TEST DRIVE #6

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

[sfoils]

[ There's nothing to learn from this place strikes Wedge as the same kind of haughtiness displayed by the Empire. They just got here. To dismiss the entire planet's worth, just like that, strikes Wedge as short-sighted.

How did you manage to pick up Palpatine's twin so soon, Wedge? He bristles at the assumption made by Revan—he is a Corellian who gambles and serves a soldier—not due to it being wrong, but because 1) he made it and 2) it's the same sort of superiority touted by imps against anyone they deem beneath them. ] I'm not CorSec. [ He shrugs. No Corellian stripes here. He'll never earn them either, the Diktat a yes man to the whims of the Empire still. ] I think it'd be premature to make a plan now.

[revanisms]

The Republic then? It hardly matters.

[Certainly wasn't a part of his forces. Not in a getup like that. Unfashionable Sith Chrome was the only way to go.]

Premature to act on them. It's never premature to make them. Only those who are foolish don't have plans for the aftershocks of any major incident.

[sfoils]

[ Is 'lock s-foils in attack position' a plan? Sithspit, I miss my X-wing... Apparently, the Alliance Starbird emblazoned onto his jumpsuit didn't clue Revan in as to Wedge's political allegiance. ] Just because I'm not openly discussing my plans doesn't mean I don't have them. [ Shavit, I don't even know if he'll stick a vibroblade in me as soon as I turn around! ] We've been conscripted into a war that has nothing to do with our planets. That concerns me. And that's what I'm going to focus on. [ Because if these people can bag one of the rebellion's best pilot like a drugged womp rat, Wedge dreads to think what else they're capable of. Whatever happens, he must thread carefully.

For some reason, he thinks of Alderaan. It does nothing to soothe the growing pit in his stomach. ]

[revanisms]

What concerns me is your willingness to sit and watch, just as the Jedi Council prefers.

There are no innocents in war. One way or another, they'll be involved. Ending the war quicker will prevent unnecessary deaths, not contemplating and judging the actions of others.

[Incredibly bitter, yes. But he was always impulsive and, right now, it was further egged on by the anger boiling in it.]

[sfoils]

[ Wedge Antilles, sit and watch? But Wedge knows better than to rise to the anger, keeping his expression a cool, calculated neutral. He has nothing to prove here. This stranger's not a superior officer, just a noncom talking trash about a man he doesn't know.

And, apparently, the Jedi. Someone has a chip on their shoulder the size of a impstar. The stranger's identity starts to sink in...

Wedge could be diplomatic.

But this stranger isn't owed diplomacy, now are they?

Might as well take the Wes Janson approach: humor. ] Unless my blaster starts working again, or an X-wing drops down from the sky, there's not much I can do besides sit and watch.

[ This is why Wedge isn't intelligence or a politician. He's too much of a straightshooter. ]

[revanisms]

[There was that issue. But Revan could fall back on swords. They were heavier and less useful than lightsabers or vibroswords but they'd do in a pinch.

This person, on the other hand....

Revan motioned at a guard far down the hall. A crossbow came out of the guard's hand and landed in his own. Of course, he made sure to nudge that little incident to a corner of the guard's minds so they barely noticed.]

Take this. Judging by its construction, it'll reliably penetrate the armor here at about 60 meters and will still kill at over 200 meters.

[sfoils]

[ That's a Jedi trick if he's ever seen one. Guards don't part with their weaponry willingly.

All this revelry and the strangeness of their current state dulled Wedge's senses. If this were back at their galaxy, in a dogfight with his squadron against a squadron of TIEs, they'd all be dead.

Miscalculating isn't something Wedge takes lightly. As a commander, he can't. It hurts his pride to realize that it's taken him this long to figure out this man is, without a doubt, a kriffing Sith.

He takes a step back, refusing the weapon. ] No.

[revanisms]

The Republic then.

[That made up his mind on that topic then. He worked to quell his anger at being rejected, knowing that he would win no points with anyone here if he went on a killing trip. Once their minds were won with charisma and action, then he could start removing those who worked against him.]

I saved the galaxy and this is how its people repay me?

[sfoils]

[ What Republic, Wedge wants to ask. But everything's suddenly too sharp; every sound, every smell, every movement.

He is defenseless. Maybe he should've taken the crossbow. But he's a Sith! He mulls over his options, his exits. ]

If you saved the galaxy to be praised, you didn't do it for the right reason. We do what we must because it's the right thing to do. Because if we don't, others suffer.

[revanisms]

I fought to save those being crushed by the Mandalorians. And now, when there are other, even graver threats, you are still talking about morality.

[#sithgate, it's actually about ethics in war

He stows the crossbow under his cloak, latching it to the belt behind him. He wouldn't be able to sit while it was there but he was strong enough to heft it around in the meantime.]

I laughed so hard I think my fellow co-workers might be worried for me

[sfoils]

[ You are the one who brought up the topic! No, no, no. Sith manipulate emotions, stroke anger like a fire. Luke warned him about this. Wedge experienced it, back in Malrev IV, where Cartariun tried to tempt him to the Dark Side.

(Which, to this day, makes little sense. Wedge is not Force-sensitive.)

This is not his anger. He must keep this in mind.

His voice is cold. Deep-space lubricants for blood, like the majority of Starfighter Command thought he had. ] It's my morality that guides me. A graver threat than the Galactic Empire won't make me toss it aside. [ Nothing could, really. Not Starfighter Command, not Leia Organa, not even his own friends. No one in the history of the New Republic deserted with his entire squadron except for Wedge Antilles. ]

sobs

[revanisms]

Not even a Sith Empire?

[That question is probably the oddest thing to hear out of a freaking Sith, but hey. The best way to beat your enemy is to know them completely. Also, using their power too.

With a silent breath, he pushed his anger back down.]

That is all behind us but only for the moment. Right now, I only wish to save the universe from destruction, which will be certain if this war here is lost.

[sfoils]

[ Wedge's heard these justifications—these excuses—before. We want to save them from themselves. We want to help. We want order, not chaos. An empire is the only way to keep the galaxy at peace. Order for who, peace for who? He saw, understood, the Empire's brand of 'peace' the day they bombed Gus Talon.

Mala, I'm so sorry. I don't think the kind of evil that killed you will ever be gone from the galaxy. But I'll always fight for those who can't, like you wanted me to. I'm so, so sorry.

Pain undercurrents his words. His fingers are tight, fisted at his sides. The black leather squeals at the tightening. ] No empire, not now, not ever. Not by Sith or Jedi or Corellians or anyone.

[revanisms]

...if we end up as enemies here, you'll lose. Your life will be a waste, used up for no cause that benefits the people you know. A self-serving death because you can't look ahead to the future.

[It was just another stumbling block he'd have to step on in the future. He'd rather not, you know, kill people who could be useful. It would harm the cause of efficiency and ultimately harm his own efforts.]

[sfoils]

[ Wedge shakes his head. ] If I don't fight evil, then my life is a waste. No matter where, as long as I kill the enemy, someone gets to stay happy. I don't care if it here's, or back home. Because of what I do, someone, somewhere—probably someone I'll never meet—gets to stay happy.

It's the only honorable thing about my profession.