Nawah and Nomi 2

Nomi has been very little alone during the travels the group has been doing. Often seen in the company of Somi or Efnir or doing rounds with Vic it seems she is constantly busy. But in the third day of travel on the way to Sura Sindo, Nomi has a question for Nawah, so she purposely seeks out the Mirialan.

"Hey Nawah. How are you? Keeping busy?"

Unlike Nomi, Nawah has been a little bit more alone on this particular voyage. She isn't a hermit, but she's spent a bit less time seeking people out for conversation. Nomi ultimately finds Nawah just outside of Nawah's room, either coming or going from her quarters.

"Oh, hey Nomi," Nawah replies. "I'm doing alright. Just been going over a few things from recent events to see if I've been missing anything. How're things going with you? Seems like you've been keeping yourself pretty busy."

Nomi falls into step beside Nawah, accompanying her wherever she is going. "Yeah, lots for a captain to do. I'm doing alright, all things considered. Thanks. Anything in particular about what's happened recently that you've had attention on or any insight you cared to share?" she asks with interest in her voice.

"They're mostly personal angles, I must admit. I've been trying to figure out why the Empire has a file on me for a while now. I've had my suspicions, but Iscandar confirmed them. They knew that my old partner was a Force user, and it makes sense that if they have information on her that they'd make the assumption that I, too, was a Force user. It would also explain why the Mirror gave me his calling card, so to speak, for Force users if he had access to that same information," Nawah explains. The woman pauses before continuing on. "I hesitate to bring up the other part, simply because of what you and Somi are dealing with right now with Lilikai, especially as my old partner is long dead."

Nomi shrugs. "Thank you for the consideration. I actually wanted to talk to you about that subject: Lilikai; your past dealing with dark force users. So, no worries about my current sensibilities. I have actually talked about it a lot with both Somi and Efnir and I feel pretty settled. I'm not traumatized or something. So, tell me, what's the other part?" Nomi's face is open and very curious, she is listening with the kind of rapt attention that makes you want to tell something to whomever is asking - friend or stranger. It's probably second nature to her and Nawah can tell that it's not false, but knowing now about Nomi's training, this kind of interaction to get others to tell something has probably been practiced and practiced.

Nawah listens to Nomi's response and nods. "I questioned Iscandar briefly. Unfortunately, interrogation was never a strong spot of mine, but he did let slip one thing when I was leaving. He claimed my partner was a Sith. Which I have difficulty believing, but I can't deny that it would make a few things fall into place more easily. It also has me running my mind back through a lot of things in my past and questioning if I was fooled or not." The information is now potentially relevant to the crew, so Nawah sees no reason to really hold back her suspicions at the moment.

"Likely as not, it won't be directly relevant to our situation, as we shouldn't run into her. I saw her die at the other end of a lightsaber. I'm more concerned now with who has what information," Nawah explains.

Nomi presses her lips together in a small frown. "I'm sorry to hear that. I understand how it might create some confusion about your past. Did he specifically say Sith or dark force users? I'm learning there's a difference. Like Jedi master vs force sensitive or Jedi Knight."

"So, is this person the one who trained you or just your partner?" She asks.

"Sith Lord specifically, which is the more worrying part. And yes, there are a lot of differences between varying Force User factions, ranks, and all that," Nawah responds. "And she was the one who trained me, but it eventually evolved into a partnership once I reached a sufficient skill level. So both, I suppose. I just tend to use partner since that's where we were when she passed."

"Hmmm... But you never saw her do things or use abilities that would mark on her as a Sith or have a red light saber?" A slightly incredulous pause. "Or maybe she was posing as a non-force user? I don't understand how a person could hide that for years. A few days, sure. But even with Lilikai, the second she took out her lightsaber we knew something was wrong. What was her name?"

"That's not as straightforward as you might think. Kyber crystals are naturally aligned with the light side of the Force. The red lightsaber comes from a Force user who has used the dark side to basically channel hate, fear, and the like into the crystal. It is a deliberate process known as Bleeding meant mostly to show allegiance or strengthen their connection to the dark side. There is no physical reason they couldn't just build a lightsaber, stick a green kyber crystal in there and have a green lightsaber if they wanted to."

"As to powers, the philosophy Tasra subscribed to was more neutral than either the Jedi or the Sith, seeing the Force as a multi-faceted tool. So she was as comfortable using the Force to heal as she was to shoot lightning. She leaned more towards the light side in her use, however. But, it was her belief that there is nothing that prevents any Force user from using either side of the Force if they are strong enough in their own beliefs to not be swung to either extreme. I never saw any signs of her falling, let alone being a Sith Lord."

Nawah shrugs. "All that is to say is that hiding one's dark side allegiance wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility at all. It mostly takes not showing obvious signs and not spending large amounts of time with Jedi who might sniff them out."

Nomi nods in understanding. "I see. Who did you two work for? Where did you get your assignments and who paid you? I'm sure you weren't tracking down dark force users out of the goodness of your hearts?"

"Closest thing you could call it would be a bounty system. Hear of someone or a rumor about dark Force users or they were referred to us by someone else. There weren't a lot of regular clients in that line of work. Or that was what I was aware of at least," Nawah explains.

"So... Tasra, you said?... She was the contact for the bounties and she was the one that taught you? And you quit when she died or was it another time? Was it a dark force user that killed her? You said she died from a lightsaber wound. What happened to that person? Did you kill them?"

"I left that life behind when she died, yes. It's a dangerous line of work, and without a skilled partner to make up for what I lacked, a foolish one for me to continue in. It was also a difficult time in the immediate aftermath," Nawah says. "It was a dark Force user, yes. They killed each other with their lightsabers while I killed the other assassin."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Nomi says with no hint of insincerity. She pauses. "It's impressive that you could take out dark force users. I mean, I definitely acknowledge that you are a skilled fighter, but, and I hope you are not offended, why did she pick you as a partner? Why not find another Force users with similar philosophies to hers? Wouldn't it have been easier to fight Force with the Force?"

"The number of Force users with similar philosophies who aren't part of another organization, such as the Nightsisters, is pretty slim. The Jedi ran a pretty good recruitment game," Nawah responds. "Also, Force users have their weaknesses. Slugthrowers work really well against the ones who like to bounce blaster bolts back at you. They can't deflect physical objects with their lightsabers. Melt the slug, sure, but it isn't coming back at you. I used to use a pretty modded out slugthrower which was pretty effective. If you are more of the sword type though, you got yourself cortosis gear so the lightsaber doesn't cut right through your armor or your weapon. Then it becomes a much more skill-based fight." She continues walking along. "Most other stuff, well, you want to learn what you can about their tendencies and prepare accordingly. Probably the most problematic are the ones who specialize in the ability to move objects. If you don't have a jetpack or jump boots or something like that, it's going to be a bad time."

Nawah shrugs lightly before continuing. "But, people have had to deal with Force users for ages now. Basically, preparation, training, and the right technology can let you deal with about eighty or ninety percent of what a Force user can likely throw at you. The rest you have to accept they have an advantage with and figure out how to handle that specific scenario."

Nomi nods as she listens. "Interesting about the slug throwers. Not something I knew. I will have to watch out for anyone pointing a gun like that at our force users. So, what I actually wanted to ask you is if you ever tried to offer redemption to the dark force users, or you know of anyone who did. Did it work? Did you ever see or hear of anyone returning to the Light?"

Nawah nods about the slugthrowers. "Well, of our group, the difference in gun used only really impacts Vesper. Your sister follows the Makashi Duelist style and they don't really train to defend against ranged attacks. Rhen of course doesn't have a lightsaber. Efnir follows Niman Disciple and, as I recall, they don't usually train in the targeted deflection techniques. But they can block ranged attacks with the lightsaber. Vesper follows the Shien Expert form, however, and that is their specialty. He'll be fine blocking a slug, but he won't be able to send it flying back at whoever shot it at them. The lightsaber will just melt it like it does most things in the universe."

Nawah pauses before shaking her head. "Sorry. One of those things I had to learn over the years was recognizing what forms a Force user used as it could tell you what they'd likely do in a fight. Decent chance you probably knew all that, sorry."

"As to your question, it's possible for someone to make their way back from falling to the Dark side. People fall for a lot of different reasons, but they're all usually very personal. They need to reject whatever it is that made them fall, be it power or hatred, jealousy, or whatever it was. Those who care for them and that they cared for prior to the fall can help to inspire this, but the viewpoint shift has to come from the person who fell. With my work, I didn't have any personal connection to who I was going after. There were a few who weren't too far gone that I'd try to help back, but they had no reason to care about what a random stranger had to say. Also, by the time I got close enough to speak with them, the second they realized I knew they'd fallen I was facing a lightsaber or being attacked with Force Lightning."

Nomi shakes her head and looks a bit chagrined. "Actually, I didn't know that stuff. You just said many words I had never heard before. I should have realized there were different techniques or forms, but I never thought about it and no one ever told me. It's good to know that helping a dark force user to turn back to the light is possible. I don't expect it to be easy, but at least there is hope. Thanks."

Nawah laughs. "Let me know if you ever want a primer on that sort of thing," the woman replies. "For what it is worth, Lilikai doesn't seem like she's gone so far that she can't come back. There's still hope there." The woman had let them live. That was a very good sign. "Anyway, I'm going to go let some of my own complicated feelings out with a bit of training. You're welcome to join me if you like."

"Sure. I'll join you. It's a good way to clear your mind."