Tatooine

[Pinckz]

Malin had been prepping himself for a landing onto the sandy ball of nothing but desert after a bout of repeated smiles and what seemed to be a particularly interesting combat ritual. He had seen people wound themselves before battle, but never in a way as formal as what had been shown to him. Still, Malin was raring to go and readying the guns when a sharp beeping sound struck his ears once more.

 

The mercenary looked back toward Terra for a curious moment and found that, just as quickly as they had been taken from their previous job, they were called to another. It seemed as if they would never get a job done with the amount of hopping around they did and by now, Malin's head was thoroughly sick of trying to make sense of the situation.

 

He merely sat there, sighed and then walked back over to his seat and buckled in after delivering an equally pleasant smile back to Terra, with a little bit of an extra fiendish flair.

 

"So where are we off to now, mon Capitan? Are we off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of the cos... mos?" Malin said, with a slight chuckle as he wrapped his arms around his chest in attempts to comfort his conflicted feelings.

[Emily]

As soon as they had been rounded up and bustled off the ship, Emily knew she had been mistaken. This was not Nal Hutta. The twin suns beat down on the sunbaked desert sand, causing the temperature to spike to uncomfortable levels. There was only one planet that Emily had heard of that fit this description--Tatooine, another wretched pit of Hutt slime, only this time mixed with the sweat and unsavory body odor of a thousand other species.

 

She couldn't keep her heart from sinking. It would be much harder to find a decent ride off this rock than it would from Nal Hutta. This place was a backwater in the worst sense of the word, although not in the literal sense.

 

She had been chained together with the rest of the women slaves so that they formed one long line. It was an effective way of keeping the property together, as well as preventing one from escaping.

 

She heard the leader of the slave band send a message to some kind of headquarters. She bit her lip. That meant that these men were part of a larger crime and slaver syndicate, instead of just being locals. More and more she realized that she couldn't try to escape until after she had been purchased. So she kept her head down. It was easy to do; they had given her a fresh injection of drugs, so she wasn't thinking straight and couldn't touch the Force at all.

 

The slavers led them through the streets of Mos Espa, heading towards the main slavery ring, where a small but ready crowd of purchasers had already gathered.

[Sandy Sarna]

Death was all around her. The red colour of blood was everywhere. She sprinted to keep up with her friend Mirdala, and fought her way through the thickest of battle. Yet somehow, when the battle was the hottest, Sandy felt the surest, her throbbing and wounded body fed her power. Her hands and her sword were fed by that unstoppable power of rage. She screamed in pain as a slaver's blade raked across her back, but that fed her power more. With a punch of her small fist, his head exploded into a fine mist. She growled and took on the next, swinging her blade with the power of the force.

 

The blade split the man in twain, from sundered helm to shattered pelvis. The bones in her arms rattled painfully as the blade exited his corpse, the nerves in her arms shouting in protest. She paid them no heed, it was time for survival, not serenity. She clove her way through another man, then a Trandoshan, then came face to face with a familiar face. Uhalu The-Quick-To-Anger. He was a beast of a creature, fit and strong, and he had faced her before. She knew her speed was her only option, and her best chance for survival.

 

So she lunged, though the force was with her, there were always downsides of charging a beast who had a ranged weapon. The downside being that they could shoot you in the face. As she lunged, exerting her last reserves of strength, trailing blood from a dozen wounds, he squeezed the trigger. The blue ring collided with her forehead ere she could ever land a blow. Her momentum threw her upon him, though her blade skittered across the bloodied ground, unable to harm the creature. His rough hands brought her in front of his body, and his blaster barrel lodged under her thin, freckled chin.

 

He would survive this encounter, as he had with countless others, through cowardice. The blasterfire was coming awfully close to his comfort, and with no other option, he would at least enter pitched battle with Fett, holding a dear hostage. He had many plans for this little one, but alas, none would come to fruition. And now she was his only ticket from this rock.

 

Her body would at least soak up one round, as thin as she was, with her tangled mat of bright blonde hair. He called out to the approaching figure.

 

”œYou, you who has killed my men, are you looking for someone?”

[Moon Knight]

((Works for me.))

 

Just as ShadowFett became certain that the Black Sun operative was going to become a problem, the man simply left without another shot fired. The beroya raised an eyebrow beneath his buy'ce, curious about the reasons behind the development. Perhaps he had been hoping to get backup, and now it wasn't coming and he'd decided he didn't want to risk fighting Fett by himself. Or perhaps he had had some alternative reason for tagging along that was now fulfilled. Or indeed he might have decided that he'd overstayed his welcome.

 

Whatever the reason, Fett was glad he didn't have to watch his back anymore. Certainly the agent could be lying in wait for them just outside, but he'd had a better chance to shoot Fett in the back before. No, it seemed likely that he'd gotten orders from somewhere higher-up, perhaps Daisaku, whom Fett had met himself. Some things in this oyu'baat never changed, and the fact that there was a Daisaku pulling the strings behind Black Sun seemed to be one of them.

 

Presently, the Mando'ad continued to fight. His assault rifle was hot in his gloved hands as the slavers, disorganized in the chaos of battle as each of them cared more about their own hide than putting up a unified front, none of them trained verde such as the type that would be required to stop a man of Fett's skill set. Even Imperial stormtroopers, Dark Troopers, and Arach'tar had proven inadequate to stop Mand'alor, and hunting a disorganized band of slavers was like sport when compared to opponents such as those.

 

Rounding a corner, however, Fett came upon something that gave him pause. A Gammorean--Uhalu, the ori'ramikad immediately labeled him from Nora's description--holding a hostage. A young girl, her clothing all but gone, but just enough of it left for him to identify it as the kind of tunic as would be worn by a jetii. Her body as bruised as Mirdala's, she appeared to be unconscious, and the porcine alien had a blaster pressed under her chin. That at least told Fett that she was alive.

 

Uhalu called out even as Fett leveled his assault rifle on the hut'uun. Normally, he would have taken the shot instantly, even while the slaver was speaking, for it was usually the time when they were expecting a shot the least. However, Fett's assault rifle wasn't an accurate enough weapon for him to pull the trigger and guarantee that he neither hit the habir'jetii nor missed altogether and let Uhalu kill her himself. Certainly not on full automatic fire as it was.

 

With things the way they were, Moon Knight was going to go with a different plan. The mechanics of reaction times meant that there was no way Uhalu could squeeze the trigger and end the jetii's life in the time it took a blaster bolt to close the divide between him and Fett. The trick was that a miss or even a death spasm would likely kill her anyway. Fett needed to get a shot in that would guarantee Uhalu couldn't get the kill.

 

"Looking for her, but you knew that," ShadowFett said. Then he pointed his assault rifle at the ceiling, eyes alert on Uhalu to see if he even let that blaster twitch. He raised his hands, palms open toward Uhalu to prove he wasn't holding another weapon. "Let her go and you walk free." He slowly put down his assault rifle, deciding to let Uhalu think he had won. Nonetheless, Fett had no intention of letting this shabuir walk away, although for now saving the hostage was a priority.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala would have nodded, but the action was would have taken more effort to control than she had at the moment. ”œYes, sir,”

[Sandy Sarna]

Uhalu knew what would happen if he just dropped the little girl. He had seen far too many cop shows where when the person drops the hostage, the policeman would just blow the person away. And this man had just dropped his rifle, no doubt these tricky mando's had some sort of secret weapon up their sleeves. Uhalu laughed. It was a wicked laugh, filled with much malice and phlegm.

 

He tightened his grip about the girl and considered his options. He could attempt to walk away, and in turn get his ass blown off”¦ Or he could just try to fight it out with the Mando. Now Mandos had died before, Uhalu was sure. They had fallen in droves during so many wars, so even with their uber awesome armour, they could still be killed.

 

With a flick of his huge knobby wrist he brought the blaster level with the man's head. A millisecond later, a stream of blasterfire screamed towards his foe. All the while he kept the girl in front of himself. Just in case.

[Moon Knight]

Perfect. ShadowFett had been waiting for Uhalu to make just such a move, for it took his gun off the habir'jetii, even if just for a moment. His aim turned out to be pretty good, too, but the time that was required to get off an accurate shot was larger than the time it took a battle-hardened Mando'ad who had been specifically waiting for the gun to twitch to get into motion.

 

Moon Knight pushed himself to his left from his crouched position, where he had been to put his rifle on the ground. He was fast, but it turned out he wasn't quite as fast as necessary, and Uhalu's blaster bolt struck him on the right side of his chest plate, forcing Fett's right shoulder back as the beskar absorbed the blast. It didn't matter. With his left hand Fett drew the blaster pistol that sat on his left hip and fired.

 

It was one of the better shots in his life. The blaster bolt took the gun right out of Uhalu's hand. The Gamorrean was so startled that his grip loosened on the jetii and she slid a few inches downward. Fett fired two more times, striking the slaver boss on the shoulder, then the neck as his hostage dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

 

Mand'alor steadied himself. The alien's shot had come pretty close to its mark, but the fight was over. He strode up to the fallen being and shot him twice more, just to make certain he wasn't getting up again. As he did so, he got Mirdala's message about the habir'jetii and was immediately put on guard. Fett knew all about the dark side, its seductiveness, and how it completely changed who you were. He still intended to rescue this poor girl, but he couldn't be sure who she would be when she woke up.

 

Fett checked the girl's vitals, determining that she was indeed alive but unconscious. The circular imprint on her forehead suggested a stun bolt. Flipping open one of his belt pouches, he produced a medicinal hypo that was intended to keep someone unconscious and stable in a first-aid sense, then administered it to her, guaranteeing that she would stay out until they reached the ship and possibly for several hours more. The verd stepped over to Uhalu's corpse and searched him, quickly finding the slaver's datapad and a few datacards, pocketed them, then scooped the girl up and carried her back toward the supply room through which he had entered, sending a comm to 2277 to bring the Justice to impromptu cave entrance for a quick pickup.

 

He wasn't surprised to find Mirdala hiding out in the supply room. Seeing her again, Fett was reminded of how both women were in dire need of medical attention. Unfortunately, there wasn't a medical facility on Tatooine that he trusted, given Black Sun's presence here, and the Temple of the Moon's restorative properties only worked for Moon Knight, so he would need to take them offworld. Thankfully, Tatooine was nearby to some much more civilized planets, the shebs of the galaxy though it was.

 

Finding in the supply room a hoversled typically used to move heavy boxes and freight, Fett set the habir'jetii gently down on it, then helped Mirdala get onto it as well in a more or less sitting position. "It's over," he told his traat'aliit'ad. "Uhalu is dead. Time to get you fixed up, cyar'ika."

 

Soon, Fett had successfully navigated the hoversled out to the hole in the wall through which he had entered, finding the Justice waiting as promised. He secured the sled inside, moving the habir'jetii to a bunk near his ysalamir, just in case.

 

Then he set coordinates for Ryloth, a planet he trusted only minutes away for his hyperdrive, and they were off.

 

((I'll be back for you, Emily.))

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Relief didn't even begin to cover what the Mando'ade felt as she heard Fett slicing the door, an unconscious Sandy in tow. She reached for her while Fett looked for something to ease their transit from this place, the paralyzing agent finally beginning to take effect on the raven haired woman.

 

Through the Force she could feel Sandy's pain, as deep as her own, but at least the girl was alive. "Did Uhalu do this?" Mirdala asked, not quite sure why she had in the first place, as it was obvious that so much had happened to the young habir'jetii while under his care.

 

Her traat'aliit'ad didn't elaborate, or answer her at first. His main focus, understandably, was to get the two of them out of that hell hole and to a medical facility as quickly as possible. She knew that what passed for medical facilities on the Justice couldn't possibly handle the degree of care she knew the two of them needed.

 

Once he'd gotten her situated on the hoversled, he finally spoke, "It's over. Uhalu is dead. Time to get you fixed up, cyar'ika."

 

Finally she could let go and slip away to unconsciousness, but that last word stuck in her mind as she slept.

[Adenna Alluyen]

At last, they dropped out of hyperspace into Tatooine space. As soon as they did, Adenna slipped into a trance to begin searching for Sandy. She dipped into the part of her where the pale haired girl had taken over and searched for that link. She couldn't feel anything at first and that panicked her. Could she have missed the feeling her Padawan's death?

 

She frantically searched the planet below, though she remained completely motionless in her trance. Nothing was there that was familiar to her. She was about to give up when she felt the faintest impressions from Sandy. She was still alive, but was not anywhere near.

 

With a curse she normally did not let pass her lips, she woke from the trance and began trying to figure out what to do next. The Black Sun agent had set her up and she had been gullible enough to fall for it. Now, Vos would think her a fool and to make matters worse, she had dragged four CoreSec agents all the way to the Outer Rim on a fool's errand.

[Tobias Vos]

While Adenna was in her trance, a message came trough. Tagged from Corsec HQ, it said Sandy was on Ryloth, with a Corsec agent. She had just been rescued.

 

Adenna cursed, pulling Vos away from the message. A smile wiped across his face. "Sandy is safe. She's on Ryloth with a Corsec agent. Fett is his name." He said, trying to cheer Adenna up.

 

"But if you don't mind me asking, could we take a closer look? Something really isn't sitting with me right about leaving just yet."

[Adenna Alluyen]

Relief flooded over her as Tobias gave her the news. She nearly kissed him in elation, but thought better of it and instead went to see the message herself. She didn't like the sound of Sandy needing to be in the hospital, but at least she was alive.

 

Vos asked to stay which got him a curious look. "This place is full of all sorts of wrong things, I could sense it even before I went into my trance. This is Tatooine, I don't think an army could right all the wrongs going on here, much less two Jedi. We have been hunting for Sandy, now that we know where she is, we need to get there. The message said something about her being in the hospital, I want to get there as soon as possible so I can help healing her. After what she has undoubtedly been through, she will need healing of far more than just physical wounds."

[Tobias Vos]

"Adenna, I lived here for a good bit of my life. I know what is here. I know what is normal for this place. I'm saying something is off...And I would like to investigate. What if I took the escape pod to the surface, and you went to Ryloth. Or if I dropped you off and returned? I am going to check this out, something in the Force is calling me down to the planet related to our mission right now. I can't explain it, I just know and feel that something was missed...." He looked at her. His eyes pleaded with her to let him do this.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna frowned at him. This didn't make any sense. He had been the one pushing to find Sandy even at the cost of getting connections with CoreSec. Now, when they finally found her, he wanted to wait?

 

"What has gotten into you?" she asked. "I can't fly the ship, so if you jump into the life pod, you will be stranding us here. Besides, you will be stranded if you take a pod down."

 

She paused and reached out in the Force to sense Vos. "What is it, what is so important that we would leave our quarry injured in a hospital very likely needing our skills? Be completely honest with me for once."

[Tobias Vos]

"When you feel the Force call on you, do you ignore it? I don't know what's down there. But I feel as though our job is not over on this planet. Sandy is in the Hospital, being taken care of. Us showing up could do two things; One, boost her moral. Two, speed up recovery through the Force. You always suspect something from me, betrayal, failure, me to lash out.... You will never trust me..." He sighed.

 

Sluggishly he gripped the controls and tapped the Ryloth coordinates into the computer. The YT spun around in the air and ascended once again into the space around the desert planet.

 

He released the controls, after he locked them in. He put a timer onto the hyperspace control, when the timer hit zero, they would leave this place. Next to the blue button that started the timer was the red button that canceled the timer, the buttons were clearly labeled. Pressing the blue one there was a 5-minute countdown.

 

"You treat me as if I didn't know how to interpret the Force..." Tobias, without looking at Adenna got up and left the Cockpit. He fought off feeling angry, he sat in the next available seat and lapsed into a meditative state to see what was really down there.

[Adenna Alluyen]

"It isn't that I don't believe you can interpret the Force, I just don't know which side of the Force you are interpreting," Adenna whispered to herself after he had left. He was right, though. She didn't trust him because she knew he was holding back. He was quick to anger and not used to giving the truth. Someone other than a new Jedi Knight should have guided him, but she was all he had at the moment.

 

She didn't like this, not one bit. Deep down, she knew that if she felt something had to be done, she wouldn't let things stand in her way. If Vos truly believed he needed to be on that planet, then she would be as wrong to stop him as he was to keep her from Sandy. Both of them couldn't get their way if they stayed together.

 

She looked at the controls. While she wasn't able to fly, she wasn't an idiot. The controls were clear so she pushed down on the cancel button.

 

She made a call to the CoreSec agents and set a few things up while Vos stewed. At last, she got up and found him meditating. She didn't like it when people interrupted her meditation, but time was of the essence if there truly was something wrong down there.

 

"Vos, okay, if you think you have to stay, then you stay. I talked to the CoreSec agents and they agreed to take both Ariana and myself to Ryloth in their ship, assuming she wants to go. I give you custody of this ship for now until you can give it back to either myself or the Jedi Order one day."

 

There was sorrow in her voice as she continued, "I am sorry for how this worked out, Vos. You needed a more experienced Jedi guiding you, someone better than me. Do what you need to do here and hopefully we will meet up again one day. You can always call me if you need me."

 

With sadness, she left him and went to inform Ariana of the situation. "Ariana, Vos will be staying here to investigate something he senses on the planet. I must go to Ryloth to tend to Sandy. The CoreSec agents in the other ship agreed to take the two of there. I am not going to force you to come with me, it is your choice."

[Tobias Vos]

"I'll be right behind you on your way to Ryloth." With that, Tobias got up and walked over to her, patted her on the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "You did what you could with me, Thanks." A chuckle, and he departed for the cockpit. Squatting down, he rendered the controls and moved them closer to the Corsec ship. He wondered about Ariana's decision.

[Fixer]

Fixer's Journal entry 4:

 

Tatooine is the last stop in shutting down Barga the Hutt's spice and slave ring. His final contact is based in a starport called Mos Espa. Here the streets are nothing more than the baked bones and torn flesh of the weak. The city has no need for drains as the sky never weeps for those trapped on this rotting bleached corpse.

 

Vermin the size of men run wild in the streets. The desolate nature of this place allows the cool steel hand of justice to melt under the bright intense stare of twin suns in a lawless land. This place is merciless, it takes everything from you. A great hive of scum and villainy sustaining beings not fit to be scrapped off my boots. It reeks of suffering and pain.

Last objective I was”¦.wounded. Bacta has taken care of the wound since then. Yet it has left me wondering something. Something that has only been magnified as I move about this world. What is good if not the teacher of bad? What is bad if not the task of good? The last objective was scum. He was a dealer, handing out illicit drugs to anyone willing to buy. He funded and allowed slave labor to continue, and made his living off this misfortune and vices of others. He even got the drop on me using a picture of his daughter to blast me with some sort of repulsor ray and jammed a blade through my shoulder pinning me to the floor.

 

Yet I had come there to kill him. To punish him for his crimes because there is good and there is evil, and evil must be punished. Never would I have almost died had I not hesitated in this. Had not listened as the man spoke of his daughter and her mother. Now that woman and her kid are caught in the midst of all of his pain. Things were much simpler during the war. A target was found and a target was killed. Now it seems I am too soft. I can not be as soft as I was that night. It nearly cost me my life as well as almost ended the mission. I need to develop a methodology in handling such scum. A protection such as a hazardous suit for those dealing with waste.

 

I will attempt that on this final objective. The target is another human male. Atmal Wasta. Medium complexion between light and dark skinned. 5'9'' and looks in the weight range of 190. Most of it looks like muscle. Lives an indulgent life style, and partakes in the purchasing of slaves to use as objects to satisfy his carnal desires. Most of this information I have gleaned from reports about him in other locations. Some of it, through direct observance. I have already made contact with the target once while disguised. I hear he will be making an appearance at the slave market today. A fresh batch of slaves have arrived, and he plans to partake in them. I have already scoped out the area. Best vantage point is a nearby bar overlooking the ring. The type of crowd assembled will leave tensions high. Bodyguards of all shapes and sizes will be employed. My hope is a single shot will bring Atmal down, and in the ensuring confusion, the rest will begin to kill each other after suspecting foul play. I may kill two more in order to sell the gambit. With a single stroke I will wipe Barga the Hutt's influence from the known galaxy. I might also start a war.

 

A landspeeder rumbled by, its body laden with goods. The streets were packed with people. Angry shouts from the market place wafted over top to rooftops, adding to the general din to the city. This was the bubbling chorus that gave this desert city its voice. That allowed it to have a place in the galaxy. Somewhere a blaster bolt rang out, yet the city seemed unmoved. It was a merciless as the desert was. A man could get lost, be gunned down in the streets, and few would care. It was the reason Fixer sought to rise above it all.

 

He laid prone on a rooftop over looking his target area. A tarp covered most of his body. With out a building to snipe from, he was attempting to blend in with the surroundings. The rooftop was the same dusty brown that every other building in this God forsaken sandblasted town was. Fixer could tell at one point this building had been pained a bright blue. Perhaps the same kind of blue meant to resemble water, so that it could be an oasis in the desert. Now however, only very little paint remained, the few stubborn specks that have stood the test of time, while the rest of its brothers flaked off and were carried off into the wind. Was he one of those stubborn specks? His brothers had long ago disappeared and the galaxy had been blasted with war after war, yet he still remained. Stubbornly he was still trying to bring some measure of joy into the galaxy. The same way water in a desert brought joy to a man lost and dying of thirst in its clutches. He couldn't save the galaxy, but he could offer people hope that their thirst for vengeance at the wrong doings of the filth that prey on the galaxy would be satisfied. Vengeance they wished they could enact on their own but were powerless to do so.

 

Fixer paused, refocusing on the mission. He knew what the man looked like, and was simply waiting for him to appear. Though the twin suns were attempting to bake him alive, his suit was keeping him at a decent temperature and he was drawing on water as time went on. Still his Dc-17 did not waver. The sniper attachment was hooked in and he was ready to take out one more piece of trash, or perhaps three for good measure.

[Ariana La'vohn]

Ariana watched as the only two friends she had in the galaxy fought with each other. She could feel their conscious and unconscious energies building against each other and wondered how much was going on underneath their aggressive banter.

 

Adenna had filled her in on what had happened since she came up, so Ariana had a small grasp on what was going on, but now that Ariana had been properly, cleaned, fed and clothed, she was a lot more apt to focus on other things even though her sight still didn't work in the way she wanted. There was a turmoil; a chaos building up between them that Ariana didn't really understand. Adenna was struggling to compensate for something and Tobias was struggling to prove something.

 

Judging by Adenna's story, Ariana could half make out what these things were, but right when Ariana had a vague grasp on the subject, her focus drifted and her sight spread further than the ship. to the planet below.

 

Thousands of little blue pyres built the sphere beneath them as they floated high above the ground. She could almost feel the sapphires as they moved slowly through the ether, but her focus was still drifting as a child's attention normally does.

 

Then, when her inattentive thoughts had made their way back round, she was interrupted by Adenna and Tobias looking at her. It was surprising and even startled her a little bit, before she remembered what they had been talking about.

So, stay with Tobias and pursue an interest that might be potentially dangerous, or go with Adenna and see her padawan.

 

Ariana trusted Tobias' story, even though she didn't quite get a similar feeling while looking at the planet before, but Adenna's route was safer. Ariana might be able to prove useful with Adenna, without endangering herself or others, but if she went with Tobias, she might become more a liability than anything else.

 

"I'll go with Adenna." Ariana said after taking a few minutes to contemplate.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna nodded at Ariana's decision. "Very well, gather whatever you have and I will do the same. We have about five minutes before their ship is able to dock."

 

After getting everything they had, namely clothes, they boarded the CoreSec ship and detached. Adenna was saddened to see Vos go like this, but knew that if she stood in his way, it would only anger him. Best to let him go and hope he returned one day than to drive him off forever.

 

As soon as they were secure on the other ship, the agents plotted a course to Ryloth and jumped into hyperspace.

[Tobias Vos]

Vos unloaded Adenna and Ariana. He wished he could have done what he wanted to do since he saw Adenna, just a simple kiss. But she was stubborn and head strong. Plus an attitude problem.

 

His right hand gripped the throttle and accelerated down to the surface.

 

He called an old, but reliable, commlink. His buddy Tooci.

 

"Who is this, and how did you get my number?" A slither came over the radio.

 

"It's Vos."

 

"Ohhh ho ho! Toby! I haven't heard from you in years? Come to get revenge finally?"

 

"No no no. I'm beyond that. But since you mention it, that you DO owe me. I'm looking to buy a slave. I know a ship just came, wheres the auction?"

 

"Mos Espa.""

 

"Thanks bud."

 

"Heh Heh, any time Voss."

 

Tobias could tell that Tooci was relieved that Tobias wasn't coming to kill him. After their working relationship, Tobias was well within his boundaries to kill Tooci.

 

And to his benefit, Tooci was telling the truth, the one news casting out on Tatooine was advertising a Mos Espa slave trade today. Landing in one of the Spaceports, he departed. He had to lay low, alot of people were out to kill him, even his old boss. Dawning his Sith Cloak, Lightsaber, Ax, and Sooba, he walked off of the ship.

 

The yard master tended to his ship, removing the paint that Vos didn't get with his Force trick. Tune-ups and the like. Mainly re-fueling.

 

Briskly he walked to where the Slave Auction was taking place. He stood in the back, scanning the crowd. Even the slavers. He was formulating a game plan. He still had no idea what he was looking for, but he waited.

[Moon Knight]

A couple hours after he had left, ShadowFett returned to Tatooine. It was sort of like a new job that had brought him back, and in other ways, just a continuation of what he had been doing last time. He didn't really have a plan for what he was going to do, but he fully intended to shut down a slave auction, kill some of the shabuire that were running it, and free some slaves. Maybe it made him a shabla philanthropist for coming back and doing this for free. Maybe it was vengeance for what Uhalu and his men had done to his traat'aliit'ad. Or maybe it was justice.

 

Whatever it was, it was better than hanging around in a hospital on Ryloth waiting for her to recover when he'd had information on something this nearby where he could demonstrate what it meant to tangle with a Moon Knight, doing the kind of things the jetiise should be doing but that they were still too timid since the end of the war to involve themselves in something visible. Two of their Masters had at least shown up on Corellia when Geki had been attacking a hospital there, but they hadn't ended up helping things much.

 

Landing the Justice in Mos Espa and heading for the detailed coordinates that had been on one of Uhalu's datapads, the Mando'ad checked his assault rifle and changed out the powerpack. Pulling a stunt like this was something he never could have gotten away with in the old days, where he'd been simply a beroya or Black Sun operative. There would almost certainly be Hutts involved, and if he was identified, which was extremely likely given his reputation, one of them would put a bounty on his head. That wouldn't so much be an issue these days, now that he was a CoreSec officer and no one would be stupid enough to try to collect on it.

 

When he got close, Fett cut into one of the buildings and made his way quietly up some stairs, now sticking to the dark shadows that were cast by surfaces that blocked both of Tatooine's suns. The slave auction was being held in some sort of courtyard, still pretty obviously not hiding from anyone, though neither blocking a public street. There were a few mercs standing around the outside, armed but largely inattentive, given the unliklihood that anyone would interfere on a shebs of a world such as this.

 

Mand'alor waited until the one closest to him was facing away from him, then hit the human with a toxic dart from his kom'rk. The man slumped silently to the ground, then Fett dragged him back away from the railing to the courtyard. Now he could largely observe the proceedings without too much of a risk of someone seeing him and starting the firefight prematurely.

[Emily]

The slave market was in an outdoor amphitheater of some sort. High walls rose around the sunken pit lined with archways. There was already a crowd of beings present, ranging from the richest patron's representatives to the less-well-off patrons who had come themselves. There were even a few of the very wealthy, come in person as a rare moment when they actually left their offices and oversaw their business personally.

 

The impression of all those minds through the Force was muted for Emily, however. During the ride over, she had focused on clearing her mind as much as possible. She needed to be prepared for anything; although she had decided that her best chance to escape would be after she had been purchased, the large crowd of people of all shapes and sizes made her rethink her strategy. If she saw the chance to slip away in the bustle, she would have to be thinking clearly enough to take the opportunity.

 

The twin suns beat down directly overhead as the slave auction began. For the first time, Emily was almost glad how scantily clad the slavers had made them be; at least she was able to feel the faint wisps of air that made their way to the amphitheater floor.

 

She had been chained toward the middle of the line she was in, so she knew it would be a while until they got to her. The slavers had started with their most prized captures--mostly Twi'lek females and brawny males of several species. She knew she was a risk, one that the slavers were hoping would pay off. The cost of keeping her drugged the entire time might pay off for someone willing to have an attractive Force-user at their beck and call.

 

Emily bit her lip and boded her time, waiting and pushing through the fogginess of her mind to reach the Force within her.

[Moon Knight]

While he was waiting for a good time to strike from his position looking down on the amphitheater from one of the walls about two-thirds of the way up, ShadowFett put his assault rifle on the floor and started loading his verpine shattergun with regular rounds. Typically, the Mando'ad used a mix of cortosis and thermal well rounds to give himself the best chance at taking down dar'jetiise, but in this case, he didn't think jetii'kade were going to be involved.

 

As soon as things were getting started and the first slave was brought up for auction, Moon Knight decided he could start the party. If he waited longer, more of the slaves could be free enough that they could contribute to the struggle, but there was also a greater chance of their new masters escaping with them. They were pretty much defenseless bound as they were, but Fett didn't think the dikute that were their masters would consider shooting their investments as long as they had a chance to still make a profit. No, it was probably safest for the slaves if he started right away.

 

First, he decided, the guards. Picking a target on the far wall of the amphitheater, one that could have a shot at Fett if he figured out what was going on, Fett fired. The verpine shattergun was perfectly silent and the round was invisible. The beroya had spent a significant amount of time training himself with it, and now that would be significant as his target fell.

 

No one seemed to notice. Fett picked another target, and soon that man fell. One of the other guards stared, no doubt questioning what he had just seen. The ori'ramikad picked him off next. The targets that threatened him the most removed, Fett chose another target, this one down in the amphitheater, watching the slaves carefully.

 

Another shattergun pellet and that man fell, too. This time, however, people noticed. The crowd erupted into chaos, and Fett quickly picked a fifth target and sent an imperfect round through his shoulder--probably nonlethal, but enough to disable his gun arm. All the moving around made it tough to snipe. Still, the Mando'ad noted, the shattergun was the perfect weapon for the job, for as the slavers on the ground looked frantically around for their attacker, he was betrayed by no muzzle flash and not a single noise.

 

Mand'alor holstered the shattergun and picked up his assault rifle again. Now things would get interesting, he decided, heading for the stairs down.

[Fixer]

"Kriff!"

 

It was one word but it was spoken with a lot of Force. Fixer quickly tried to reestablish a bead on his target. However thanks to some one else's fancy shooting, the man had panicked and bolted. There was nothing like one's best laid plans going to waste.

 

He attempted to calm down, spending his time scanning the now rowdy crowd. Well perhaps terrorized was a better term. It looked as though there was already four bodies down.

 

The least he could have done was take down my guy for me. Gah it is my fault for not spotting the other sniper.

 

He himself didn't feel like he was in danger so he continually, almost frantically began to look about. Normally his attention would have been drawn to the snipe. Problem was that man's guy had been so silent, he hadn't even noticed the man had dropped three tangos until after the fact.

 

Who ever this cowboy was he sure was good at making a mess of things. Suddenly a glimpse of the profile he was looking for. Far to close to an exit for his liking. Yet the man was surrounded in the crowd. The shot wouldn't be a clear one, yet he didn't want to have to run this man down on foot. Especially not with another shooter in the area.

 

He took the shot, watched the target go down but was unsure if he had nailed him dead on or just wounded him. Suddenly blaster fire began to tear up the lip he was staring over.

 

Osik that is just wonderful.

 

He bolted quickly. He had already planned for a fast escape route. Now he simply needed to accomplish it, then verify that his target was down.

[Tobias Vos]

Chaos

 

And Tobias's party didn't start or be a part of it for once. The Force User noted that some sniper was picking off people before anyone else noticed it, but he was over zealous. He was shooting every guard. He grumbled and made and walked closer to where alot of the slavers were, and where the slaves were being brought up. Then there it was, a glimpse of a Force Signature. HE WAS RIGHT! He bull rushed the stage, a shiny Golden Ax flew through the air, impalling the guard who was holding the first slave hostage. They were so concerned with the roof tops, they forgot about the crowd. Well, they hadn't probably, they thought they would be running away at the sound of gunfire.

 

The young Kiffar was always an exception. Their eyes diverted to him as soon as he was on stage.

 

It took them a second to realize what was going on, up on stage. He took a chance. With the hood pulled up over his face still he bellowed out to the slavers holding the slaves."Put down your weapons and leave, I have come for what is mine. You do not want to challenge the Dark Lord of the Sith. Do so, and forfeit your lives. " Reaching out, he touched their minds, He tried to influence them all at once, but frankly. It was hard, this was only the fourth time he had preformed the trick.

 

All they saw was a black cloaked man two meters tall, pull a Golden Ax that belonged to their former leader, from their comrade's skull.

 

Beneath the cloak he already was reaching for his Sabre. Ready to block shots from the Slavers, or anywhere else.

[Emily]

Suddenly, everything was in turmoil. Slavers were being dropped by a hidden sniper, and the crowd was panicking. People were running every which way, trying to flee from the sniper. It was pandemonium as blaster fire began to whizz around with more intensity. The slavers had been caught too off-guard to offer up any unified resistance, and the buyers were only interested in getting out alive. Emily did not know what was happening, or who was starting it, but she knew an opportunity when she saw one.

 

She had just enough determination and strength of mind to call on the Force, and with a flick of her mind, her cuffs sprung open. Free, she turned to dash into the crowd, but for the first time, hesitated. The rest of the women she had been chained with were crying out, helpless with fear. She couldn't just leave them behind, could she?

 

She knew what her master would say. Perhaps it was the thought of him that made her act in rebellion to his teachings. But instead of dashing away and getting lost in the crowd, she turned and raided one of the slavers who had been gunned down already. A man in a cloak had taken the stage and was drawing attention to himself, which worked in Emily's advantage. She paused only when she heard him claim that he was the Dark Lord of the Sith. She glanced up at him and frowned. She may have been a bit fuzzy from the drugs, but that man was not Quietus. In fact, she doubted even that he was a Sith Master. Even in her weakened condition, she thought that she would be able to distinguish the maelstorm of dark power that a Sith Master represented.

 

She shook herself. Whoever this man was, he was buying her time, and she was not going to waste another second of it. A few seconds later, she had the key and was unshackling the rest of the slaves. "Run!" she told them all, ducking under a stray blaster bolt.

[Moon Knight]

Once the panic started to climax, some strange things started happening. As ShadowFett came down the stairs, he cut around into one of the buildings on ground floor and looked through the window to see a man fall to a sniper's bolt from somewhere else around the amiphitheater. This was strange to the Mando'ad, as he had come alone. It seemed that there was someone else attacking the slavers as well, and Fett wondered into just what he had stumbled.

 

Things got even stranger when a man in a dark cloak joined the battle, then stood up on the stage bellowing something out into the crowd. Due to the panicked screams of almost everyone present, Fett couldn't make out the words, but he felt the unmistakable brush of the Force, suggesting to him that this was not a target he wanted to shuk around with. However, the man had slain a slaver, so it was unclear to the beroya whether this man was jetii or dar'jetii.

 

Maybe it didn't matter--at least not yet. Some of the slavers seemed to get the idea and dropped their weapons. Then the slaves were getting free, though Fett had thought they had all been bound. He watched as one of the slavers overcame his fear of the Force user on the stage and drew his blaster to fire at either that man or into the crowd of escaping slaves. Raising his assault rifle, Moon Knight fired first, catching the shabuir with three bolts in rapid succession.

 

Deciding to finally make himself visible, Fett moved out into the rapidly-clearing stage area, sweeping his assault rifle across the multiple potential targets that had surrendered to the Force mind influence. Some of the slaves hesitated when they saw him, not certain whether the slavers had hired a Mando'ad to make sure they couldn't escape or in fact he was freeing them. "Go!" he told them.

 

For the moment, he would assume that he and the Force user were on the same side. But he kept a close eye on the man through the 360-degree vision afforded to him by his buy'ce. As long as he didn't do anything stupid, he might just have made an ally that would make certain this operation--as unplanned and chaotic as it was--could be considered a success.

[Tobias Vos]

There it was, the fracture in the Force. Emily. And the slavers didn't head his words. They were even shooting at the girl. Jumping down from the stage, he summoned his beast, which tore violently through the first Slaver.

 

The red hum of his lightsaber was now visible, and audible. The next nearest slaver found that it was in fact, tangible as well. Tobias sliced the Duro in half, then onto the next one. Head to crotch he was split. Then there was a blaster bolt right in front of his face, pausing, he glanced to the left saw the slaver, reached out with the Force and shot him into the sky. His scream caused most of the slavers to leave in fear. But there was still a handful.

 

That sniper was still in the area, he felt the bubble of his presence in the form of a ysalamir with him. A dark area nearby, it was hard to miss.

 

He swung the Lightsaber and watched as a few slavers dropped their weapons and fled. Never once did he touch the Dark Side or get angry. He still needed to avoid that. Scanning the theater for threats he saw a Mandolorian. Possibly Fett, the one who saved Sandy. A Commissioner for Corsec. He hoped it was indeed Fett. Or he would have some awesome fight ahead of him.

 

He heard the beast claim another slaver, Tobias then positioned himself as a shield between the few slaver stragglers and Emily. Although most of the threats were gone, he wasn't going to take any chances.

 

"Almost done back there, Emily?" He called back. She never met Tobias, so there wasn't anyway she would identify his voice.

[Moon Knight]

ShadowFett was somewhat alarmed when the Force user drew a red jetii'kad and summoned to his side what seemed to be an anooba of all creatures, then started killing slavers, some of which were overcoming their initial fear, the mind-trick fading off as they came to their senses. These things highly suggested that Fett was dealing with a Sith rather than a jetii, and he had no love for the Sith.

 

However, he also knew a lot about the Force. Finding a place of relative cover so that he could avoid any stray blasterfire, the Mando'ad watched the Force user's eyes. Soon enough he caught a glimpse of them under the man's hood and ascertained that they were their normal color rather than the red-and-gold that marked someone drawing on the dark side. It was a subtle cue, but Blademasters didn't miss such things.

 

Shooting down one last slaver with his assault rifle, Fett heard the jetii--if that's indeed what he was--call the name of one of the slaves. This battle was over, he decided, his mission here complete. Without a word said to the cloaked man, he made his exit, cutting through one of the buildings on his way out.

 

And so, a few hours after arriving, ShadowFett was ready to depart and once again head back to Ryloth.

 

-------

 

Nora is nervously pacing about the cell aboard the Justice, obviously doing some hard thinking. She heard the hatch open then close and knew that Fett had returned to the ship.

 

”œMr. Fett?”

[Emily]

The appearance of the lightsaber in one of the men's hands caused the panic of the crowd to reach an all-time high. It didn't take long for the arena to clear out. After making sure that most of the women had escaped, Emily knew that this was her chance to get out of there.

 

She was just starting to turn to run when the man with the lightsaber turned to her and called her by name. That stopped her in her tracks. Who was he and how did he know her? A battle raged within her mind. Chances were he was a stooge of Furion's. The Sith Master had kidnapped her and dragged her across the galaxy; she wouldn't have put it past him to track her down now. But she had no idea how he would have done so...unless she had a tracker implanted in her somewhere?

 

She could touch the Force enough to tell that she had never met this man before. But it seemed like he was here to rescue her, and apparently they served the same Force. Wouldn't that be enough for him to give her a lift back to Coruscant?

 

All this passed through her mind in an instant. Taking a deep breath, she made her decision. For better or worse...

 

"I am more than ready to leave this hellhole," she said a bit haughtily. "I suggest we do so, and on the way, you can tell me who you are, how you know me, and how you found me."