The Third Degree

Posted on Mon Nov 5th, 2012 @ 7:17am by Thane & Kip Hoddai

3,206 words; about a 16 minute read

Chapter: Chapter II: Era's Dawn
Location: Red Raptor
Timeline: Day Four

The refreshers on board the Red Raptor were much the same as the rest of the old smuggler's freighter in their base design, the usual utilitarian and basic design that the new crew had encountered across the vessel was present, as well as the usual grime that Grogga's last team had failed to ever clean. Even as the newcomers tried to wipe some of the murk away, the stains proved stubborn, and would likely outlast them all.

As Thane looked up from the sink and into his own reflection in the mirror, he found himself thinking his face looked different than it had on the Muddy Mynock, the transport that had brought him and Bomoor to Coruscant on their original mission to apprehend Sev Rezer. Not necessarily less healthy or marred, but different. He decided it was of no consequence; it had been a difficult few days, and he still had a lot on his mind.

Putting it to one side, he peeled the last of the bacta patches from his hand and right arm, finding the small doses of bacta had already healed most of the damage from the burns Axion's red lightning had inflicted, and his natural healing ability would do the rest. With the small bowl of water, he washed the last of the grease and oil from his skin, which he had gathered during resurrecting the training remote he was going to gift to Berry in the new training room. Whilst Rezer had not been keen to part with some of the materials he somehow already had, the notion of training the young Near-Human had resonated with the Mandalorian for some reason.

Remembering his conversation with the bounty hunter from the previous day, Thane's face set as he dried his face and hands and stepped out from the 'fresher. He was immediately met by a smell that had already become familiar to him: the unique scents of Kip Hoddai's culinary expertise had flooded the recreation room onto which the refresher opened out into, the Devaronian at work in the kitchen area. He wondered if Sev had acted on what they said yet; neither of them trusted the being who had sprung himself upon them at the last minute to secure the Red Raptor, and the Mandalorian had mentioned Kip was a 'Flamewalker', a sect of Force user's Thane knew nothing about, despite his frequent ventures into the Jedi Archives.

"You have many talents, Mister Hoddai," Thane introduced himself as he stepped towards the cooking area, sitting himself into one of the chairs nearby. He saw a selection of dried fruits on the surface. He gestured to one. "May I?"

Kip considered for a moment as he turned, wearing the tunic and pants he favored for his meditations. He was barefoot, like Berry most-often was. "It's a bit tart, try the red if you prefer it sweeter, purple sweeter still." He turned back to the pot and the skillet, the latter he seemed to be heating and had one large vac-pac as yet unopened and seemed to be preparing to have a flurry of culinary production.

He reached into the pot and touched it with a fingertip and then as he withdrew his one hand, used his other to dump a handful of dumplings from one bowl into it, eliciting a burst of steam and furious sizzling sounds. A sharp pungent not-unpleasant odor wafted up from his efforts with the steam and the ever-present 'sour' flavor in his dishes seemed to be much-reduced from his normal.

These he tossed in the pan with flicks of his wrist on the handle and then set it half-off the heating plate before turning to one side and pouring several liquids into a bowl over a solid scoop of some sort of paste, which began to steam on its own and dissolve.

As the Devaronian continued to cook, Thane held the dried fruit between his finger and thumb, having chosen the original green one. Not a fan of sweet foods, he bit into it, finding Kip's declaration of its tartness to be true, but it still reminded him of some of the calberries that grew on his homeworld, which so often could be mistaken for the poisonous darkberries that grew in similar places, yet still made for good poison.

Kip flipped the dumplings onto a plate, added some precut vegetables he had reconstituted in the hydrator and then pared into fanciful shapes and stuck the 'sauce' he had created to the side directly in the middle in its own dipping saucer and put that in front of Thane. "High protein, some vegetables, a bit of fiber and more savory and less sour flavors. Tell me if they're more to your liking," he asked, "they are something of an experiment, cooking for the non-Dev palate."

"Thank you," Thane replied with a slight inclination of his head before looking down to what had been presented to him. The smell, quite simply, was delightful, and was instantly recognisable as a savoury dish, strong in flavour and satisfaction. Whilst he did not trust in Kip's general background, the Jedi did not feel as though he would try to poison him, and was happy (and hungry) enough to try some of the dumpling-like dish.

After a few mouthfuls, and happily indulging himself with the sauce the red-skinned man had made up for him, he looked up to Kip with a small smile on his face, and spoke once he had finished chewing and swallowing. "This is very impressive, Kip," he remarked before quickly eating some more, although he made a point of putting down the utensils to actually speak properly, letting his current mouthful slide down. Sitting back a bit on the stool, he cocked his head with narrowed eyes at the Devaronian.

"You'll have to forgive my curiosity, but you'll understand why I'm a bit curious about you. Certainly, I don't believe you mean us any harm - no immediate harm, anyway - but you seem to have a peculiar set of skills and mannerisms for a man who is hunting down Force relics, and fighting turf wars for Hutts." He scooped up some more of the sauce with another meaty dumpling, the poultry meat inside coming to life alongside the herbs and light spices Kip had mixed in with them.

"I have not always been a trader," Kip shrugged, "my mother ran a cafe and her children helped. I was a kitchen rat so I cooked, watched her, learned from her and got bitten by the cooking bug early. It brings me peace and satisfaction," he smiled slightly, "and that's a rare commodity in this galaxy."

Then he chuckled, "Besides, poisoning your food is always the least reliable and efficient way to get to you. What kills one species, another eats and another finds as an aphrodisiac. A sharp blade or a blaster is a more sure a way to murder than any other, though I rarely find myself needed to do so in my line of work." He gestured to Thane with one hand as if to as 'as you say', "Fighting turf wars for Hutts, cooking, talking to droids or hunting Force relics."

"And being a Flamewalker?" Thane then asked, not looking up from his food. "What does that entail?" His voice was actually quite casual as he posed the question.

"That's an interesting question J'tai Thane," Kip stated, the word he used was pronounced differently but clearly meant the same thing it sounded like, "though, really, are you or will you be much longer? I think that unlikely." He made a flippant dismissive gesture with his left hand he turned back to his pot and stirred it.

The Jedi took the last mouthful, but remained silent as he let Kip continue, not responding to what he said.

"The J'tai have the sanction of the Republic because they support what the Republic stands for, yet the Republic accepts all others into itself and the J'tai will only accept those young enough to be retrained, or destroy those it perceives as too different, threatening to their own agenda." He looked over his shoulder at Thane and smiled gently, strangely not-mocking, "Very Sith of them I think. But J'tai or Sith, two extremes, ideals, at opposite ends of a vast field of definition in which there are literally tens-of-thousands of shades of meaning in between. Both have narrowed their vision of the Force to such a tiny sliver they cannot see anything outside as anything of value."

He turned back to his pots and began to toss different ingredients into a rounded pot where the items were kept in motion with a utensil in his other hand, gouts of steam and savory smells rose from the pan as he worked.

"Whilst I have my differences with the Jedi Order," Thane replied, now facing Kip as he worked, "liberal attitudes undermine justice, and actually weaken the opportunity for people to be more than are, as well as letting them hold onto attitudes and beliefs that will only lead to chaos, and I grow tired of people who preach this pretentious dribble, thinking they are enlightened for saying everyone can do and say as they please."

The Human was frowning at the Devaronian. "So, let's not get into that. Perhaps you could climb down from this pedestal of yours and actually answer the question?" Thane had no wish to continue this ongoing avoidance of being direct, nor did he wish to hear about Kip's 'enlightened' view on matters.

"If your neck is sore from looking up at me, stand up," Kip replied as he worked. "Do not whine at me because I stand above you or tell me I must descend to your level when I am not responsible for you. You asked what being a Flamewalker is like; I cannot help that you do not comprehend or care for the answer. You have stated I am at a different perspective than you and you feel that I am being evasive, neither of which is true simply because you believe it to be so. Change your perspective and perhaps my answers will become easier to understand. Widen your vision J'tai," he added as he turned around, as he placed another platter on the table, loaded with steaming vegetables and proteins in some sort of sauce. He was smiling broadly, without malice.

Thane did not look to the food. "You are proving yourself to be as narrow as the 'J'tai' with your very response. They, like you, are obnoxious in the way they discuss philosophy. You, despite claiming to be evaluating these many shades between the two poles, have made the assumption that taking in a variety of opinions is superior to finding one, more suitable opinion." The Human flexed the hand that the burns had been on, his voice stern but not too aggressive. "And you have avoided a direct answer: you merely made an observation about the Jedi - one that is very true, certainly - and it is from that that I must assume what these Flamewalkers are," he suggested. "Likely a Force-using, to a certain degree, organisation that holds the view of using neither the light side nor the dark side exclusively, looking at the grey side of morality, and probably thinking themselves better, or more enlightened for it, just as the Jedi do and the Sith have, as well as a multitude of different groups and factions over the millennia."

Pausing, he looked at the smile Kip was still wearing, finding that, even though it was not aggressive, his whole demeanour, his calm actions and attitudes creating a smug persona, one so sure that his own beliefs were right. Whilst he respected him for his convictions, he still felt that his attitudes were amongst the mainstream and popular views people took. "Liberals, as I'm presuming you are, often believe themselves the friends of everyone, and whilst I have tried a similar views before, I've found they just do not work," Thane admitted, his voice having grown softer during his contemplation. "It weakens society, and then the very downtrodden people it has sought to help are left in a worse position, as well as the fact everyone grows very self-important, despite never having earned any respect in their lives."

His blue eyes focused once again on the red-skinned cook. "I disagree with your viewpoint, Kip Hoddai, but I would still very much like to hear it all. I'm sure I'll still disagree at the end, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be challenged, or that I could not learn more specifics about this order of yours; I've always been a keen historian and researcher, even when the Jedi tried to block my attempts. I merely want to learn about the Flamewalkers."

"There, was that so hard?" Kip chuckled, neither chiding nor deriding Thane. "Your perceptions are already colored certainly and you speak with conviction about concepts you have yet to master whereas I make no such allusions that I am a master of anything," he burst out with a single joyous burst, "HA! I am a master of nothing, not even myself, not even my own sphere. I have so much to learn about everything in the Universe, from the basest of material existence to the Force." He shrugged and sighed, turning to get another bowl of noodles and his eating sticks and went for the contents of the plate and chewed and swallowed a bite.

"Civilized discourse always happens best over a meal," Kip pronounced, "or so I've found. The J'tai will block your attempt to 'pollute' your mind with ideas and distractions, a conservative organization, the Sith as well. To judge that the Flamewalkers are Liberal is assumptive without the foundation of fact. If one were to cull the Gal-Net for data on the Flamewalkers and to look at all the data that was up and what they are suspected of being and doing, one would not find that they were a Force-using group. They perform fantastic feats but those are easily explained by the traces of their skills that they leave behind; their operatives seem to be highly flexible and adaptive, able to operate in nearly any situation. They are known to be assassins because its the assassination that are the most sensationalized. But were one to spend the time to look, they would find there were at least ten times the reports that they had been identified in the middle of a war or a skirmish, in an advisory position and very possibly had stolen something fairly obscure."

"So if I were you and you've assumed I am a Flamewalker because an erstwhile enemy said so," he rolled his eyes slightly at that, "I would go off of what I knew. I am an excellent cook, I can pass as a technician, I meditate, I treat droids as if they were people and can understand them, I'm something of a tactician and I did admit to shooting that Sith-wannabe in the face through a hand-to-hand fight and hit the target instead of any of the rest of you, or them." He shrugged, "I don't carry a lightsaber or a Force-focus of any sort and I know a bit about philosophy and Force-based organizations as well as the Hutts and their organizations."

"There," Thane finally said, coining Kip's own phrase, "was that so hard? And my assumptions were merely based on the lack of information presented, which you have now kindly provided me with, for which I thank you." The Jedi gave a small bow of his brown-haired head, before returning to his previous position and deciding to respond to a particular point. "Sev Rezer was an enemy only declared to be as such by the Jedi Council - not by me - and he has already been honest about himself, as well as the fact I have shared a vision, along with Bería, concerning the Mandalorian. Certainly, not something I usually think much about, but it would be short-sighted to ignore what I saw and learnt."

He finally looked to some of the food Kip had prepared and left for him, and moved to consume some of it, giving the Devaronian another thankful nod of his head. "All of these other things I did indeed know about you, but these are things I knew without knowing who you are, or what sort of person you are. I believe that you have no designs on me or my friends, or to be deceptive towards us, but I can't pretend to wholly trust you." Thane put one of the vegetables to his mouth and quickly chewed and swallowed it. "Your cooking is another matter, though," he added with some mirth, pointing a piece of root vegetable at the Flamewalker, "but on a serious note again: you believe in your modesty that you are a man of balance, and that in itself is your own arrogance, that by not having conservative values, you are something better than those with more polarised views. Whilst I may disagree, I am not going to hate you for it - so don't think I will, or that I think you are without intelligence. Quite the opposite, but we merely sit at different points on the spectrum." Thane shrugged and rubbed his chin, making a mental note to have a shave. "To me: you're wrong, but it makes me pleased you are a man who works in your particular field, rather than politics. You may think my perceptions are coloured - I don't think yours are coloured enough."

With one last mouthful, Thane swung himself about and hopped off from the stool, feeling pleased at having learnt at least something more about the Devaronian and the Flamewalker organisation. Certainly, if put to use in certain ways, they could be an incredibly threatening force, something to not be reckoned with, or certainly not without consideration. Luckily, based on what he had heard and how many of these smaller sects operated, they may have involvement in some affairs, but never in such a way that it would have a lasting effect - except in some rare particular circumstances, Thane then considered, likely with no one the wiser.

"Thank you for the food and conversations, Kip," he said in conclusion. "Of all the talents the Flamewalkers seem to bring with them, that's the one I think I'll be most appreciating - as will Bería. In fact, I should let her know there's some going, for fear she would never forgive me otherwise." The Human moved to walk towards Berry's cabin, when he then turned back to face the Devaronian. "We will speak again?" He asked.

"Of course," Kip replied, "where you go, I go, at least until I see Axion's body in Flame," he added more softly, the emphasis on the last word very final sounding.

Which then brought the tally of people who wanted to see Axion blasted to smithereens up to at least three on the Red Raptor alone.

Thane wasn't sure whether that comforted him or not.

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