Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den! It's time to finish the Alliance Alert companions.
With Arcann now somewhere where he couldn't be reached and Vaylin settling in to the Eternal Throne, Ragdat had a couple of weeks to take care of some new people that his specialists had informed him to join the Alliance. His first mission was to Hoth to retrieve a group of Jawas led by a former teammate of Maircus, Blizz. Ragdat took Maircus with him to meet Blizz, who explained to Blizz what was going on and how Blizz and his team could help. Blizz said that if Ragdat could deliver some supplies to Blizz's crew and bring them to a location where a rival gang, a group of Uggnauts, were located, and helped them defeat them, the Jawas would join them. After the Uggnauts' defeat, Blizz and his team joined the Alliance, though Blizz, now calling himself "boss", decided that Ragdat had to be called "big boss", which Ragdat just shrugged off; whatever this Jawa needed to do in order to understand the heirarchy of the Alliance.
Not long after, Darth Nox told Ragdat of something Talos Drellik found on Yavin 4; a Dashade who had been in stasis since the end of the Old Sith War against Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma. After going through the effort to release the Dashade, he was forced to battle him. After defeating him, the Dashade revealed his name as Ak’ghal Usar, and he wanted revenge against Exar Kun for the destruction of his homeworld of Urkupp during the Cron Supernova. Ak'ghal wasn't pleased when Ragdat told him Exar Kun was dead, nor was pleased when the Dashade asked to join him in return for information on how to get access to the ghost of Exar Kun. He was also concerned when hee remembered that Khem Val, Darth Nox's personal bodyguard, ate Force users, so he decided to knock out Ak'ghal Usar and re-imprison him. It was a cruel punishment, Ragdat thought, but that would protect a LOT of lost Jedi and Sith out there that weren't strong enough to fend him off.
A day later, Ragdat was informed by Curoda that her friend, Bowdaar, was on Zakuul and running a cantina attached to a pit fighting circuit. This got Ragdat interested, since it had been a long time since Ragdat had been in that kind of environment, and part of him missed it. He headed there with Curoda, and was informed that Bowdaar was trying to organize the arena slaves, helping them save up money to buy their freedom, and he asked Curoda if she'd help him. Ragdat took this opportunity to say that he'd fight for Bowdaar, and he'd donate all his winnings to Bowdaar's cause. Ragdat then went down to the promoter, who told Ragdat that he needed a fighter's name. Ragdat suggested "Battlemaster", which was denied due to "having seen 3 Battlemasters this week", and then suggested "the Mysterious Stranger", which got Ragdat to chuckle inwardly; "the Mysterious Stranger" was Revan's name in the Taris arena 300 years before, according to the history texts.
Ragdat went in and won ten rounds of increasing difficulty, though for Ragdat, with a lightsaber and the Force, none of the rounds were particularly noteworthy. After ten victories as "Bowdaar's fighter", the man whom Bowdaar was warring against confronted him, and demanded that Bowdaar, a former Arena Champion himself, fight his best fighter and end this feud once and for all. Bowdaar agreed, and entered the arena with Ragdat, and the two won the battle, with Bowdaar finally agreeing to join the Alliance after all the fighters were finally freed.
Upon returning to Odessen from that mission, Ragdat got a mission from Hylo Visz about a Wookiee contact of her, Gryyzak, and he was willing to meet on Alderaan. However, when Ragdat got to the meeting place, Ragdat found a bunch of wrecked speeders, so he was forced to investigate what happened. Apparently, the Wookiee delegation was attacked, and were forced to flee on their speeders. Following the trail, Ragdat came to a twi'lek male who had been run off the road by the battle and pointed Ragdat toward another crash site. Investigating this crash site finally led Ragdat to Gryyzak, who was being accosted by a violently psychotic Talz, who blamed Gryyzak for his people's current weakness. This forced Ragdat to battle the Talz, but when Ragdat tried to arrest the Talz, he attacked Ragdat, forcing Ragdat to kill the Talz. Later, after returning to Odessen, Ragdat was approached by Adaso, who told Ragdat that he held no ill will against him for killing his former companion Broonmark, the Talz who was the one who put them in this situation in the first place.
Ragdat had a couple of days before his next recruitment drive, this time, the subject was brought up by Sana Rae. Ragdat remembered a conversation he had with her previously, about how she was not used to people not following her words exactly as they should, and asked Ragdat to talk to the people about it, and Ragdat reminded her that they weren't on Voss; here, she wasn't a revered Mystic. She was just a Force user from one of many Force using cultures, and that she needed to be more tolerant and explain why her visions should be followed that wasn't "The Mystics are never wrong", because a willingness to understand another's culture meant that they were willing to understand yours. Sana Rae took this to heart, and it was in this vein that she brought up a Force user who saw the Force differently than others; she wanted to understand his view, and thought he might be willing to aid the Alliance.
Thankfully, Blizz knew this "shining Jedi Man", as Sana Rae's vision suggested, and took Ragdat to Nar Shaddaa to meet a familiar looking Mon Calamari, and once he spoke, he knew him to be Curoda's former companion, Languss Tuno. Apparently, "Guss" as Curoda called him, went back to finish his Jedi training, but found an unusual master to teach him. Guss took Ragdat and Blizz to meet his master, and Ragdat recognized this man, too; a Padawan who was running into the shuttle that Ragdat had just stepped off when he first landed on Tython. Ragdat later asked who that was just before Orgus sent him to Coruscant, and Orgus told him he was a man who failed his Jedi Trials, and chose to leave the Order rather than join the Service Corps like he was supposed to.
Ragdat called him out on this when they met, and the failed Padawan said to Ragdat "Oh, so you think you can do better?" when he talked about Guss' training, and Ragdat flatly told him yes. So the failed Padawan gave Guss a task; get a storekeeper to give Guss a bottle of the failed Padawan's favorite alcoholic beverage by manipulating his mind with the Force. Ragdat agreed, but not without a protestation about the frivolous use of the Mind Trick before leaving.
During the trip to the sector, Ragdat talked to Guss about his own path as a Jedi; about how he too came to the Force later in life, and how he too needed a more philosophical approach to the Jedi Code and rules than what was taught to children. When pressed, Ragdat said that they needed to understand their darkness, not outright rejecting it, while choosing the Light. Ragdat explained that, as adult students, they already had coping mechanisms for dealing with fear, anger, passion and jealousy built into them from just growing into adulthood, and they should be more concerned about whether or not their coping mechanisms were healthy coping mechanisms. If they weren't healthy for the student, they needed to learn ones that were, even stating that Guss' way of experiencing what the galaxy had to offer was a good thing so long as it wasn't done to excess, since it gave Guss a "what does the Dark Side have to offer me? I have what I want" mindset. Guss was impressed by this philosophy, and said it made more sense for him than what Master Lorenn taught him.
Ragdat continued, stating that in order to master the minds of others, a student needed to know himself. And this led Ragdat to ask Guss to tell Ragdat about himself. And Guss immediately launched into that; who he was, where he was from, his life experiences with Curoda, all of it. When Guss was done, Ragdat realized that Guss' innate abilities were similar to Curoda's; he unconsciously manipulated the emotions of others while he talked. And just like with Curoda, he had, over time, learned when to "turn this on and off". Guss needed only to recognize this within himself to truly grasp the Mind Trick.
So, when they got to the first stop, Ragdat just said "Don't worry about affecting their mind; just talk to them. Get a read on them. See if they are receptive to what you want, because a willing mind is much easier to influence an unwilling one." Guss went into the shop and even though he failed to get what his "master" wanted again, he understood where Ragdat was going. The second stop had Ragdat continue the lesson; now that Guss could get a read on the subject, Guss should, while taking, try to influence the feelings of generosity and compassion, the emotions that would make them willing to give Guss what he wanted. Ragdat also added that Guss shouldn't worry about getting what he wanted here either, and to just apply what Ragdat told him.
When Guss came out this time, he was excited; he had failed again to get the bottle, but this was the first time anyone had politely told him "no". Ragdat smiled, and told Guss that he was learning quickly. They continued on to the final store that sold the drink, and Ragdat said it was time to apply everything Guss learned and finally use the Force to get the item. Ragdat reminded Guss of everything he had been taught; talk to the target, get a read on their emotions, influence the right ones, and finally, reach out and directly influence the mind. Guss went in, and after coming out, he was elated at his success. He told Ragdat that he did just what Ragdat told him; he went in, talked, got a read on his situation, and during the conversation, they started talking about a food item they both liked, and Guss reached out and said "You should have one", which caused the merchant to repeat Guss, which made Guss realize what he had just done. They continued talking, and Guss was able to influence the mind of the merchant to give him the drink. Ragdat congratulated Guss, but with a caveat that they'd need to remember to return and compensate him for the bottle in the future, given how expensive the drink truly was once Ragdat recognized what it was.
They returned to the failed Padawan's residence, only to find he had headed to the Cantina off the Promenade from Blizz. The pair headed to the Cantina and Guss gave the drink to his "master", who then rewarded Guss with some of his favorite food and drinks in a room nearby so he could have some privacy with Ragdat. The failed Padawan said "I'm surprised you go through to him, with you being a fully trained Jedi filled with their dogma." And Ragdat shot back "He's not the only one who came to the Force later. I simply taught him the way I was taught at the adult Academy on Arkania. And the one thing I saw during all of this is that Guss deserves better training than you can offer." He then turned away from the failed Padawan and joined Guss in his celebrations, returning to Odessen when the Mon Calamari was sated.
Sana Rae was curious about Guss' view of the Force, and Ragdat stated that it wasn't all that different his own, and that he could benefit from further training in the Jedi arts by someone like Vizhdam or Vedere, but so long as they took the time to get to know the young man.
A few hours later, Ragdat was given another mission back to Nar Shaddaa, this time by Bey'wan Aygo, a mission that Maircus felt he should come along for, since it involved Black Sun and rumors of an old personal pain in his ass. Upon arriving at the mission point, Ragdat noticed that his contact was his old teammate, Fideltin Rusk. Rusk, now a Provost Marshal, a leader a unit composed of conscripted criminals called the Dead Man's Legion. Rusk's command style was perfect for this unit, as Command didn't care whether these criminals lived or died, as they were all death row inmates, so long as the mission got done. Rusk was happy to see Ragdat, though upon asking what happened Ragdat, expressed concern about the Emperor controlling him again. Ragdat assured that he was still himself, and his mind was a LOT stronger than it was 12 years earlier.
Ragdat, Maircus and Rusk took the Dead Man's Legion against the Black Sun thugs, when they came face to face with Maircus' former companion, Skadge. Skadge had apparently been released in the 5 years since Maircus put him in carbonite, and had extensive cybernetics fit to him in order to fix the damage he had taken in his fight with Maircus, and he was angry. He immediately attacked Maircus, who took him down with the same method as before; shock dart, shot out his legs and arms, then, with his blade, punctured his completely organic lung. And as Skadge was laying there in pain, Maircus put a blaster bold in his head, finally ending the Houk thug once and for all. Ragdat then told Rusk to have the Dead Man's Legion clean up the sector, and then to head to Odessen.
Upon reaching Odessen, Ragdat saw HK-55 standing over a human corpse with another droid beside him in the main hall. He asked for an explanation, and the droid stated that, after a mission to capture the Shroud, he went through an entire adventure which put Ragdat's programming to the best; HK could not blast an old blind man that attacked him with only a vibromop, but he was able to kill an unarmed Malforia, simply because she had access to the Force, all because Ragdat explained to HK that those trained in the Force were never unarmed. He then returned to Odessen to stop the Shroud from blowing up the base, only to find that his companion, Z0-0M, was the Shroud, and the man he shot had planted bombs around the base. However, thanks to a failed attempt to erase HK-55's memories, Z0-0M fried her own memories, and HK-55 suggested to Ragdat to have Doctor Oggurub scan her parts to ensure she didn't have any surprises for them. Ragdat shook his head and said "Do what you need to, HK," and headed to see Bey'wan about Rusk, and informed him to either only allow Rusk command of the Dead Man's Legion, or only have him train other recruits, and to never give him troops they wanted to see again due to Rusk's tendency of looking at his soldiers as "we have reserves". Bey'wan agreed, and Ragdat headed to the gym to clear his head.
It had been an eventful couple of weeks, but Ragdat knew that Vaylin wouldn't sit idle for long. So he made sure that the Alliance stayed ready, and prepared to act when Vaylin started causing trouble.
And that's it for KOTFE! And before anyone asks, no, that is not the true history of Guss' master on Nar Shaddaa. Beyond "he's a failed Padawan" that we see in game, there is nothing on him. I just wanted this opportunity for Ragdat to have a reason to illustrate his view of the Force.
I'll get to KOTET sooner or later, and then, to Iokath and the Traitor Saga. Also, over the next few days, I'll be adding the "Ragdat's Darkest Days" story chapters under the "Ragdat's Darkest Days" label, so you can find them quickly in the future. But for now, stay beautiful freaks!
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