Works in Progress

[Auro Syrdash]

Outer Rim Territories
World of Fray
The Academy
Campus Quad
c. 2918 AOK

Illuminated by the warm light of a fusion lantern, Vurk Initiate Auro Syrdash knelt over a wide assortment of scorched astromech droid parts. Painstakingly, he took a mental inventory of everything that remained of R9-N9, better known as "Nines."

Meanwhile, Pablo-Jill, Auro's little spine-backed reptillian pet hunted for grubs, insects, and anything else he deemed edible in the surrounding shrubbery.

As Auro stood to stretch his long limbs, his eyes fell on two familiar silhouettes approaching. A smile crossed his face, which had a reptilian quality all its own about it. As the pair drew near, he could see that between them they carried a number of old fashioned books.

"Unna," he said, glad to see the Iktotchi who was like sister to him. I see you're in fine company," he remarked with a polite nod to their new Human friend, Lysire.

[Unna Hi Chaanu]

"Absolutely," Unna replied happily, returning Auro's smile. She placed a hand on Lysire's shoulder and continued. "Lysire is the finest company I've found in this place so far! She is much more kind than the other two thirds of the students I've met so far. Three in total!" She laughed and looked to her friends to see if they laughed too.

"Auro, we were just in the library. I borrowed a book that has some information that I feel I should show you. We were just headed to dinner. Would you like to join us?"

[Akirapryde]

Lysire smiled as they approached Auro, "greetings Auro. And I m the one gifted by Unna's company. As always a trip to the library is always enjoyable and uplifting."

Lysire fell silent as if she just remembered something. "Ah bugger," she said with a frown. "I just remembered we have a major new chapter starting tomorrow morning. I didn't fully prepare for class." She turned to Unna. "I am sorry but I have to go. I really need to get my studying completed for the morning lesson."


She frowned more as if she was letting everyone down, "I am so sorry."

[Auro Syrdash]

Unna's "best in three" praise of Lysire drew a chuckle from Auro. Although he could only guess at what Unna had found in those tomes she carried, the way she had hinted at a discovery gave him cause to think it important. However, before Auro could reply to Unna's dinner invitation, Lysire had chimed in.

He smiled at Lysire as she spoke highly of Unna. Auro was glad to learn that at least one of his friends had already found a kindred spirit here at the Academy. When Lysire excused herself from joining them at dinner, he nodded his understanding.

"At least it wasn't something I said," Auro quipped with a grin. "Nourishment comes in three forms: Feed mind, body, and spirit to be your best," he recounted. It was a lesson he'd learned on Alderaan. "So, just be sure to eat something." Auro advised Lysire.

[Unna Hi Chaanu]

"Now I wonder if I too should be preparing for a lesson!" Unna stated, looking a little worried at Lysire, "but I have yet to receive an assignment yet, so I guess I'll be okay. Plus..." She turned to look at Auro, "I still need to show Auro what Graff was so kind to point out." She excentuated "Graff" and "kind" with a sarcastic tone, but quietly enough so that anyone around would not hear her making fun of one of the fencing captains.

"Lyaire," Unna said, just before Lysire left, "I'll try to bring you something to eat."

Then Unna looked at Auro and asked, "shall we?"

[Auro Syrdash]

When Lysire departed without another word, Auro gave a bemused shrug and turned his attention back to Unna. "I'd still like to join you for dinner," he told her. "Mind giving me a hand putting Nines away first, though?" he asked.

He knelt beside the fusion lantern again, gesturing to the array of components laid out in a semicircle before him. One by one, he gathered up the parts, carefully placing them back in the plasteel bin in which Nines had been turned over to him.

Just then, Pablo-Jill popped out of the shrubbery, sniffing the air and swishing his long, spiny tail back and forth. Recognizing a familiar scent, he bounded over to greet Unna. His snout was covered in topsoil and he was still chewing on a wriggling grub. Pablo-Jill's black button eyes sparkled as he sat up on his hind legs and placed his front paws on her knees adoringly.

"I'm not the only one who missed you," Auro observed. Suddenly aware that Unna was hugging the books in her arms protectively as she backed away from his eager albek, Auro took a fistful of dried fish treats from a pouch on his belt and whistled. "Here, boy!" he called.

Pablo-Jill wheeled around and raced toward Auro, leaping to joyously catch each treat he was thrown with an audible snap of his toothy jaws. "Okay, so it's the meat treats he really missed," Auro confessed, scooping up Pablo-Jill and holding him on his back like a green lizard-baby. The albek burped, licked his chops, and grunted contentedly.

"Don't worry, I've got him," Auro assured her apologetically. "Now, what secrets have you got for me in those books you're carrying, and how does the mighty Graff factor in?" he asked Unna, keeping his volume lower than the noisy chatter and laughter of the other students now making their way across the quad to the mess hall.

[Unna Hi Chaanu]

Unna clenched the books she borrowed from the library tightly against her chest as the animal invaded her personal space. As this transpired frustratedly thought about how animals can be trained to do so many things but don't seem to learn to stay off. Thankfully, these creatures can be easily distracted with food, and this occasion proved to be no exception as Auro offered the beast its treats.

"I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just going to show you. Graff came into the Library looking specifically for this."

The large book slipped out from Unna's embrace and into the air at Auro's eye level. The book opened and pages flipped before his eyes and stopped turning when Unna found what Graff had shown her. Staring at Auro was a highly decorated photo of his mother with the following information:

"Praeta Syrdash, General of the Grand Army of the Republic, started her career as a military cadet at the Illum Academy. Specialized as a Hunter. Graduated at the top of her class. Served as a Jedi Warden for ten years. Promoted to Jedi Commander, and led the Elite 75 Legion for ten years. During that time she served on the Jedi Council for the Outer Rim and then the Supreme Jedi Council. Served as the Chancellors Personal Body Guard, one of the last non-Azgardians to hold this post. Then Promoted to her current position."

Unna watched as Auro examined the entry and looked for his reactions. She used her empathic abilities, so she could begin to understand what he was feeling.

[Auro Syrdash]

Although Unna couldn't get a read on exactly what Auro was feeling, the look on his face told her all she needed to know: He looked as if he had seen a ghost. After a moment of staring at the photograph and service record of General Praeta Syrdash in stunned silence, he spoke a single word: "How?"

[Unna Hi Chaanu]

The book closed and levitated back into Unna's arms. She shifted the weight of the two books into one arm and patted Auro on the head with the other. "We are in the past, but we aren't in the universe we know anymore. Something must have happened between the explosion and the crash, because we are in another universe entirely. My parents' homeworlds either haven't been discovered or don't even exist."

Unna swallowed hard before continuing. "I don't even know if you exist in the universe, but Groff came looking for that book, believing that she sent you here. I set the record straight."

[Auro Syrdash]

"Then… this isn't really my mother?" Auro asked, his voice filled with uncertainty as Unna patted him on the head to soothe him. "I've seen her in my dreams, Unna; never with perfect clarity, but I've always known it was my mother's face I was seeing. This is that same face," he told her. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, just as he had been taught to do on Alderaan.