Yavin Station - Control and Engineering Sectors

[Ander Tagira]

::Alec?:: ::Alec, it's me.::
::Alright, my friend, let's get you up.::
::Come on...you're not dying while I'm still indebted to you.::
::Hell, Alec, you gave me a scare there. I thought I'd find you dead.:: ::What...the hell...are you doing...here? I didn't...:: ::Can it, you can't be wasting breath or moving right now. Where does it hurt?::
::Cracked...ribs. Dis...dislocated...shoulder. Fr...fracted...albow...ulna.:: ::Alright, alright, relax. That's all I needed to know. Where's your bacta?:: ::Good, good. I'll get you patched up as best I can.::


::This one's gonna hurt, I won't lie.:: ::It's...alrig--::
::You...kriffing nerf-...herder, I'll...kill you.:: ::You're welcome.::
::Any ideas on how we're to get you out of here in this state?:: ::...No. 'Less you have a...a winch in that bag.::
::Thanks.:: ::No, thank you. The only reason you're down here is because you were saving my life.::
::What happens? After this, I mean.::
::Maybe we ought to have just fought it out, let the better man live.::
::If we had...I'd still be...stuck underneath that lift carriage.:: ::You must be hot Sith-spit if you think you would've won that one, my friend.::
::Why are you here?:: ::Why did you invade, I mean.::
::You...might not under...understand.:: ::Tagira's all about...fighting the good fight. Somewhere...along the way...he got the idea that the...good fight was you lot.::
::After the he was forced to leave Yavin...Tagira remained lost...I think he still is.:: ::Tagira had two homes, growing up. The Jedi...through his mother. Mando'ade...through his father. When he lost his home...here...he returned to the other. The man who...sent us...against you...is yet still a child in...some ways...seeking the com...comfort of his people.::
::Why do you follow him?:: ::He's born to lead. He's...a decider. He has...conviction. He's ruthlessly pragmatic...but...still human. I could never follow...any man who...did not retain his...propensity to fail...his humanity. There...is no task...I can be given...that he will not...do himself. GALSAF has no sheep...only wolves...and it is up to...all of us...to lead...together.::

::Why do you...serve the Jedi?::
::Because the Jedi serve the people.:: ::It is...the nature of any institution...to propagate...to ensure its own...survival. The Jedi serve...the people, the...Republic...yes, perhaps...but they serve themselves first...They believe that...if they don't...there will be...no one to do so.:: ::That...is where we are different...When the time...comes...when our service is no longer...necessary...we will...disappear from...history...existence. We have...faith...that there will...be others. The Jedi...they lack this faith...their faith...is in them...themselves.::
::The Jedi exist to protect the Galaxy, and all its inhabitants from evils like the Sith. By your own logic, if the Jedi were to cease to be, the Sith would have their run of...well everything! It would be chaos, pain, unimaginable suffering.::
::And what of a Galaxy without them both?::
::Now...ask me again...why are we...here?::

[Ander Tagira]

::Why can't the Sith be defeated and the Jedi left to remain amongst us?::
::Where do the Sith come from?:: ::Korriban is the home of their Order, isn't it?::
::Not what I asked. Where do they come from?:: ::They were Jedi once, I believe.:: ::The Sith are the bastard children of the Jedi. As long as there are Jedi, there will be Sith. When curing a disease, you treat the illness, not the symptoms. When you're eradicating it, you treat the source, not only the infected.::
::Now answer me this: If you have the cure, would you let innocent people to continue to fall victim, even if their number is small, or would you use that cure to treat the source of the disease?::
::We're not talking about a disease, we're talking about people.:: ::People who live on another plane of existence from the rest of us. They're gods walking amongst commoners. And who suffers most when gods go to war?::

[Ander Tagira]

::I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be. We better get a move on.:: ::You drifted off, I didn't have the heart to keep you up after all you did to help me down here.:: ::How much air do you have?:: ::About ten hours.::
::I'll just have to take it easy. I've got a set of grip clips, I just don't have the strength.::
::Drop your plates and pack them away. We can secure the packs to the end of the line down here and pull them up when we get out. I can lash you to myself and we can make the climb together. I'll end up doing more of the work, but we'll make it.::
::It's dead, don't worry about it. Let's go.:: ::Just a moment, I wanted to get a better look at the thing. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure it out, where I've seen these things before.:: ::Well then? Anything?::
::My first thought is it's some sort of strill, a native pack animal from Mandalore we used to use for hunting and tracking. But this thing's got eight legs, a strill only has six, and they're much smaller.:: ::The Vong created monsters like this...voxyn, they called them. They were bred from vornskr stock and some monster native to the Vong's Galaxy. The Vong engineered them to hunt Jedi.:: ::You think that's what it is?:: ::It certainly fits the description I remember. Though I haven't suffered from any toxic infection from the wound it gave me. Voxyn saliva contained acids and all sorts of nasty stuff, so did their claws and the tips of their fur, from what I remember.:: ::It did this to my armor, scarred the paint, melted it off. I can't imagine a beast like this lived openly on the Station without the Jedi knowing. Maybe it had just come out of some sort of long-term hibernation? That could very well explain the lack of toxins, if its glands hadn't been active long enough to begin secreting it again. A lot of predatory creatures go through cycles like that, they need to eat again before their systems kick into full gear again. Something to do with nutrient-sequestering.:: ::I'm going to take holos of the carcass to hand over to the Jedi...or the Mandalorians, if you lot succeed in routing us.:: ::Good idea, the Jedi will need to know.::


::I'm bringing...climbing gear...on every...mission...from now...on.::
::Make sure to...kick the...balls...of the guy...who des...designed that...kriffing...hole...di'kut.:: ::What now?::
::We have to keep heading up and toward the occupied sections of the station. It's our only chance to run into someone.::