**Creekside Castle**

Well, technically it wasn't a castle, it wasn't even really considered a large house by most people's standards. In fact it was just a mass produced, prefabricated home that Kalen had ordered from the Selonian Fabrication Corporation(SFC) during his recent diplomatic mission on Arx. He had even got a great deal on the 2 storey, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom plus den home. 

But to Kalen and Corra it was most certainly a castle. It was a corner property on the new ‘Creekside’ subdivision of Aliso City. The house sat on 2 acres of land right near a bend in what the locals had come to refer to as North Creek. At the back of property, they would have access to the creek itself and a large sandbar on the interior corner of the bend in the creek that resembled a 50 foot long 20 foot wide beach. Though with the planets stable orbit and lack of wobble in axis of rotation, the autumn type weather mean the water was often quite cold, though Karracca had gleefully waded in from a smile at the end of the building day to wash his fur of the grime dirt and sawdust from the day work.

The home had arrived as a kit via a large landing barge that was equipped with its own crane. The SFC VP for sales that Kalen had made the deal with at the banquet at the Flitz hotel ball room on Arx had even given Kalen free shipping and delivery to Kalen, as they had a few other deliveries to perform in the Aliso system anyway. After the kit had been dropped off the landing barge had returned to its mother shop, a large bulk freighter that SFC used to deliver material and equipment of all kinds to their various customers and clients spread across the galaxy.

The house had been put together and completed in only 2 days. Several of the tailors' friends from the Ascendant Legion who were either stationed on Aliso or lived there and had graciously helped Kalen, Karracca and D with the building project. At the end of the second day, a delivery of long timbers had arrived via landspeeder haulers, and before the day was through, the work detail of Jedi and navy men had finished building a large deck and a 12×12 shed.

There was a 20 metre by 15 metre wide gravel area in front of the westward facing house that was used for landspeeder parking. Though it should be noted at the time Kalen didn't even own a landspeeder, they were about a 20 minute walk away from downtown Aliso and only 10 minutes further to get to the Pinnacle. So it didn't really matter much, but at least he had parking for his guests. 

In addition to the lumber and the house kit, Kalen had also imported 6 Pantalomin peach trees and planted the fast growing trees in the back left corner of the property. The trees were capable of producing 4 crops each year, and the peaches were, as Corra put it ‘The best tasting fruit ever created.’

The next day Kalen and Corra would move in. And the day after that they would have a house warming party. Though Kalen had offered Karracca the spare bedroom, he didn't want to disturb the lovebirds, so he politely declined and said he would just stay in his quarters aboard the new shop they had just bought.

Ode to Canada
It's my homely native land
True north? Strong and free?

**The Wayfinders Find a Way**

Tahiri had thought that sending her 2 diplomatic Jedi-types and their fast new luxury light freighter to serve as the research and scouting vessel to assist the Wayfinder Society on a mission to study a migrating pod of Purgils was a great idea. It was a rather large migrating pod at that , over 30 full grown space whales migrating from their ancestral homes in a rogue asteroid field near the Ralltir system to some other galaxy.

What she had not known was that Kalen secretly, though understandably, had a deep and raw hatred for Purgils. And to be honest you couldn't really blame him for his hatred when you consider the fact that Purgils had killed about 96% of people Kalen had ever known. Of the 50,000 that had begun riding the wake of the whales in that far away galaxy where Kalen and 2 generations of survivors had spent the last 70 odd years.

When Kalen read the mission profile he had even considered outright rejecting the mission and telling Tahiri to find someone else to do the mission. But a sense of professionalism and the large amount of bonus pay that came attached with the mission had changed his mind. 

So with that the Corra IV hosted 4 Collegium scientists with a bunch of sensor probes and other equipment for a 4 day round trip to study the pod of whales. Kalen had asked if Karracca wouldn't mind leading the mission for the most part, and made some story about wanting to focus on his meditations. Karracca, though, knew enough of Kalen's backstory he intuited that it might have something to do with the Purgils and readily accepted.

The first 3 days had gone without incident. The scientists were studying the Purgils at one of their last feeding ground before they began their long journey across intra galactic space; they would move back away from the large pod before they departed on their long journey the next day, and study their departure from a distance. Then a knock suddenly came at Kalen's cabin door as he was reading a Jedi tome. It was a Style Ataru training manual, and was nearly 700 pages long, but it just so happened that 38 of the pages near the end of the large leather bound book were actually written by his grandfather. Zujenia of COU had been kind enough to send him a link to an antique dealer who had a copy for sale and Kalen had received the Tome only days before they left to pick up the scientists.

“Yeah, what's up?”

“Oh, Master Joss, Master Karracca begs your pardon but he would like to know if you would kike to say anything to the Purgils sir.” His protocol droid said through the door.

Kalen was a bit dumbstruck. Say something to them? The monsters that killed almost everyone he knew ...wait a second, he thought it over, and realized the implied statement in what D-3PO said was that they could actually speak to them. Kalen and his people had never been able to actually make contact with the whales, they simply jumped to hyperspace in the wake of the pod and had ridden that the whole way home. He spring out of his bed and headed to the bridge.

After several minutes of explaining his backstory to the scientist operating the translator device, Kalen finally got to what he wanted to ask the Purgils. The scientists thought for a few as to how best to word the question Kalen wanted answered. Kalen looked out the bridges large cockpit window at mid sized, presumably adolescent Purgil that was sitting face to face with the ship.

After typing on the device for a bit the Purgil made a noise in response.

“He says yes, that pod that travels through an area of space is a distant cousin of his. He said they will be meeting them at their mating grounds next winter.” The scientist said.

Kalen thought for a minute “Can you ask him if he heard about a story of 5 ships that hitched a ride with that pod about 8 months ago?”

“Sure.” The scientists typed away for a minute and the Purgil burped another response. “He said, yeah, they heard a story about that. He referred to the ships as ‘wake surfers’. They were all sorry to hear that one of the ships was destroyed sadly…”

“Wait, only 1? What happened to the other 3?” Kalen asked hurriedly, realizing he only saw his mother and fathers vessel actually destroyed. The other 3 dreadnaughts just hadn't arrived with them. This meant Kalen's cousins and roughly 35000 other people might still be alive.

The Purgil replied to the scientists once again “He says he heard that 3 of the wake surfers had fallen off on the way.”

Over the next 30 minutes the adolescent Purgil had gone and brought back his mother, the pod leader and Kalen was able to ask if they could relay a message to their cousins and have them try to rescue the ships that had ‘wiped out’ on their way back.

The scientists smiled when he read the translation “She says you seem like a good lad and she will relay the message. Though her cousins may not appreciate freeloaders trying to hitch a ride, from your story I can tell that you meant no harm. They will return to the place where they dropped you off in about a year and a half, I will ask them to drop off any surviving ships they find there for you.”

Kalen processed his thanks to the large old Purgil and then went back to his cabin, and began crying tears of joy. His people might not all be dead after all.

(Alisa, Northeast outskits)

Kalen Joss, being such a novice at... almost everything in this galaxy, was quite suprised at the recent turn of events. He had made some direct contacts with leadership of House Ventress, a sub-unit of Clan Plagueis that controlled this system and the area around it, he had found out. Furious had even pointed out a great tailor/seamstress that he could use to pick up some clothes to 'look' the part for his meeting with the 'Colonel' the next day.

After buying a few new outfits with the profits from the bounty, he found himself chatting with the seamstress who was finishing taking his measurements. She was being quite handsy as she did so aswell. To be honest Kalen was looking for some company, and didnt mind in the slightest. He had basically been on his own now for 4 months. The humanoid need for bonding kicked in.

'Uh, hey, would you want to maybe get together sometime.' He said to the homely looking but kind brunette who the tailor had introduced as 'his daughter'. She appeared to be in her early 30s, not far off of his own age. And she had made some small talk, and again, the handsyness tipped off Kalen that may be interested.

She rolled up her tape and stood up behind him and whispered. 'I'll meet you at the intersection at the end of the block to the north in 30 minutes.' She heard her father returning from the back room.

'And thats your measurements all done Mr. Kalen. We’ll have that all ready for you tomorrow afternoon' the daughter said sweatly as she handed him a receipt chit.

Kalen took the hint and thanked her and the tailor and exited. It had been a long time since he had been on a 'date'. About 15 years as he recalled. His last romance had been during his early 20s, and he had been courting the engineers redheaded daughter. After that brief fling romance had ceased for him. Through attrition and merit he was required to take on more and more roles. Within the small isolated community of survivors, Kalen had been a 'glue guy' so often he hadn't had time to worry about romance. This was much to the chagrin of his now dead parents. They had thought that he would carry on their 'Adept mating traditions' while in their exile.

Almost exactly 30 minutes later, the tailors daughter, who he would later learn was named Cora came walking up to the corner she had specified along with a male and female companion. As she approached she smiled at him and said 'Mr. Kalen, these are my friends Tras and Klina...Have you ever been to a bush party?' She said as she grabbed him by the hand and made to walk off behind her friends. Tras was carrying a mandolin looking instrument, and Klina had a wicker basket with her. Kalen felt a flutter in core, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.

((An hour later))

It was getting near dusk and the 4some had made the campfire near the treeline of an otherwise open meadow. They were about to start cooking their dinner. Kalen had been told, was going to be lightly breaded lizard fresh roasted on the fire with sticks and then wrapped with a large flat local leaf, and eaten with a dipping sauce. Kalen had been to campfires a few times before, infact one of his dates with the Engineers daughter had been a romantic campfire he had planned, those many years ago.

Cora said 'So Kalen, what was the major score you made that had big Furious dropping you off at my Dads store?' She said cheekily. Her Dad was not cheap, and usually catered to established members of 'the Brotherhood', being known for excellent alteration work to formal uniforms.

Kalen was sitting on a log around the campfire. It was obvious that her and her group of friends used this site before. Logs had been felled for benches and the firepit was surrounded with small boulders.

'Oh, it was nothing really, just turned in a bounty is all.' Kalen said as he stood, noting a dead tree still standing near the edge of the forest about 30 feet away.

Cora licked her lips 'Oh you're a Bounty Hunter then are you. How exciting' she said, almost sarcastically.

Kalen shrugged 'He was a villianous piece of scum, who had performed countless crimes in the region...and unluckily for him I was running low on credits' he allowed himself a short laugh before continuing 'Hey, you guys want to see a trick?' He walked over to the dead tree as they shouted for him to show them the trick.

Feeling somewhat liberated since his run in with Furious, Tahiri and Ruka the day before. Kalen pulled out his lightsaber, and ignited as he approached the tree, and it a flurry of motion and blade slashes, he cut the 35 foot tall tree down into a random pile of 20-30 inches logs, in 3.5 seconds. He smiled as he heard the 3 local civilian cheering and laughing behind his back. He withdrew his blade and turned back to them with a smile.

'Nice work Master Jedi, now why don't you come eat some dinner' Cora again said it in a sarcastic tone, but this time it was an inviting one.

Regardless of how she said it, being referred to as a Master Jedi windened the grin on his face. He walked back to the campfire while using his telekinesis to float the logs he had just cut into a neat pile next to the fire pit.

'Im excited to try to these 'Chewy Dips' you all keep referring to.

'They're sooo good, come on come on I'll show you see...I always like to let my leaf bake for a while on the fire stones before wrapping my Dip.' Cora gleefully said, to which Klina rolled her eyes, obviously having heard this debate before.

(An hour later)

After eating dinner and responding to all the questions his new local friends had after he told them his 'origin story'(3rd generation survivor of a lost squadron of ships, losing his family while returning to this galaxy, etc etc) Tras and Klina had grabbed a blanket from Klinas basket and had  moved off away from the Kalen, Cora and the fire. Kalen had caught Cora's flirtatious glances and said 'So...?'

That's all it took. She nearly tackled him as she lunged at him and began kissing him passionately.

(7 hours later)

Kalen awoke, in Cora's arms partially clothed, using Kalens poncho and large cloak as a blanket. The fire was still smoldering as he gently exhilarated himself from her embrace go and relief himself. He was smiling from ear to ear, and from that moment on, he would rededicate himself to the principles of love, peace and harmony whenever possible.

After returning to her warm embrace under the cloak and sleeping for another hour or so. The 4 of them eventually all awoke, they smothered what was left of the fire, packed up their belongings and began the 30 minute walk back to 'town'. It was infact a fairly large city, but considering it's origins and with nothing else surrounding it, Alisa City center was often just referred as 'town' by locals. It was so cliche, but even Kalen couldn't help but notice that Cora had held his hand then entire trip home.

((OOG- Fun competition, ive recently returned from a vacation at the lake, and campfires always remind menof summer fling. This gave me an opportunity to channel some more summer vibes, only this time in star warsville. And yes, I name dropped that pop MGK summer song title at the end. Thanks, great event))