Looking for answers in Alderaan places [D3, MA]

[Layne Hoshin]

Thy had told her to trust in the Force; which Layne *did*, of course... but she'd also mostly just been running around, ignoring the problem half the time and the other half taking random stabs in the dark. If she was going to *fully* trust the Force, perhaps she should start by meditating. Allowing the Force to flow around and through her, hoping it would provide her with something akin to answers. Or some guidance, at least. She'd had some luck with doing so in the past from time to time... one just had to ignore all the times it *hadn't* worked.

So, she found herself a quiet little spot, adopted a comfortable seated position, and closed her eyes...

...and started contemplating her predicament. The question of who had really killed Vidara. Was her old master involved somehow? Or was this something else? Who was this 'cunning man', and where they even relevant? She allowed these questions to enter and leave her mind on their own, assigning no special significance to one over the other... it was the Force that was in control now.

Meditation?: 2eF 2 Light Side, 1 Dark Side


[Not sure if it would help, but if it would have an effect I could spend a Destiny point on getting a favorable/useful outcome here? Let me know for bookkeeping purposes]

[Dapper Dog]

OOC: Sure flip a Destiny.

[Layne Hoshin]

OOC: Done

[Dapper Dog]

Young Layne..jpg (55.92 KiB) Viewed 2516 times

All things are one in the Force, time and space, people, life and death. Layne feels her mind slip away or perhaps she feels herself waking up, it’s different for all Jedi. But she has strong connections here and she sees herself preparing for her mission on Alderaan as a Sith.

The holo of Darth Baras domineering over, the dark sleek interior of her craft as it transited out of hyperspace. She could feel the rage and power as she prepared to her Lord’s bidding. His commands very particular.

As it ended she saw her younger self frown, “Kill this guy… kill that guy… one day I’ll be the boss. I bet stupid Sylvain was off-screen sneering like an idiot.”

[Layne Hoshin]

Sometimes she wondered if she´d changed at all. Other times she wondered if perhaps her younger self had been right the whole time; had she made a mistake going over to the Jedi? Well, probably not. But there was *always* the mystery of the path not taken. How different would things have been? She did not, however, let her thoughts linger on those questions right now.

Instead she allowed herself to take in the memory. Focused on the details. What *had* been the commands she had been given? Specifically? It had been so long ago, but the Force was showing her this for a reason. And... what of Sylvain? Was he relevant? Was he the 'Cunning Man'? At the time at least, he should've just been another intermediary for Baras.

[Dapper Dog]

The details fade away and now she can see herself waiting in the wings of the party, and the young girl that exposed her just before it happened and then the fall out, it was surreal seeing her actions from the third person.

So much anger and focus, she was a deadly weapon, she is a deadly weapon.

The details were crisp and also translucent, but things played out as they had before. She heard herself say, “That was easier than I remember. If not for that Jedi, this would have been a waste of my talents.”

She could see her younger self standing next to her and said, “Who are you?

OOC: Perception check at Average.

[Layne Hoshin]

Was her younger self talking to *her*? She certainly didn't remember that happening back at the time. Or was there someone else there?

As if to verify, Layne pointed at herself with a questioning look.

Perception: 1eP+1eA+2eD 0 successes, 1 advantage


[advantage to get *something* maybe?]

[Dapper Dog]

She sees the woman she supposedly killed moving away from the scene of the battle.


“Yes… you, idiot. Who are you, you look stupid,” her younger self countered.

[Layne Hoshin]

"You realize you're calling yourself stupid, then, right? I'm you. Just a little older."

[Dapper Dog]

"You realize you're calling yourself stupid, then, right? I'm you. Just a little older."

"What? What did you do to me? Why is my hair like that? Where is all of our cool Sith stuff?" she said glaring.

[Layne Hoshin]

She almost laughed at that. She probably *could* use a new haircut.

"You're going to stop being a Sith soon enough. You already felt it, didn't you? Helping Gerald. And now this Jedi you just fought, right? The calm, and peace. Well, we won't *always* feel like that I guess but... a lot more so after you join the Jedi at least. It's not as if we ever had any loyalty to the Sith. And certainly not Baras. Listen, this isn't just a social call. You see that woman just now?"

[Dapper Dog]

She almost laughed at that. She probably *could* use a new haircut.

"You're going to stop being a Sith soon enough. You already felt it, didn't you? Helping Gerald. And now this Jedi you just fought, right? The calm, and peace. Well, we won't *always* feel like that I guess but... a lot more so after you join the Jedi at least. It's not as if we ever had any loyalty to the Sith. And certainly not Baras."

"Well duh, we kill Baras, we kill Sylvain... profit. We are the Little Wrath, we just kill anyone that pisses us off and before you know it we are the Emperor. Empress, whatever," she countered.

"Falling to the Light is pretty lame."

[Layne Hoshin]

"I find it hard to believe I was ever this naive. You know you don't have to posture with yourself, right? I *know* you don't want to just keep killing people. We only did it because we *had* to. I know that when you helped Gerald, you felt something you've been chasing ever since. And it leads you to become me. But, the past lingers. And now this day is threathening to get us killed. So, I need you to remember, Layne. Tell me everything about this moment and what led up to it. Baras sent us to kill Galen Rist. But who was that woman just now, getting away from the battle? Who'se the 'Cunning Man'. Who'se Vidara Rist?"

She didn't expect her younger self to know, of course... but maybe the questions would trigger something... details lost to the fog of time, coming back to her.

[Dapper Dog]

“I don’t understand… what… who?” but she noticed the room was changing and this was some place else, not a place she remembered. It was dark with semblances of shapes like through water but even more amorphous.

But she could hear voices… warped but human.

The first said, “Galen is dead, the Sith got him.”

“That’s too much of a coincidence, do we go to ground?” another voice said.

The first responded, “This is what we trained you for.”

“But… now?” the other responded.

“You wanted to know how deep this goes, how far we are committed to removing the tyranny of the Jedi and Sith. This is that moment, Vidara,” the first voice said.

“Okay, I am committed,” the other voice responded.

“Good girl, standard Ghost protocol, we’ll meet on Delaya,” the first finished.


Layne’s younger self said, “Is this a now memory or a past memory? Also if you are me, did we punch Sylvain? No did we kill him? Also if I join the Jedi, am I a cool Jedi? Do we get to kill Baras? If not you totally suck.”

[Layne Hoshin]

Well, that certainly put a whole new twist on things, didn't it? They were involved in a plot against *both* orders? Was that... House Rist's intent? The Duchess seemed to have had some training that could be relevant to such pursuits, but if she'd been in on it then... well, the anger would'dn't have been personal like that... she would've known the details of what really happened to Vidara, surely?

Delaya. A world she'd been to before. In a very different capacity to when she was a Sith. Interesting. "Ghost protocol". Presumably that meant they were going to play dead. Which could mean... that Vidara was still alive, same as Delmi's mom was? Was she the other voice? How many layers deep did this go? Double agents? Triple agents? Was this just some multi-layered plot of Baras? Or had he been played too?

"We didn't kill Sylvain, no," she said, thoughts swirling. "Turns out he wasn't as bad as we thought. Though... well, he's still with the empire, so maybe a *little* bad. We haven't killed Baras, yet, no. And we are the *coolest* Jedi. We didn't kill him, but we helped make sure the emperor *stays* dead."

[did the other voice sounded female?]

[Dapper Dog]

"You didn't kill the Emperor," her younger self responded.

OOC: it was hard to tell the gender of the voices.

[Layne Hoshin]

"What matters is that he's dead," she said, "We helped save trillions of lives. That's way cooler than killing a bunch of people. But I don't need to convince you. You're me. You're going to figure this stuff out for yourself. Or... well, I already did."

[Dapper Dog]

She's back in the gardens.

[Layne Hoshin]

Layne sat there quietly for a few moments, processing everything that she had seen and heard. Was the other Layne her own subconscious projecting itself through the Force? Or was it the Force itself using her younger self as an avatar? Was all of the stuff the other Layne had said important? Was *any* of it? Was she upset that it hadn't been *Layne* who killed the emperor, or had she actually meant the Emperor was somehow still alive? Or was all of that part of the vision just window dressing?

Obviously though, the most immediately important stuff was the part of the vision surrounding Vidara, and this other person. But how in the hell was she going to pick the thread up from here? Delaya was supposed to be a lot smaller of a planet than Alderaan, but it was still an entire world. With big cities and lots of other places where they could've gone to ground. Not to mention this had been years ago. Was there even anything left to uncover there?

She was half considering just flying there right now, pick a likely looking spot, and meditate again; but having something more definitive to go on seemed preferable.