Brave New Worlds: I am not good at this how did I get here.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan was barely keeping his table manners. He was hungry. Sure, he chewed with his mouth closed, and his bites were only a little too big, but he wasn't waiting to ask for things to be passed around. Instead, he'd take advantage of his long frame and large hands, and aquire his desire himself. He didn't start slowing down until he had cleared two large plates.

Rhianna looked surprised and amused.

"Haven't eaten since yesterday, remember?"

Serena was doing the patience/calm combination that baffled him at times, but right now, there was fooood. That precise reason was why Serena had said "after." She had quickly learned talking to the slicer if he had skipped a meal was a waste of breath.

"You wanted to talk to me about something?" he asked. They hadn't talked much since Laprovik had come on board, except when she was checking on Rhianna.

[Serena Laran]

Serena watched Morgan eat with a look of slight amusement on her face. She'd never seen someone enjoy their food quite as much as he did, and he ate fast, too. Rhianna was still nudging the unfamiliar food around her plate but Serena had barely managed to finish one helping in the time it had taken Morgan to eat two.

"Yes, I do want to talk to you. In the briefing room, before you were excused. What is it you were muttering about?" She raised a red eyebrow, and sipped her water.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan’s face went blank. What a strange question.

“That? I was calculating a hyperspace jump. Something to pass the time. Enough 3d math to fill the head instead of worrying about what I’m going to do next." He explained, while he gave a look at Serena that said she was weird. Why would you want to know that? It was the mental equivelent of twirling a pen across two hands precisely and quickly.

[Serena Laran]

As she'd thought. Very interesting.

"You do know that it is virtually impossible to do a calculation like that in your head. For a normal human, at least. And most aliens." Serena paused, "You do not look to be over half Verpine, so I will have to assume you're at least mostly human."

[Morgan Evanar]

"I did not know that." He said.

"The part where I'm not supposed to be able to do that much math in my head. I don't communicate at radio frequency with a hive mind, so I know I'm not Verpine. They tell the best math jokes."

[Serena Laran]

She smiled, "Well, having a hive mind makes it easier to store the necessary knowledge and to do calculations at an advanced speed. But there is a reason why we use nav computers.

"I don't have it with me, but there is something I'd..."

Her voice trailed off as another conversation started up at a nearby table. Three rebel operatives were having dinner, and poring over a stack of datapads. "It was only a matter of time before the new regime decided to make a stand on the issue."

The woman speaking sounded shocked, "But children? Babies even? I can't imagine the monsters who would destroy them simply for the possibilty that they might one day be able to use the Force."

The third grunted, "Dren happens. We need to figure out how to get our hands on their testing equipment though."

Serena blinked, and refocused on Morgan for a moment before turning towards the trio of Rebels. "Excuse me, are you saying that the Empire has a method of testing for Force ability and they are using it to... against children?"

The last speaker nodded, "Yes indeed, Madam Jedi. That's exactly what we're sayin'. We don't have the resources to possibly save all the children that may be affected by this new purge - it seems the Empire is determined to erradicate the universe of the possibility of all future Force users."

The woman broke in, "As Danell said, we are trying to get our hands on their testing equipment, and perhaps save some of the children before the Empire can find them. But its a huge job, and we don't even know where they're doing the tests."

Morgan snaked some food off of Rhianna's plate while the girl was trying to follow Serena's conversation. The Jedi Knight frowned, Morgan forgotten for a moment. "I have Jedi testing equipment on my ship, Serenity. If there is any way I can be of help..."

[Rhianna]

"I saw that.."

Rhianna swiveled in her seat and smirked at Morgan who was at present scarfing down.. she had no idea what. These people ate the most unusual food. She was used to everything being fresh from the forest, roasted in a pit or turned over an open flame. She'd have to cook for Morgan sometime, he clearly didn't know what real food was.

She couldn't follow the conversation, it was just too fast for her and she was just too tired. Yawning she rose from her seat and shoved her mostly untouched plate towards Morgan. "Eat. I just can't.."

"Forgive me, Sámh. I have to go find a bed. I just can't seem to stay awake anymore. She gave her most trusted friend a hug around the shoulders from behind along with her apology. I'll see youu both in the morning."

She waved and was off to find a bed.

[Morgan Evanar]

He waived goodbye to Rhianna, waited until she was gone, and the assaulted her plate.
“It might give you an idea of what to look for, at least.” He said, with only crumbs left behind.

Morgan shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Nah, that’s not a bad idea. We have some stuff to sort through first. You’re going to be around for a little while, right Madam Jedi?” Danell asked.

“Yes.” Serena said. Everyone at the table looked a little more hopeful.

“You may have just given us a start.” The women said, her eyes lighting up.

Serena returned to the table.

“You were saying something?” He said.

[Serena Laran]

"Yes, I was. It actually had to do with that testing equipment I mentioned." She smiled, almost mysteriously.

"I should make sure that it still works after all these years. Do you mind helping me - ? It is a blood test, simple only if you know what to look for." She was placing all the empty plates onto one tray as she spoke. "I need a sample to compare my results against."

[Morgan Evanar]

"Sure." Morgan didn't see any harm in it.

He followed Serena back into Serenity. The Jedi told him to wait in the small mess area. After a few minutes she came back with a sturdy unmarked metal case.

"I'm going to draw blood." She said. Morgan shook his head.

"I'd better do it. No one ever jabs me hard enough." Serena looked a little confused, but allowed him to take the syringe. He looked at it, dissapointed. It was one of the microcluster designs that collected blood from an area just below the skin, with minimum pain.

"I'm going to need a proper needle, like for a Gammorean or a Wookie."

"Why?" She asked.

"I dunno. Those never work." Morgan explained, finding a metal-needle equiped syringe.

"This sterile?" He said, dipping it briefly into alchohol.

"It should..." Morgan jabbed himself in the forearm with surprising violence, and little to no reaction. There was a quiet whirr while a small motor drew blood until the vial was full. "...be." She shot him a look that what he did was very foolish. Morgan became impulsive and sometimes impatient when he was bored, she noticed.

[Serena Laran]

Her lips tightened, but she accepted the vial back, placing it in the case on the soft foam padding that lined the lid. "Now for mine..." Serena pressed her index finger onto the collecting pad. A minimal amount of blood was drawn.

"Only a small amount is needed for the test - the system is relatively advanced. Or was considered so, twenty years ago." She picked up a flat oval shaped device with a liquid plasma readout screen and touched the collecting pad to a matching area on one end of the gadget. After a moment the screen registered a number - 12,117.

Morgan looked at her questioningly. "These numbers represent something microscopic in my blood. They used to be called midichlorians by the Jedi temple. The higher the count, the more powerful the Force user."

"Do all beings have these... things in their blood?"

"Yes. Somehow they attune us to the Force: the energy that is in and around everything in the galaxy. There were many theories about midichlorians, but the only thing known for certain is that there is a direct correlation between a high count and Force sensitivity." She cleared the screen and reset the device for Morgan's sample.

"Children were chosen to be trained as Jedi only if they had a count of seven thousand or higher. Your average human would most likely have a count much lower than that - in the nine hundred to one thousand range.

"Yours should be right around that - " Serena placed a drop of Morgan's blood on the receptical and activated the scanning device.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan stared at the device as the numbers took a moment to count up.

He stared at the result without saying anything for a minute.

"I think it's broken, because that's waaaay over a thousand. It's got an extra one in front of it." The display read 13,029.

[Serena Laran]

Serena looked at the numbers calmly. Then she looked at Morgan, who looked at her, and then back to the scanner. "Hmm."

She cleared the screen, and repeated the test, just to be sure.

13,029

Morgan was looking at her with vague suspicion. She placed the device on the table, and folded her hands in front of her. "Morgan, have you been unusually lucky before? Have things happened around you that you cannot explain? Perhaps when you are upset or angry?"

[Morgan Evanar]

"I've been unusually unlucky lately. But somehow I'm not dead yet." Morgan said with unshakeable certainty.

"Aside from the fact that I've grown back a finger and my feet are shaped funny, no." He did not mention that he could deadlift 200 kilos. While Morgan was in obviously good shape, he didn't look nearly bulky enough to accomplish such a feat. He also weighed an extra 25 kilos over what he looked like he should.

"I don't think that has anything to do with midichlorians." he added. "Just that, physically, I'm a freak. So you know."

[Serena Laran]

She raised her eyebrows, "You have grown back a finger? Fascinating. But I would agree, that does not seem to have to do with the Force."

Serena set about cleaing up and repacking the kit. "Still, your count is high enough to make your Force potential greater than my own, and I have yet to reach the fullest extent of my abilities." She looked at him, "What do you think about that?"

[Morgan Evanar]

"Har har har." He said. Serena was serious.

"I dunno. I was pushed off a building once. On Nar Shadda. I think." Morgan's voice was full of doubt. To this day, he still had no idea what really happened, only that he woke up somewhere else.

"You're serious aren't you." He felt terribly uncertain of his role in the universe now.

[Serena Laran]

"Very serious, Morgan." The kit clicked shut, and she returned her full attention to the young man across from her. "You have some decisions to make now.

"Such as, do you want to pursue Jedi training... or not?" She had no intention of allowing him to leave, not knowing what she did. He seemed to have a pure heart, but if he fell to the dark side at a later date it would be unacceptable. "I am already training Rhianna to use the Force, and I can do the same for you. If you wish it."

[Morgan Evanar]

He slumped onto the table. His chin rested against the smooth surface and he stared at the now-closed case on the table.

"Can I think about it?" he said, and straightened up before settling his cheek against his knuckles.

'I'm worried that this would get frelled up too. Not much has gone right in the past six months."

[Serena Laran]

Serena nodded, "Of course, take the time you need. But consider this: what you considered to be misfortune may have simply been the path to bring you to this moment."

She smiled gently, sensing his doubt. "I need to take this kit to Danell as soon as possible. Walk with me?"

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan followed Serena. He thought about what she said for a moment before forumlating a reply:

"I think that the universe is a sonofahutt."