Thalassia: The Cradle of Slavery

[Adenna Alluyen]

"Jedi Alluyen! Calm yourself. Be mindful of what you have done--that is not the way of a Jedi. It's not worth it," Master Starlisk said to Adenna.

 

She looked up at the other Jedi with a glare only slightly less chilling than the one she had fixed upon the dead slaver lord. She felt him probing her and did not stop him. She had nothing to hide. Her soul was dimmed with the destruction around them. Her emotions were dulled to nothing, a response to the great pain and death she had seen and taken part in.

 

"No, Master Starlisk," she said in a quiet but forceful voice, "justice is precisely the way of the Jedi. Unless, that is, it is now the policy of the Jedi Order to simply allow evil beings with blood all but literally dripping from their hands to walk away untouched so that they may kill and maim and hurt and destroy later." She had seen the reports on the Holonet before they left regarding the hospital disaster. She had heard the whispers from among the CoreSec officers on the way to Thalassia, some of whom had investigated the incident. For the most part, she had not let it get to her, but she didn't forget it.

 

"Yes, I used the Force to kill him, but he is no more dead than if I had run him through with my lightsaber and we both have done that plenty today. He and all of his kind had already been given the opportunity to surrender and denied it. Of all those here, he was most deserving to die and so I killed him. He had a weapon in his hand, a hostage, and was a threat, so I ended it here and now in the way that most guaranteed the safety of the hostage, myself, and the two men here with me."

 

Her voiced hardened some, but she remained emotionally deadened. "If that is too direct and forceful for you, Master Starlisk, then might I suggest that you look around at the Galaxy and see what we are up against. The Sith don't play nicely, criminals don't care about the feelings of others, and the slavers here relished in the suffering they inflict on others. If the Jedi don't start actively confronting and destroying these threats, they will only continue to kill and spread misery. Some beings are too evil, too irredeemable, too vile to spare from justice. I gave this man a quick and completely painless death, it was far more than he gave his victims or would have given to any one of us had our positions been reversed."

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin listened and probed, trying to understand just what was going on. He would have to choose his words carefully. He looked to the Force for guidance, and what was happening became clear to him. It was an advisor, not a weapon.

 

"The ends must not justify the means, Jedi Alluyen," he reminded her. "A Jedi does not use the Force to kill, period. Not even in the name of justice." It was a slippery slope; even one step could send even a good Jedi all the way to the bottom.

 

The Jedi Master held her gaze, his face focused, calm, letting her know that was he completely confident in what he was saying, that he was trying to impart truth upon her. Truth learned through experience and through the Force. "I know all too well what we're up against. I've been fighting my whole life, actively confronting and destroying them as you have said," he continued. He could say that perhaps more than any other Jedi. "But on this you must never compromise--if you continue to use the Force in such ways, you will slip into the dark side, and once there, you will become an agent of evil no better than the ones you now seek to destroy."

 

She was still young. He hoped she had enough respect for a Jedi Master such as himself to take his word on it. Some said that one could not fully understand and resist the dark side until one opened oneself to it, experienced it, and then found a way back. Onderin had never believed that, and he never would. It was difficult to stay true to the light in times such as these... but no one ever said the life of a Jedi would be easy.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna did not buy his argument. "A Jedi uses the Force to kill all the time. You have done it yourself dozens of times this very day. There is no difference between using the Force to guide your lightsaber wielding hand into the chest of an opponent and what I did. It is no different than using the Force to shove a barricade into crushing someone beneath it. It is no different than using the Force to redirect a blaster bolt back into the head of the one who fired it.

 

"I know what the dark side is but I also know that for centuries, the Jedi Order has used their skills through the Force to kill more people than most government run militaries have. Killing is not what makes one evil, it is who is killed, how they are killed, and what the motivation behind killing them is. This man was just as evil as the dozens we have left dead behind us. I killed him without torturing him, without prolonging it, and without enjoying it. And my motivation for killing him was pure: to save the life of a hostage and to prevent him from ever harming anyone again. Had I killed him with a blaster rifle or had cut off his head with my lightsaber, you would be congratulating me for saving the life of the hostage and ending his evil."

 

Her voice dropped an octave as she continued, "If you have been actively confronting and destroying the Sith, why did you allow several of them to just walk away after killing dozens or even hundreds of innocents back on Corellia? Look at what happened because of that, how many more hundreds or thousands were killed because you did not kill them when you had the chance! I will not make that mistake, not with beings as purely evil as this."

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin had not expected her to argue with him. More appropriate would have been a 'yes, Master' or an 'I will be mindful of what you have said, Master'. And yet she stood her ground, determined that what she had done was no different from what Jedi did every day in combat. What he really hadn't expected was for her to bring up what he and Darex had done with Geki--and call it the wrong decision. Onderin was certain to this day that it had been the correct call. The Corellian Jedi focused on the Force, trying to find the right words to say to let her understand that it was not.

 

"Had you defeated him another way, I would indeed congratulate you," he agreed. "The result of what you have done is good, but you are still focusing upon the ends when it is the means that are important. Killing in that way does not lend itself to passivity, but to hate.

 

"On Corellia, Master Trevelian and I made the right choice. Justice is not so blunt that the only solution was death. The solution we found avoided a destructive battle that was sure to claim lives," he explained. "We didn't know about the bomb, but it is morally irrelevant." He punctuated the last words, drawing emphasis to them. "The life of a Jedi is one of conscience, one of discipline."

 

He straightened his posture and finally deactivated his lightsaber. "Meditate on this, and the Force will show you the truth." His voice had a finality to them that did not invite further argument. He turned to one of the CoreSec officers that had hesitantly approached the heated discussion. "Report, please..."

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna was flabbergasted at the Jedi Master's response. He thought he had done the right thing on Corellia? She wouldn't have believed it had she not heard it from his very mouth. To even consider letting such vile evil escape unpunished was galling to her and went against everything she had thought the Jedi Order stood for.

 

He clearly thought the debate was over with, but she was hardly done. After all the bloodshed and horror that had happened today, they had finally defeated the slavers and brought their leader to justice. She was not about to allow this man to diminish that or make it seem as though it had been wrong. Too many had died for her to let him do that.

 

She turned her lightsaber off but kept it in her hand as she stepped forward to interject. "Please wait outside," she told the hapless officer in a voice that matched Master Starlisk's tone of finality. She knew she was breaching decorum and that Master Starlisk was her superior in the Jedi Order, but she did not care at this point. Not after everything that had happened. "I am sure the field commanders have the situation well under hand or they would have contacted us directly."

 

She didn't even wait for him to respond before she started in her response to Starlisk's argument. "How can you say that you did the right thing after what happened today! The 'solution' you came up with may have spared a few dozen lives there had things not gone different, but how many hundreds or thousands did you condemn to die by the hands of those Sith in the future? Even if your decision hadn't resulted in the explosions, you willingly allowed a mass murderer who has been known to kill millions just walk away and continue his carnage!"

 

She had come out of her deadened slump and was growing passionate once more. Her tone was growing more forceful and heated with each sentence. "We fought the slavers here knowing there would be deaths. We knew they had hostages and many of the innocents in this building and around died because we choose to take a stand. We did it not because we didn't care about the lives of the innocents who would die because of the battle, we did it to end this evil and save the lives of all their future victims. How can you do what you did here while continuing to defend doing exactly the opposite on Corellia? How can you be angry at me for killing this scum when I could have spared him only to have him detonate a bomb of his own or unleash some other horror that killed thousands!"

[Tobias Vos]

Tobias still felt some flex in emotions from off in the distance. Coming from some Force Users. He couldn't pay attention to that now. Making himself busy by helping medics he went about his business. Sooba followed in his shadow.

 

A couple people watched intently at the duo. They were interesting indeed. Their eyes were of no concern to him, he moved and shuffled gurneys around for awhile. If Adenna and that Jedi Master did not return soon, he would search them out.

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin forced himself to remain calm when Alluyen continued to persist in arguing with him, despite the fact that he had made it clear that the discussion was over. This conversation had turned deeply troubling, revealing what were perhaps even irreconcilable differences in how Onderin and Alluyen approached the responsibility of being a Jedi. It was disappointing to the Jedi Master that such differences could exist in what should be a unified Order, particularly after the solitude and meditation sponsored by Master Fitt for the very purpose of bringing them closer to what it meant to be a Jedi.

 

As troubling as the discussion was, there was something in the back of Onderin's mind that found it fascinating what stance he was taking. It wasn't the one that he would have taken a few years ago. The Force had been teaching him since he'd retired. Teaching him, unfortunately, that Alluyen's stance was wrong.

 

All he could do was try and bring her back. Unfortunately, it appeared that she lacked the proper respect and control of her emotions for any argument to be successful. He would try perhaps only one more time.

 

"You are straying from the point of this discussion, Jedi Alluyen," he said. "Many situations have more than one solution. Letting Geki go--which by no means guarantees that he will murder again--was what Master Trevelian and I believed to be the best choice at the time. Doing this, here, is exactly the kind of thing I've been doing since you were born. Both can be correct in the Force.

 

"But that isn't the point. You killed a man with the Force alone. This is not some discussion about whether he needed to die. The Force is personal. It obeys your commands, but when you open yourself to it, it influences you in the same way," he continued, his voice calm. "You must understand this. Surely you have noticed how the light side can calm you. What you did was wrong, not because of the ethics surrounding taking the life of that man, debatable as they are, but because of how you did it.

 

"We're Jedi. The how matters just as much as the why."

[Adenna Alluyen]

Many thoughts ran through Adenna's head after Master Starlisk replied. She considered saying something, of speaking her mind, but she didn't. The man felt it was perfectly acceptable to slice people in half with a lightsaber held by a hand guided by the Force, but that it was wrong to painlessly kill a man with a mind guided by that same Force. He was not going to be persuaded by her any more than she would be persuaded by him.

 

Too much had happened in the last few hours for her to see the path before her any longer. She needed time to sort it out and decide what to do. Right now, she needed to find Vos.

 

She calmed her voice and gave a slight bow to Master Starlisk, "You are the Jedi Master, I must give way to your wisdom."

 

She put her lightsaber back on her belt and walked past him to leave the office and head downstairs. She cast out her senses and sought where her ersatz half Sith Padawan was and found him outside of the building. As she walked through the ruined tenth floor and saw the carnage and destruction seemingly for the first time, she almost became shocked by it. When they were fighting their way through here, she had not had time to stop and consider what was going on. Now, she could see what truly happened and what she had been part of and a part of her was sickened. Each of these slavers deserved their fate, but it was surprising that she herself had managed to contribute to this.

 

The trip down the stairs was not as bad since little fighting had happened there. Occasionally, she had to give way to various CoreSec personnel moving up and down, but beyond that, she was left alone. There was plenty of destruction on the bottom floor and the areas around the building itself. Wounded were being gathered into makeshift medical wards while medics and a few doctors tried to help. She found Vos there trying to look busy, but not doing much.

 

She waved off a medic wanting to look at her head and headed straight for him. "What happened?" she asked in as calm a voice as she could muster.

[Tobias Vos]

Vos looked up with his swollen eye to see Adenna. She was not the same as before. She had some sort of taint about her. Quickly he stood up, sooba off to the side. Tobias addressed her question, with a depression tone about it he replied.

 

"Right off the bay we were thrown into combat. Sandy got off the ship before I did and quickly absorbed laser blasts. We heard something about tanks over the radio and before we knew it: one was upon us." he took a breath. "I yelled at Sandy to run. We did, the shuttle we rode in on was destroyed in the first salvo. The blast flung Sandy into a nearby building, through a window. I made it to the next alleyway to see her missing. I retraced my steps and found where she landed. A lone slaver stood to block my path. I tried to talk him down. But he fell by my blade. I tracked the Sandy to an underwater bay, the ship left moments before I came upon the bay. The ship is named The Golden Ark. Then I made my way to here." He took another breath and listened for her response.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna focused on the man in front of her with piercing eyes that flickered left and right as though she were rapidly reading something. "What are you not telling me?" she asked. It was a simple question, but its answer was critical.

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin frowned when Alluyen caved, accepted his word, and left. It had been the response he'd been waiting for, but now that it had come, he could tell through the Force that she wasn't very happy about it. She hadn't really decided yet whether what he had said was true, or whether she was going to hold on to her old path. The Jedi Master trusted in the Force, hoping that she made the right decision to respect what he was telling her instead of continuing as she was down a path that he believed would lead to the dark side. The galaxy didn't need another villain.

 

Regardless, his part in her decision was over, his argument presented. What happened from here was between her and the Force. He sincerely hoped that she would meditate on the question before she made her choice. The whole proceeding still somewhat troubled him, and it made him wonder who Alluyen's master had been, that he or she would not instill in her proper Jedi judgment. It made him want to train another apprentice himself.

 

At any rate, his part in this mission was over. He wasn't technically on as one of the group's commanders, so he wasn't required for the clean-up. No, it was time to fade away... maybe even to go find a new apprentice. The Corellian Jedi retreated from the building and back to his ship, leaving word with one of the commanders that he was leaving in case someone inquired. Soon, he was gone.

[Tobias Vos]

"I got a little angry at him." Tobias replied. "But you had the same issues, I can sense something in you has changed." His eyes narrowed, feeling the Force around him, there was indeed a small trace of the Dark Side.

 

Had Adenna really dipped into the Dark Side? If even for a brief moment?

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna put a single finger up into the air and stopped Vos before he could say any further. She had figured he would ask and had been going over it some in her head on the way down. "No, I most certainly did not have 'the same issues.' Master Starlisk has taken issue with me because I was forced to kill the slaver's leader directly with the Force instead of through some other means guided by the Force. He had a knife to a hostage's throat and possibly a concealed weapon at his back. I reached into his body with the Force and paralyzed him to free the slave before killing him painlessly by breaking his neck. Justice was served, even if I only hastened an assured execution by the people of this planet. He disagreed with my methods because I choose to cut out the intermediary lightsaber or blaster and use a method that was more likely not to allow him to kill the hostage.

 

"You struck out in anger just like a Sith. You killed people, I killed people. The difference is that I did not kill out of anger or hatred, I killed out of justice and necessity to save the innocent. If some Jedi Master who is too timid to stop evil on Corellia decides to quibble about it, then that is his right, but it does not make him correct.

 

"What has changed in me is that I am no longer innocent. When you last knew me, I had never killed before. Now, I have most definitely killed and killed many. I have seen death and destruction and misery I had only read of before. Yes, I have changed, but it is the change all soldiers go through after fighting in battle."

 

She paused and considered Vos some more. When she spoke, she was not angry or upset, but somber, almost solemn. "You have failed entirely. You had two tasks: to protect Sandy and to refrain from the dark side. You completely failed to protect Sandy, but I do not fault you with that. What I do fault you with is giving into your anger when it mattered most that you stood strong. Protecting Sandy involved elements beyond your control. Refraining from anger was entirely something that depended on you.

 

"I trusted you with my Padawan because I knew she was not able to handle what I had to do. You were to simply stay in the rear and watch over her, yet you failed in that. I trusted you to stay true to the light. I let you into my soul and my trust, and you have violated that." Her voice was sad, almost remorseful now. She looked out over the destruction and wounded, but her voice was easily heard.

 

"How can I trust you again, Tobias Vos? You are a Sith who claims to want to learn of the light side and possibly become a Jedi. Yet, when it matters most, you revert to your old ways. You might not have gone completely over to the dark side, but you showed me that you can not function in intense environments without at least some of it."

 

She turned back to look at Vos once more and asked, "Tell me, what would your former Sith masters do with you now, after failing them as you have me?"

[Tobias Vos]

”œI'm not going to stand around and be barraged with insults. I am new to this, do you think that I could handle an ATPT, and a Canderous tank?”

[Adenna Alluyen]

"It was my mistake for believing your tales of defeating Sith Lords in combat and all the harsh training your master put you through," Adenna replied. "I thought that it would be more than enough to allow you to sit on the back lines and watch over Sandy. Your challenge, I believed, would not be in knowing how to fight, but in controlling your darkness. If I could do it again, I would have left you both in orbit or back on Corellia."

 

She let out a deep breath and considered what to do. She couldn't just leave the scene. She might not be in charge of this campaign, but she was the one that started it. She had to at least stay and see what more was needed of her and that these Corellians wouldn't take advantage of the weakened Thalassia. She hoped it wouldn't take more than a few hours to at least make sure there was a Thalassian government left to oversee the recovery here. A few hours wasn't going to make much of a difference anyway, not with the fact they had no idea where to go after the pirates. They had to investigate here first.

 

At last, she said, "I fully intend on rescuing my Padawan and ending the threat her captors pose, but I have matters here to deal with first. Do you know how to pilot a ship? If so, take this datachip and try to find a ship to purchase for us. It has some money, but not very much. I want something large enough to move around in, preferably with separate quarters, but I will survive without that. It doesn't need to fight, we would be outgunned by their corvette anyway. It just needs to get us places without falling apart.

 

"Meet me back here when you are done, hopefully by then I will have finished what I need to do."

 

She left him with the datachip and went to seek out Leife to see what was going on elsewhere. She hoped she didn't run into Starlisk, but she didn't sense him nearby.

[Scubby]

Jazce's return to consciousness was heralded by a wave of pain, groaning the CoreSec agent opened his eyes. His visor flickered dully, damage reports floating around above his eyes. His head felt like it was getting torn apart by a trandoshan's bare hands. Made sense now. His skull was cracked and whilst the suit had started basic medical treatment it was too damaged to be particularly effective. Focusing past the damage reports and scattered information logs he looked around him. Rubble. He was buried alive. Wonderful. Swearing he began systematically checking his body. Completely pinned. The only reason he wasn't dead was due to his armour surviving impact and the rocks of the building not being heavy enough to crush him.

 

He thought back to his last moments of consciousness before, Four standing by a wall shrugging, about to say something when the entire wall exploded in, clearly someone outside the building had seen fit to shoot it with something explosive. The rest of the footage was just rubble and dust raining with changed lifesigns from Jazce and an emergency beacon activated. That was almost half an hour ago. Medical procedures had been begun as well, pain-relief as well as trauma reduction and isolation. Jazce was lucky his suit had acted or it could have been far far worse. Returning to his present situation he began scanning for nearby life-signs. A group was directly above him less than a foot and if records were to judge by they were tunnelling directly towards him. He had only been a meter down at worst scenario anyway.

 

A short while later hands pulled off the last of the rubble laying atop his helmet, brushing away the grit.

 

"Surly I found him! Sir are you alright?"

 

Jazce grimaced under his helmet. Seemed a fairly pointless question to a man found buried under a small building,

 

"Fractured skull, broken left arm, several broken ribs. Legs are all kind of stressed but in one piece as is thankfully my back and right arm. No internal injuries sustained. I'm stuck here pretty good though. can't move."

 

The soldier nodded, waving over some more of the searchers who quickly and carefully cleared Jazce of the rubble.

 

"Sitrep?"

 

He finally asked after being stood up.

 

"Your friend is dead. We found his body first. Spine broken in over a dozen places, shrapnel struck so hard most of his body is torn to shreds. Wider situation is much better. Battle is over and CoreSec is just conducting clean up ops now. Finding casualties, mopping up final resistors and establishing comms with the local authorities. Don't know what the casualty list is but judging by my Company... Big. Commander Kel put out a call for your retrieval and immediate return to HQ by the way."

 

Jazce nodded, thanked the non-com and sent him and his team on their way. There was a lot of clean up to conduct, he was only walking wounded. Didn't need an escort to HQ. Though even as he walked Two and Three appeared to escort him back. It looks like only Four had gotten unlucky today from his team... Their original One as well of course. Making his way to the HQ compound Jazce frowned at what he saw. Two of the Jedi were there (Adenna and Vos) as well as the two main Commanders from the group and a third unknown man wearing local colours. Perhaps a Resistance Leader?

 

Either way Jazce made his way up to Kel and Sairdonga.

 

"Sir, Captain. Whats the situation?"

 

Kel shrugged,

 

"Our one is fairly tightly under control. Biggest thing now is to count casualties and start getting boys back to Corellia. The Jedi however seem to have a bigger issue. One that needs attention. I'll leave that to you since you seem to love Jedi so much Leife. Just so you know two-hundred and twelve Agents are dead or missing. We haven't even taken count of wounded by Priority yet My guess. Another fifty will die before the day is out if we don't get them urgent medical attention upstairs."

 

Jazce winced. Half the Corellian Chapter was gone. In one ugly battle gone. Was the freedom of this peasant planet worth it? He had to hope so. It was the only thing that would keep his head off the chopping block. Turning away from his Chain of Command with a brief nod to Tomas that promised another conversation later he moved to the two Jedi.

 

"Well Jedi Alluyen. There you have it. Your planet is free."

[Tobias Vos]

"Then it was also a mistake to believe that you would hold up your end of the bargin." Tobias threw his hand up in the air, as if he were dismissing her.

 

He claimed the Datachip with the Force and walked off.

 

With every step he took a deep breath to calm himself. The Anooba followed in his path.

[saberforce]

Tros stood and waited for a reply, but his own patience was running thin on a response. After what must have been several minutes pass by, Hallas walked up to him and with his stance demanded to know what the situation was back at the head quarters.

 

"No word from them. They either left themselves or are too busy to talk to us at the moment. Either way, we served our part here. We best leave and return you to Corellia."

 

Hallas thought upon the idea for a moment before he nodded his head. Hallas almost always never spoke much, as the man wasn't one for words. Never really has been in all of Tros' years of knowing him. Even when he was brought into Hallas' family line, he didn't speak unless it was demanded that he did. Tros watched as Hallas put his buy'ce back on and signaled the rest to make their way to the ship. Tros followed suite, as there was nothing left to say at the moment. He would return with his vod to Corellia, and then back to Coruscant to continue on his original mission under the guise as the Corellian Senator. A few short minutes later, the Mandalorian ship was up and in the air and blasted it's way back to Corellia.

[Adenna Alluyen]

"Well Jedi Alluyen. There you have it. Your planet is free," Jazce said.

 

Adenna shook her head, "Not yet, but it is closer than it was this morning. It all depends on what the Corellian government decides to do and whether they start demanding repayments for the losses here, repayments that Thalassia could never make. It also depends on who takes control of the government here.

 

"I do find it odd that the Senator and his Mandalorians are nowhere to be found. I didn't see them during the battle, either and that disturbs me since I was in the thick of it where I would think that hardy warriors like them would like to be."

 

She let out a sigh and shook her head to clear it. They were still along the edge of the temporary medic station with plenty of wounded CoreSec officers and freed slaves in various states lying in agony. "A lot more of your men died than I had thought would and I am sorry for that. I didn't know the slavers had armor, it must have been something the Thalassian government had in reserve that they or their loyalists took."

[Scubby]

Jazce frowned,

 

"Clearly Jedi Alluyen you have the wrong idea. We're CoreSec. Not CorSec. It sounds the same but its different. Core Worlds Security answers to Coruscant and the Senate. Not Corellia. This is the Corellian branch of CoreSec but the government of Corellia has no power here. Only CoreSec. I very much doubt politics will get involved here beyond credit taking and blame laying."

 

Jazce looked to where a shuttle was landing, medics were preparing at least fifty casualties for transportation at this Casualty Collection Point alone. And that was only the worst hurt. He sighed, a touch sadness working its way into his head. Odd. As a Stormtrooper or Assassin he'd never felt emotions like that. It was part of the job. It was all that was the job. These men however were something else entirely.

 

"The loss of life is atrocious and chances are its my head on the block for this operation but some things need to be done. That's why no-one wanted to do it. We're Police. Not an Army. Casualties like this are generally not acceptable. I suspect all the Commanders in this will be under review. It was my call though. My request."

 

He looked back to the Jedi,

 

"As to your Mandalorian friends... I'm not sure. I never went into the Headquarters building. I have no idea where they went as I never saw nor heard report of them outside. The Antarian Rangers might have seen them though. They usually see everything. We can always ask Captain Sairdonga. If they truely weren't in the thick of it anywhere that poses a lot of questions as to what they actually did this whole fight. I saw them earlier on my way in and they did have battle scoring on their Armour."

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna didn't buy the explanation entirely, "While CoreSec may be controlled by Coruscant, that doesn't mean Corellia won't demand Thalassia repay them somehow for the loss of their officers. It also doesn't mean that Corellia won't try to exert their own pressure on my planet. Thalassia isn't part of the Galactic Alliance. While it might choose to join, it should be allowed to do so because its government wishes it, not because the Galactic Alliance demands it. While you may be honorable, I fear too many in this Galaxy are not."

 

"The loss of life is atrocious and chances are its my head on the block for this operation but some things need to be done. That's why no-one wanted to do it. We're Police. Not an Army. Casualties like this are generally not acceptable. I suspect all the Commanders in this will be under review. It was my call though. My request."

 

"Then perhaps the Galactic Alliance shouldn't have been so quick to dismantle its armies and fleets," she replied with a trace of bitter irony in her voice. "Just because they did doesn't mean everyone else did too, as we found out today."

 

She didn't much care about the Mandalorians. Master Starlisk had not thought much of them, so neither would she. As far as she was concerned from what she had seen today, their reputation was trumped up propaganda. These regular CoreSec officers, policemen, had done more than they had. It didn't bother her, the job was done and that is what mattered.

 

"Do you believe you will be in trouble for doing something that was right? After all, it wasn't your fault that the Galactic Alliance disbanded its military. If they hadn't, then it would have been very easy to deploy an army that would have overwhelmed the slavers with very few casualties and much less damage to the city itself."

[Tobias Vos]

Tobias wandered around for awhile. Surveying the damage. His feelings were numb and unimportant. Tranquility, that's what it was. After almost an hour search he found an old YT-1760 transport ship.

 

After some bargaining, he gave the old owner a few thousand credits for it, and departed with the security codes for it. Space and Combat ready, they were ready to track Sandy down.

 

He went to share the good news with Adenna, as Sooba guarded the ship.

[Scubby]

"Haha don't be naive Jedi Alluyen. No-one for a second is even going to consider the implications of the Galactic Disarmament Treaty on situations like this. They won't even entertain the thought that had it not been done this would have been over quicker. What they will say is I led an attack on the Slavers at the request of the Jedi. Casualties were high on our side and for local civilians and that Slaver ships escaped. Its all politics. Someone will more than likely use me as the fall guy so they can claim the credit without catching the flak. It was the right thing to do for the person who thinks they can claim the most political clout out of it."

 

 

"I don't know about the Rebels but the Imperial Fleet certainly would have cleared up this situation with a great deal of ease. A single Star Destroyer in orbit or a Vic in the atmosphere. Precision fire support using Ion cannons instead of turbolasers and our own Armour supported by Stormtroopers. I'm not saying the slavers wouldn't have started killing slaves. But they would have known there was never going to be a chance of them winning. They may have surrendered or even fled."

 

It was a bitter, pessimistic truth but a truth nevertheless. Even were the politicians not to descend on him chances were one of the Commissioners would have serious words with him. He hadn't expected the level of bloodshed here, and the slaver's brutal execution of the slaves only made it worse. His only hope was that only he was targeted, the Galaxy didn't need another reason to hate force users but if someone spun this the right way it could certainly be looked at in that light and raise tensions even further.

 

"Corellia may try whatever they want. But for the moment CoreSec is in charge here and CoreSec's senior officials all still come from Coruscant. Only junior officers are recruited locally. That will change once we've settled in and earned our niche of the Galaxy and I'm not saying Corellia won't try something but you have to hope the Commissioners will step in if they do. Corellians are known for aggressive maneuvers."

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna felt a slight bit of irritation that Lt. Leife had thought she had believed the Galactic Alliance would change simply for this, but she chalked that up to her exhaustion and the letdown from the adrenaline and stress of battle. She wanted to argue that she didn't feel that way, but it would not serve any good. She agreed with him, though she was glad that it hadn't been Imperial stormtroopers and Star Destroyers coming down on her planet. The Galactic Alliance simply doesn't care about the suffering of other planets. They cared only for their power and "civilized" planets.

 

His last statement, though, was exactly what she feared. If the CoreSec officials decided to try to stop Corellia, Corellia could retaliate by withholding supplies and personnel. She wondered if those on Coruscant would truly be willing to risk a rift with a powerful planet like Corellia over a planet that worthless in their eyes.

 

"I certainly hope that you do not suffer for what happened here. While there was more blood than expected, especially among the innocent, it was necessary. If we had done nothing, far more blood than this would have been spilled over the upcoming years. Better to spill a little blood now than allow rivers to flow in the future."

 

She paused and noticed that a much more subdued Vos was on his way. He wasn't displaying any strong emotions that would have otherwise attracted her attention nor was he exactly close yet. She was not exactly comfortable with the bond the two seemed to have formed because she shouldn't have been able to pick him out at such a range without trying to. There were a lot of things she would need to sort through when she had the time.

 

She looked back over to Lt. Leife and noted with some irony, "It seems we are both in a deal of trouble with our superiors. Master Starlisk was not pleased with some of my actions in the HQ building. It would be very safe to say that we have a slightly differing view on how a Jedi should function. That and having lost my Padawan after placing her under the supervision of a potentially dangerous Sith apprentice will likely make me very unpopular among the Jedi."

 

She softened her tone a few degrees and said in a lower voice, "I fully intend on finding my Padawan, dead or alive. It might take some time, but that would be helpful in allowing bad memories fade among the Jedi. If you feel you might need to conveniently be away from your command for a time while on a mission, I would not turn down the help. You have certainly come through for me and my planet, and for that I am grateful. Even if you do not choose to join me, I am willing to try to put in a good word with you for your superiors. I don't know if that will help or make things worse, it is your call."

[Tobias Vos]

<<100,000th Post in Rp>>

 

 

Tobias glided across the scorched earth with little glances. Noone was particularly interested in one of the Freedom Fighters anymore, they attended to scavenging. He in turn needed to scavenge, in a certain aspect.

 

He was getting close to Adenna, he could feel it. It was an odd bond they shared. Weak, but it was still there. A question popped into his head as to how far it transcended. Would it flood emotion from the other side? Or would it just give a better indication on the where-abouts.

 

In his brisk journey, he spotted a couple people fighting. He glided closer, to listen in and intervene if necessary.

 

After a few minutes he discovered three males, much to his own age, arguing. One man, Neb, was trying to convince that they should take advantage of this place, particularly the power vacuum it left. He was some sort of Satanic leader it appeared. Install him into a place of power, and he wanted the other two to support him.

 

Eel kept trying to get out of the argument, but threw up a wall onto Neb's beliefs. They respected each other, that much was apparent. But the boys obviously did not have the same views. And Eel did not support his actions.

 

The third was a bit....Squirrly. His eyes darted back and forth, following the conversation. Butting in when there was something important to say. Sometimes it was good, others it was just words. Nai was his name? He would be pressured into following his friends, whichever way they went.

 

Then after all of that, they observed Tobias.

 

"Who the frack are you?" Neb questioned.

 

"You boys alright? No need for me to break up this little tea party?" Tobias replied.

 

Nai scoffed. "Hardly! Get out of here." Eel sort of just looked at Vos, stoic in his response to the new comer.

 

"I was just seeing if I needed to keep you three from killing each other. But now that I see I am not needed. Farewell." Tobias nodded his head and started to walk away.

 

"Yeah that's right, WALK AWAY!" Nai shouted after him.

 

Tobias laughed and kept walking. The little one was obviously compensating for his small stature. Moment's later, he found Adenna, and waited silently for her to finish talking to the CoreSec leader? He chimed in, hoping to speed things up.

 

"The trail is starting to grow cold Miss Alluyen, Time is of the essence."

[Scubby]

Jazce didn't need long to think about it. Back on 000 he was likely to be in a great deal of trouble for leading an all out assault on an unaligned planet's 'official' government. Even if slavery was not condoned in the Galactic Alliance the GA didn't try to quote to neutrals how they had to act. They simply tried to maintain control of their space.

 

"In all honestly none of us expected anything like this. I'm going to put in the recommendation that we create a more large-scale type taskforce designed to deal with operations similar to this in the future. I doubt it'll fly with the Senate but at least Commissioner Fett and perhaps The Faceless Man should see some sense to it. The third Commissioner I haven't seen in a while... Regardless this situation is what it is."

 

Turning he signalled HK. The droid trundled off to prepare the Everready which had after the fighting finished come down to the surface to assist evac the wounded. Waving to Tomas he made a mental note to get in touch with the man later. They had much to discuss.

 

"I will assist you Jedi Alluyen. Not to hide. I will claim responsibility for my actions. But only after we rescue your young padawan from a fate fare worse than death. Your... Sith apprentice friend is right however. We need to get a move on. I can raise the fleet and go through local records to determine the ship that escaped and a vector which will give us roughly a few hundred planets if they went straight too. Otherwise we do it the hard way. Me and the droid scan through the databases. Dredge up as much information on this ship as possible and see if we get any hits from any of them."

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna nodded in agreement. "Any help you can get from your police contacts and the ships in orbit would be very helpful. I can try to track her through the Force, but I doubt my bond with her is that strong unless I am closer to her. It may be that I would have to be in the same system to get anything, I will just have to see."

 

She looked over at Vos and said, "Yes, the trail is getting cold, but an hour or two more is not going to make a great difference if it means we can build a better foundation from which to search. Going straight into a pursuit right now won't do us any good because we don't even know where they are and they probably aren't even out of hyperspace at this point. We need to make sure we have a direction before we plunge straight into things. The recent battle here should serve well to remind us that it is best to carefully consider and study things before jumping into them."

 

She paused for a moment and let out a sigh. She was feeling exhausted right now even though she had so much more to do. Her mind told her it was just her body reacting to the adrenaline letdown and intense physical activity of the battle.

 

Right now, her mind was racing with things to do. She couldn't just leave her planet the way it was, but needed to at least have some sort of assurances that someone who was qualified and had the planet's best interest in heart was there to oversee the recuperation and rebuilding efforts. She also felt responsible for many of the losses and yearned to at least try to heal as many as possible even if it would further drain her and take up time from everything else. Finally, she wanted to see her family. She hadn't seen them or had any contact with them since leaving for Gala over a year ago. As much as she wanted to make sure they were okay and let them know that she had done what she set out to do, she was too duty bound to let that take priority. At best, she may leave a quick message for them before leaving if there was time.

 

Her Padawan was also a priority. It was tough for her to rationalize throwing aside everything else in search of one girl when there were thousands or millions who needed her help here. Sandy was her responsibility though. More than that, she was already missing the girl. Adenna had been too surrounded by death and focused on survival when the girl had been taken to have felt her pain and panic. Even now, she couldn't feel any of it, but the distance between them was probably too great for her to. She felt sick thinking about what Sandy may be going through. Anyone suffering at the hands of slavers was in for a difficult time, but for a young girl and a Jedi nonetheless, it would be far worse.

 

In a calm voice, she looked back at Vos and asked, "Did you manage to find a decent ship?"

[Tobias Vos]

"Corusant is a big place, they could have gone anywhere on the planet. And be lost. The small window on which they might still be there; is closing fast. And yes. I have a ship for us."

 

Tobias indicated that he knew where the slaver ship had gone. Psychometry was a very handy tool when tracking a target. You could read years back. And Corusant was very busy, a place one could get lost in.

 

"I will leave for the ship right now, you can follow, or stay talking to this person for eternity. I won't wait that long however. I have Slavers to find."

 

With that, he spun on his heels and started to walk back to the ship. She would be able to find him through the Force should he get far away from her.

[Terra]

Terra crouched upon a cobbled rooftop, having finally tracked her quarry to a spaceport junkdealer. A small smile crept upon her pale face as she watched the Sith, her HUD giving her updates upon any weaknesses, recalling the Sith database's information upon their apprentices, whom her master had outlined as contacts for her missions. This was Tobias Vos, apprentice to Slicer, Sith master. With him was a beast, an Anooba, as faithful as a pup. She sighed and filed away the information, observing as he made his purchase of a spacecraft, before he left again, leaving the beast to guard the ship, an old YT-1760 transport.

 

She kept her emotions in check as she watched the man's movements, recording segments of his gait, analyzing for any injuries that would keep him from fighting effectively. He was wearing a corduroy jacket, and beneath it lay a grey hoodie. Her smile spread slowly as he exited the spaceport. If his uniform was any sign, he was in no shape for a battle against a trained assassin. Terra stood slowly, her black cowl whirling in the calm breeze, revealing her blackened armor, inscribed with Sith calligraphy in blood red, before she took a step backwards, and picked up her anti-material rifle. She took another step backwards, before she ran and leapt off the rooftop, landing softly upon the decking below, her blackened boots making but a small tapping sound as she kept an eye on the Anooba that was guarding the ship.

 

She began to prepare for the Sith's return, and for the inevitable battle. She checked over her weapons, the hidden and the apparent, those made by the hands of men, and those crafted by the forges of the Sith. A Sith defector would never survive long in the galaxy, especially one who teamed up with Jedi. It was like asking somebody to put a blade through your throat, and Terra would be more than happy to oblige such a request. First, she memorized the battlefield's terrain, in the off chance they interrupted her slaughter.

 

It was a rather small spaceport with standard corrugated durasteel decking, stained with spots of rust and small patches of oil slick. Its exact dimensions were enough to dock half a dozen medium-sized transports comfortably. There were a few civilians milling about the surrounding shops, which lined the spaceport's docking platforms. Instead of individual docking bays, there were simple lines laid into the decking, marking off the bays from one another, like the groundcrawler parking lots Terra had seen on Ord Mantell. Beside each bay, there was a small fuel pumping station jutting from the decking, beside signs that warned of a massive combustive event if one were to strike up a deathstick nearby. There were a few other ships scattered about the bays, the most prominent being the YT-1760 that lay in fueling against the far eastern wall. There was one main entrance located against the western wall, one shop on each side. To the right of the entrance, lay a ship modification centre, and to the left, a vacant droid repair facility.

 

From Terra's view, there was one fire escape hatch that allowed for alternative egress, but as was common on many backwater planets, the hatch was blocked by storage crates and pieces of bulk machinery, leaving the only entrance in or out to be the western entrance through which Tobias had exited. She strode to that doorway and began the gruesome task of eliminating witnesses. Thankfully, the shape of the docking bay, along with its solid-built walls (for noise prevention and elimination, designed to shield the neighborhood from the sounds of engines and maintenance) prevented the sounds of screams and blaster-fire from escaping into the rest of the city.

 

She calmly started inside the ship modification centre, slaying the Rodian groundskeeper where he stood, drinking stimcaf behind the counter, with a piece of a TIE-fighter support strut, applied with strength to the back of the head. Two shoppers, a Twi'lek couple, died next, impaled upon the twin vibroblades, which Terra kept upon her back, whilst purveying a new hyperdrive for their Rogue-class Porax-38 starfighter. They never had the chance to cry out. From behind the counter, she withdrew an E-11 blaster rifle, placing it upon her hip, and made her way calmly into the main docking bay, sighting in with her anti-material rifle, a broad smile adorning her face beneath the force-mask. There were about a dozen civvies scattered about the bay, along with ten maintenance workers, and two hauler droids.

 

Terra took a bead upon the central-processor of one of the hauler droids, which was in the process of moving a large package of raw spices. She placed a bolt through its processor, and watched as the droid careened into one of the shuttlecraft and exploded in a hail of shrapnel and a cloud of highly toxic spice concentrate. The wave of shrapnel eliminated a large family of Gran, shredding them to chunks of meat, whilst the cloud stole the life from two maintenance workers who were replacing panels of insulation on top of the shuttle.

 

Terra flipped her scope to a smuggler who was raising a blaster pistol in her direction, and with a twitch of her finger, turned him into a cloud of pink mist. She next blasted a hole through the processor of the other hauler droid, which the maintenance team was using as a platform to work of some of the upper reaches of the walls, about fifty meters up. The platform and hauler plummeted into one of the fuel pumps, and the resulting explosion tore a hole the size of a landspeeder through the hole of a medium transport, sporting the colors of Naboo, wiping out the four-man team. The explosion also blew chunks of super-heated metal through the five-man security team as they jumped up from where they had been seated around a table, scattering donuts, stimcaf and body-parts everywhere. She placed the rifle upon her back and raised the E-11, mowing down the rest of the maintenance workers as they ran, screaming towards the blocked emergency exit. The last civilian, a fat human male, tried desperately to scramble over the crates and machinery toward the emergency exit, but Terra was behind him in an instant.

 

With black-gloved hands, she dragged him back to the western entrance and threw him to his knees at the top of the steps. With a simple motion, she drew her inlaid vibroblade across his throat and let his body fall down the steps to come to a halt at the closed doorway. When the Jedi returned to their craft, he would be their first sight, eyes bulging in horror, his expression of terror frozen forever upon his jowled face. Nothing within the docking bay was left alive, except for the Anooba. With calm grace, she tossed a small XX-23 onto the craft along with her gearbag. As a final touch, Terra took several bottles of spray-on paint from her gear and drew the following words upon the wall above the Jedi's ship in blood red.

 

Jedi... Give up your Sith defector...

 

...SCORPIONS...

 

With her mission complete, she entered the slain Twi'lek's Rogue-class Porax-38 starfighter and toggled the engine to start. As it warmed up, she observed her handiwork for the final time, a dark smile creeping over her features. She took her seat in the cockpit and lifted the craft from the bloodied decking; letting the ship pilot itself through the atmosphere until it reached the blackness of space. As it rose, she scanned the Jedi's ship, analyzing the ship thoroughly. She keyed in the hyperdrive, setting her course with several microjumps, and jumped into the blue embrace of hyperspace for places unknown.

[Scubby]

(Trying to post take 3 )

 

Jazce shook his head as the Sith moved away, probably heading back to wherever he came from.

 

"What the ace is his problem?"

 

The CoreSec LT said to himself. He didn't know much about the force but he certainly knew that he wasn't its greatest fan. He felt odd around these people. Almost like he was feeling other peoples emotions. There was something about that particular man. Vos Jazce was pretty sure his name was that rubbed him the wrong way above all of that.

 

"Remind me to wear my special combat suit around that guy."

 

He muttered to himself again before turning back to Adenna.

 

"Alright Jedi Alluyen. I need to kack up and submit a report on this 'Raid' and I also need to start looking into your missing padawan and trying to track her down not through the use of hocus pocus magic tricks and aggressive attitudes. I'd invite you to fly with me on a ship that isn't most likely a rustbucket bought cheap on a planet owned by slavers up until a few hours ago but I suspect you won't like my decor. The offer is open however."

 

Few force users did.

 

"You can raise me on comms at any time me, the droid are going to get to work until you're ready to leave. Then we'll follow your lead. Until next time Jedi Alluyen."

 

He offered a nod, with all his injuries it was as much as he could manage. He'd probably have a bacta bath when he got on board the Everready, he rather needed one. making his way through the rubble and destruction of left behind in the wake of the battle he made a mental note to request Coruscant aid in fixing up this situation. If perhaps the Galactic Alliance helped restore this place they would reconsider the neutrality issue.

 

Putting his helmet back on his link with HK re-established he started the reporting process. First gathering all relevant data. The AI would take care of most of it, he would review it and put in personal input. HK was a well tuned machine and his AI was perhaps better then most of those analyst geeks back on 000.

 

Ignoring an itching feeling from the back of his head the CoreSec LT continued to limp towards his ship when a new sound came to his attention. Blaster fire. Turning he frowned in the direction of one of the hangars. That itching feeling only getting stronger. As he watched a ship blasted off from the hangar. His eyes narrowed. His helmet recorded everything but he made sure to concentrate on that ship. He also sent a message to the CoreSec elements still orbital to do what they could in tracking it and gathering more information. This would go in the report.

 

Shaking his head as a squad of CoreSec officers ran past Jazce continued on his way. Coming to the Everready he admired the ship for a second. Perfectly designed for undercover work. Even as he boarded it he felt more comfortable, the constant itching dissipated, and edgy feeling faded. He felt better. With a sigh he sat down in the main cabin, HK shuffling around doing his thing. A short while later the report finished Jazce transmitted it to 000.