The Force Always Says Yes [Star Wars]

[Simonbob]

I see the Force said "Yes" to him winning that hand.

 

[Goudeauboywade]

The Force really does love its found family tropes.(hi it's me, the force, who likes the trope)

 

[shukkets]

OoooOoooh!
Super nice.
Thanks for the chapter.

 

[TFTwink]

Arwain stared down at them, and her eye twitched. "How did you do that?" She demanded. "Was that a Force power?"
"It's...all the Force, Master."
"...That was just luck," her jaw dropped. "You just risked it all on the randomizer."
He shrugged and grinned. "Gambling is best done at rock bottom, no?"

Click to shrink...

This reminds me of that temple in Legends where they teach how to replace the subconscious with the Force for a huge power-up. Probably not explaining it right.

 

[MemeKing]

Hey @Hyenanon, if you want to incorporate them into your story here are some obscure force sensitive species in the outer rim.

Spoiler: The Revwiens

The Revwien are a plant based species from the planet Revyia in the Outer Rim. Their homeworld is covered in jungle and plains, and the Revwiens came to revere the jungle belt as sacred. Revwien society is organized into small autonomous, semi-nomadic groups. Their technological innovation centered around plants, which they used for myriad purposes.

They developed a philosophy known as the Tyia, which emphasized spiritual unity between individuals. Adherents of the Tyia developed the ability to manipulate the Force. Tyia was named after the Revwien word for "breath". They viewed the Force as being in everything that breathed. When things were moving in accord with the Force, the Tyia practitioners called this "Harmony" which was akin the the light side of the Force. When the Dark side of the Force was dominant, the Tyia would be in Discord and the adepts would attempt to bring it back to Harmony.

Revwiens are peaceful beings who value honor. They are often unfalteringly honest, even when faced with situations in which bending the truth would produce tangible benefits. Revwiens try to negotiate their way out of conflicts and take an extremely long-term view of issues, as reflected in the popular Revwien idiom that "In time, things will work out as intended."

Spoiler: The Kadri'ra

The Kadri'ra are a very large sentient non-huminoid species from the planet Arapia in the outer rim.

Kadri'Ra continue to grow through their life, reaching lengths of up to two hundred meters. They are protected by a tough exo-skeleton which expanded along with every growth cycle. Older, and therefore larger, Kadri'Ra could become a danger to themselves and others, often retreating to deep caverns or asteroid caves, where their exoskeletons conformed to their surroundings.

Kadri'Ra are wise and philosophical by nature, With many being minorly force sensitive. Presumably the ones with higher sensitivity formed their own force traditions and groups.

Their immense strength and ability to survive vacuum made them popular targets for slavers, who forced them to become heavy laborers in construction projects or space docks. Slavery had reduced the Kadri'Ra population on Arapia from an estimated 140 million during the days of the Galactic Republic to a mere 14,000 by 0 BBY

Spoiler: The Celegian

The Celegian are a non-huminoid sentient species located on the planet Celegia within the Expansion Region. The species are relatively Isolationist, but did have good relations with the republic. Very intelligent, they had a natural form of telekinesis that functioned like a repulsorlift. They breathed Cyanogen, a gas poisonous to Humans. Conversely, oxygen was lethal to them, necessitating atmospheric transport chambers offworld. Celegians communicated using a form of telepathy, and had no written or spoken language.

Celegians tended to be explorers, and were often found in the company of other species with the same interests. Those Celegians that could be encountered away from their homeworld were usually scouts or diplomats. The species as a whole are naturally all force sensitive and presumably have their own traditions, although a rare few were trained in the ways of the Force by the Jedi Order. One of the most notable Celegians was Ooroo, a Jedi Master during the Great Hyperspace War.

 

[Hyenanon]

Hey @Hyenanon, if you want to incorporate them into your story here are some obscure force sensitive species in the outer rim.

Spoiler: The Revwiens

The Revwien are a plant based species from the planet Revyia in the Outer Rim. Their homeworld is covered in jungle and plains, and the Revwiens came to revere the jungle belt as sacred. Revwien society is organized into small autonomous, semi-nomadic groups. Their technological innovation centered around plants, which they used for myriad purposes.

They developed a philosophy known as the Tyia, which emphasized spiritual unity between individuals. Adherents of the Tyia developed the ability to manipulate the Force. Tyia was named after the Revwien word for "breath". They viewed the Force as being in everything that breathed. When things were moving in accord with the Force, the Tyia practitioners called this "Harmony" which was akin the the light side of the Force. When the Dark side of the Force was dominant, the Tyia would be in Discord and the adepts would attempt to bring it back to Harmony.

Revwiens are peaceful beings who value honor. They are often unfalteringly honest, even when faced with situations in which bending the truth would produce tangible benefits. Revwiens try to negotiate their way out of conflicts and take an extremely long-term view of issues, as reflected in the popular Revwien idiom that "In time, things will work out as intended."

Spoiler: The Kadri'ra

The Kadri'ra are a very large sentient non-huminoid species from the planet Arapia in the outer rim.

Kadri'Ra continue to grow through their life, reaching lengths of up to two hundred meters. They are protected by a tough exo-skeleton which expanded along with every growth cycle. Older, and therefore larger, Kadri'Ra could become a danger to themselves and others, often retreating to deep caverns or asteroid caves, where their exoskeletons conformed to their surroundings.

Kadri'Ra are wise and philosophical by nature, With many being minorly force sensitive. Presumably the ones with higher sensitivity formed their own force traditions and groups.

Their immense strength and ability to survive vacuum made them popular targets for slavers, who forced them to become heavy laborers in construction projects or space docks. Slavery had reduced the Kadri'Ra population on Arapia from an estimated 140 million during the days of the Galactic Republic to a mere 14,000 by 0 BBY

Spoiler: The Celegian

The Celegian are a non-huminoid sentient species located on the planet Celegia within the Expansion Region. The species are relatively Isolationist, but did have good relations with the republic. Very intelligent, they had a natural form of telekinesis that functioned like a repulsorlift. They breathed Cyanogen, a gas poisonous to Humans. Conversely, oxygen was lethal to them, necessitating atmospheric transport chambers offworld. Celegians communicated using a form of telepathy, and had no written or spoken language.

Celegians tended to be explorers, and were often found in the company of other species with the same interests. Those Celegians that could be encountered away from their homeworld were usually scouts or diplomats. The species as a whole are naturally all force sensitive and presumably have their own traditions, although a rare few were trained in the ways of the Force by the Jedi Order. One of the most notable Celegians was Ooroo, a Jedi Master during the Great Hyperspace War.

Click to shrink...

I am truly in love with the Revwiens' picture. Chillin' out, maxing, relaxing all cool.

 

[Hyenanon]

Chapter 48: Not Able To Rely On The Jedi​

After a couple more hours of gaming and a few more rule variants, they had all ended up with more or less the amount of money they started with. Nerim felt himself wobble a little in his chair, and his eyes felt slower to blink and open than usual. Though he had had alcohol prior to this, it had never been enough to overcome his natural resistance and make him feel anything other than warm. The experience was strange to him, and he had no lens through which to really understand it except the Force.

During deep meditation he had occasionally felt a similar disconnect between his body and mind. More rarely, he had felt a sense of disconnection between his mind and his self. He felt both now, as if his perception was being carried away by a tide that rocked his body and mind like boats he had floated away from. But while meditation brought a sense of clarity and distance, now he felt a hazy intimacy with...nothing in particular. Or maybe everything? It was hard to tell.

Arwain, though tired, seemed almost perfectly sober—he wasn't sure how much of that was acting, versus using the Force to negate the intoxication, versus her genuinely just having a high alcohol tolerance after years of un-Jedilike behavior. She had made off with the most of the winnings, although after so many games, it had more or less evenly split between the players, leaving everyone with just a couple dozen more or less than they started with. Nerim had a strong lead at first, and then serious losses later, followed by a number of marginal gains until he had broken exactly even.

Smeebi stood up and stretched his legs, yawning with a strange buzzing noise as he did so. "I have to get to bed and sleep myself sober, now, so I can be ready in time to actually bring the ship in. This has been great fun, though! I've never gotten to cut loose with Knights, before."

"None of us are Knights," Arwain said with some mixture of amusement and grief.

"Oh, right. Sorry. You still feel like—" Smeebi cut himself off, placing a hand to the back of his neck, as if thinking better than to finish that sentence. "...Well, regardless, it's been fun. I hope you enjoy your evening," he said, and then gave them a surprisingly graceful bow and then stumbled off.

Arwain began gathering the cards back together, a small smile on her face despite everything. "Nerim, I wanted to ask you something..."

"What's that, Master?" Nerim asked, folding his arms on the table and resting his chin on top of them.

"Why do you think we got exiled?" She asked, making him blink in surprise.

"Well, first off, I got exiled. You resigned," he reminded her.

"Oh...Yes," she said, and then made a quiet, repressed laugh.

Nerim couldn't help but laugh too. "I don't think there's much to say. They think I'm a bad Jedi. I can't even say they're entirely wrong."

Tetha shook her head, leaning back in her chair and frowning. "I can't say I know what a good Jedi is, exactly. But I feel there's more to it than that."

"Why?" Nerim asked, looking to her curiously.

"The first thing that tipped it off is that they kept asking questions to each other instead of us." Tetha explained, drumming her fingers on the table. "They asked us very open-ended questions that we couldn't answer in a productive manner, like why we weren't talking much, or how it was possible that Fae died, or how they could possibly start an investigation without coordinates. They asked rhetorical questions we weren't supposed to answer, like repeatedly asking Arwain for information on the Dark Orders that we already said we hadn't identified. At times they explicitly asked one another why they were even having the hearing. I feel like we came in at the tail end of a longer argument."

"Very observant," Arwain nodded and raised her cup, before drinking the last of her lum. "They were checking one another for conformity. The Council has to act in unanimity, and there are long, drawn out procedures that are a part of achieving that unity."

Nerim closed his eyes in thought. "Well, they had already made up their minds before we even went on the mission. It all seems rather perfunftry to me," he said. "Perfunctory," he repeated, slower. "It doesn't surprise me that the meeting wasn't about relitigating my case."

"Yes," Arwain agreed, "Which raises the question as to what they were trying to obtain unity on."

Tetha looked at her, and then narrowed her eyes. "...You did mean it when you said 'we were exiled', didn't you?"

Nerim opened his eyes, and raised his head. Arwain smiled slightly. "I think so," she nodded.

"You think they were trying to exile you?" Nerim's brow furrowed.

"I know for a fact that some of them—maybe even most of them—wanted me reassigned or exiled," Arwain said, looking to the side, "And to some extent, I believe the way they confronted us was a method of trying to make their case to the remainders. But I think it was significantly larger than me."

"Sure, maybe," Nerim admitted, sitting up a bit more. "Without Fae, they must have a lot of large things to consider. But what do you think it was in particular?"

Arwain raised her cup and then glanced down and frowned at its empty state. "I think they were trying to make an example. They were trying to say, 'Just because Fae is dead, doesn't mean the Order is changing,' and getting rid of two egregious examples of heterodoxy is part of that."

"Ah. Maybe," Nerim yawned. "They did say something like that when we left."

Arwain raised her head with a start. "What?"

"When we were trapped on that damn elevator. Gendi and that other guy were arguing about whether this was a new Order or not," he explained.

She stared at him for a moment, and shook her head slowly. "Unbelievable. You could sense inside that room? You're just full of surprises..."

He blinked. "Do you...do you not? I just assumed that's what it's like for every Jedi, all the time," he frowned. "I thought that's what I was missing out on."

"But the Council chambers? Ehr, regardless," Arwain took a moment to clear her train of thought. "The way I see it, there are two potentialities here. One is that the Jedi Order is resolutely committed to maintaining its unreformed state, and that our hopes of changing it from the inside have vanished. The other is that we were unfortunately the target of a last ditch lashing out of the traditionalists, and we will see some sort of positive reform shortly."

"There is always a third option," Nerim said, rubbing his face. "It could be that they're about to get much worse."

"I was choosing not to see that one."

He smirked. "It's funny to me that you're such a dedicated reformist, when that put you exactly opposite to Fae."

"Not as opposite as you might think, Apprentice," Arwain smiled wistfully. "She was something of a revolutionary in her youth, too."

"...Too?"

"I'm perfectly youthful," Arwain said with faux-offense, trying not to smile as she stood up. "Regardless, thank you for your counsel. I believe I'm about to pass out, so I should get in a bed first."

Tetha's eyes scanned the space around Arwain as she stood. "I've been meaning to ask...how does your agelessness function?"

"Dunno," Arwain shrugged and began to walk away towards her sleeping quarters. "I never asked my Master."

Tetha's lips pursed. "Are you...lying, or...?"

Arwain simply waved and disappeared down the hallway. Nerim frowned. "It's disturbingly in character for her to have not asked, but I find it hard to believe she could not know..."

Tetha sighed and placed her chin on her hand. "Well, I'm starting to see where you get it from."

Nerim shrunk under the comparison. "We're nothing alike."

"Honestly, you seem pretty similar to me," she said flatly, with a tired but content smile on her face.

He looked down at the table for a moment, his eyes unfocusing and his brain trying to sluggishly think of what to say next, when a familiar, cool soothing feeling pressed against his chest. Suddenly he blinked himself awake, and reached out to grab Tetha's hand. She grasped his hand back, with some pleasant surprise.

"Hey, there's something important I gotta tell you. Follow me," he said.

"Oookay?" She agreed questioningly, but not reluctantly. He stood up wobbly and staggered down the hall with her in tow, hands clasped together. He still held a deep appreciation for the feeling of her hand in his, although he suspected she was even more fascinated with it than him.

He took her down the hall until they reached his room, and he pulled her in, closing the door behind them. The room was mostly dark, only lit by a few electronics and a soft yellow night light. She looked around, confused as Nerim drunkenly fumbled around for a light switch, only to stop and lean against the wall. "Actually, maybe better that we don't turn on the lights," he mumbled, letting go of her hand.

"Excuse m—" Tetha stopped, her mouth snapping shut and her eyes widening as Nerim reached for the collar of his tunic and began pulling it loose. "O-oh. Okay..." She said nervously, rubbing her arm bashfully and then staring intently at him. "O-okay. Yeah!"

After a few seconds of inept tugging, Nerim managed to reach into the front of his tunic. He pulled a black string and retrieved his necklace, taking it off his head. At the end was a dark blue crystal, glowing ever-so-slightly with its own light and humming harmonically. "This is your lightsaber crystal," he said happily.

"Oh!" She blinked, rearing back. "Oh, yeah, totally. Um. What?" She shook her head in confusion and looked again.

"I found this in the Revanchist Temple on Cathar," Nerim explained, gently taking her hand and placing the crystal in it, holding it between their palms in a way that made his spine tingle. "Every time I look at it or touch it, I think of you. So I'm pretty sure it's yours. I'm actually kind of surprised I got away with taking it, although I don't think anyone other than Chey-Linn ever noticed I had it in the first place."

She looked down at their hands, and then up at him. "But...I can make my own crystals. And you're a Jedi. Shouldn't this be for you?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Not how it works. It belongs to you. And besides, I'm not a Knight."

"Well, isn't it illegal?" She asked, beginning to smile affectionately at him. "I mean, maybe not just having the crystal itself, but..."

"If the Force didn't want you to have it, then it wouldn't have given the crystal to me," Nerim said confidently, still wobbling a little. In the darkness he found it harder to keep his balance, and he began to tilt sideways, until Tetha moved up close and wrapped her other arm around him to keep him steady, their clasped hands now pressed between their chests over their hearts.

Their faces were now distractingly close to one another. Nerim's bleary eyes couldn't hardly pierce the darkness anymore, so he just smiled. "I meant it. I thought of you every time I touched the crystal, and I kept it close to me all this time..."

"Nerim..." She softly spoke his name, which gave him a sense of warmth and comfort he found sort of inexplicable. Then she giggled. "Nerim," she said a little more firmly, "You're about to pass out."

"No I'm not," he laughed, shuffling his feet to try and stay standing.

"Come on, before I drop you." She guided him towards the middle of the room and gently sat him down on a meditation rug, their hands still clasped together around the crystal. "I don't think you're gonna make it up into the hammock."

"I would fall out," he agreed. Their hands parted, hers keeping the crystal, and she reached up and grabbed the pillow out of the hammock for him.

"Here," she said, sitting down on her knees next to him.

"Thank you, Tetha," he said groggily, absentmindedly pulling her closer until they were, to his surprise, hugging. He hadn't exactly planned for that, he just sort of started pulling her on instinct.

She seemed happy with it, though, and hugged him back, the side of her face pressed against his. Her cheeks felt warm, and she held him tightly. She wasn't entirely steady either, and eventually Nerim felt her fall over with him, landing on the pillow and holding one another as they lay there.

He couldn't stop his eyes from closing and his muscles from relaxing as he sunk into the floor. "Wow..." He yawned. "It's just like I dreamed..."

Tetha laughed warmly at that. "You're so dumb."

"But I'm cute, right?" He asked hopefully.

He felt her kiss him on the cheek. "Yeah. Way too cute."

"I love you, Tetha," he mumbled absently, the final vestiges of resistance leaving his body as he fell asleep. She said something back, and although he wasn't conscious enough to make out the words, the tone of her voice made him happy.

___________________________________________________________________________________



Nerim awoke with a dry mouth and lead in his bones. His first thought was that he was pleasantly surprised not to have a pounding headache, although the lights stabbing his eyes were not entirely to his liking. The intercom was crackling out some unwanted noise, so he clung tighter to the source of warmth and comfort in front of him. Tetha grunted at the sudden constriction of her lungs.

"—Saarkane, so wake up and buckle up!" He could make out Smeebi's voice over the intercom.

Nerim groaned and opened his eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them. He stretched all his limbs out forward while still laying down, like a disgruntled cat, and then rolled back over and looked at Tetha. She had immediately fallen back into a deep sleep. He watched her breathe for a moment before reaching over and shaking her shoulder. "Hey, sleepy. You gotta wake up."

"Mmmnnh..." Tetha murmured. "...No sun."

He blinked. "Wha?"

She frowned, still half asleep. "Not enough sunlight...wake me up later..."

"We're in a starship. Going to Saarkane. There won't be any sunlight," he frowned and sat up.

"Nnghhh..." Her frown deepened, and she kept her eyes screwed shut. "Haven't photosynthesized in a week...Dorin all over again..."

He smiled down at her. While she was otherwise indisposed, he decided to take the opportunity to reach out and gently stroke her cheek. She stirred a little, an arm raising and grabbing his wrist, although not stopping him. Slowly, one eye cracked open and glared at him, her black iris reflecting glints of light at him. "To be honest..." He began, "I like Smeebi and all, but I want to be off this ship as quickly as possible."

She heaved a big sigh and sat up, tiredly fixing her hair as best as she could and hiding the crystal necklace under her clothes. They both swayed a little from the momentum as the ship snapped out of hyperspace, and then stood up and moved to the door. It opened and he stepped outside.

As soon as he stepped foot outside, Arwain's door opened, and she quickly walked out down the hallway towards him. "Padawan! I think I've made a breakthro—" She paused for a microsecond as she walked in front of his door, caught eye contact with Tetha, and kept walking. "We'll talk about it over breakfast!"

Arwain disappeared around the corner, and he frowned. "I hate it when she does that," he complained. Then he turned to Tetha, to see her face flushed bright red. "...What?"

"I hate this feeling more than anything," she grumbled, crossing her arms defensively.

"What feeling?" He asked, concerned.

"Doing the time without even getting to do the crime," she scowled.

"What crime?" Nerim frowned. Tetha ignored him and walked to the bathroom. He sighed and trundled into the main room, collapsing into a seat at the table as Arwain arranged some sort of strange breakfast made of stick-shaped biscuits and an unidentifiable soft paste to dip them in. "What was your breakthrough, Master?"

Arwain grinned at him. "We're gonna be okay!"

"...I know, Master."

She frowned. "Well, it felt like a breakthrough at the time," she said quietly, placing one of the sticks in her mouth. "Also! I managed to make contact with Jianno! It was a little difficult, given I no longer have my Jedi-associated holonet access. She's actually quite rude to unsolicited messages..." Arwain pouted.

He perked up at that. "That's good. Did she ever make it to Saarkane?"

"Yes. I gather she arrived either shortly before or after we left. She said she's been working over the past couple days while we've been gone, and she wants to meet in person to discuss something important."

"...Master, you didn't tell her we've been kicked out of the Order, did you?"

Arwain nervously chewed as Smeebi's voice rang over the intercom. "Alright! We'll be pulling in around 16:00 local time. Weather will be a cozy 13 Standard degrees, overcast skies, and thunderstorms expected by the evening. I managed to snag the lot next to The Lucky Worm, so you won't walk far!"

"Convenient," Nerim smiled, thankful not to have to go on another trek early in the morning. Or late afternoon, if he were going by Saarkane time now.

Tetha emerged and snatched the box of biscuits away from Arwain, preparing her own breakfast silently. Nerim took the opportunity to occupy the bathroom himself, and wash out the terrible morning breath he had accumulated. As he went through his routine, he felt a prickling feeling on the back of his neck, although was unable to focus on what exactly was disturbing his senses.

By the time he had finished everything and returned relatively refreshed, they were close enough to descent that they had to pick up all of the kitchen items and strap themselves in. The flight into Saarkane's atmosphere was smooth and peaceful, and when they came to a landing and stood up, Smeebi exited the cockpit and proudly put has hands on his hips.

"Well, another happy landing!" He said cheerfully. "Sorry to say, but this is where I'll be seeing you off. A Jedi Serviceman always has a million things to do. I'm glad to have met you."

"You too, Smeebi," Arwain smiled. Nerim and Tetha echoed the sentiment, and they gathered their belongings and disembarked.

They reached the bottom of the boarding ramp, and Smeebi hung out the portal for a moment. "If we ever meet again, you're treating me to drinks!" He said, waving and retracting the ramp.

"Fine, just don't think I'll let you win at sabacc!" Arwain retorted, waving back. As they were walking away, Arwain smiled and glanced to her two companions. "Nice guy."

Nerim nodded. "Better Jedi than most Knights."

"Only Jedi I've met that hasn't been a pain in my ass," Tetha said dryly.

They laughed, and Nerim took a moment to deeply breathe in. The air was tinged with oil and metal from around the docks, but it still had the cold, foggy dew of Saarkane. He wasn't used to returning to planets that weren't Coruscant. They went through the (considerably longer and more bureaucratic) process of passing through customs without their Jedi identifications, and entered the spaceport proper.

Tetha pat down her ripped jacket and sighed. "The Lucky Worm has probably racked up a thousand credits of fees by now. What a pain."

Arwain shrugged helplessly. "To be honest, you're probably the richest person here, now."

"The program you signed me up for isn't as generous as you might think," Tetha said resentfully, beginning to move towards a desk, when they each felt a tingling sensation.

There was commotion behind the group, and as each of them turned, their eyes landed on Governor Irmat, as he quickly walked through the atrium and towards them, flanked on either side by several armed and armored bodyguards who moved the murmuring crowds out of the way, and an almost disturbingly thin assistant in a dark suit with thick rimmed glasses. The Governor's face was pure black, as he spread his arms. "Welcome back! You neglected to tell us you were leaving in the first place."

"Sorry about that," Arwain replied in a manner that made it clear she was not very sorry. Jianno stepped out from the shadow of one of the bodyguards, and her face lit up. "Hi, Jianno!"

"Hello," the Mandalorian replied, her voice as steely and angry as it usually was, in an almost comforting sort of way.

"You're working with the Governor?" Nerim asked, tilting his head.

Vseyav motioned with his hand, clearly saying 'not in public', and nodded towards the exit. "Shall we speak on the drive?"

"Whoa, hold on," Tetha said, holding her hands up. "I have to get changed. I've been wearing these rags too long."

Vseyav smiled tightly. "Very well. We can talk on your ship. This one, is it?" He pointed back towards the gate they had emerged from.

"Actually," Nerim said, cutting in and stepping forward, "It's the dock next to it. Unfortunately, we can't access it yet since there are some bureaucratic things to cover, late fees, overstaying requires mandatory security checks..." He trailed off. "...Could be a few hours..."

The Governor snapped his fingers, and his assistant stalked off. "It's handled. Let's go now."

Arwain looked down at Nerim, her expression somewhere between concerned and impressed. "Fae was right about you."

Vseyav looked between the three of him, and his brow raised. "Where is Grand Master Fae Coven, anyways?"

"...Let's talk on the ship," Arwain said.