RPlog:Line In The Sand

Meditation Chambers - Refrain of Anshalar

A spartan room, shaped in a perfect circle and decorated in neutral colors, intended for moments of quiet contemplation, conversation or private meditation. Stone panels, each a square meter, cover the floor, set so close to each other their seams are almost invisible. The stone is polished, dark gray, inset with tiny white points which dot most of the room. It's the galaxy, familiar constellations and systems sprayed across the floor in perfect representation. In the center of the 'galaxy', a heavy dais of featureless black rests, disc-shaped with a beveled edge. It could serve as a large table but may have been designed for some other purpose. Several well-placed, wide, tall windows reach from floor to ceiling. Horizontally slatted blinds can be pulled down or up, for less distraction or to allow for a view out into the starscape beyond. Several low, cushioned seats, also round, backless and lacking armrests, are placed around the room.

Luke has retreated from Dac for the time being. After having met with Senator Marx and a couple of key military leaders, he elected to take some time away from the war-torn planet in order to meditate and gather his senses together. Aboard /Refrain of Anshalar/, he sits in the darkness of the meditation room, blinds opened partially to show the planet Dac in the distance. Small lights signifying space transport and fleet activity are visible, but from this distance out, they create a soothing effect.

The Jedi cruiser has set itself as a remote node for the beacon, alerting any of the Jedi to her precise location. Otherwise, the Force has caused a blanket to fall around the ship, masking it from sensors and the prying eyes of the Sith, at Skywalker's skillful bidding.

Charting the course herself, Leia uses her senses and her skills to guide her from the planet to the Refrain and, once aboard, spends a few moments absorbing the peace that flowering gardens impart before turning her steps towards the meditation chamber. Loathe though she is to interrupt Luke's meditation she hesitates outside f the room long enough to convince herself that this is something important enough to warrant the interruption and lifts one hand to rap her knuckles lightly against the surface of the door.

Opening his eyes, Luke extends a hand and, through the invisible Force, raises the lighting level in the room to a somber level. Then, with another flick of his hand, the door unlatches and swishes aside, permitting Leia entrance. He rises to his feet, and, already knowing who is coming, walks over to greet her with a placid, but thankful smile.

"You seem to serene," Leia says aloud in greeting as she steps into the room, surveying Luke with a brief assessing gaze and a slight shake of her head accompanies her words. "I sometimes envy you that ability, you know. Even if it's just something you project, you make it seem real, and it's calming to those around you. I wonder if you have a voice inside your head that's shrieking about how you'd rather be anything but calm .. but that now is not the time to let that little voice get ahold of your powers of speech."

"It /is/ real," replies Luke, his voice quiet, sobered. "But it isn't easy. Coming to this place helps greatly, but it's always a struggle to balance the time it takes to meditate with the neccessity of action." He chuckles just slightly and nods his head. "Oh, I have that voice. It is... resilient." He puts his arm out and takes Leia by the shoulder, walking toward the bay of windows that face Dac. "It's especially hard in times like these. The planet." He stops, unable to really find anything proper to say.

Leia lets out a quiet sigh as she turns towards the windows and the view of Dac, Luke's arm over her shoulders lends both a calming and a reassuring weight and she takes another deep breath and sighs out the words, "... is a mess. The planet is a mess. The situation is, for lack of a better way to say it, going to utter rot and calamity in a hand-basket. It's been a debacle, and I fear that there is no end in sight. "

"I only think there's one choice," says Luke. "We must find some way to earn the trust of the people. I can sense a shift in what's happening down there... the attack on Coral City is only proof to that. The people need someone to rely on, if not themselves. Can we be those people?" He glances toward Leia. "This is what must be answered. The Force can guide us." He looks back toward the planet, squinting. "This division is not natural. Something caused it... something intentional. Did somebody /mean/ to spoil the bacta supply? Mess up the food distribution networks?" He pauses, turning away and looking back out at the planet. "Possible."

"I don't think that some small gesture is going to turn the tide, Luke. I don't believe that some diplomatic dance or public address or any amount of hand holding and wishing and wishful thinking is going to be enough. I think that what needs to be done is that a visible, tangible, recognizable presence must be sent into harms way and I believe that I need to be that person," Leia says quietly. "I say this, Luke, because I need to bounce this idea off of you - off of a sound logical perspective. I'm not going to dash off and throw myself into harms way. But name me an alternative that will do the same."

Luke nods his head as Leia speaks of something greater than mere diplomatic dancing, in clear agreement with her position. His hand now having dropped to his side, his understanding look is spoiled ever so slightly by the touch of a frown, and he turns to look at her straight on. "What precisely are you thinking of doing?" he asks. There's no tone of paranoia or fear in his voice, just mere curiousity.

"To be honest? I don't have a solid idea yet. I've discarded several bad ideas, which is a start. But there has to be a way to do what needs to be done, and do so in a logical manner, that will not be throwing my life away. Or putting myself in a position to be captured and used as a bargaining chip. Or put myself in a position to be a prisoner of one faction or another. Or any other dozen ideas of bad things that I'd rather like to avoid. The bottom line is that it's imperative to get to the bottom of this. And while having Senator Marx do a formal inquest, and having the military chain of command doing it's own investigation into the activities of the military assets in theatre.. " she pauses to shake her head. Leia continues after a moment, "I'm a visible face, I'm a recognizable face, Luke, just as you are. I have been approached."

When she speaks these words, something flickers in the Force. In his mind's eye, Luke catches an image of Darth Malign, twisted and evil. Thick tears of blackened silver trip from the corners of his eyes, a stream of blood pouring from his nostril and into his mouth. A cape billows behind, and in some sort of mirage in the blackness beyond, the silvery masked face of Vadim. It's there and gone in a flash, but it's clear enough to Luke what he's just perceived.

"By Darth Malign," he says, more of a statement. His tone grows firm, strong, as if he were suddenly in some type of court. "What has he proposed?"

Leia studies Luke for a long silent moment, both for the way that he goes quiet and still and then from the way his tone of voice altered as he speaks a mere handful of words. "Thus far, he has asked to come into system and to use his abilities to discern the origins of the debacle that has unfolded on planet. "

Silence lingers for a few painful seconds, then Luke shakes his head, his eyes looking directly into Leia's with earnest. "Leia... Leia we /can't/." The calm breaks, a tone of pleading coming into his voice and making him sound much younger. "His abilities are of the dark side. The moment we choose to rely on that, well, we might as well hand every planet over to the Emperor." He shakes his head again, reaching each hand out to hopefully grasp hers in an effort to dissuade his sister from this terrifying decision. "Leia, he might seem to mean nothing more than to help... but he is Vadim's servant. There is no thing he touches, no word he speaks, that isn't bent on serving his master. You can't possibly even think that..." He shakes his head again, going speechless once more.

For one, a look of utter fear creeps into his eyes, and causes a chill to permeate the Force around them.

Leia reaches for Luke's hands as he reaches for hers, only her grasp is one meant to steady Luke, to try to lend him a measure of the resolve and the calm that she feels for the moment. "That's precisely it, Luke. He is precisely that. And more. There is absolutely no shred of lie that isn't already revealed. No layer of doubt that isn't peeled. No facet unlit. He is Vadim's servant, his errand boy, his soldier of fortune, he is Vadims. Body, soul, mind, every aspect. I know this," she says, squeezing his hands within hers for a moment, trying to convey the depths of her understanding. "I've only met the man but once, at Johanna's side, and even I know from that one meeting who he belongs too. I don't think, not even for one bare second, that he has some high minded ideals that he's pursuing. Knowing all of this is what brings me to speak with you, Luke. Knowing all of this is why I have not made a decision in haste. Knowing this is why I have replied with caution to explore the dialogue. For I refuse, adamantly refuse, to discard the dialogue out of hand merely -because- he is all of that. I will not walk this path blindly, Luke."

Luke listens to what Leia speaks, but it only brings him calm in the sense that he knows she will at least listen to reason. Yet as the seconds bear onward like a sluggish loadlifter, his eyes continue to twinkle with a matchless zeal. "But why?" he asks, a touch of that pleading tone still lingering in his voice. "What could Malign /possibly/ offer that we cannot use on our own? Leia, I will go with you anywhere on that planet, use my powers in any way possible. Spare the citizens of Dac from what treachery his dark hands wish to bring, and spare this galaxy the embarassment of the headlines that we'd see." He shakes his head again. "The people of the New Republic can't afford for their trust to be burned like that, LEia."

"What is more important? Finding an answer to all of this, finding the cause of all of this or saving our political faces?" Leia asks softly. "Can you send your abilities to study how all this started? I don't know what you can and can not do, Luke. I don't presume. I never presume."

With sincerity in his gaze, Luke nods his head. "I can accomplish anything Malign may have offered... only we will not be selling out to some pawn of Vadim. Leia, saving our political faces might be just as important as finding answers, at least when it comes to relying on the talents of a Sith Lord." He draws in a long breath, settles himself again and repeats, "I will go where you need me to go. I will do whatever I must to keep you from feeling forced to pursue this dangerous path."

"There is another reality that we need to face then," Leia says with a slow nod, "that with or without our consent, Malign can as easily enter this system as he can any other. I cannot sense his presence, I don't have the ability or the time or the focus to even begin to try. You know that. I would rather have you at my side for this Luke, please believe me on this. I wasn't sure that you could do what he promises that he can. Knowing that you can, however, makes my decision that much clearer. We must go to Dac ourselves, I don't know how we're going to arrange it, but we must do this. Enb'Zik and I have spoken, in brief, already on this as well. "

Luke actually smirks at the mention of Malign's promises, almost a sneer. "His promises?" he asks. "Leia, his promises are little more than well-placed words to grease his way onto the planet. His ambition is to disturb every sane course of events. He relishes chaos, that is what he has become." Feeling that he doesn't need to convince Leia further, Luke speaks those words only for her benefit, to encourage and support this decision.

He nods his head at mention of Malign sneaking onto Dac anyway. "How, then, do we know that he already hasn't come and gone? How do we know what devious plots he's already unhatched? How do we know that these Quarren attackers aren't secretly working for him as is?" History, after all, has proven this to be possible. Palpatine infiltrating the Republic Senate over the course of decades... Korolov infiltrating the New Republic Senate to trigger the fall of Coruscant. "We must maintain vigilance and trust that the Force will reveal his presence and lead us to him, should he make such an attempt. If we defend the honor of our people and government by maintaining that Malign is a public enemy, then we at least maintain that level of control. Yes, bringing him in on a leash could give us some perception of control, but we're ultimately playing into his schemes. This way we can at least keep him on his toes, and limit his ability to use the Force. Every time he touches the dark side, it makes him that much easier for the Jedi to detect."

Leia gives a slow shake of her head, the smirk on Luke's face seems to trouble her though and even more so as his expression turns to a sneer, "I don't like the look on your face when you speak of him, Luke. It seems as though you are.. arrogant in a way that I'm uncomfortable with. That expression tells me that you think that you're better than him, or that you're somehow superior. You're my brother, Luke, and I worry. I worry that there's a growing sense that the Jedi think that they're above these things, that they're above petty humanoid emotions. But the sneer on your face makes me wonder if we've gone too far. That we've taken that step and have slipped past the goal we were aiming for. If you divorce yourself so entirely from every day wear and tear and emotion and conflict you risk losing touch with the very things that you're trying to protect: the people themselves. How can you serve the good of all if you feel that you're above them? I know, I /Know/ that Malign is not one of Our people. Don't misunderstand. But he is not the only source of evil that we face, he is merely one major player In the game itself, wielding powers the likes of which I neither comprehend nor wish to, to be frank. "

She pauses to take a calming breath, "As to how can I possibly know? I can't. How do I know the sun will still be burning when I wake in the morning? Depending on my relative velocity to the potential black hole that would've engulfed the system.. that would rather determine my answer, I suppose. But that's not really the point. He is a Sith, wielder of chaos and confusion, bringer of darkness and melodrama and all the things that make us uncomfortable. How do we know? We don't. I can't just trust that the Force will reveal his presence to us. I can't just tell my people that the Force will make everything okay, that it will make all the bad stuff go away. Because it won't, Luke. You use the force, and it's a tool, it's a way of life, its a philosophy and so much more that guides your life. The vast majority of people in the known universe don't have that ability, call it ability or advantage or burden, pick an adjective that works best and we'll run with it. I need to be able to give them answers, to give them hope, to give them a guarantee that yes the sun will rise, that yes there will be food and clean water and medical treatment. That yes we respect them and their rights and their choices and fully support the decisions that they make. Bringing Malign in on a leash won't do that. But flat out denying him his approach and having it be said that we feel that we're too GOOD to accept his offer.. what does that say about us?"

Luke is sobered, for he knows that this weakness runs in the blood of every Jedi. With great power comes responsibility that can be, even if accidentally, abused. He nods his head a couple of times, but his stance is resilient. "It's not about being too good. It's about drawing a line and staying with it. Tyler, as a person, is a man who is alive because some of us have kept our lightsabers in their hilts out of pity or a hope that he could be turned back to the good side of the Force. Malign as a personage? There are laws, Leia... he is a war criminal. Until you or the Senate, or by vote the people of Dac, are willing to waive those laws in his stead... then he remains a war criminal."

"As long as that line in the sand doesn't require more of our people to die, then I will toe that line with you," Leia says in a solemn tone of voice.