Yup. A forest full of plants. No animals. No turbolifts.

If this is some sort of trap, it's a well-arranged one. She can't sense any Sith. She reaches out with her senses. Any other sorts of living beings...?

Not really nearby. There's one a ways that way.

That's probably her best chance for answers. She heads off thataways.

Little yellow haired guy with wings, up a tree picking fruit.

She stands near the base of the tree, and waits to be noticed.

He spots her. "Why hello! What's your name?"

"I am Darth Occlus. What is the planet?"

"This isn't a planet. Want a drupe?" He holds up a plump fruit.

"If it is not a planet, what is it?" She ignores the fruit.

He tosses it to her in a friendly sort of motion. "Well, this is a forest. I'm Yellow. What's your real name?"

She holds up a hand, and the fruit is arrested in midair. She squeezes, and it bursts, messily. None of the flying pulp lands on her.

"It is unwise to antagonize me. Answer the question."

"Wow, touchy." He starts to fly away.

She swats him down.

"I'm not finished with you."

He squeaks in alarm and tries to take off again.

She rolls her eyes and presses down on his mind with the Force.

"You don't want to run away. You want to answer my questions."

He goes a bit crosseyed. "What were your questions?"

"Why did you say this was not a planet?"

"Because it isn't."

"What is it instead, then?"

"It's bigger. It goes forever."

"You want to answer me truthfully. Are you lying?"

"No."

Hmm.

"Why did you ask for my 'real' name?"

"I wanted to catch you for a vassal."

"What does that mean?"

"It'd mean you'd have to do what I told you."

"What are you?"

"I'm a shore pixie."

"How would having my name make me your vassal? Is that a general property of your species?"

"Yes."

"I am not a shore pixie. Why does this affect me?"

"Because I am."

"Is it possible for you to become a vassal of someone?"

"Yes."

"How many vassals do you have?"

"One."

"You want to show me where they are."

He takes off again.

She follows.

He leads her to a little house at the edge of a lake. "She's in there."

"How extensive is your control over a vassal?"

"She has to do what I say and not do what I say not to, but if her other masters were here they could do the same thing."

"Is she currently under any orders?"

"Yes."

"You want to tell me what they are."

"I don't remember them all," he says sadly. "And she probably has leftovers from her last master."

"You want to walk in with me and lift any orders that would prevent her from speaking to me."

Inside.

Inside! The leaf-winged girl in there is surprised by Occlus's general demeanor more than by her presence.

"She can talk to you," Yellow tells Occlus.

"You want to stand quietly facing the wall," she tells Yellow.

"Do you take vassals as well?" she asks the girl.

Yellow does that.

"...I had to feed a mortal once," Promise says, "she was here too long and would have starved..."

"Is she still here?"

"She's probably dead by now."

She gestures at the back of Yellow's head. "You want to release her from all the orders she is under."

"I rescind all your orders!" agrees Yellow.

"...what did you do to him," asks Promise.

"It is called a mind trick. He is unusually susceptible."

"What is a - mind trick -" She goes into a room wallpapered with pretty drawings of plants, starts stuffing fruit from a bowl into a bag.

"It is the name of the technique by which a weak-minded person's perception of the world is supplanted by one's own."

Shiver.

"He tried to vassalize me first. I considered that sufficient provocation. Do you know of a way by which I can return to the world I came from?"

"Yeah."

"What is it?"

"A sorcery gate can send you back to the mortal world."

"Where can I find one?"

"I don't know where there are any being monitored by someone who can open them. I... can make you one..."

"What payment would you ask for this task?"

"If you don't like my answer are you going to mind trick me?"

"Not unless you are going to try to vassalize me."

"I'm not. Do you have any other weird - tricks - besides the mind trick?"

"Yes. Telekinetics, energy manipulation, various physical and mental enhancements or impairments."

"Okay. I want you to - bodyguard me while I go visit my tree and collect a branch from it, in case my old master or one of his vassals is there. Then I'll make you a gate. It may take up to a week to settle and I don't know how fast you travel so it will take a while to get to the tree."

"How far is your tree?"

"It'll take me most of a day to fly there at my top sustainable speed."

"Which is how fast?"

"About fifty miles an hour with faster bursts through anywhere that seems dangerous."

"I can sustain approximately half that speed, with a rest partway through. If the gate settled instantly, I could retrieve a vehicle that would allow us to cover the distance much more quickly."

"Gates sometimes settle instantly but it could be any amount of time between that and a week."

"If it doesn't settle instantly, can you undo it?"

"No, once I start it it'll settle and then I have to be there to close it."

"Let's not waste any time, then."

She picks up her bag of fruit and heads out of Yellow's house.

"Hey - wait -" says Yellow.

- Promise stops in her tracks.

"You want to rescind that order."

"I can induce him to forget us or to give you his name, or I could kill him. Do you have a preference which?"

"I rescind that order!" says Yellow.

"You can't kill him. Can you make him forget just my name -" murmurs Promise.

"I could make a very good attempt." Darkness swirls around her fist as she raises it at Yellow, snaking out to wrap around his head. "You do not know her name."

Yellow wibbles.

"Done."

"Thank you."

She lifts off. "This way."

Occlus wraps the Force around herself, and prepares to follow.

The terrain is not optimized for a hike. Promise goes half-speed, but she's flying, and there are hills and ground cover and the like.

Occlus keeps pace regardless of the shape of the terrain. Short stretches of brambles she simply takes a flying leap over. For larger ones, she sends her lightsaber scything through ahead of her to clear a path.

Well that's kind of intimidating.

Good thing this Sith is on her side.

After six hours, Occlus calls a halt.

Promise perches in a nonsabered tree.

"I must meditate to recover my strength. It would be helpful if you could keep watch."

"For how long?"

"Somewhat less than an hour."

"Okay."

Occlus lowers herself to the ground and sits cross-legged. She closes her eyes and begins breathing slowly and evenly.

Promise rests her wings and watches. Nobody comes by.

Somewhat less than an hour later, she stands back up.

"I am ready to continue."

Off they go.

Running, jumping, high-speed brush clearing with lightsaber.

After another eight hours, Occlus stops again. "How likely is it that we will face resistance at the tree?"

"Not very, Thorn won't be expecting me and didn't want me very badly, but it's where he'd have someone wait if he did."

"How much farther?"

"Another few hours at this pace."

"Then after this, we need not stop again." Down she sits.

Resting.

And then more running.

By the time they reach the tree Promise is very tired. There's no one around, so in addition to taking a branch she goes inside and comes out with some books. "Okay, now we go that way till you need to rest again and I make you a gate."

"I can impart some energy to you, if you require it."

"It wouldn't hurt, I usually sleep more often than this."

"Stand still." She sketches a rune in the air with her fingertips, leaving a glowing trail. She concentrates and the rune glows brighter, then condenses and rushes at Promise's forehead. She'll feel more alert, and her muscles less sore.

"Thanks."

Thataway.

It's another couple hours before Occlus stops.

Promise finds a spot for a gate. "I need a geographical description of where you want to go. More mountains and rivers than trees and rocks, more trees and rocks than people and buildings."

"Inconveniently, the place I want to go is a city."

"What's it like under or near the city?"

"It's been there for millennia. Most of the buildings are at least several centuries old. But it's in the highlands, backed into a mountain range. There are two rivers, dividing it almost into even thirds, one pools into a lake at the southwestern edge."

"I can work with that."

And she places a gate and tosses a pebble through - "Instant."

She sticks her head though, and pulls out her commlink. "Lieutenant, I need a pickup at the location of this comm. Level 2, remote piloted." And then she drops it.

"The system of vassalage offends me and I would enjoy tearing it down very much. Are you willing to help?"

"Uh. How are you going to do that?"

"It seems like the sort of system that would lend itself to concentrated communities being built up. I would find them, identify the key players, and compel them to stop or separate them."

"The word you're looking for is 'court'. If you separate them the separated parties are liable to fall into or form new courts."

"Then I'll kill them."

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"We're immortal."

"I don't want to interact with the vassalage system, but if it is otherwise unassailable, I will."

"Maybe with your weird powers you could get the Queen."

"Who is the Queen?"

"She's a one-of-a-kind fairy whose kind magic is to know every other fairy's name."

"Useful. But she must be extraordinarily well-guarded."

"Yes, but not against your thing. Fairies can't do that."

"The mind trick works better on the simple. You, I think, would be resistant to it."

"Oh."

"Can you tell me how vassalization works, exactly?"

"Given a pair of people at least one of whom is a fairy, vassalizations may occur in either or both directions. There are two ways, names and food. Food has a fuzzy system of 'claim' on it, having to do with who planted, grew, harvested, prepared, or, most importantly, is holding the food, plus what world it's from. If you eat food with claim on it, fairy food for mortals and mortal food or certain strongly claimed fairy food for fairies, then if it's a strong claim you will, and if it's a weak claim you might, become vassal to people with claim on it. If you ate a haw from my tree that would be a strong claim from me, if you ate any random fairy food directly out of my hand that would be too, if you just picked and ate a plant I'd never interacted with I probably couldn't use that but another fairy maybe could. Similar the other way around except I think mortals never have anything like my tree is for me. Food from someone who is already your vassal is safe, so food vassalization is never two-way. Impure water and inhaled stuff can theoretically also do it.

"For names if a mortal or a fairy know all of a fairy's real name, or if a fairy knows at least one syllable of a mortal's real name, that creates a vassalization too. Fairies are very good at remembering names compared to mortals and can tell if a given name is real or not on inspection."

"If I planted a tree in Fairyland, could I assert a claim on any fairy who ate fruit therefrom, even if I did not see them eat it?"

"Yes but it might wear off if you didn't issue them any orders."

"Does it have to be ingested? Would injections of juice work?"

"That works."

"A team of commandos, with modified dart guns and hermetic armor. I'd need to secure appropriate ammunition, and craft an order set..."

"They have to be robust against sorcery and kind magics, not just forcefeeding."

"What is the range of capabilities of those?"

"Substantial. I could turn you into a frog, or freeze you, or heal myself if you hit me with that glowy thing. The Queen will have better sorcerers than me. There are kinds who can't be forced to let go of things they have hold of, or whose claws can cut anything, or who teleport short distances."

"How does one counter sorcery in your world?"

"We need to know what we're doing and where we're doing it; if you interfered a lot with a sorcerer's senses they would have a harder time casting."

"Smoke grenades and flashbangs. Active camouflage. Perhaps certain rituals; that bears testing. They would require preparation but may yield best results."

"I really can't list all the things she might have set up. I've never been there."

"Then we practice on a smaller court first."

"I guess you can try it."

"Your assistance would be useful."

"What is it you want me to do?"

"More gates. Local intelligence and strategic consultation."

"I can do that."

"Good. The speeder will be here soon. Which side do you prefer to stay on?"

"This one. I want to close this gate and go plant my new tree but I can open a new gate near this place for you from there."

"When should I look for it?"

"It'll definitely be settled in a week and a half. Might be sooner."

The speeder appears and hovers a little ways off. Occlus bends down to pick up the comm.

"Take this. If the gate settles and I am not here, press the button on the side to contact me."

"...Okay." She takes it and tucks it in her bag with the books.

"Until then."

Occlus gets in the speeder and flies off.

Three days later, the comm button is pushed.

And shortly after that, Occlus returns to the spot.

"Hi."

"Hello. How involved do you prefer to be in this campaign?"

"Depends on whether you assail courts that have my name and how good your extraction protocol is."

"I am willing to listen to your advice on both matters."

"My first master will still remember my name but also runs an unusually unpleasant court with a high concentration of sorcerers, either or both of which might be motivating."

"Perhaps once I have a sense of what works as a counter."

"Then there are other courts you could try, although I don't have good intel on any of them in particular."

"If they are small enough, that shouldn't matter."

"Then you'll want a mixed court, not a breeder court, breeder courts get big."

"'Breeder'?"

"Most fairies don't have children. Some kinds do."

"The ones that don't just- appear?"

"Yes, we do."

"Odd. The long-range plan will need to account for both methods of generation, but I do not think that is immediately relevant."

"It's not directly relevant, but mixed courts will typically be dozens or fewer and breeder courts easily hundreds."

"That size difference should be obvious enough from outside."

"How do you mean?"

"In determining where to attack first. We need not establish whether one is mixed or breeder."

"I mean how are you planning to tell. Some courts might have a lot of population kept inside, or in close quarters."

"We have technological ways of detecting lifesigns, even through walls. And if those should fail for some reason of arcane biology, fairies are still sensible by me."

"Okay. I will be more useful to you if I know things like that."

"And now that your willingness to assist is established, I am ready to share such knowledge. In what format do you prefer I convey such background information?"

"I'm happy to read it if that's what you mean, if that would be more convenient."

She offers a datapad. "I have here a summary of my forces available and their armaments. If the level of technological development I observed during my time there was typical, you may require some clarification on the usage and limitations of certain items. Regrettably I have not prepared a document to answer such questions, but I will answer them as you raise them."

"Okay... how do I operate this."

"The small button on top turns the screen off and on. The arrow buttons at the bottom scroll the display."

"Okay." Read read.

CONTENTS: Retrieval Teams Aurek, Besh, Cresh

AUREK
Members: [REDACTED]
Specialty: High-profile assault
Standard Personal Equipment: Heavy blaster (BA-6300), grenades (cryo, sonic, high explosive) and launcher (CZ-54), heavy pistol (BA-6040), heavy power armor (CEC-220), other requisitions at squadmember discretion

BESH
Members: [REDACTED]
Specialty: Covert assault
Standard Personal Equipment: Heavy blaster (BA-5500), grenades (cryo, sonic) and launcher (CZ-54), light pistol (BA-5350), power armor (camo) (CEC-170), other requisitions at squadmember discretion

CRESH
Members: [REDACTED]
Specialty: Infiltration/Sabotage
Standard Personal Equipment: Light pistol (BA-5350), tactical knife (BA-25), other requisitions at squadmember discretion

HEAVY EQUIPMENT
Stealth fighter - 8 (FE-2300)
Light carrier - 1 (KY-1650)
Assault dropship - 3 (KY-3210)
Recon speeder - 4 (HWT-15)
Assault speeder - 4 (HWT-28)
Droid tank - 16 (DRS-77)

"Almost none of this means anything to me whatsoever."

"I have three teams of military personnel, each specialized for a different level of combat. The first is Aurek, for open combat. Their equipment is hardest-hitting and least subtle. Second is Besh, for when the approach must be made more stealthily but there will still be resistance at the target. Third is Cresh, which specializes in operations that are more along the lines of assassinations."

"Well, you can't assassinate fairies, but you can incapacitate them, I guess."

"How extensively do the various types of fairy differ? Will we need multiple methods of incapacitation?"

"We vary a lot. We have all about the same body plan but we have different magic and senses and sizes and there might be some that can take a hit from your glowy thing or something."

"There are very few substances in this galaxy which a lightsaber cannot cut. But there is less definite information than I would like to have before sending Cresh in to a situation."

"Galaxy?"

"We are currently standing on a planet, which is an approximately spherical mass of dirt and miscellaneous metals with a diameter of around twelve thousand five hundred kilometers. A star is a mass of burning plasma between three hundred thousand and two million times larger than this planet. A galaxy is collection of a hundred billion or so such stars."

"Oh. I sort of knew what a planet was."

"I wanted to try to avoid leaving inferential gaps."

"Yeah it was only sort of."

"Can you give me a demonstration of some of sorcery's capabilities?"

"I assume you don't want to be a sparrow."

"Not permanently."

"If you want to be one temporarily I can turn you back after."

"Better to establish whether I can do anything while a sparrow now than later."

"How long should I leave it?"

"Not longer than five minutes."

"Okay. We'll have to be in Fairyland, sorcery only works there."

Step. Sparrow.

Hop hop headtilt-

She can still feel the Force. Rituals are beyond her, no gestural capacity, but she can still be the fastest jumping sparrow Promise has ever seen- ah, flight instincts. Good. And lightning...? Zzzap. Good.

"...wow." Promise turns her back.

"Slightly inconvenient, but not altogether debilitating. Could another sorcerer undo it?"

"A really good one could, but it would take longer."

"Still to be avoided if possible, then."

Nod. "They'd need at least a good look at you. I need minutes, but I've had that, and now I can cast on you."

"The time required is a function of expertise?"

"The familiarity required, and the time required to establish that familiarity, is."

"What are the mechanics at work?"

"What do you mean?"

"You say familiarity, familiarity with what? Are you manipulating something about me or something else?"

"You and wherever you are; I could have done with less familiarity with you if we were somewhere I knew well."

"What is it about the area that matters?"

"Location and nature of matter, temperature, light passage, humidity, that sort of thing - and also harmonics, which are a purely magical property that has to be learned about by the use of sorcery in the first place. Good sorcerers can cast on observation alone, but knowing the harmonics is better."

"Are there ways to disrupt harmonics?"

"Not directly, but a lot of things affect them indirectly."

"The same sorts things that a sorcerer needs to pay attention to about an area?"

"Those, especially living things and things that have been there a long time, and especially magical things."

"Hmm. Is there a way to make these harmonics visible?"

"Not exactly, but if I lay a grid of fairylights I can look at them and see how they've been affected and get a map of them like that."

"Is that easy enough that you could make one here?"

"Sorcery isn't supposed to work at all in the mortal world."

"If it's an easy test, it is worth trying."

"Okay -"

She makes a light in front of her. It flares bright. She is surprised.

She makes a grid of them. They are brilliant and uniform except where there are swirls and shapes around Occlus, rippling slowly through the grid.

Ha.

Just to be sure, she projects a wave of force across a swathe of lights.

They wobble.

"What are you doing -?"

"Active use of the Force disrupts harmonics."

"Interesting."

"So with that information plus some technological measures, it should be possible to keep enemy sorcerers off-balance long enough to neutralize them."

"You'd confuse them, but like I said good sorcerers can cast on observation alone."

"That's what the technology is for. Portable holoprojectors, realistic three dimensional images. What they observe won't necessarily correlate with reality. Other environmental variables should prove tractable enough."

"That might work if you can change the conditions fast enough in ways they won't figure out are illusions in time."

"I have confidence in my engineers."

"Okay."

"Are you able to effectively scout for smaller courts?"

"I should be able to approach most of them without being attacked if I don't look vulnerable."

"Is there a way I can assist in that?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Mortals are appealing targets."

"I may have another way to help with that, but it would require some preparation."

"Hm?"

"Droids. Semi-sentient autonomous robots. I do not normally use them."

"I don't know what those look like but if they look unfamiliar they might be appealing targets too, and I don't know if they can be vassalized."

"Metallic, often humanoid but not always. They cannot eat and do not have names, only serial numbers."

"I'm not sure numbers wouldn't count."

"I do not currently have any units available I could have sent to this location without drawing more attention than I wish. Given a day or so I can arrange to have one to test with here."

Nod.

"Would it be convenient to resume this discussion tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Then I will return."

"See you."

The next day, Occlus comes back with a metal body in the seat next to her.

"Hello."

"Hello." She gets out carrying a small boxy contraption with hidden wheels on the bottom and an antenna at either end on top. She sets it in the ground and it races a circle around her feet. The metal person clambers out and stands just behind Occlus.

"Droids vary in their level of intelligence. A protocol model such as this," indicating the standing one, "is on the higher end. A mouse droid is on the lower. I thought it prudent to bring an example of both, in case that is a relevant factor."

"Okay. What are the exact parameters of experiment you had in mind?"

"I have already programmed them to ignore instructions from people other than myself. First, we should confirm that you are subject to that restriction."

"Okay - what instructions can they normally carry out -"

"Mouse droids are typically couriers. Protocol droids are used to facilitate linguistic and cultural intercourse. Both are fully capable of interpreting and responding to natural language instructions."

"Wave your arm," Promise tells the protocol droid.

It does no such thing.

"Roll towards me," she tells the little one.

Still circles.

"Okay, so at least without their names I can't order them."

Occlus nods.

"The small one's serial number is MSE-76HI."

"...name doesn't click. I can try it anyway. Roll towards me."

No response.

"Okay, and the other one?"

"State your serial number."

"This unit is OT-555," it says in a mechanical monotone.

"Also doesn't click. Wave your arm," she tells the droid.

The droid's arm fails to move.

"Interesting. That was not its original designation, but as far as its programming is concerned, it might as well be."

"What was the original?"

"MP-812."

"That one clicks -" She repeats the order.

Here is a wavy droid.

"Hm."

"Hm?"

"I was not sure if that would work. That it does is new information. I'll have to run some diagnostics." She glances at the still-waving droid and frowns slightly. "Stop that, and enter stand-by." It puts its arm down and the light in its eyes dims. Occlus nods.

"It - sort of suggests some droids cross a threshold and are people."

"Possibly. Though if that were the case, I would expect them to possess some sort of Force signature despite their mechanical nature."

"Why?"

"All living things affect the Force to some degree, beings capable of thought and emotion most of all. The difference between a person and a tree is great enough that I suspect the cognition plays some significant role there; if a droid had the same sort of subjective personal experience you and I do, that should affect the Force in the area around it."

"I guess the Force and fairy orders might draw the line in different places. Does my tree seem different than a regular tree?"

"I was not paying very much attention when we visited."

"Fair enough. Well, as far as I know personhood is the thing that fairy orders care about. Although they wouldn't work on my tree either."

"Perhaps it lacks the ability to respond in any relevant way."

"My tree's not a person, can't eat, and doesn't have a name. It's just sort of - attached to me in a way that I was wondering if it made a difference to the Force."

"I can check if you like."

"Doesn't seem important really."