled around. He seemed to go vaguely cationic though the Elder assured me he would be fine. After about an hour, he bid me take Khayall to sleep. I took him to the hut Aya and Elili and I were in, and set him down to keep an eye on him.

Sigma, for his part, filmed him the entire time. It was sort of creepy. Speaking of creepy, I got the distinct feeling some of the herd think I am involved with Elili. I don’t want to sleep with all the women I befriend and care about.

Just most of them.

Anyway, the evening passed uneventfully. There seemed to be…less tension between Jek and Namri the next day, so hopefully they worked out whatever they needed to work out. But as I say, I am no Jedi. I made sure Khayall had water and food in his belly when he got up, and we met Chipalwe who took us into the caves behind town. The caves were remarkably light and airy, and there were many holes that allowed sunlight to stream in. The one who dwelled there clearly had an appreciation for the Nelvaanian’s culture and aesthetic, as it was a mix of that and some items that were more familiar to us. An elegant Bothan woman emerged from a lighter cave, and identified herself to us as Jayla Se’lab. She questioned us about our story and, when satisfied, we discussed our reasons for coming.

We warned her about Paelle, and discussed other Jedi. I mentioned Kenobi’s likely survival, and she mentioned hearing that a Jedi named Rahm Kota had survived. Now Jek is generally the picture of calm, but I could clearly see his expression darken at the mention of Kota’s name, and he gave off a vibe that even made me want to take a step back. Still, his words were crisp and clear, and he said, plainly, that he had not had any truck with him in some time. I remembered somewhere around there that Jek was disgraced by Kota and lost his command due to second-guessing Kota’s decisions. Perhaps fortunately, however, Se’lab did not seemed inclined to gather the scattered Jedi. Instead, she counseled they should stay hidden, which Jek seemed quite happy to go along with. She was, however, willing to help teach Namri a bit while we were there. Then Namri hit me, and I can but assume the rest of us, with a surprise.

Namri wanted to train Khayall to be a Jedi. Khayall revealed he had been considered for being trained as a Jedi, but rejected. Se’lab agreed to have Namri train him, however, citing the unusual times we are in. She also asked about repairing her ship, which Greegan was willing to do, so we went to the larger lighted chamber to see it, while Sigma went back to the Sunrise on Greegan’s Wheelbike to fetch Greegan’s tools.

Here, however, I noticed something very much out of the ordinary. The ship was an Eta-2 Interceptor; I had seem them before. But I noticed in the ceiling of the cave where the light was coming in a flashing red light. I pointed it out quickly, and a few others got a glimpse. While at first we thought it was an imperial probe droid, Jayla, Greegan and Khayall seemed more inclined to think it was a Bothan surveying droid. Given the Bothans'…reputation…and the nature of Se’lab’s situation, we decided to eliminate it right away.

Jek called over to the Sunrise for Sheela to go and shoot it down. Khayall, who had apparently seen it in a vision while under the effects of the slugs, described where it was going and Se’lab gave us the coordinates to give to Sheela. A short time later she reported she had successfully shot it down, but it had fallen into a crevasse and she, in her injured state, was not in a good place to recover it. We called over to Sigma and the Sunrise, and Sigma (on his STAP) and Cam, who had a BARC Speeder, took off to scout the crevasse. Since we did not want to take any further chances of being spotted by Bothans, we elected to ride there on the Nelvaanian’s beasts. Greegan would remain behind to start work on Se’lab’s Interceptor. Se’lab instructed Chipalwe to accompany us, but to leave her lightsaber in case the Bothans found her.

Seems to me like that would be when she would need it. Anyway.

As it turned out…Sigma and Cam handled most of it. When they arrived they saw Bothans coming out on skiffs…apparently the Bothans were pretty on the stick given the surveying droid supposedly did not transmit. Apparently they hatched a plan for Cam to try to convince the Bothans he was a Stormtrooper (Clone Trooper armor resembling Stormtrooper armor). Of course, as noted back on Susevfi, the Clones are not…exactly kept around for their social poise. Apparently, from what I gather, Cam told them he was a Stormtrooper, that he had killed his commanding officer, that he had killed his unit, and he was in charge, or something like that. When they balked at this, Sigma began firing warning shots, as did Cam and the Bothans…being, well, a group of laborers, fled in terror. No Bothans died in maintaining this illusion. By the time we reached the crevasse (these critters we were riding were slow, nothing like the awesome Varactyls I rode that one time which were awesome,) Cam had rappelled down into the crevasse and recovered the remains of the probe droid, which we turned over to Khayall since Greegan was at base. However, we were faced with a new problem.

The Bothans returned in larger numbers, on more Skiffs. On seeing them we realized they would be able to follow our tracks. Khayall got the idea to cause a controlled avalanche to cover our tracks, especially since Sigma and Cam were on hover vehicles there would just be the group from the Nelvaanian’s camp to cover. We ended up having me bellow at a spot I picked out to trigger an avalanche and then leap on Cam’s BARC Speeder before it could sweep over me.

Not scary.

It worked though and soon we found ourselves back with Se’lab. I kept an eye out over the next few days, but no new survey droids came. I was told I kept saying I saw them and was shooting them, but I don’t remember that…Elili said I had apparently had an accident with one of those hallucinogenic slugs, but hell if I remember. I just know that until Aya told me about the slugs, I knew nothing about it except that I was short ammunition and that a wall nearby was shot up.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Aya went back to take care of Sheela. Namri and Khayall trained, Namri training Khayall and both being supervised by Se’lab. I don’t know what happened but I did see them both get really embarrassed right at first.

Probably nothing.

Greegan got the Interceptor running again, and Sigma got more footage of cave paintings and such. After a few days, we bid Se’lab and the Nelvaanians farewell and returned to the Sunrise, and headed out for Caamas. Greegan found a hyperspace lane that cut a lot of time out of the travel, and it took a little over a day.

Enroute, I asked Jek if I should consider Rahm Kota and enemy; after all, any enemy of one of the herd was an enemy of mine. Jek said Kota was not his enemy, but was someone he would never willingly speak to again. Fair enough. I also asked Khayall if he wanted to discuss his past, but he declined. Then Jek asked him a bit more firmly, and he agreed. Go Jek.

It turned out Khayall was not from Coruscant, he was from Kuat. He had been a member of a crime family called the Juon family, which apparently, it was pointed out, now had Shackler, the guy who held Jek’s bounty, in their employ. Anyway, Khayall as a very young man was implicated in the death of a Jedi, which Khayall said he knew would happen but was powerless to stop. This Jedi was a recent graduate whose master was a Wookiee, and letmetellya, a Jedi Wookiee is not something I want to tangle with. Anyway, a different Jedi came and investigated, found Khayall to be largely innocent and Force Sensitive, and Khayall fed him information the Jedi used against the family. Khayall came before the Council and it was determined that he not be permitted to become a Jedi. Instead, they trained him as a spy, and put him into the military for reasons “no longer relevant.” Khayall insisted he had not told us as this information would do us no good and could put us in danger as, as we discovered, the family was still out there. I personally did not hold anything against him for this, but I don’t know about the rest of the Herd.

But now we are at Caamas, and I have to finally see another Ithorian. Several of them, unfortunately. Aya and Elili don’t want to let me out of this one.

I wish I were almost anywhere but here.