In a galaxy far, far away…
Well, that’s how it feels, anyway. Back on March 24, 2003 I started a STAR WARS game using the STAR FRONTIERS rule set in the form of a PBEM (Play By EMail). It started off all right – but eventually tapered off. So then it turned into a Round Robin, of people having their characters, and adding to an evolving story. The story went through a series of changes, since none of us really planned what would happen next – we were just progressively reacting to what the person had posted before us and just kept adding. Eventually, even that finally came to a halt in August of 2010 (with plenty of dead space here and there). Well, while at work, I wanted to keep my mind going and challenge myself to add to some kind of story, where I was just making things up as I went, with no plan on what I was doing (just to force myself to always be creative and spur of the moment).
So I picked up the story where we left off – fast forwarded it 20 years, and touched on where all of the characters ended up (in the beginning of the first chapter segment thing!) and explained the changes as they happened… Figured I’d post it here for anyone else to read if they’re bored.
A special thanks to Miaka, MJ and Neil for writing with me way back when…
You can read about it here…
Edit 2024: Internet Archive for the win!
Copied and pasted below since our forums have been gone for eons…
Star Wars Lunch Rambles.
by Tawmis » Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:09 pm
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Well, that’s how it feels, anyway. Back on March 24, 2003 I started a STAR WARS game using the STAR FRONTIERS rule set in the form of a PBEM (Play By EMail). It started off all right – but eventually tapered off. So then it turned into a Round Robin, of people having their characters, and adding to an evolving story. The story went through a series of changes, since none of us really planned what would happen next – we were just progressively reacting to what the person had posted before us and just kept adding. Eventually, even that finally came to a halt in August of 2010 (with plenty of dead space here and there). Well, while at work, I wanted to keep my mind going and challenge myself to add to some kind of story, where I was just making things up as I went, with no plan on what I was doing (just to force myself to always be creative and spur of the moment).
So I picked up the story where we left off – fast forwarded it 20 years, and touched on where all of the characters ended up (in the beginning of the first chapter segment thing!) and explained the changes as they happened… Figured I’d post it here for anyone else to read if they’re bored.
A special thanks to Miaka, MJ and Neil for writing with me way back when…
star-wars-birthday-party-logo-.jpg
Chapter One: To New Beginnings.
Jaryn Starrunner turned the wrench and watched sparks fly. “Hey, Trullus, turn down the Negreactor. We’re still getting too much current up here.”
The Ithorian peered its head out and spoke its native tongue, which Jaryn understood, complaining about how old the ship was; and that it was past time to get a new one.
Jaryn simply looked down at his companion. “I know it’s old, all right? You tell me that every time something goes wrong with it…”
Trullus muttered something.
“Yes, I realize `something’ goes wrong with it all the time,” Jaryn replied. “But it,” he looked at the name etched on the top, “has sentimental value to me.”
If Trullus was going to contest the point further, he halted his thought and turned down the Negreactor, as previously requested. Jaryn’s hands touched the scratched and laser burned name of the ship, across the top – “The Crescent Star.” The Crescent Star was a TA-419 Model Ship, based off of the YT-1300 Model Ship.
It had been the ship that belonged to his father, Aryn Starrunner. That had been over sixteen years ago. Now Jaryn was seven cycles old, and the memory of his father was still a fresh one. Aryn Starrunner had been intimate with a crew member of his – Taegar, an ext-GCC office – before she and he parted ways, for reasons unknown.
Aryn Starrunner then met a human by the name of Ariena and married her. She gave birth to Jaryn, having named him after his father and Uncle Jaren. After the birth of Jaryn, Aryn ceased the smuggling business and the side running; at which time, the Keritian named Chait, who had become a member of his crew, departed, seeking adventure.
Aryn Starrunner, perished a few years later when he had gone back to save a childhood friend of his – a Twi’lek named Karr’issa from a Hutt by the name of Vogga. Apparently Vogga the Hutt had used Karr’issa to lure Aryn and Jaren, because of Chait, who had once been enslaved to Vogga. Vogga had been disappointed to discover that Chait was no longer with Aryn; and the Hutt showed his displeasure by having Aryn murdered in the Arena. Jaren had managed to escape, barely, with Karr’issa.
His uncle, Jaren, had become detached. Ashamed that he could not save his brother. He had taken on Riss as a Padawan and been training her how to become a Jedi; and even she reported that Jaren continued to sink further and further away.
When the news reached Ariena… it is said that she died of a broken heart, seeing Aryn within Jaryn’s young features day after day. It fell on Skewb, a Nelvaanian who had been one of Aryn’s closest friends throughout his entire life to care for and raise Jaryn.
When Jaryn reached the age of sixteen seasons, Skewb gave the Crescent Star, which he had taken care of, to Jaryn. When he had done so, he told Jaryn that he was ready to begin living his own life and a few days later Skewb left for parts unknown.
But before Skewb had left, Jaryn had asked about the only member where there was so little information about – Dannon Welch – apparently part battle droid and part human. Skewb had spoken very little, even when asked about Daynon Welch. He merely explained, “Daynon Welch gave his life fighting an CQ-12 Assassin Droid, so that the rest of us could get away. The last I saw of Daynon Welch, was him and the CQ-12 Assassin Droid, floating in space, still gripping one another…”
An old, rusty Astromech droid, R5-T7, that had also belonged to his father beeped. Jaryn looked down at the R5 unit, “So then we need to replace the copper line to the NavCom?”
The R5 beeped in agreement.
“That’s going to be costly,” Jaryn sighed, as he slid down from the top of the ship after closing the panel.
He climbed inside and started The Crescent Star’s engine; smiling as she hummed to life and slowly lifted off for the nearest planet; Tanarius IV.
======================
The Crescent Star came out of hyperspace – the blur of stars, suddenly changing from streaks, to sparkling lights; white light now changed to chilling darkness as space opened up before the transport ship.
As the Crescent Star curved around, Jaryn looked out the window. “Volarius,” he said to no one in particular, seeing the planet below. Until recently Volarius had been a scorching planet with minimal signs of life. That was until the Republic rose up against a Dark Jedi by the name of Swoondra, who had acquired plans for a ship called `The Warstar.’
The Republic united in a final fight against the Warstar, just outside Volarius’ atmosphere. Knowing the massive ship, if they had won, would plummet to a planet’s surface; they had tricked Swoondra into bringing the Warstar near Volarius.
With the sacrifice of many lives lost, the Warstar – a ship nearly six times the size of a Star Destroyer, and with enough power to pummel a planet from the atmosphere, was brought crashing down into Volarius’ surface. If not the impact – then the following explosions from the crash – were enough to drastically alter Volarius’ axis, and `push’ it from its regular orbit; forcing it into an oval shape, rather than its previous, nearly perfect, circular orbit. The oval orbiting gave Volarius, a planet once known for its scorching sands, was now also home to one of the coldest winters in the Vertagone Galaxy.
From what Jaryn had heard from his mother, when Swoondra perished, it was a blessing. There were even rumors – and that’s all they were, since no one aboard the Warstar survived the crash onto Volarius – that she smiled as the flames engulfed her. Death had finally given her the freedom from the life she had endured and suffered through, which included abuse and torture.
Volarius, the once nearly lifeless planet, was now home to hundreds, if not thousands, of scavengers, who landed on the planet, during the Cold Season and quickly escaped the planet as it drew closer to the Sun during its orbit. When Volarius was nearest to the sun, the planet became almost unbearably hot, and impossible to breathe the air that seemed to burn away under the intensity of the heat.
Still, scavengers would risk their lives trying to recover anything useful – from weapons, resources, to information – that could be scavenged from the Warstar’s wreckage.
The massive ship stuck out of the planet’s surface like a magnificent mountain made of steel and fire. Scientists claimed that, even during the Cold Season, the fires scattered throughout the remains of the Warstar would continue to burn for nearly seventy years, because of all the fuel and chemicals that prevented even chilling frost from extinguishing the flames that hungered for release. Scientists also deduced that in time, it stood to reason that life might one day thrive on Volarius, because of its altered orbital pattern. Due to the intense snow, followed by the intense heat that the planet suffered, it brought a constant flow of water, which could feasibly sustain life – if not for everything else that made the planet extremely dangerous. After all, these same fires and chemicals are also what made breathing Volarius’ atmosphere and air, extremely dangerous.
Still, thousands of people flocked here, in hopes of finding something that would earn them enough credits to set them for life; or pay off their debts to some Hutt, at the very least.
There was no law here. No one was interested in trying to civilize Volarius, because of its dangerous conditions. This made everything ruthless among the scavengers; murder was a commonplace here, especially if someone found something with some worth and told someone else; and didn’t get off the planet before someone else had heard what they found and killed them for it.
Despite all these endless dangers, and that was just the beginning, Jaryn’s business was here on Volarius. He looked at Trullus, the Ithorian, who in turn only gave some kind of sound of disapproval. Jaryn nodded, and turned back towards the view port as the frosted planet came into view. “We’ll try to make this short and sweet. Get in, get out and be out of here.”
Trullus again made the same sound of disapproval.
======================
Volarius, the third planet to orbit the burning sun within the Vertagone Galaxy.
The Crescent Star landed on the volatile planet’s surface. Jaryn put on his fur coat and breathing apparatus before lowering the door within the Crescent Star; the planet’s thin air rushed into the ship, in an attempt to consume the atmosphere, creating a small wind that whipped Jaryn’s auburn colored hair around for a brief moment.
Trullus needed no coat, or breathing apparatus to breathe on Volarius’ environment. Trullus cast another dubious glance at Jaryn, silently saying, “It’s not too late to turn around.”
Jaryn smiled beneath the glass mask. Trullus was overly cautious, which in truth, is just what Jaryn needed. Trullus provided the balance to Jaryn’s oftentimes reckless behavior. Almost immediately, Jaryn was greeted by a number of people, willing to pay him an excessive amount of credits for passage off the planet. As what often happens, someone who needed to get off the planet because they found something of value, found their own ship destroyed; because word got out about what they found, so they resort to stealing someone else’s ship, leaving the next person stranded, when they need to get off the planet.
Jaryn waved away each and every offer.
“We should not be here,” Trullus finally said, his unique vocal chords, speaking in a stereo like effect. “The ugliness of what this ship represents, and the Dark Jedi who commanded it, taints these people with greed, lust, vengeance, and a willingness to steal and kill. The stories of her demise speak of her smiling, and I can not help but wonder if she knew her destruction, along with the ship’s destruction would cause people to go to such extreme measures. In her death, she has created an entire civilization around the base of the ship that is full of thieves and murderers.”
“We will pick up what we came for and go,” Jaryn assured Trullus, but still the Ithorian was visibly uncomfortable.
What seemed to take hours, a man, wrapped in bandages approached Jaryn. “Starrunner?”
“That’s me,” Jaryn replied, his hand slowly moving to his blaster at his side.
“Name’s No’doon,” the filthy human replied. “I was the one that contacted you about what I found. The datacard.”
“Let’s see it,” Jaryn said, his hand not moving away from his blaster.
The human extended his bandaged hand. A small datacard sat in his hand.
“How do I know it has what I’m looking for?” Jaryn asked.
“You can trust No’doon,” the human said, looking at Jaryn. “No’doon would not lie to you.”
“I do not trust the human,” Trullus said, clearly.
No’doon looked from Trullus, back to Jaryn.
“Set the datacard down,” Jaryn said.
“You have the credits for No’doon, yes?” the human asked. Jaryn’s eyes scanned over No’doon. He had been burned over 90% of his body; no doubt from scavenging over the destroyed remains of the Warstar, and possibly because No’doon remained on Volarius when it began orbiting near the sun again. That would also account for the madness Jaryn saw in No’doon’s eyes.
“I have the credits,” Jaryn replied. “Don’t you worry about that.”
“No’doon not worried,” the human responded. “No’doon trust Jaryn. Jaryn should trust No’doon.”
If it was what Jaryn was looking for – then it was well worth more than what No’doon was asking for. Jaryn took a pouch and threw it behind No’doon. “300 credits,” Jaryn replied, forcing No’doon to turn his back on Jaryn, giving him enough time to quickly grab the datacard while No’doon’s back was turned to ensure that the crazy human wasn’t going to attack.
No’doon made no effort to attack. Instead he opened the pouch and his eyes seemed to glimmer at the credits within the pouch.
Jaryn turned around, though Trullus walked with Jaryn, he never took his eyes off No’doon who sat on the floor, not even counting the credits; merely just staring at them within the bag.
“He’s ill, that one,” Trullus commented.
“Not surprised,” Jaryn replied. “If anyone else here knew what was on this datacard – if it’s what No’doon claims it is – then he could have fetched a much higher price. Of course, if anyone else here knew what was supposedly on this datacard, he would probably have gotten murdered long before he ever got to contact me about it.”
“What’s on it?” Trullus asked, having been kept in the dark about the entire fiasco to Volarius.
“I will tell you once we’re on the ship,” Jaryn replied. “Safe.”
As they boarded the ship, Jaryn started the Crescent Star’s engines and slid the datacard into the Crescent Star’s datasystem to read the card. The card began showing a list of names.
“What’s that?” Trullus asked.
“The names of those that are `Force Sensitive’ that Swoondra had located and was trying to track down to recruit to the Dark Side,” Jaryn answered as the Crescent Star left Volarius’ atmosphere.
“What do you plan to do with that?” Trullus inquired.
“Take it to my Uncle Jaren,” Jaryn answered. “He will try to locate those that can be brought to the Light Side of the Force.”
“And what of those who have fallen to the Dark Side?” Trullus questioned.
Jaryn looked at his friend. “Let’s hope they can be saved.”
The Crescent Star hummed as it came to a landing.
Jaryn looked over at his Ithorian friend, who seemed to be smiling. The abundant forest of Terfos XII reminded the Ithorian of home. Jaryn slid out of the pilot’s seat as the Crescent Star expunged the heat from its engines. “Let me guess, you’re going to look around again?”
The Ithorian nodded. Trullus didn’t mind the ventures into deep space; in truth he had hoped to gather samples from various planets – especially those in desperate need of having their environments preserved.
Jaryn smiled, “Figured as much. Going to go drop off this datapad to my Uncle. If you need me, you know where to find me.”
Jaryn pressed the button that lowered the platform that allowed him to exit the Crescent Star. As the bay door opened, he began walking out and saw that his Uncle, Jaren, was already there waiting. Jaryn chuckled, “Let me guess, you ‘sensed’ my presence with the Force right?”
Jaren, whose arms were folded in front of his chest, merely smiled and said, “Your flying your father’s ship. My brother’s old ship. I recognize the sound of her engines from miles away. It sounds like there’s still some issues with her Negreactor Core.”
Jaryn looked back at the ship, then to his Uncle. “Yeah, I’ve been working on that. It still kicks up, especially when we come out of Hyperspace.”
“I think that’s part of her personality,” Jaren replied, as he extended his hand and put his arm around his nephew. “She’s done that all of her life. Your father tried replacing everything that tied to the Negreactor, and still, whenever we came out of Hyperspace, she would hum loudly. I don’t think anything you do will ever ‘fix’ that. It’s just who she is.”
Jaryn looked back at the ship as they walked towards the Jedi Temple. “You say that like she’s alive.”
Jaren looked down at his younger nephew, “And you say that like you’re surprised.”
Jaryn nodded. There was something about the Crescent Star that had always felt different. It wasn’t just the emotional attachment that Jaryn felt to the ship, knowing it had been his father’s ship. Something else kept him close to that ship, and kept him caring for it all these years, rather than simply trading it in for a newer, far more efficient ship. He turned back towards his Uncle as they walked and reached into his pocket, placing the datacard in his Uncle’s hand. “Turns out that No’doon may have been true to his word. I checked the datacard on the reader; it pulled up a long list of names. Unfortunately, it seems No’doon has suffered greatly – both physically and mentally.”
Jaren held the datacard in his hand for a moment, before clenching his fingers around it. “It’s unfortunate about No’doon. He used to be a great man. One of the greatest smugglers around. Then he owed Vogga the Hutt some serious credits… he lost everything when Vogga sent wave after wave of Bounty Hunters after him. Lost his main ship. Without his ship, he couldn’t run any smuggling runs. He became a marked man. He essentially disappeared into the Outer Rim to avoid being found… of course, you go to lose yourself in the Outer Rim… sometimes, that’s just what happens… you lose yourself.”
“So how did he know to contact me?” Jaryn asked.
“A long time ago, when the Jedi were just beginning to rebuild after the fall of the Empire, we used No’doon to smuggle Jedi to safety and away from Swoondra’s influence, in hopes of saving them from the Dark Side,” Jaren explained. “When the Warstar crashed, he contacted me, but I could not be pulled away from my duties at the Jedi Temple. So I had him contact you, if he found anything in the remains of the Warstar – specifically looking for this datacard.” Jaren opened his hand to show the datacard again. “Some of these Force Sensitive were aboard the Warstar when it plummeted to its demise on Volarius, so it will take a considerable amount of research to update – but this list will give us a chance to find those on here, and see if we can recruit them to become true Jedi.”
Inside the Jedi Temple, Jaryn looked around. “Where is Riss?”
Riss had been a family friend, that knew both Jaren and his brother, Arynn. Riss had opted to train with Jaren after the fall of the Warstar and the death of her own sister, Swoondra, the Dark Jedi.
“She seeks her own Destiny now,” Jaren said. “She has completed most of her training here. She has since left to find out what her place in the world is.”
“Is that… safe?” Jaryn asked.
“Because of who her sister was?” Jaren asked. “Yes, it is. She is powerful, like her sister was. But she is in control of the Force, unlike her sister, who thought she controlled the Force… when in truth, she was consumed by the darkness.”
Jaryn was disappointed. He had hoped to see Riss, just to ask her more about his father’s adventures together. She had spent a great amount of time with him aboard the Crescent Star.
“What will you do now?” Jaren asked, his arms now folded behind his back.
“I don’t know,” Jaryn answered truthfully, shrugging his shoulders.
“Perhaps I could call on you again?” Jaren asked.
“Doing what?” Jaryn inquired.
“If this datacard provides names of living people who may yet become Jedi, perhaps you could go in my place to try and convince them to come to the Jedi Temple?”
Jaryn gave it some thought.
“I’d pay you, of course,” Jaren added, as if that might have been what was giving his nephew pause.
“It’s not the credits,” Jaryn admitted.
“What then?” Jaren asked.
“What if I find someone who has turned to the Dark Side?”
“Not everyone who has turned to the Dark Side is lost forever,” Jaren explained. “Everyone can be saved. However, once they have turned to the Dark Side, that taste of power is always inside of them, infecting them, poisoning their minds. It will never be easy for anyone who has tasted the Dark Side to ever return back to the Light. The shadow remains in their soul. A black scar that beats. See if they will give you a chance to save them.”
“If they refuse?” Jaryn asked.
Jaren turned his back. “Pray that they don’t refuse.” And he walked deeper into the Temple, leaving Jaryn standing there in silence.
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