Ask Hit the Road Jack

[Maxims Tionson]

That was the worst thing wasn't it?

There was an abundance of fear aimed at Force Users across the Galaxy and the worst thing was that it wasn't something that could so easily be turned aside because they had a point. The Jedi were secretive, the Matukai were rare and the Sith were outright at war with everyone not currently bowing to their whims. When combined with the near mythical feats that people believed they were able to do (some of which were even true) it made for a rather worrying picture for the man or woman just trying to make their way through the Galaxy.

Max really wanted some of his cigaras now.

"The worst kind of hated to face is the kind that you can understand, empathize with. It's easy to deal with the hatred of Sith who have grown in the Dark Side from greed." he smiled wryly, "Not so much when it's the blue collar worker who's afraid you're going to steal his children away in the night to train to fight in a war he doesn't understand."

He understood it but that didn't mean he was going to just let it go - on the other hand, he was very much the kind of person who was doing what he could to make sure the Jedi were doing what they were always meant to do regardless of public perception while he tried to patch it up in public anyway. Max eyed her for a moment before laughing a little bit, good naturedly, and shrugging.

"I don't know." he answered honestly, "Maybe it's not about what the Jedi can teach you and more about what you can teach the Jedi? Or maybe it's about finding a way that blends the two together? Change is a natural state of being in the Galaxy and if we truly serve the Light, the true balanced order of the Galaxy, then we must accept change ourselves."

Max winked at her.

"Or maybe now you're old enough to think Lightsabers are cool."

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"I've seen a lot of this war through their eyes, and I gotta tell you, a lot of people don't like you guys. After Ryloth, I stayed behind to help with cleanup and tending to the wounded. It could be that I just was in all the wrong places, but I didn't see many of the Jedi that fought in the battle after the dust settled. I was bandaging and stitching almost twenty wounds a day, and the conversations I overheard and sometimes took part in were not too complementary." Mara said as she started fiddling with the wraps around her hands and wrists.

"I do have a few things I want to teach you guys. There's a really great technique that I can use to disrupt the flow of the Force in someone's body. And I'd like to test myself against a Knight or Master to see how our combat styles differ." Mara paused for a moment, thinking of anything else that she wanted to teach or learn from the Jedi. "I'm getting there. I think they're more useful than anything else right now."

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

It made a change to be able to have just a nice conversation with someone about ethics and the approaches of monastic Orders on the Galaxy. So wearily often his time revolved around battles he didn’t actually ever want to fight but was forced to do so in defend that which he held dear. Political and physical, it didn’t seem to matter – battles found him and they were all the kind of battles he couldn’t afford to turn away from.

He would love to have the opportunity to be a pacifist but the Galaxy did not seem to want another pacifist so much as it needed someone who would fight not because they wanted to but because they knew it was Right to do so. Right made Might – he believed that and he always had.

“It does seem like the general population of the Galaxy takes a dim view on us at the best of times.” He agreed with a small sigh, rubbing at his beard as he did so, “The worst part is that we’re seemingly can’t do right for fear of doing wrong. Every action we have on a planet needs to be entirely legal or else we are torn apart in the press for it; and legally we have so very little in terms of ‘jurisdiction’.”

Ryloth would have allowed them to spend more time there, to aid them, but Max was of the opinion that doing so overtly so close to Sith space was asking for trouble. Instead he had helped start up the refugee relocation charity between the Ryloth and Cato Neimoidia – not that he would tell Mara that. The whole point was that the Jedi Order took no credit for the charity so it was less of a tempting target for the Sith or their other political opponents.

He hummed as he thought about the technique she had mentioned.

“That would be greatly appreciated by myself as well as the Order as a whole.” He assured her with a small smile, “I’ve managed to defend what I believe in without taking a life but a technique to subdue a hostile Force User non-lethally is something we could greatly benefit from. Of course if you were to teach us, we could look into teaching you some of our own techniques. Advanced Aerokinetic techniques, Cloak, Illusions and Projections among others.”

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"I would be happy to provide the Order with more non-lethal methods of fighting, if they are willing, that is. And... I would be very interested in learning those techniques which you described. Now, I would love to continue chatting, but I need to work on a few things in my workshop, and you need to rest, get that Concussion of yours under control. Feel free to fall asleep, I'll wake you when we get there." Mara uncrossed her legs and stood, giving the Jedi a nod before she left the room, turning the lights off on her way out.

Mara would stop by the cockpit to check on the time left in their jump before heading to her droid workshop and continued on the project she had been working on. It was another couple of hours before Mara got a notification from Arsix that they were nearing the planet. Mara nodded and got up from her desk, walking around the ship to poke her head into the medical bay. "Hey, we're here. Get your stuff together and meet me at the cockpit."

Mara then moved to the cockpit, taking a seat and starting the slowdown procedures, the ship pulled out of Hyperspace in front of the planet, Chalacta. "Alright Max, Where am I gonna drop you off?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Max made a mental note to bring up some files on the techniques he had mentioned so that he could help Mara get accustomed to them when and if she spent time with the Jedi. He wasn't about to suggest she take them away from the Temple or from the watchful gaze of the Jedi themselves until she was either a Jedi herself or their two Orders reached a mutually beneficial agreement that they could use going forward.

He might have a concussion but he was still a Jedi Master and his duty was to protect the interests of the Order as best as he could in all things. Max liked to think that he did this in his day-to-day life and this would be no different.

"I'll speak to you later, then."

Rather than fall asleep, Max reached into the Force and began a meditation. Rather than a typical meditation to focus his mind, the healing trance he entered would both allow him to rest and assist with the healing process as the name implied. The time passed quickly for him, almost without meaning, until she called out to him that they had arrived.

His right eye flashed blue ever so slightly as he came out of the deep meditation, before it died down and he smiled.

"Thank you again Mara." he said as he stretched, standing from his seated positioned and heading for the cockpit with her, "Just the capital city will be perfectly fine - I have local friends who can lend me a hand. Where will you go next? Oh and... ah... my comlink details."

He held out his comlink for her to take down his details.

"So that next time I can give you a ride and we can get the library open for you."

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

Mara smiled as she took his comlink, jotting down the details onto her arm with a marker she had nearby. Her face brightened at the mention of a library. "Wait, are you seriously offering to let me into the Jedi Library? I've been wanting to visit it for ages. There's so many things that I could learn and so many legends stored within it.... Yeah, i'll definitely be in contact. My comlink is over to your right if you want to get mine in case you have to contact me first."

Mara handed Max's comlink back to him while pointing hers out next to him. Mara would then focus on bringing the ship into the nearest port, hovering outside for a bit before getting the allclear to land in an empty space. Mara landed the ship with a practiced ease, her hands flying over the controls as the ship settled on it's landing gear and the entrance ramp lowering down. "So, I guess I'll be in touch? Or do you want to let me know when you get the all-clear to bring me to one of your temples? I look forward to learning from you, and possibly teaching you a few things."

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Her enthusiasm for the library was adorable and slightly contagious as Max caught himself smiling at the idea that she would end up dancing around the library in her eagerness. She wouldn’t be the first person to get enamored with the library and all of the knowledge it contained. Even with the destruction of the old Jedi Temples, the Jedi had more records than they knew what to do with.

Well, almost.

Usually they just enjoyed dusting off the older files and getting them taught to Padawans and Knights once they were proven to be useful.

“Of course.” He assured her with a grin, “I’ll show you around myself – make sure our head Librarian doesn’t challenge you to a duel for the right to read some of her favorite volumes.”

The head librarian… probably wouldn’t do that but still. He grinned at Mara in a slightly lopsided, vaguely amused, kind of way.

“I don’t think it’ll take too long to get you vetted – give it a few days and it should be fine. Not sure if Buddy mentioned it before but my word carries a bit of weight.”

He hadn’t really given her the whole story about his title and rank after all.

@Phantom