9.111 - My Connection's Connection [Novgorod]

[Zeke]

"You got it, Captain," Zeke groaned, lifting himself up off the bed slightly so Carol and Vek Vek could strip him out of his coat and shirt to administer his wounds better. "Trade you that information for anything you've got on other Jedi, while we're at it. I could--" He was shushed as his wife and his doctor mashed him back onto the table. He was grateful that it was Carol who bent to kiss his forehead and Vek Vek who moved to retrieve tools of medicine, not the other way around. Cassie slouched back in and poured herself into a chair with an aggravated sigh.

[Vek Vek]

"Other Jedi?"

The doctor paused, his insatiable curiosity finding a tantalizing breadcrumb trail.

"Ahem. Please forgive. Curiosity intrinsic driver towards knowledge acquisition. Jedi exhibit...unusual symbiotic synergy. Make interesting subjects for study. Unfortunately sample size...diminished."

Vek Vek half blinked, and coughed.

"Again, please excuse. Treatment first. Prioritize for concussion."

The Durwi produced a cranial scanner, which he eased towards Zeke's head.

"You are outwardly asymptomatic for high level cranial trauma, but I need more data. Please remain calm."

[Zeke]

"Who's excited? I'm not excited," Zeke answered with the hint of mischief at the corners of his lips and eyes.

"Baby, you had your chance to be witty fighting that Agent. Now is serious time. Let me see serious mode." Carol grinned, biting her lip partly out of her continuing worry and partly to keep from laughing.

"Dis mah serous fayze," Zeke answered, pulling a comically stern expression. Cassie made a noise from her chair that was part sigh, part laugh, and part groan of embarrassment. "Gaw," said father and daughter as one. Zeke looked up at the Durwi with a skewed grin, then calmed himself for real with his breathing.

Carol squeezed Zeke's hand absently as she turned to Cirrsseeto. "So, ah, Captain. I hear things are going well here on Novgorod." Cassie reddened from hairline to clavicle and made it a point not to look at Cirr's shoulders, or chest, or crotch, or legs. She settled on Vek Vek's boots as a safe place to look. "Do you know anything of Jedi, or at least of the Rebellion? I understand you're part of a rebellious operation, but Ben was understandably vague about whether or not you were part of the Rebel Alliance."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirrsseeto gave a friendly smile as he pointed to the phoenix crest on his duty jacket and gave it a tap with a claw.

"Ben's got...uh...jinterrestjing theorrjies about ourr orrganjizatjion, but he errs on the sjide of cautjion forr everryone's sake. But yes, jI'm a Captajin of the Alljiance, and thjis jis an Alljiance frrjigate, and we've got qujite a bjit of experrjience wjith helpjing Jedji."

He realized he hadn't made formal introductions yet, and his ears fluttered as he stood up straight and offered a hand to the woman.

"Captajin Cirrsseeto Raurrssatta, at yourr serrvjice."

[Zeke]

Carol shook it firmly and warmly. She gave a studious look to the Rebel Crest as Cirr pointed it out. She'd never seen it before, so she quickly filed it away in her mind as she gave her family's introduction. "Captain Raurrssatta!" she repeated, the better to aid Zeke's memory. "I'm Carol Saska, former first mate of the bulk freighter Curvy Lady. This is my husband Ezekiel, former Captain of the aforementioned Lady, and here is our daughter, Cassandra. You can call them Zeke and Cassie."

Zeke, still under medical orders to be still and calm, surreptitiously pointed a finger to his daughter. "We pretty much prefer it that way," she said on behalf of them both. Her eyes flickered back over Cirr before fixing on the base of Vek Vek's examination table. Carol went on. "The Lady was attacked and investigated by Imperial Agents after they discovered us smuggling Rebel weaponry by accident. It's a long story and I'd be happy to bring you up to speed on it, if you have the time. Our current situation is that we lost our freighter and our small shuttle, so we've no resources to carry on with. We'd appreciate any aid you could give to us."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Ajid, well, uh..."

Cirrsseeto wasn't the arbiter of mercy missions or anything, but he certainly could empathize with the family in their strange origins into Rebel and Jedi activity. Always starts small. That's why you never give a sajoi a cookie, well, nevermind all that.

He scratched at the back of his neck as he looked at them, and then back to Carol.

"That depends on what kjind of ajid you'rre lookjing forr. Medjical surre. Sanctuarry surre. A sparre shjip just lyjing arround? That one not so much."

[Zeke]

"We're entirely fine with medicine and sanctuary," Carol reassured him with a smile.

"Medicine especially," Zeke answered as Vek Vek finally took the machine off his head and went to consult the results. The Jedi propped up on his elbows. "We don't expect to just be given a new ship, nor do we expect anyone to go off and help us recover our old ones. But we do need a place to recover and organize ourselves. If you know where I could do that in the company of more Jedi refugees, I'd appreciate if you helped us out there."

Cassie soured, pulling her feet up on the edge of the chair and glaring a hole in the floor. Carol looked a little pained, but took up the request as well. "It's...suddenly become a big part of our lives. Zeke needs to catch up on what's happened to them since he last, ah...participated. Cassie and I need to know what the hell we're getting into."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The Captain nodded. This was all something he'd heard before.

"Well, between Ben and myself, you've put yourrself jin the company of experrjienced Jedji prrotectorrs. Been at jit forr some tjime, even beforre jI was actually jin the Alljiance."

He watched Vek Vek tend to Zeke's wounds, and everything seemed fairly routine there.

"My frrjigate has clearrance to meet wjith a secrret convoy that safeguarrds Jedji rrefugees. jI can see about arrangjing somethjing."

There was always a risk here. A risk in bringing something back that he shouldn't. He trusted Ben, but even Ben might not know everything if there was a deception.

Cirrsseeto tapped a wrist comm.

"Morrgan, can you come to the jinfjirrmarry?"

[Morgan Evanar]

"On my way." Morgan didn't have the slightest idea what was happening except that there had been an arrival. He took the slow way. Morgan placed his hands over the rails present on the lift, and let his arms support a portion of his weight.

The most logical conclusion was that one of the guests was either injured or of interest to the doctor, but being of interest probably meant it was another Jedi, which being one meant that Morgan was the resident expert.

Morgan was a bad Jedi expert for a Jedi.

He entered the Medbay and took a quick look at the situation. Obviously, someone was injured.

"Captain?" He asked simply.

[Zeke]

"Yes, sir," Zeke replied automatically, just as he would have to any one of his former employees. He covered his embarrassment at the mistake by sitting up while Cirr acknowledged Morgan's entry with a nod. The action was accompanied by a long grunt of exertion. "My name's Zeke, and I'm a former ship Captain myself. Captain Raurssatta called you in on my behalf, so, um...I'll let him fill you in." He gestured with a hand for Cirr to take the lead. Cassie's forehead thumped her knees as her father's gaffe embarrassed her in turn. Carol squeezed her husband's hand again, and the family's eyes settled on Morgan.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr gestured at Zeke and shrugged a little.

"Well, same old drrjill. Lost and found Jedji lookjing forr sanctuarry and all that."

He glanced at his friend and then back at the refugee family.

"They seem fjine to me but jI don't want jit on my head that jI was the one to brrjing a nutterr onboarrd the convoy."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan looked at Cirrseeto and narrowed his eyes briefly. He was perhaps the least qualified Jedi to make that judgment.

"Hello. Looks like you got yourself into a bit of a mess." He said to Zeke, and then looked back to Cirr.

[Zeke]

"Ah, yes," Zeke began. He turned to face Morgan more fully, back hunching and straightening slightly as he tried to find a comfortable way to sit. "Had a bit of a run-in with Stormtroopers and an Imperial Agent who could use the Force. That was surprising, as I believed all the Force-sensitive people in the Empire were dead." With Vader and the Emperor gone, Zeke would never have believed the Empire was using Agents that could wield the Force until his fight with Veribek. "If you know anything about how that came to be, I'd like to know, but for now I want to know the state of our Order. I never believed for a second I was the sole survivor of Order 66, but I did believe our Order, as a group, was shattered and unsalvageable."

[Carol Saska]

Carol grabbed Cirr by his sleeve and started to tow him out. "C'mon, Captain Cizerack," she said with a friendly smile. "Let's talk about how the Rebellion goes about its smuggling operations." She let him go when she saw he was willing to cooperate. They stopped down the hall a few paces to stay in earshot if anyone in the med bay needed them. She stood straight with her hands posted on her hips, head tilted up to make eye contact with him. Cirrsseeto dwarfed her, but she felt every inch his equal. "I want to know if its routine to smuggle weaponry using non-Rebel ships and personnel. That one decision is what set us off on this whole mess in the first place, and if there's a neck to be wrung, I want to know exactly which one it is."

[Cassandra Saska]

Cassie sighed as though a great weight had been placed on her ribcage. She didn't care to hear either of the conversations her parents were having. The idea of meeting more Jedi intimidated her, especially if they had all the powers her Dad had displayed so far. She looked askance at Morgan, nervously wondering if he was picking her brain. Whatever her Mom had dragged Cirr out for, she doubted it was anything relating to getting a new, free ship off the rebels or a full ride to the school of her choosing. She looked up at Vek Vek, who'd moved to a discreet distance to fiddle with her Dad's brainsamples and...what? He looked really focused. Maybe he was eavesdropping. She went and sat on a stool beside him.

"Hi," she said, her tone a touch too chirpy to cover her awkwardness. She rested elbows on knees and chin on fists, letting her cheeks and lips compress into a bored little pout. "Is Dad brain-damaged like we've suspected all his life long?"

[Morgan Evanar]

"I don't have the same context as some of the more veteran Jedi." Morgan stated.

"I was one of the first, I think, about four years ago. It was just five of us. There's many more now. I'm not sure the conditions to maintain any kind of Order existed till then. The Rebellion was too small to provide resources for a fledgling Jedi Order."

"We're not the same Order."

[Zeke]

"Fantastic. The old Order was so rigid and inflexible in its ways that it couldn't even turn its head to see the danger standing right behind it," Zeke said bluntly, rubbing his eyes. "Twenty years to reflect on it, and now I get to say it out loud to someone. It's cathartic, so thanks for listening." Zeke sighed and clasped his hands. "So what about the new Order? I hear we're on a convoy now, zooming about to hide from the Empire. Which is also fantastic, by the way. Totally brilliant move."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Carol grabbed Cirr by his sleeve and started to tow him out. "C'mon, Captain Cizerack," she said with a friendly smile. "Let's talk about how the Rebellion goes about its smuggling operations." She let him go when she saw he was willing to cooperate. They stopped down the hall a few paces to stay in earshot if anyone in the med bay needed them. She stood straight with her hands posted on her hips, head tilted up to make eye contact with him. Cirrsseeto dwarfed her, but she felt every inch his equal. "I want to know if its routine to smuggle weaponry using non-Rebel ships and personnel. That one decision is what set us off on this whole mess in the first place, and if there's a neck to be wrung, I want to know exactly which one it is."

Cirr winced at the nickname as they left the infirmary. Did he call her Refugee Human? No he didn't.

"Please, just call me Cirr."

As they spoke, it was clear she had an axe to grind with their situation. Cirr listened, his ears twitching as he did. Lady, you've got the wrong person to ask this question.

He held up a hand.

"Hold on. So you'rre telljing me that an Alljiance agent snuck weapons jinto yourr carrgo bay orr somethjing?"

He'd never heard of that sort of thing. While he'd taken plenty of work for the Alliance while as a freelancer, it was on a strictly voluntary basis.

[Vek Vek]

Cassie sighed as though a great weight had been placed on her ribcage. She didn't care to hear either of the conversations her parents were having. The idea of meeting more Jedi intimidated her, especially if they had all the powers her Dad had displayed so far. She looked askance at Morgan, nervously wondering if he was picking her brain. Whatever her Mom had dragged Cirr out for, she doubted it was anything relating to getting a new, free ship off the rebels or a full ride to the school of her choosing. She looked up at Vek Vek, who'd moved to a discreet distance to fiddle with her Dad's brainsamples and...what? He looked really focused. Maybe he was eavesdropping. She went and sat on a stool beside him.

"Hi," she said, her tone a touch too chirpy to cover her awkwardness. She rested elbows on knees and chin on fists, letting her cheeks and lips compress into a bored little pout. "Is Dad brain-damaged like we've suspected all his life long?"

Not good at social interaction in the best of times, Vek Vek stiffened as he looked at his viewscreen.

"Mm? Yes? No. No. Well, aside from concussion. No cephalic degeneration or atrophy. Cognitive function nominal, ahem, at cursory examination."

[Morgan Evanar]

"Fantastic. The old Order was so rigid and inflexible in its ways that it couldn't even turn its head to see the danger standing right behind it," Zeke said bluntly, rubbing his eyes. "Twenty years to reflect on it, and now I get to say it out loud to someone. It's cathartic, so thanks for listening." Zeke sighed and clasped his hands. "So what about the new Order? I hear we're on a convoy now, zooming about to hide from the Empire. Which is also fantastic, by the way. Totally brilliant move."

"Thanks. We're still establishing our identity." Morgan stated.

"It's a very diverse group. I think that compared to the older order we're more philosophically eclectic. We're aware that we're not an institution. Personally, I feel like there are some previous rules that don't add up, and there are still some people who think some of the old rules are a good idea." He gave a shrug.

"The whole situation could be characterized as unconventional."