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Acrid


hudkina

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Kayla nodded, "It would seem that the Jedi are always on the run from something and I don't think it's quiet right. When I arrived on Haruun Kal to join the Jedi, they were running then too." She sighed, "Somehow I don't see all this running as a good representation of who we really are."

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Aero says:

good lick

Aero says:

*LUCK

Aero says:

I MEANT LUCK

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"I agree. However since we never seem to be strong enough to repel the threats we are given, we are in constant disarry simply because we are always moving. I had thought with the reconfguration of the Jedi council things would indeed be different. However I have not seen much of a change. Just some more bolstered attitudes. No matter soon we will resome our role in the galaxy."

 

Scorp paused

 

"If I had it my way we would ally our selves with a military faction. Upon which we could create a more permant base. With miltary support we would have a place of saftey and begin to establish ourselves back in the galaxy. we are peace keepers. And Guardians of Justice. If we allied our selves with a faction then we could start helping them with their problems and politics. Upon which we would get more freedom to more and more respect. Upon which we would be called upon to settle disputes across the galaxy."

 

Scorp then glanced around in a sort of non chalant way before continuing.

 

"However at our current state we are bascially a target for bored factions to take out and gain power. So that they can be seen as the ones who took out the legendary Jedi. Yet the Jedi at the moment are nothing more than a rag-tag group of people with no true role and or purpose in the galaxy except to make ourselves more powerful. Yet no matter how much we train we still never seem to be able to prove to the galaxy that we are a power and aren't easily pushed around."

 

Scorp paused again.

 

" However many would more likley than not see my views as un Jedi like. I adhere to the Jedi code through thick and thin. I have never fallen nor have been tempted I have died for this order. However I expect if I expressed these views I might be looked down upon and mistrusted so naturally I keep them to myself."

 

Then Scorp laughed

 

"Only now I have shared them with you. Perhaps now you think I am crazy."

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------((Edited this part was added. Soon after wards))

 

Scorp watched as ships seem to preform a hop skip. Before the relization hit him. Walking into his own ship again. HE did note he had recieved a comm. Grabbing Kayla he locked the hatch and took off again and jumped into hyperspace.

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Well, you could always just post something like "OMG GREAT FIC WOW!"
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"Charming place you have here." Isolder said.

 

DJK just nodded, most of the landscape was devoid of green vegitation, but there was spurts of grass and weeds in cracks of the once lush planet side.

 

Not shortly after did a comm come in to leave once again.

 

"Sorry everyone for the jumping around, Acrid was mereley a destination for evaucation, this is not the base." This wasn't true, but it would encourage some people who didn't like moving around.

 

He returned to the cylinder to retrieve Zane, the clone should be finished by now. He was handed some clothes and Dhan-Jaroe put him in a bed on his ship; he would need his rest.

 

He got into his ship and sat in the cockpit.

 

"Tera, if you can hear me... I still love you, and I miss you."

 

He strained for a response, but there was nothing.

 

Alas, he sighed and left.

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Isolder actually lauged a bit at the outrageousness of it all. Even Jedi made mistakes every once in a while, he supposed. All this jumping around seemed to remind him how necessary it was for a Blademaster and a Jedi to remain humble, and remember that they were all still just humans. Well, mostly humans anyway. Returning to his ship, Isolder headed for the new coordinates.

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"I am the hope of the universe. I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace. I am the protector of the innocent. I am the light in the darkness. I am truth. Ally to good. Nightmare to you!"

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Avararda felt something through the Force, and decided to stick around.

 

EDIT - Sorry, something came up.

 

Avararda, after waiting for some time, remembered that he left something important on Borleais. Heading for his ship, using the Force as his eyes, he took off for Borleais.

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Thats got to be a record, Nom thought to himself as he watched every other Jedi leave. He was truley growing tired of moving all the time. The Jedi weren't protecting any innocense running away all the time.

 

He quickly turned to his apprentice.

 

"see you called your own ship to follow us, good idea. It even managed its way through the asteroid field."

 

Nom handed the new cooridinates to his padawan.

 

"Meet me here,'' Nom said as he pointed at the planet called Rafa V, amid a mass of glowing planets within a small star chart resting in the palm of his hand.

 

With Nom got into his ship and blasted off into hyperspace, careful not to hit any asteroids on the way.

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Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical

 

- Blaise Pascal

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After getting the coordanates from Nom, Bron walked up the boarding ramp of his ship The Quicksilver And greeted her.

 

"Silver, Take us to Rafa V."

 

"Yes Bron, Sure thing."

 

The ship rose and shot into space.

There is no emotion; There is peace.

There is no ignorance; There is knowledge.

There is no passion; There is serenity.

There is no death; There is the Force.

 

Everything the Jedi live and strive for is included herein.

 

Proud member of the vast Right-Wing conspiracy

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Delita landed his ship, he's been floating in space for some time... he finally decided to touch down. he had no idea of what to do, so he just sat down and meditated untill he found someone he noticed...

 

he heard everyone talking about rafa V, so he decided to head that way next, his padawan still sitting in the seat, a tad bit confused...

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accept the challenges so you can feel the exhiliration of victory
-General George S. Patton
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Flying through Acrid's asteroid belt was a decidedly... interesting experience.

 

Interesting for Armiena, who was rather light on experience in flying through asteroid belts. Interesting for R5-D9, who decided to shut down in lieu of whistling warnings and protestations and fearing for his mechanical life during the entire ride down to the planet. Armiena didn't even want to guess how her apprentice reacted when she dropped into a kind of trance to concentrate more on her flying.

 

Yes, it was... most interesting. But now they were on the planet's barren surface, and out of danger for the moment.

 

No... everyone's already left. What's going on here? She glanced up at the sky. You have got to be kidding me...

 

"No one's here; for some reason, the Jedi have moved... again. Which means that we need to fly through that asteroid field... again.

 

"I can think of two possible places where we can go. The Last Call: a cantina on Coruscant. It's safe, though I don't know if there is anyone that we can meet there. There's also the Jedi Dojo on Borleias: its position is known to our enemies, but it's incredibly unlikely that the planet will come under attack. On the other hand, we might find some clue as to where the Jedi have gone." Armiena held back a curse; she should have had the foresight to get the comm frequencies of some of the Jedi.

 

She looked down at the ground. "It's your choice."

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Nadroj thought for a second. "Master I think we should go to The Last Call. The Sith have no idea that we will be there. The force will guide us, Master." Nadroj turned to face her. 'Should we be back on the ship?" Nadroj gave a weary thought in his head about his masters flying. I hope we will survive the night. I have a very bad feeling about this.

 

Cthulhu 2012

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"To Coruscant, and the Last Call, then." Without another word, Armiena headed back into her ship and to the cockpit. Soon after, the Avenging Angel lifted off of Acrid's barren surface.

 

"You know what?"

 

Dine hooted a query as they approached the dense asteroid field.

 

"I really hate... I mean, I really hate asteroid fields." Smug humming followed that declaration. R5-D9 had just countered by asking if Armiena hated asteroid fields so much, then why did she have a private stash inside one of the stable asteroids of Alderaan's Graveyard?

 

Armiena decided to treat it like a rhetorical question, even though she had a perfectly valid answer. She wove a haphazard path through the asteroid field. Occasionally, the deflectors activated when she passed perilously close to an asteroid. They made it through perfectly intact, though having to make the trip twice in a short time further stressed her frayed nerves.

 

Armiena's last thought as she pulled the hyperspace lever was that she would never return to this planet if she could possibly help it.

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The Peace Maker pulled out of hyperspace with its dead tired Caamasi pilot sleeping peacefully inside. Camsie stayed in this doze for some time before awakening, and looking down at the ominous asteroid belt surrounding Acrid. Seeing that if the Jedi had moved before Camsie arrived then it would be useless risking life and limb going through that maze, Camsie ordered his astromech droid to check the planet for life signs.

 

The report came back as a negative, if you ruled out the native wild life. Camsie began to scan to local spacelines, and found several ion trails coming into the system, and then several more recent ones leaving the system. All these trails were far to old to determine where they were coming from, or where they were going so Camsie was stuck.

 

Following his instinct, Camsie decided to try and find another jedi. But the question was where to look? Camsie's mind came up with a obvious answer a few seconds later. Look where everybody goes. This would have been difficult, but then again there's only one place in the galaxy that everybody has been to.

 

Coruscant. Or more importantly, The Last Call. A few minutes later The Peace Maker was back in the blur of Hyperspace.

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  • 11 years later...

Nothing seemed to register in his mind while in a full sprint. He had been in this state countless times before. The surroundings became a blur. The sounds quieted while the light almost darkened under the long strides of his gate. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through every square inch of his arms and legs. His body felt energized, as if it wanted to go forward without question.

 

He knew this state well because it had kept him alive time after time during his few years on Acrid. He was small, weak compared to those he normally stole from. Running had become one of the only tools he could use to his advantage. Being small, knowing the layout of his surroundings, it all gave him an advantage to this endeavour.

 

Typically, he would have his escape route planned in advance. Depending on the time of day, he could use the crowds as a speed trap for his pursuers. The nooks and crannies of the nearby buildings would also offer him some hidden protection should the streets be too dangerous.

 

Today, unfortunately, his plan hadn’t panned out as intended. His lack of attention to his surroundings had also provided a small challenge in the form of impacting a half way he had failed to see.

 

On his back, winded from the direct blow of the duracrete against his chest, Cameron’s hands struggled to support himself off of the ground. His awareness of his surroundings had immediately returned and warned him of a series of approaching footsteps. The beat of the steps was quick and hurried. They could only belong to his pursuer.

 

The streets were too empty today to make use of the crowds. The buildings were too uniform and new to duck into a damaged crack. This time would be one of those rare occasions where he had to stand up and fight.

 

Thankfully, he had one more tool up his sleeve to try.

 

Once his hands had finally found the stability he needed to get himself up, he quickly turned into the direction of the footsteps. The sound was echoing off of a duracrete corner in the street. From the corner, his pursuer revealed himself.

 

A large Gamorrean slid out from behind the building’s support wall and turned to Cameron’s direction. The Gamorrean was a shopkeeper; one of the decent ones on Acrid. He was a grocer mainly. Even though Cameron didn’t speak his language, the Gamorrean had always gave him a warm grunt anytime Cameron had passed along his typical morning route.

 

Now, however, the Gamorrean’s grunts lacked the gentle tone he had greets Cameron with many times before. There was a pain in his squeals, almost as if he was reeling from the betrayal Cameron had committed.

 

Cameron’s next betrayal would no doubt make matters even worse.

 

As the Gamorrean closed the distance, Cameron made it up to his feet and braced his posture for the inevitable confrontation. One hand slowly rose up to the opposite sleeve and grasped the handle of his concealed means of escape.

 

The Gamorrean finally stopped and grabbed Cameron by the shoulders. A flurry of grunts and squeals erupted from the Gamorrean. Wasting no time to attempt to decipher the meaning of the Gamorrean’s communication, Cameron instead remained silent and rigid against the force of the shopkeeper’s grip.

 

The Gamorrean pulled him in close, which prompted Cameron into action. Now at eye level, Cameron took the hidden dagger and swept outward with his hand. The smooth edge of the vibroblade caught the chunky flesh of the Gamorrean’s neck with little resistance.

 

A squeal at a pitch Cameron hadn’t heard before punctuated his release to the ground. Landing on his feet, Cameron immediately strafed to the side and once again entered into a long sprint. The orchestral march of the Gamorrean’s screams slowly died down as Cameron continued to run.

 

Several minutes passed after the sounds had died down. Cameron continued to push himself in his sprint. His hand clutched onto the dagger, no dripping in the Gamorrean’s blood. After a few more minutes, his legs finally gave out, forcing him into a dead stop in an unattended alleyway.

 

His grabs connected with his face and brushed aside the stray lines of blood that had landed on his skin. Looking down, he made sure the blood didn’t belong to him. Different smell, different color, it wasn’t his.

 

Removing his pouch from his shoulder, Cameron knelt down to take stock of his stolen contents. There were only a few edible items he had managed to grab in the short series of steps to steal his meal: a couple pieces of fruit and some bread. Tonight’s dinner would be on the lighter side….

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[The Order: Serving Il Cane Del Diavolo since May 15, 2002]

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The floor beneath Tares began to shutter. The vibrations lifted his limbs off of the deck plate as lay on his back. The battle was almost lost, being tossed around like a rag doll, until the vibrations began to decrease. Finally, he found enough stability to upright himself into a seated position.

 

He was in a cargo bay of sorts, most likely on a shuttle or freighter. Judging by the rapid movements from the previous moment, they must have entered into the atmosphere of their destination, or at least a pit stop. That meant he had slept through most of the journey. Their departure, the length of their time in hyperspace, he hadn't been awake for any of it. As a result, he had no idea where they were traveling.

 

The cargo bay was largely empty. He was sitting in the center of a bare floor. No crates or objects accompanied him except for the same droid he had seen before he had blacked out. The memory of the droid's touch wasn't exactly something Tares wanted to relive. So far, however the droid seemed to be deactivated or in a standby mode.

 

Tares could sense a slight feeling of weightlessness. The craft was descending towards a landing. If he was going to act, he would have to time everything perfectly. Since he didn't know his current whereabouts, he would have to assume signs of civilization wouldn't be available for him to escape too. His best option would be to steal a vessel, perhaps even the very one he now stood on, and make an escape.

 

Unfortunately, the droid seemed to read his mind as he thought about the specifics of his strategy. Before he could even reach for his (missing) lightsaber, the droid rocked to life and drained its photoreceptors on him once again. The droid moved away from its alcove while the injection spike Tares had felt extended from its grip.

 

"Ah, Mr. Vortex, you are awake. We have almost arrived, but I'm afraid we're not quite ready for you. Please feel free to get a few more hours of rest. You will need them."

 

Tares's reflexes failed him. The only action he had time for as he felt the familiar sting of the droid's needle digging into his next was to think a single thought: Damn it!

 

Then the black returned....

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Cameron had made a mistake. The incident in the square with the shopkeeper hadn't gone according to plan. His aim hadn't been true enough to its mark. After overhearing some locals talk about the incident, he had learned that the shopkeeper was still alive. Although heavily injuried, a few bystanders had came in to provide life sustaining measures until the proper authorities arrived.

 

It was now only a matter of time. The shopkeeper would come back. A day or two, maybe a few weeks or a month, it didn't really matter. He knew Cameron's face. It was probably sealed into his memory by now. Cameron had come to him many times before he had gotten desperate enough to steal from him. The only hope for salvation Cameron had had died with the shopkeeper's survival. It was only a matter of time.

 

The trouble wasn't even worth the goods he had stolen. Yes, he needed to eat, but not at the expense of his life. It was a short term gain with a long term consequence he couldn't pay for. He had gone hungry for days on end before. He should have known better. Now, everything changed.

 

To survive, he needed to move. The literal hole in the wall he called "home" had become too familiar anyway. The locals, including the shopkeeper, knew him. It made it more difficult to steal from them when necessary. Not from an emotional point of view, merely from a practical one. Normally, he made enough offering various services around the area, but when business was slow, he had to improvise. He had learned long ago that the more people who recognized him, the harder it was to get away with the things he needed.

 

It was time to move on. Unfortunately, all of the local trams to other areas of the city were under constant guard. If his scene in the market had left witnesses, they may have his description by now. One of the many draw backs of being his size and age: he was easily recognizable.

 

Staying on the planet didn't seem like a safe option. He could try the space port instead. It was guarded as well, but the foot traffic was greater than the local tram stations. There would be more people and buildings to weave through. With any luck, he'd be able to hideaway on a departing freighter or shuttle without being noticed. He would lose his familiar ground, but he knew he could adapt to new surroundings. He had done it once before.

 

With his mind made up, Cameron gently stepped out of the opening of the space he had called home and walked through the alleyway. The sound of an inbound shuttle rang across the stone of the walls, prompting him to briefly look up at the sky. The shuttle was headed in the same direction he had originally escaped from: the Tower.

 

It was a direction he hadn't ventured in since.

 

Instead, he took a turn at the end of the alley and began to proceed toward the space port....

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[The Order: Serving Il Cane Del Diavolo since May 15, 2002]

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Red-hot pain jerked Jaina out of her subconscious with all the subtlety of meat sizzling as it came into contact with a hot pan. Her face was pressed into the durasteel decking, once again, and while her leg still smarted, it served to clarify her mind, not cloud it. The proximity alarm was sounding. Atlas must have acted quickly. Tares was gone, taken by some sinister force unknown, and it was up to her to get him back. Pushing herself slowly off the floor, she groaned under the crackling fire of seared flesh.

 

"Your care is not complete. I must request that you remain still," a watery mechanical voice came from above her. Skeptical brows knit together as she turned to behold an overlarge medical droid, shuffling between a case of bacta strips that lay next to a huddled Tirzah and where Jaina lay prone in the center of the cargo hold. Mild gratitude flickered--her bandaged leg would hopefully avoid infection and necrosis--but the well-intentioned, bumbling medical droid was now impeding progress.

 

"Thanks, pal, I'll take it from here," she murmured, waving him away and staggering to her feet, limping toward the ship's main corridor despite the protests of the droid. Jaina paused in the doorway, turning toward the crates from behind which her daughter was peeking out. The girl's face was pale, her expression haggard and worried. Resisting the temptation to chuckle at Tirzah's fearful innocence, a wry grin hooked the corner of Jaina's mouth nonetheless. The obvious concern, while mostly unnecessary, that Tirzah held for her reached in and wrapped little fingers around her heartstrings. With tenderness in her voice, Jaina teased, "Quit looking at me like I'm dying, sweetheart, I've had worse. A little third-degree burn is nothing compared to losing a couple arms to your dad's teacher and Lord Ar-Pharazon. You coming?"

 

Without waiting for a response, she limped down the hallway until she reached the cockpit, the hissing hydraulics of the medical droid bouncing along behind her. Only then did it occur to her that her efforts to comfort her daughter may not have actually been that reassuring. Oh well. I'm new at this mom thing...

 

Entering the cockpit and beholding stars, not lines, she checked the navigational charts before turning to address Atlas. "Acrid? They brought him farther into the Unknown Regions?" Before Atlas had a chance to respond, the bridge shuddered beneath her feet, knocking her to the ground. Landing roughly on her injury, her body spiked with lances of adrenaline, pricking her senses to acute response. Clamping down on her pain with the Force, she dug her fingernails into the still-new leather of the pilot's seat as she reoriented herself.

 

"Let me take the helm," she said, steel in her gaze. A hovering field of asteroids hung outside the viewscreen, careening toward them like a drunk Podracer. While it was likely that contacting the planet's landing control would garner her a collection of safe routes through the field and into the atmosphere, without any idea of what faced them on Acrid, Jaina was reticent to give advance notice of their approach.

 

"Buckle up, everybody," she called, bracing her good leg against the floor as the medical droid finally caught up to her, slapping bacta strips on the remaining scalded skin that was still exposed even as she tried to push him away with her foot. "Atlas, please increase the shields to one-third capability. Too much of a field, we risk picking up any asteroids we buzz too closely. Not enough, we're hollowing out dings from the hull for the next month."

 

As her hands ran over the silky console and blasted ahead into the field, Jaina's heart leapt to her throat. While she had studied the ship's capabilities, she had not yet gotten to put the craft through its paces. Nimble, agile, and sleek, the Ferro Re found its way through miniscule gaps between the asteroids like water dripping out from between cupped hands. TIme and again, the ship came within inches of collision before evasive propulsion sidestepped the danger. Jaina's expert hands had never before held the reins of such a magnificent steed as this one.

 

Finally, they broke free of the field into Acrid's atmosphere and touched down at the central spaceport. Jaina sprang to her feet like a hound overeager for the hunt, but found the droid blocking her way, trying to wrap one final layer of dry bandage around her leg. "Look, would you stop? I'm fine," she groaned, rolling her eyes and pushing past it. "Time to go find our friend."

 

Tucking her resilient comlink into her pocket once more and clipping on her lightsaber, Jaina moved resolutely through the corridors, the cargo bay, and then out into the daylight of Acrid, reaching into the Force for Tares as though she were a radar scanning for his homing beacon.

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...why are the pretty ones always the most hazardous to your health?

May the Forth therve you well...

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Cameron stuck to the sides of the main avenue as he walked towards the spaceport. He had only ventured out this way once or twice during the few years he had been on Acrid. The spaceport was heavily patrolled due to the constant traffic on and off the planet. Up until the previous day, Cameron hadn't done anything to put himself on the local authority’s radar, but even the sight of an orphaned child would have raised suspicion.

 

His current predicament had escalated his fears of being spotted. He didn't know if the authorities were actively seeking him yet, but it wasn't time to start taking chances.

 

The main avenue was filled with a seemingly endless stream of speeder and foot traffic. The lack of secondary routes forced much of the traffic through the tiny space. Beings of various species hug the walls as the speeders took up several nonexistent lanes.

 

It gave Cameron enough cover to blend into the larger groups without getting lost.

 

As he walked, he attempted to recall the bits and pieces of the spaceport’s layout he had seen from the outside. The plan was simple in theory: stowaway on a freighter or shuttle. He didn't have the luxury of picking a destination, but he figured he'd take care of that step once he reached it. One step ahead was all he had most days, if he was lucky.

 

The real problem would be getting through the main entrance. The security lines forced the masses into single, neat, and slow lines before entering into the main building. He had heard other locals describe the security measures before: a few scans and bag checks with a facial recognition scan unless, according to rumor, you had the right security agent and bribe. The facial scan would do him in unless the rumors were true.

 

He would need some money.

 

Thankfully, he had pickpocketed enough times to feel comfortable with this task. In the past, when his legitimate ventures had hit a dry spell, the occasional “run in” with a random bystander had been his preferred strategy before outright stealing food from the local market. Having something go wrong with a stranger was a lot easier to deal with than the local shop owners.

 

The trick was finding the right mark. Tourists were the easiest, followed by the more seedy strangers that frequented Acrid’s less popular areas.

 

His eyes scanned around the pedestrian lane as he walked. He had to focus on the bystanders heading in the opposite direction. It was too dangerous to hit a mark from behind when their common direction would be the spaceport. Cameron would need any advantage he could get.

 

His search was turning out to be fruitless until he was a pair of humans walking towards him. An adult woman trailed by a girl close to his age. Both were dressed in clothing that seemed to blend in with the local surroundings, but were too clean and new to be of Acrid’s typical local population. Most common locals could only afford pieces of clothing, never a whole wardrobe.

 

The pair began to close the distance with Cameron. The woman was the obvious target. The other kids Cameron had stolen from in the past had only carried enough credits for scraps. The woman was probably the girl’s mother. If they were tourists, she would probably have their credits handy.

 

The distance continued to shrink. The woman lacked any kind of bag. He would have to search for pockets or a belt during the few seconds he would have to inspect before taking action.

 

A few brief moments passed before Cameron could see the details of his two targets. The girl seemed strange; her eyes were as white as milk. At first, Cameron thought she might be blinded, which would make the job even easier. But the girl moved through the crowds without issue or aid.

 

As the woman moved, he noticed a brief glimpse of a pocket peer through the swinging fabric. He had his final target.

The remaining seconds drained away with speed before he finally acted. Moving naturally to avoid suspicion, he pointed himself into a parallel course offset from their direction. Then, with only a second left, he dragged one foot against a rock to feign a trip. Stumbling over, he tumbled into the pair and put all his weight onto the woman.

 

As he struggled to find his footing, his hand immediately reached for the pocket. His feet flopped while his fingers took ahold of a metal cylinder. He clutched down and then forced himself away.

 

“Sorry.” He said as he attempted to move passed while palming the cylinder.

 

After taking a few steps, he felt his momentum cease with the touch of a smooth hand. The grip was light but somehow unyielding. He turned around to look while forcing his weight in the opposite direction.

 

The woman was facing him with her hand firmly on his wrist. He pulled once more, then looked down to eye his potential bounty. The metal cylinder was nothing more than a comm unit.

 

The reward was no longer worth the risk. More importantly, he was quickly running out of options with each fruitless yank against the woman’s unnatural hold. Finally, he decided to deploy his last resort.

 

The tears began to flow down his cheeks. His vision blurred in salty water and his voice cracked around forced strain, “I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me! I'm only trying to find some money to feed my dying sister. She’s all I have… please just let me go!”

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[The Order: Serving Il Cane Del Diavolo since May 15, 2002]

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As she debarked the ship with Tirzah in tow, Jaina moved past the ships, all in rows. Tares' presence was detectable, but still quiet, and her mind whirred with plans ranging from the stealthy to riots. Entering the open air of the city, their surroundings foreign, she pondered how to begin--this trip had been anything but boring. Acrid's location, near no hyperspace lanes, meant the economy had suffered stagnation and pain.

 

What she could sense of Tares was not adequate to triangulate his position easily, but nevertheless, she followed the flicker of the Force, reaching out with her senses. A thin layer of dust had fallen over the spaceport like a blanket of decay, a comfort object that lent the dingy setting a certain post-apocalyptic homeyness that made Jaina wish she hadn't bothered to swap out her grimy and burned clothes for a fresh outfit. Although Jaina was quite certain she had never before been to Acrid, there was something uncannily familiar that drove a stake of unease into her gut. "Stay sharp," she said stoically to Tirzah, though she draped an arm nonchalantly across the girl's shoulder, endeavoring to make them stick out a little less like a sore thumb--or a burned leg, for that matter. "Our best bet is probably to find someone local who can tell us about anything out of the ordinary or show us where Tares might have been taken."

 

A prickle from the Force caught her attention, and with heightened alertness, Jaina scanned the faces of the crowd that milled about them as they crossed through the spaceport. Nevertheless, they kept moving, until a flash of silver caught her eye. Her sense of warning only grew, and she dropped her arm from Tirzah's side to snatch the wrist of a boy about Tirzah's age who slammed into her with a murmured apology. Immediately she saw his ploy for what it was, but found herself momentarily speechless in addressing him. Here he was, a local dropped in her lap, a street urchin who likely knew the streets better than any businessman or local government official. But that alone was not what gave her pause.

 

The silvery-white hair of the teenager, the bright flash of his striking, oceanic blue eyes that refused to be tempered even by his ragged appearance, the firm set of his jaw--he easily could have been Tares in miniature.

 

Assent gushing from the Force itself told her to cling to this boy. Whatever Tares' location and condition, the presence of this erstwhile pickpocket defied coincidence. But she could not very well sling the kid over her shoulder and haul him back to the ship for safekeeping. Their altercation was beginning to draw stares, and as he pulled against her iron grip, she studied him through the Force.

 

“I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" His shuffling, downplayed exterior evaporated in a show of tears and desperation. "I'm only trying to find some money to feed my dying sister. She’s all I have… please just let me go!”

 

A show, indeed, it was: while the boy's desperation felt as real as the gentle touch of Tirzah's hand on her arm, the twinge in his thoughts through the Force told her that somewhere in the construct of his words lurked a bold-faced lie.

 

"Hey, kid, calm down, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," she cooed reassuringly, forsaking her hold on his wrists for resting both hands weightily on his shoulders. Even less than full-grown, he was nearly her height. "What's your name?"

 

At her elbow, Tirzah's voice piped up unexpectedly, her presence brimming with compassion. "Maybe we can help! Take us to your sister, my mom can heal her!"

 

Jaina froze, flicking her eyes about the corridor, certain that they had now attracted the attention of every sentient in the spaceport. Not knowing if the bounty on Force-users had been publicized widely enough to reach the Unknown Regions, nor who had abducted Tares and brought him here, subtlety had been a key player in Jaina's initial plan. With a nearly-audible swallow, she turned her head slowly, ever-so-slowly, to glance at Tirzah. The bashful regret in her eyes told Jaina that she had realized her mistake nigh immediately, though she lacked the self-awareness to see how the display of waterworks had pulled at her gullible heartstrings. The compassionate response was to her credit, however. Perhaps teenage ambivalence had not yet set in incurably. "I mean, uh, she is a doctor," the flustered child stammered, "kind of."

 

With a sigh and a reinforced smile, Jaina turned back to the kid clutching her comlink in his hand. The aura of desperation was a familiar one to Jaina, and the silver-headed urchin wore it in spades. Alone in the spaceport, with what was likely his only set of clothing splattered with what looked like someone or something else's blood... the path forward suddenly became exquisitely clear, as though the Force had painted a glowing neon sign on it. "Look, kid," she said quietly. "I know you're lying to me. I also know you need a way out of here. I'm here looking for someone. I'm sure you know this place better than anyone. If you help me, I'll take you anywhere in this kriffing galaxy you want to go."

 

((Tirzah's actions posted with permission))

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...why are the pretty ones always the most hazardous to your health?

May the Forth therve you well...

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Cameron had known his ploy had likely been doomed to fail. If anything, he had hoped it would have offered enough confusion for the woman to loosen her grip for a getaway. As he currently observed, however, this was not the case.

 

He remained silent, refusing to offer up his name or any information that could identify him. The girl obviously wasn't a part of the local authorities, but the women was old enough. He knew some security officers would dress to blend in.

 

Somehow, the woman saw right through the lie. He could try to press on with it. The girl seemed convinced, maybe that would be enough. He just needed to get free. The crowd was thick enough to escape into its morphing, dynamic maze. He just needed his chance.

 

"If you help me..." The woman continued to speak, "I'll take you anywhere in this kriffing galaxy you want to go."

 

The space port was no longer an option, at least for now. Going back to his hole was out of the question. Even the tram stations would be shut down before he could reach another location of the city. He'd have to either walk all night, which was almost suicide, or find somewhere to take shelter. The options weren't good.

 

"How do I know you won't sell me into slavery or something?" He asked to stall, "My parents taught me not to trust 'doctors' running around with little kids on this planet."

 

Nightfall was closing in on the street around them. Somehow, the rest of the foot traffic seemed to pass by without notice.

 

"Where do you want to go anyway?" He asked....

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[The Order: Serving Il Cane Del Diavolo since May 15, 2002]

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"I'm looking for a friend of mine who was brought here against his will," she said soberly, ensuring she still had tabs on Tares in the Force. "And I'm not a doctor. I have a... highly specialized set of skills that involves rudimentary healing."

 

Jaina's eyes softened as she took in the child's malnourished frame. Maybe the boy was not actually the orphan she had assumed he was. His mention of parents caught her utterly off-guard, and for a moment she considered just turning him loose on the falling dim of Acrid's evening and telling him to forget the whole thing. His mention of doctors intrigued her, though. Was this place a haven for Arkanian scientists, or something?

 

Then it hit her like a ton of bricks.

 

Parents. This boy who very nearly bore Tares' face was mentioning parents.

 

Come on, you call yourself a Jedi? she chided herself.

 

With excitement mounting in her veins, she swallowed and caught her breath before her next question came out in a tumble. "Does the name Drake Vortex mean anything to you?"

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...why are the pretty ones always the most hazardous to your health?

May the Forth therve you well...

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Cameron noticed the woman's posture change. Her grip on his wrist softened even more, even though it still felt firm and unyielding. Her eyes flickered with the sparkle of the planet's setting sun.

 

She was acting weird, which was never a good sign from a stranger.

 

Finally, she asked, "Does the name Drake Vortex mean anything to you?"

 

The boy barely gave the name a thought. It sounded foreign to his ears. Both names individually and put together were foreign. More importantly, the woman's reason for asking the question was a mystery.

 

"No, should it?" He asked coarsely. The name most likely belonged to the friend they were searching for on the planet. But with a population as large as Acrid's, it was almost impossible he would have come across their friend. If the duo was truly looking for someone, they'd have to start someplace other than asking a random kid off the street.

 

Things hadn't escalated yet, and so far, Cameron remained out of harms way. He knew the pair of strangers weren't trustworthy, but without any other options, he would have to settle. Their search presented him with an opportunity.

 

"Fine, if you want my help, I can help." He finally relented, "But I'm going to need my hand back. And I'll need more than just 'a friend brought here against his will.' You're describing half of the planet's underworld population." He commented....

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[The Order: Serving Il Cane Del Diavolo since May 15, 2002]

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Finally relinquishing her hold on the boy, Jaina tensed her muscles, preparing to launch into pursuit if needed, but true to his word, he did not immediately dart away. In nearly every comment he made, she gathered more information about the planet, about his life, and yet it only served to ramp up her curiosity. How much of the planet's population could be described as "underworld"? She weighed how much to divulge concerning their identity and purpose here. While there was no duality obviously detectable in his words, there was something about him she could not seem to put her finger on, and keen eyes did not waver from his form.

 

"Okay," she said simply. "I'll square with you, then you square with me. Deal?"

 

As she took in the horizon, where the planet's star dipped its belly below their line of sight, she was struck by the odd beauty of the light filtering through the ashy haze. Night would come soon, and quickly, and this was a search she did not want to attempt in the unfamiliar dark of the underprivileged city. "Let's walk, and I'll fill you in," she said with a measuring glance to ensure he would follow. In the Force, she put a tiny thought in Tirzah's mind. Stay alert. He knows more about this place than he lets on.

 

WIth a sigh, she began to outline their quest for their erstwhile guide. "Our friend's name is Vortex. He would have arrived sometime within the last hour, more or less. The shuttle that took him away wasn't anywhere in the spaceport. Are there any other notable landing sites in the city we should search?"

 

Realizing that it was unlikely she would receive a name without giving one, she glanced down at him from the corner of her eye as they walked through the dusty Acrid evening. "I'm Jaina, by the way, and this is my daughter Tirzah."

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...why are the pretty ones always the most hazardous to your health?

May the Forth therve you well...

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Cameron listened with genuine intent as the woman described their reasons for coming to Acrid. They sounded authentic, at least on the surface. The boy didn't have any reason not to trust the duo. On the other hand, not trusting random strangers had gotten him this far.

 

No trusting anyone had gotten him this far.

 

As they walked, Cameron looked around at the street. As night slowly crept up, the foot traffic began to thin out. Even though the woman had released her grip on him, escape would still be too difficult. Normally, he trusted himself to outrun a mother towing along a blind daughter, but something was obviously different about the two.

 

The woman seemed to have a way of knowing things without reason. Like she could read minds or something. Cameron didn't know of any humanoid species that had telepathic abilities. Then again, he didn't know of many humanoid species outside of what he had seen on Acrid.

 

Then there was the metallic cylinder the woman had clipped on her belt. Cameron had never seen one in person, but he had seen even holovids to know the sight of a lightsaber. He had seen a brief glimpse of the object wave through the woman's attire as they had started to walk. She was obviously a Force user, possibly a Sith or Dark Jedi if they had come all the way out to a planet with an Imperial presence.

 

Regardless, Cameron knew these two could be dangerous.

 

"I'm Jaina, by the way, and this is my daughter Tirzah." The woman said.

 

Cameron hesitated to reply in kind. He wasn't in the official databases on the planet as far as he knew. Nothing could lead this Jaina to knowing his brush with the local authorities. Still, he needed to keep his guard up.

 

"People around here call me Celedon." He replied.

 

The woman's story did make sense in one spot: random shuttles with military markings were a constant occurrence on Acrid. There were other small and private spaceports besides the primary port, but only one had the traffic that arrived and departed like clockwork. It was also the same location he had come from on Acrid.

 

A location he swore never to return to.

 

"If your friend was brought here on a shuttle, he was taken to the Regional Tower near the city's center. It's an Imperial facility... or renegade Imperial, no one really knows." He began to explain.

 

This new bit of information complicated matters. Going back to the city center on foot was dangerous enough. Sticking around on Acrid was dangerous. On the off chance this Jaina was telling the truth about taking him off the planet, the risks might pay off. But, returning to the Regional Tower was a death sentence.

 

"Your friend is probably dead by now." He continued, "No one who goes in there comes out. All the locals avoid even the surrounding areas. If you go there, they'll just kill you and your daughter. Count me out if that is the plan." He finished....

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[The Order: Serving Il Cane Del Diavolo since May 15, 2002]

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Narrowed eyes pierced the boy like daggers as Jaina regarded him. What he said was consistent with the strange Imperial-like soldiers they had encountered on Altyr's fifth planet, though she still had no concept for a motive for them to abduct Tares. Unless, of course, they were closer than they knew on the trail leading to Drake Vortex. She still could not shake the lingering sense that the boy who called himself Celedon had some connection to the whole scenario. From his other comments, she gathered that some manner of strange experiments might be on the milder end of the unpalatable things happening in that Tower.

 

Tares' presence was still quiet in her senses, but her alarm was mounting. If he was unconscious, and he was a prisoner of these unspeakables that the locals gave a wide berth...

 

"...then we don't have any time to waste," she finished her thought aloud. "We have to save him, and we won't go on foot."

 

Ignoring the bluntly exasperated look she thought she glimpsed on Celedon's face, she scanned the periphery of the street in search of a speeder that might carry them there faster than her feet could take her. It had not escaped her notice that he spoke of the Tower with some degree of educated foreboding that seemed to go beyond just a societal avoidance of a restricted area.

 

"If they kill us," she called over her shoulder as she spotted her quarry unattended--a small four-seat speeder--and moved toward it like a huntress in the gathering darkness, "you'll have no way off this rock, pal. Better idea to come along and lend a hand."

 

Swinging her legs over the side of the speeder, a sizzling firework shot up the length of her nerves, drawing an involuntary wince that she tried to play off with a show of bravado. The bacta strips had filed away the jagged edges of her pain, but her body's clamor for rest and healing was growing louder by the minute. She was getting no stronger, and by the feeling of it, neither was Tares. Panic held at arm's length for the time being, she nonetheless set her jaw in determination. Keying her comm, she patched back into the Ferro Re's systems.

 

"Atlas, it's Jaina," she said quietly as her fingers moved to hotwire the engine of the "borrowed" speeder. "I have an informant here who says Tares is likely being held in the Regional Tower in the City Center. We're going to go check it out. I'll leave my comm line open so you can keep tabs on us. In the meantime, see if you can't search any of the public records here for any mention of Drake."

 

The engine coughed to life, a sad downgrade from the sleek purr of the Re's sublight drive, but it would do. Glancing behind her at the pair of teenagers, her signature Cheshire grin playing onto her features, she jerked her head in the direction of the tower. "Well, are you coming?"

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...why are the pretty ones always the most hazardous to your health?

May the Forth therve you well...

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Tirzah was feeling queasy again, though she thought that was more her overtaxed danger sense. Weren't mother's supposed to protect their children? she wondered idly as Jaina set a stellar example for both pre-teens by stealing a speeder.

 

"Well, are you coming?" Jaina asked, likely more to the other kid, Celedon than her, but Tirzah considered all the same. She did want to go back to the Ferro Re where it was less scary and likely safer than running towards a place that set even the local street kid on edge. Then there was the matter of the other boy; Tirzah didn't trust him to help her mother. Besides, what good would retreating onto the ship do if Jaina got killed rescuing Master Tares and left her completely alone again?

 

She got in the speeder and turned toward the figure of the other boy.

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...why are the pretty ones always the most hazardous to your health?

May the Forth therve you well...

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"Being stuck on this planet would be preferable to being a corpse on the street." Cameron replied as Jaina hastily jumped into action.

 

He remained in place while she found a nearby speeder to "borrow." He was becoming more and more convinced that the pair weren't any sort of undercover agents or evil Force users. What she had in mind would call attention to half of the local security forces who were separate from the Imperial presence. No, this pair weren't undercover... they just had a death wish.

 

The daughter, Tirzah, looked to hesitate for a moment to think. Then she obediently followed her mother into the waiting speeder.

 

"Well, are you coming?" Jaina asked.

 

Cameron looked them over. Two tourists sitting in an unattended four-seat speeder. Two tourists ready to rush into an unknown, hostile situation.

 

"Who do you think you are?" Cameron finally remarked, still firmly in his place. "You come here, to a planet you know nothing about, with the big idea to go play hero? Without any plan? Or information? You're nuts."

 

He finally began walking forward towards the speeder. Before he reached the smooth, dirt crusted side of the transport, he stopped and knelt down. His hand reached out and dug deep into the sand. Then, with a clutched fist, he stood up and held a strip of bacta into view.

 

"You Jedi earn your reputation around here. Yeah, don't think I didn't notice that little device you have on your belt. Naive, self-centered, only caring about your way of doing things. You want to run into Imp territory, with your daughter, in a stolen vehicle local security forces will no doubt start tracking, all while bleeding all over the place? That's your great plan?" He said.

 

He should have just made a break for it. Part ways, find someplace to stay over the night, then try the spaceport again in the morning. Unfortunately, if things went south at the Regional Tower, which they probably would, everything would be in lock down by morning. Best case scenario would be having to wait until things cleared up. Worst case, he'd be caught long before that happened.

 

"You might be my only ticket of this rock right now, but I'm your only hope of any possibility of success. You want to do this? Fine. You want my help? We do it my way. Otherwise, I'll be sure to pay my respects in the morning when your corpses are strung up in the city square for everyone to see...."

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[The Order: Serving Il Cane Del Diavolo since May 15, 2002]

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The exposed wires under the speeder's steering column fell from Jaina's fingers as she regarded the pair of teenagers. Tirzah's uncertain comment gave her pause. Had she really been so bent on her mission that she would drag her daughter with her into the edge of danger? Since she returned, her motivation had been so strong, so hell-bent on finding Tirzah that once that snag had been navigated successfully, it had fixated on another outlet almost immediately. She was jeopardizing the safety of her daughter, for which she had fought so hard, in order to dart between the snapping jaws of death once more.

 

Her daughter was not like Emily, a seasoned combatant, a veteran Force-user able to handle herself in dangerous situations. For all her bravado, Tirzah was still a child, largely untrained and still adjusting to a galaxy's worth of change in her life. Something in Jaina softened as she glanced between the two of them, coupled by a pang of regret for how she had abdicated her niece's presence. But the firm set of Celedon's face brought the current objective irrevocably to Jaina's mind. Wounded or not, foolish or not, she could not abandon Tares to the Tower and the rogue Imperials who Celedon claimed were there.

 

Climbing out of the speeder, she turned to lay both hands on Tirzah's shoulders and stooped her head to meet the girl's eyes. "I know this has been a whirlwind, one thing after another since we left Tython. I know it hasn't been easy, and I've asked more of you than any Jedi initiate should have to deal with. If you want to stay behind on the ship, I would completely understand. But Master Tares is here, and he's in trouble, and I can't just leave him behind to save our skins."

 

She tucked a stray lock of hair behind Tirzah's ear. "He dropped everything to come after you," she said quietly.

 

Her attention shifted to Celedon, and she raised an eyebrow, though she avoided immediate response to his observations of her being a Jedi. In quite the roundabout fashion, she had gotten the response for which she had hoped. "Your town, your way, kid. You got a plan?"

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...why are the pretty ones always the most hazardous to your health?

May the Forth therve you well...

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His town. He wished the statement wasn’t true, but deep down he knew it otherwise. Whether he liked it or not, this could be advantageous.

 

“Oh, I do have a plan, but you’re probably not going to like it.” Cameron said with a subtle point on his cheek.

 

He began to lead the pair through the streets in the direction he had sworn to avoid at all costs. At first, he remained silent in contemplation. The odds of his success seemed to continue to dwindle with each step. You will survive this. He thought to himself.

 

Eventually, they came to a part of the main avenue where the streets broke into a network of side alleys. Moving into one of the alleys, he began to feel at ease once more. There was more protection in these alleys; more places to hide or run if necessary.

 

By now, the sun had completely set. Only a few faint bulbs provided the dim light he had used to navigate so many nights before this one. It was enough to get by… usually.

 

“The security around the city center tends to be heavier than in other parts of the city. Local security forces and soldiers from the Imperial garrison mix together. Most people try to avoid the area.” Cameron began to explain.

 

The most probable scenario was they’d be stopped on site by a guard. None of them had any ID on hand, which meant they would have to get creative.

 

“The only people the guards seem to show any affection towards, if you can call it that, are the local gypsies.” Cameron continued, “They tend to perform daily rituals the soldiers find entertaining. The rituals are sacred to the gypsies, but they don’t mind a laugh or two if it leads to a few extra coins in their pockets.”

 

They eventually arrived to a small clearing in the dense network of buildings. A few individual market stands remained open in the twilight hours. One of them had a varied assortment of clothing and attire hanging from large racks on the side.

 

Cameron approached the stand and began thumbing through one of the racks.

 

“These will help us blend in more.” He said while throwing some robes towards his travel companions, “Put these on, head to toe. Don’t let your face appear.”

 

Before he started to put his own robe on, a thought entered into Cameron’s mind. The slight smile painted on his face widened.

 

“Oh, I forgot to ask. Can either of you sing and dance?” He asked....

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[The Order: Serving Il Cane Del Diavolo since May 15, 2002]

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