trans_9 | [oo5; big man with a gun]

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[oo5; big man with a gun]

Luke sat in the observation deck, watching the light of multidimensional space reflect in the silvered fittings of his lightsaber. His blue eyes were alert and focused, watching the cylinder and listening to--something else, something beyond that.

Then, his hands came up, and the lightsaber sprang away from his lap and hovered in midair in front of him. Slowly, it slid apart into its component pieces, each perfectly in line. Luke surveyed them all, checking power pack, light, green crystal, and emitter. A lightsaber was the distinct weapon of a Jedi and was their life; he instructed those just building their first lightsabers to have great care for them, and keep up with their maintenance regularly. If if failed at a critical moment, it could mean not only the life of the Jedi wielding it, but the lives of many others as well.

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Steve wandered the obs deck, looking morose.

Not that this was anything new for Steve. He just felt more morose than usual today. The various misfortunes and crises that made up his disastrous life, death, and equally disastrous apparent rebirth were coming down hard at the moment. The unspoken loathing between him and Leon was getting less and less unspoken. Claire was hurt, and his feelings for her were growing more painful and painfully obvious by the day.

His chest had been hurting-- whether that was nerves or T-Veronica starting to act up, he didn't know, but he was loathe to go to the medbay and let them check. Dangerous and stupid, yes. But the medbay seemed more like a prison every time he stopped in there and Steve would do anything not to go back to prison.

Steve was staring out the window when he looked off to the side and the other man caught his attention. That man who'd tried to comfort him after podpop. He watched him for a moment and starved for a distraction from his own thoughts, he spoke up.

"Um... Luke, right? I talked to you after we got out of the pods..."

Luke looked up from where he was examining the crystal for any cracks or chips. It shouldn't get any, mounted securely in the focusing apparatus, but he had made a routine of checking over his lightsaber and had to follow it. A smile split his face a moment later.

"I remember you," he said. "Steve, wasn't it? Have a seat." He tilted his chin at one of the fat-chairs across from him. "How have you been?"

As he spoke, he reached out in the Force and felt waves of sadness wash over him. Whatever was going on in this young man's life, it wasn't good. The part of Luke that was a father swelled up in sympathy; the part that was a mentor did the same.

He hesitated but at the invitation he sat down, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair (as much as he could) in the traditional teenage closed-off position.

"Yeah, Steve. I've been... getting along, I guess," he said, with a little shrug of his shoulders. "All things considered, being on a weird ship and all. How are you?"

Luke thought about recent events--his father showing up, his dream with Arha--and smiled a little, a chuckle escaping him. "I'm all right," he said. "About the same--getting along."

He leaned in, examining a connection, and reached out with the Force to tweak it. "Were you involved in that big thing down in the city, with the Yeerk?"

"Nah." Steve shook his head. "I heard about twenty different stories about what even happened... I was down there when it all went down though, and my..." Critical pause. "My friend Claire got shot. She's gonna be okay, but it was looking pretty bad for a little bit."

He shrugged again. "As long as it's over I don't care, really."

He tweaked another connection, maximizing output as best he could. Tinkering was always something he liked to do, and had never had enough time for after the New Jedi Order had finally gotten itself going.

"It was pretty chaotic down there," he said. "An old friend of mine, Ben Kenobi, got pretty badly cut up. He was healed, but..." Luke thought of how Anakin had almost charged off headlong into vengeance. "Well, it was touch-and-go. If Arha hadn't been there to stop the bleeding and heal him up, he might have died. But I'm glad it's over too."

Luke tilted his head, unsure how to bring up what he'd felt from the young man without upsetting him. To those who weren't used to the Jedi and their use of the Force, it could be disconcerting. "Your friends are here too?" he asked.

He'd grown tired of being in the city, near the precinct and the difficulties and confusion. Khel decided to return to the observation deck and view the stars some more. Perhaps he could find peace there that he could not find near a temple he was unable to enter anyway. His footsteps were quiet, mere whispers among the ship, and he'd already frightened more than his fair share of crewmates by walking upon them too silently. Still, what he saw on the deck stopped him cold.

The magic the man was performing fascinated Khel. He'd never witnessed anything like it, even among the wizards he'd traveled with during his life. It seemed to take no effort, and he was taking apart and fiddling with ... something. "A thousand pardons, but ... what manner of contraption is that, that thine power holds before thee?"

Whatever tweaking or picking Luke was doing, Steve didn't notice at all. He looked oddly distracted even as he was talking to the older man.

"No," he said when asked about his friends. "I, uh. I don't really have any friends except for Claire." That was just about the lamest thing in the world, if you asked Steve. "I guess I don't really need friends."

Maybe that made that the lamest thing in the universe.

"Why would you think that?" Luke asked. His blue eyes were intense over the silver grip of his lightsaber. Perhaps this was part of the problem, part of the root of this young man's troubles.

Steve was starting to wish he hadn't said that. The way Luke was staring at him was creeping him out. It was the same look Claire gave him back on Rockfort when he'd boldly claimed guns to be more reliable than people.

Though if this guy thought he was going to make Steve play therapy that easily, he probably had another thing coming. "Because... other people just get in the way for the most part. I'm fine on my own. I can take care of myself," he said with minimal uneasiness.

"Hm?" Luke looked up, and reminded himself firmly that Yuuzhan Vong weren't able to be sensed in the Force. This being obviously wasn't Vong, though at first glance... he looked back at the pieces of his lightsaber, suspended in midair in front of him.

"Oh, this is my lightsaber," he said. "It's the weapon of a Jedi. I've had this one for years, I was just doing some maintenance on it."

"Hm." Luke thoughtfully turned the power pack over midair with the Force, examining the connectors for any signs of corrosion. He was reasonably certain he could scrounge any parts he'd need for repairs, but luckily, everything looked just fine. He put the power pack back in its position, floating in line, and moved along.

"You know, I used to think the same thing," he said. "The only thing I'd need was my blaster at my hip and a fast ship." Luke smiled. "I'm not saying that that's necessarily a wrong point of view. For some, it works well--but to have friends is to have people to depend on no matter how kriffing stupid you get."

His gaze turned contemplative. "I'd be nowhere, or else vaped into atoms orbiting some backwater Outer Rim moon, if I didn't have my friends," he said softly.

He talked kind of strange.

Steve folded his arms up behind his head and stared up at the ceiling, perhaps trying to look casual. "Don't get me wrong. It's not like I don't talk to anyone and I'm not saying that other people are useless or anything. But you can't really count on anybody except for yourself, if you think about it. You never know who's gonna let you down or turn into a coward. So it's better to depend only on yourself so you never get in that position in the first place."

Though there was one example of somebody who wouldn't let him down. "Claire's different though. She's one of those people you can always count on. That's why she's the only person I'd call a friend."

Disturbingly enough, with focus, one could sense Khel. He felt rather odd, however, unlike many things. He didn't feel like life or death. He felt more like life's opposite, an inversion of the energy that pervaded the universe. There was also a strange mix of evil and good energy in him, easily sensed by anyone with spiritual senses.

"A saber? I see no blade. How does it cut?" One of Khel's hand unconsciously drifted to the long sword on his right hip, leather-clad skeletal fingers wrapping around the hilt in a vice-like grip.

"You've got a point." Luke examined the crystal again. If that thing went... visions of Jacen's lightsaber slicing through Tenel Ka's arm ran through Luke's mind and he examined the fittings holding the crystal in place closely. "From a certain perspective."

He sent the crystal holder back into its place and collapsed weapon back down, each piece sliding neatly into place, fitting together into one whole, the atoms knitting together as if the weapon itself was made all of one piece of matter. He reached out and grasped it, and carefully ignited the blade. A reassuring green glow illuminated his face, and Luke smiled, then deactivated it, setting it beside him.

"Making friends is a truly terrifying thing," he said, folding his hands in a very Jedi way--fingers laced, thumbs pressed together. "We open ourselves to someone else, let them past our barriers and the walls we erect to keep ourselves safe. Making friends makes us vulnerable, but would you not agree that two together are stronger than one alone?"

Things like people who could levitate objects and laser swords were starting to become rather depressingly commonplace around here. It said a lot for the situation at large that Steve was able to withhold his comments of "COOOOOL" or "how are you doing that!?" and keep focused on the discussion.

He wanted to say that sometimes one person could be just as strong, but then he remembered how Claire and he had survived on the island and for that brief time in Antarctica. "Yeah. If you can find somebody dependable, then you're way stronger." If it hadn't been for Steve, Claire would have died. And if it weren't for her, he... would have died much sooner.

The expression on his face was sinking a little bit. "If you can find somebody like that. Which is probably not gonna happen, the way people are." And if you do find that person, if they actually...

Steve wouldn't let that thought complete itself.

For the moment, Luke was too preoccupied to pay much heed to what this being felt like. His danger-sense wasn't prickling, and he picked up no hint of any deceit, so for now he simply used the Force to collapse the lightsaber's parts back into their proper alignment and ignite the blade. Green energy extended from the emitter plate up to a point approximating the tip of a vibroblade, or the tip of that sword at Khel's hip.

"Energy caught in a force-field," he said. "It can cut through most materials, except for cortosis and beskar. I haven't encountered any of either here."

"And enchanted weapons? How fares it 'gainst those?" the death knight questioned, drawing his own ancient blade from its scabbard. It was longer than Luke's lightsaber, and for being several millennia old the blade was shining and pristine.

"It happens," Luke said. "I started off a lone adventurer, determined to save the galaxy single-handedly... but none of what I have accomplished in my life would have happened without my friends." Luke smiled at Steve. "It wasn't something that came easily even so. Like I said, we build walls, personas to show the outside that we are tougher than we truly are. Letting someone in past that requires a lot of trust. And it is difficult to trust people."

"I'm not sure what you mean by enchanted," Luke said curiously. "If you mean other energy weapons like vibroblades, it slices through those, but if you mean something else..." he eyed the blade. It looked to be a normal metal blade, of the kind that he hadn't seen outside of museums. Still, this--like its wielder--resonated in the Force, albeit in an odd way.

"We could try it, if you want."

Luke was a pretty cool guy, and Steve could tell he really believed everything that he was saying. You could always tell when people were lying to you, whether saying something they didn't believe or just outright trying to shut you up or change your mind about something. It was obvious Luke was trying to help.

"I wish I could say the same thing. But the sad thing is I can't trust anybody anymore," he said after a moment of thought. "Sorry to say, but it's true."

Luke sat back a moment. Steve reminded him of Kyp Durron, or Zekk--brilliant Jedi who had been led to the Dark Side. Unconsciously, feeling that kind of despair this young man carried in him, Luke reached out with a thread of soothing feelings, of reassurance and kindness, trying to calm.

"That's a pretty heavy statement. Why wouldn't you be able to trust anymore?"

"T'would indeed be of interest to me. Shall we then attempt to cross blades? Me with mine blade of darkness and eldritch might, and thou with thine blade of shining and holy light?" He held the edge of the blade closer to the lightsaber's own pulsing energy, tilting his head to one side when he saw his sword's blade blacken in response.

Steve wasn't sure how they even got on this topic of conversation, but he was getting kind of uncomfortable with it. Maybe he'd try to change the subject here in a minute, but might as well give the guy an answer.

He sounded strangely matter-of-fact when he explained himself. "Because I got to see up close and personal what kind of things people can do to other people. What people do so they can get what they want. And not just some people, either-- somebody you trusted more than anybody else. After I found all that out? I haven't been real quick to trust anybody but myself."

He stretched out that tendril of soothing feelings, touching Steve's mind with it. This young man needed to be listened to and talked with, not chastised for his thoughts.

"I know what you mean," Luke said quietly. "I've seen my share of war in my lifetime. Beings are always thinking up new and inventive ways to hurt, kill, and render speechless with grief other beings. They take over from within our own families sometimes--the places where we feel safest--and turn them against us."

He sighed, thinking of Jacen, of his own father. Was it a Skywalker family tradition to betray your loved ones? Luke hoped not.

"That doesn't mean you need to stop trusting," he said. "If anything, war and depravity make those bonds you form with others that much more important. It's a ray of light in the darkness."

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