After a Knightfall

[Black Knight of Keno]

19 BBY, Operation Knightfall brought the Jedi Order to the brink of extinction and during one lethal night on Coruscant their Temple was razed and left to turn into dust along the years. Those few Jedi who managed to escape the Clones who suddenly turned against them were pitted against the horrors of one of the greatest Jedi Hunters the Galaxy has seen, Darth Vader. The newly proclaimed New Order, the Galactic Empire, began an all out suppression movement. Were it a small batch of CIS still rebelling or planetary governments wishing to stay out of the Empire's grasp, they all fell and were forced to obey the new Emperor Palpatine. There were only few places where the Empire did not patrol or if it did it dared not to step into the internal matters of these places. One of these became the safe haven for many. This place was the Wheel. The worst scum and best bounty hunters gathered there to drink, gamble, rest and seek anonymity.

 

---

 

I am returning to my normal practice with this one. Every detail of your character should be made in your posts by describing. No profiles unless you truly have to use them, but in that case you must make up one yourself. Needless to say I wish as many non-jedi characters in this as possible. Rules should be clear, use our head and try to make posts readable.

[Black Knight of Keno]

The wheel turned quietly in the empty space. It was surrounded by vessels which had their crews lazing off in the main structure. A flash ripped a hole between hyperspace and real space, letting out a lone modified ARC-170 fighter. The scans showed it was piloted by two and indeed heavily modified from the basic factory version. Just before it had gotten clearance, more ARC-170 fighters came out of hyperspace in hot pursuit. However, it was too late for the Clones as the first fighter had already began socking sequence. They were too late and had lost the jedi they had been pursuing. But knowing the new Empire, they would soon send a Star Destroyer to force the Wheel's security forces to find the jedi and hand them over.

 

The fighter docked quietly and the jedi inside climbed out. They were greeted by a mercenary who gave them something to disguise them in. After throwing the robes away, the jedi put on the armors the mercenary had given them. They were yellow and white plastoid-alloy armors with long shoulder pads and straps going down to mid-thigh with white capes attached to the back of the shoulder pads. This all would cover up enough so they could hide their lightsabers while wearing blasters on the belt of the armor. That is also what the mercenary gave them. The Vultan male jedi received an SE-14 blaster pistol while the Zelosian female got a DH-17 blaster pistol. The jedi looked at each others and then to the mercenary, bowing in respect for the Trandoshan's aid. After the mercenary left, the jedi turned to each others.

 

"So uncivilized..." the female muttered but the older man only smiled, heading for the door out of the docking spot. Before reaching the door, the master turned to his apprentice.

"You have spent too much time with Kenobi and his padawan. Blasters are useful when you wish to avoid the stamp of a jedi. And once you know how to handle them, they are quite more civilized than you think. Now let us seek those of our fellows who wished to meet us. They said to meet them in the Black Eye Cafe" the Vultan said and the Zelosian nodded, catching up with her master before they left the hangar and vanished into the crowds.

[Curt-Man]

The Black Eye Cafe. It was quite the place, always full of loud music and louder patrons. But Gordon stayed mostly quiet. He was there for two purposes, get a drink and meet some jedi. He couldn't believe He'd been able to connect with the, but he did. He was glad he found them though, because he knew if he hung around jedi, than he'd finally find some opponents that would be a challenge. He shifted his wieght and ordered another pint.

[Grace]

Shyla Ruf was running out of patience. She hated having to explain everything she was planning on doing while away from the ship and what made it worse is that it was an astromech droid demanding her explanations.

 

"For the last time, Artie, I am not going to get myself in trouble!" she exclaimed, tugging irritably on her shoulder-length blonde braid and glaring at the stuborn little R3 unit. It wheeled forward an inch and issued a flurry of beeps and whistles that Shyla only understood because she'd spent so much time with the droid.

 

"That was different!" she protested. "How was I supposed to know we'd been hired to transport spice and dealers? The job was cargo and passengers, no questions asked and a helluva paycheck."

 

The droid didn't seem convinced and made that very clear to Shyla. Her blue eyes widened in alarm.

 

"Don't you dare!" she exclaimed. "Last time you tried to check inside the cargo, you made a loading droid malfunction... it nearly destroyed the ship. No touch. Leave them alone to do their job."

 

With an indignant hoot, the droid wheeled its way back into the ship and Shyla breathed a small sigh of relief. "Should have memory wiped him years back," she muttered, heading into the station. She'd never been to the Wheel before, but she'd heard the Black Eye Cafe was a decent place for a little relaxation... and a very strong drink.

[Black Knight of Keno]

The jedi reached a doorway leading to the Black Eye Cafe. At least according to the sign above the door they had arrived at the right place. The female jedi looked at her master with a frown, not wishing to have anything to do with the lowlife scum inside but knowing too well that to survive she would have to. So the Vultan male was the first to go in, followed by his padawan only a moment later. Their matching armor was that of a long gone warrior race now passed on as a legend and fairytale which some people cashed in on by making accessories and armors according to the legends. Some looks were drawn to the pair walking to a small booth across the room from the entrance and sat down.

 

"Mas-" the female started before being interrupted by the male.

"We do not use those titles anymore. We are now ordinary people. Without an Order, there is no Jedi. The unorthodox is now our orthodox. You must come to that conclusion now more than ever, Charollus" the man said and the woman called Charollus Jali nodded before thinking her phrasing again.

"Ferod, don't you feel this is all a bit... Out of place?" she asked from the Vultan man named Ferod Lukom. The names were pronounced rarely, so it could take them while to get used to it.

"This is the place to hide. I have friends here that will stall the Empire as long as they can as soon as they know who they are searching for. And by what you mean with the Temple and the distress signal being converted into a hiding command, I do not know anymore. It is clear now that Palpatine was truly in the inner ring of Sidious. Maybe he himself was the Dark Lord, but confirmation of these will be hard to get. You heard the clones. They take orders from some Vader now. We'll just have to obey the command to hide and get rid of all out jedi accessories that could be tracked from within the temple" Ferod said and signed for a waitress droid to come over to the booth.

 

"Two blue milks, thank you" Ferod said once he saw his apprentice was quite dumbfounded of what to order in such a place.

"Who is this Gordon fellow then?" she asked once the droid was gone once more and Ferod shrugged in response. Their booth was silent until the droid came back with the milks and both jedi greeted before taking their glasses and sipping.

"Oh, I haven't had this good of blue milk since I visited Corellia" the man said and the woman only smiled while taking another sip. The woman seemed to be in her early 20s with the man in his mid-30s.

 

This intrigued a patron of the bar and he began approaching their booth. The Vultan man looked at his female companion and removed the safety from his blaster.

"Remember to only use your blaster as long as we are undercover" the man reminded her and the female nodded before taking more sips, nervous of the closing man. When the man was by the booth, he leaned onto the table and wobbled there eying the woman and glancing at the man until he saw the barrel of a blaster pointed at his crotch from such a distance the shot couldn't miss.

"Walk away" the Vultan said, causing the man to lift his hands up and backing away slowly. He rushed back to his seat at the bar and ordered another ale while the man holstered his blaster.

"I'll show you the tricks later. But for now, we need to meet up with Gordon and find some place to rest for a while. We need to leave this place as soon as possible but we still have time until the Star Destroyer comes around looking for us"

[Writer]

((Please do excuse me while I stretch my RP'ing muscles again... Tepe, you'd better follow this story through to its completion, 'cuz this is the only one I'm joining for now. Oh, and you know I'm gonna play a Jedi... or Jedi-ish character... ))

 

 

"Hand over gun and credits, little girl," a Trandoshan thug ordered, glaring down at the woman before him. She nearly two feet shorter than his seven-foot-tall height, but she did not seem to be intimidated in the least.

 

"I think not," she answered coolly. "You really want to walk away now."

 

The Trandoshan eyed her incredulously, examining her closely. There was no fear whatsoever in her ice-blue eyes and her arms hung loosely at her sides. Her clothing ever so slightly resembled the clothing of a bounty hunter. But there was something else in her eyes... a cold, hard determination such as the Trandoshan had never seen. Reluctantly, he turned and vanished into the crowd around them, who'd been paying absolutely zero attention to what had just happened.

 

"Run away, imbecile," the short woman growled softly, tugging thoughtfully on her waist-length raven black braid, which was draped over her right shoulder. "That's right, just run away."

 

Nodding in satisfaction, Niara Kyr, former Knight who'd been exiled from the Order before the fall of the Republic. For those few years, while the Clone Wars raged, she had found plenty to do, but then, the Emperor rose to power and Niara discovered that the Clones did not bother to determine if they were slaughtering Jedi, Dark Jedi, or those few who had mastered both sides of the Force. Indeed, it was her skill with both sides of the Force that had enabled her to live beyond her confrontation with the Clones.

 

As she forced thoughts of the Wars and Clones, Niara absent-mindedly brushed her left hand across a faint scar on her stomach... clones were good shots.

 

So much for trying to forget, she scolded herself. But this was neither the time nor the place to relive old memories. There were Jedi here and whether they needed Niara for anything or not, whether they liked her or not, she was going to be there, even if they hated her. So she entered the Black Eye Cafe, her hand subconsciously going to the blaster. She tapped the grip ever so slightly, reminding herself that her lightsaber was safely stowed away, out of sight in her boot.

 

But still within easy reach should anything go wrong.

[Black Knight of Keno]

The jedi had managed to gather most of their credits on the table, which was not much taking Jedi didn't usually have much money. Their hope was to empty as much of the Temple's emergency funds before it all could be confiscated by the Imperials. The man shook his head as he counted the credits. Just over a thousand credits and whatever they could gather by selling stuff they didn't need.

"You should go find the nearest bank. I know it's against the Jedi code to use the mind trick for personal gain, but we'll need to transfer any credits to our accounts as soon as possible. It's wither our survival or the Empire getting stronger on the Order's money" Ferod explained the situation with such terms that his padawan could understand the urgency of the matter. The female nodded, gulped down the rest of the milk and then stood up.

"I'll go see if I can find bank. Should I see if I can find a buyer for our ship?" she asked but Ferod shook his head. The fighter would be better than any other ship currently. It suit perfectly their needs with speed, firepower and mobility while cargo space wasn't that important to them.

 

So Carollus walked away from the booth while Ferod stayed behind waiting for Gordon to show himself and gather the money into one single pouch for convenience. On the way out, her shoulder pad, stretching way out from his shoulder, bumped into a woman just entering. Overreacting on her portrayal of a tough mercenary, she placed her hand where usually her lightsaber hung only to find a strange grip of a blaster there. After a very brief confusion, she grunted and left the scene hoping the woman hadn't noticed her portrayal gone wrong. Watching from the booth, Ferod chuckled to himself and shook his head quietly. It would take the woman a while to visit the bank, finish the transaction and then come back, so the Vultan found it to be quite refreshing to see an old student friend of his standing at the door.

 

They had been in the same youngling group way back before he had become Padawan to An'ya Kuro and so the two had departed ways. That is, until he attended the brief Council meeting where she was expelled from the Order. He wouldn't bother her, but if Niara was as observing as usually, she should see him quite clearly from the door even if the armor was weird looking on the man.

[Flamehart]

A lone mercenary sat at a table in the corner, briefly eyeing the two Jedi that had entered. His bright blue eyes darted about the room from beneath the locks of his long dark brown hair, sometimes resting on them to watch them. Though they were disguised, he had hunted Jedi before, and could easily sense their signatures that gave way to their identity. "Pheh," he mumbled to himself, deciding that he did not really care. He did not hunt Jedi or Sith for clients any longer. They had brought many troubles in his life, troubles he did not care to deal with any longer. He was one of the most competent mercenaries that had been hired by the Republic during the Clone Wars, and the war had forever let a scarring memory on his life. Jedi that he fought with, made friends with, were suddenly enemies, enemies that he was forced to, paid to, confront and kill. He stood now, a hint of his unknown, high-tech torso armor visible beneath the black coat he wore. He dropped the amount from the tab on the table, and quietly left.

 

As he left, he bumped into a patron on his way out, who was drunk. "..H..hey thereth buddy...you betta wath yourrr shtep ya hhear?" replied the drunk.

 

The man waved his hand. "Take your seat and bother me no further."

 

"I'll..uh..take my sheet and boffer you no furver..." the drunk said absentmindedly and sat back down, though with difficulty, almost falling over his own chair.

 

The mercenary was in no way a Force wielder, though in his time in the Clone Wars, the Jedi he served with had taught him how to briefly call upon his own Force sensitivity to aid him at times. Nothing big, after all, while all people were truly Force sensitive, many were on very minute levels that it just wasn't notable. He did not have a "gift," as far as he knew, but according to the Jedi, he was well powerful enough in it that he was able to face them with no difficulty. He remembered joking frequently with them about how unfortunate it would be if he were paid more by the other side. Ironic end, it happened to be.

 

Finally, the man found his way to the exit of the bar, avoiding the worthless patrons and making his way towards the door. He saw the Jedi standing just outside, and another Bounty Hunter. He could see it in her posture too. Another Jedi, however, much more cleverly done at hiding her appearance. He stayed within the shadow of the door leaned against the wall, listening briefly. He knew they would detect him sooner or later, however, that was the least of his worries.

[Writer]

Niara's sharp eyes took in every movement the younger 'Mercenary' girl, including her confusion at finding a blaster at her side. With a faint grimace of frustration, Niara looked around, intent on finding the girl's teacher. And there he was, just sitting there, looking at her as if it were the most natural thing in the galaxy to be doing. She had decided to approach him, but a couple of bounty hunters got in her way.

 

"Little Hunter Girl needs to go," one of them said. "Little Hunter Girl in our territory."

 

"Little Hunter Girl is thirty-seven standard years old," Niara answered harshly, "and she goes where she likes. Relax, boys, I'm here for a drink, not a job."

 

"Drink somewhere else, Little Hunter," the other hunter growled. "You're not welcome here."

 

"I'm not one to be pushed around," Niara answered levelly. "Stand down and go somewhere else. That's your final warning."

 

There was something in her eyes that frightened both hunters and they departed without a word. Satisfied, Niara made her way over to the man she'd seen watching her.

 

"It's been a long time, Ferod Lukom," she said softly. "And you're training someone... she's quite jittery at the moment, I must say."

[Black Knight of Keno]

The man looked quietly on as the woman approached and was stopped for a mere moment before continuing her way towards his booth again. As she arrived, he gulped down the rest of his blue milk and leaned back on his seat and turned his attention to Niara.

"She was and is loyal to the Order and everything else must take it's time to adjust to. She has never been on undercover missions like I have. She doesn't know how to act around thugs and has never even shot a blaster" he said and extended his arm over the table, inciting her to sit down on the opposite side.

 

"And when it comes to the jittery, it doesn't help that your own legion that you fought with and dedicated your life to is now hunting you down like a wild beast. If I didn't know what the clones looked like under the helmet and how they acted, I would be too. She's young and inexperienced" Ferod nodded and leaned closer to see her better.

"And how are you doing? You managed to avoid the Clone Wars rather well, no?"

[Writer]

Niara shrugged. "Since the Jedi wanted nothing to do with me, neither did the Republic," she answered. "I stayed well out of everybody's way and nobody cared what happened to me. Even clones who saw me ignored me... almost like it was programmed into them that I was worth nothing."

[Black Knight of Keno]

"Clones obey commands blindly. As long as you don't cause a scene, they will ignore you. Don't know about these new Stormtroopers thought. They might have a different code of conduct" Ferod said and shook his head.

"Be lucky you were ignored. If you were kept around and had fought with the clones, you would now be a corpse ambushed by your own troops. It was pure luck I and my apprentice had just left to investigate some suspicious CIS activity near Mandalore before getting a message to return to Coruscant. We decided to jump out of hyperspace mid-journey and punch in the coordinates for Coruscant. We arrived in time to see the Temple burn and then headed here even before someone changed the return call into a hiding one" Ferod sighed and looked around. He knew the Empire could have spies around, so he spoke with a slightly hushed voice.

 

"What we heard the clones around the temple say was that someone called Darth Vader was giving them orders. I do not know who this new Darth is, which is one of the many reasons why we are here. The other reasons include rest, anonymity and a man called Gordon that we were supposed to meet, yet I do not know which of the many mercenaries her is he" the man said and leaned back again.

[Writer]

Niara swore under her breath. "In my travels and my own battles, I have heard whispers of Vader," she said. "Only a few know anything about him and none of them will speak, not even with my... persuasion. However, I think my search has drawn some notice to me. I was also called here by Gordon." She sighed. "I do not think he realizes I was exiled."

 

She frowned. "Come to think of it, how the hell would he have even gotten my name? I'm unknown even to hunters... this Gordon must have lists of both Jedi an exiles... though where he got it, I am not sure..."

 

Her eyes darted to the door for just a moment and she froze as her gaze settled on the young woman just entering. Eyes widening, she said, "Oh, this could be a problem..."

[Grace]

((Joint post with WJ))

 

 

"Please excuse me for a moment, Ferod," Niara said quietly. "I have some unfinished business to attend to."

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Shyla stared at Niara, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. "Oh..." she muttered. But she was determined to ignore the exile until it became impossible to do so. She crossed the room, going to the counter and addressing the man standing there.

 

"My name is Shyla Ruf," she told him. "I've instructed the port authority to send potential passengers and cargo jobs here. They ask for me, point me out, will you?"

 

"Not sure I can manage," the man answered. "I'm terribly busy an' all..."

 

Shyla rolled her eyes and muttered, "They all want money..." Then, she dropped a credit chip on the counter and the man grinned, promising to do as she'd requested. But as she turned from him, she found herself face to face with Niara Kyr, the woman she'd wanted so desperately to avoid.

 

"Shyla," Niara greeted coolly.

 

"Niara," Shyla replied, in a rather less-level tone. "You... I... well, I didn't expect to see you again after..."

 

"After you discovered what I am and left me to die on a rock without a name?" Niara challenged.

 

"It wasn't like that!" Shyla protested. "Sure you being a..."

 

Niara interrupted. "Bounty hunter..."

 

"... scared me," Shyla finished. She frowned, her mind working on overdrive to attempt to recover from Niara's interruption. "Thought maybe you'd come hunting for me... after all, I'm not exactly..."

 

"I know your past," Niara interrupted. "So you thought CorSec would send a hunter after you? Don't give yourself airs. Sure, you stole an R3 and a ship but you're gone and that's what they wanted. But the way I see it, you owe me big now... now that I've found you again. You still have the ship, I know. Don't try to deny it."

 

"How the hell do I owe you?" Shyla demanded irritably. "You're alive, aren't you?"

 

"That's not the point," Niara snapped. "I saved your life, helped you escape CorSec and your thanks was a trip to a dead rock with no atmosphere."

 

"Why did you help me?" Shyla asked, her attitude changing suddenly from fear to near-anger. "Why keep me alive?"

 

"Because I had to," Niara answered gently. "It's part of my nature that if I can help and I know it's right..."

 

"Was it right?" Shyla asked, almost as if begging for a negative answer.

 

"Absolutely right," Niara replied. She wrapped her arm around the taller woman's waist. "Come. You need to meet a friend of mine. Perhaps we can find a use for you."

 

She led Niara over to the table where Ferod sat. "Ferod Lukom, this is an acquaintance of mine, Shyla Ruf. Ex-CorSec, dishonorably discharged due to her superiors' ignorance, stole a ship and a droid with my help. Now, she's a mercenary. Shyla, this is an old friend of mine, Ferod Lukom."

 

"Great," Shyla muttered. "I try to stay out of trouble and stay away from Corellia... managed one of the two." She glared at the Jedi and the exile. "You'd better not be expecting me to fly you to Corellia."

 

Niara seemed greatly amused. "Shyla owes me a great deal," she told Ferod. "If we need a quick escape from this place, she's going to provide it for us."

[Black Knight of Keno]

The man nodded quietly as Niara left and raised his hand for the waitress droid to bring another blue milk. He was in deep thought about the situation. They couldn't stay longer than two days. That is if the Empire sent Vader. If they would send just a bunch of Clones, they could barely fall asleep tonight before the Star Destroyer jumped into the system. He had briefly spoken with Yoda after tracking him down to Bail Organa's ship. The small green thing had hinted of a sect of Senators truly loyal to the Republic and that he should find as many of the Loyalist Committee as he could. They could help him while he could continue a fight for the Republic. Of course, there was no rebellion brewing yet, but you never know what the presence of a Jedi will do to a cause. One name special to Ferod was the mention of Mon Mothma, who he and his master had once protected on a diplomatic mission before the Clone Wars. Then Niara and Shyla walked over to the table. At the same time the waitress droid came over and slid the glass of blue milk onto the table.

 

"We just return from Corellia. No need to take us back" Ferod said and took a sip of milk. He again extended his arm to show them to sit down before a beep came from the man's utility belt. Taking out a comlink, he leaned back on his seat again.

"Ferod, it's done. I emptied most of the funds from everywhere but the emergency funds. The others may need it more than we do"

"Good. Return here and I'll introduce you to two... possible friends" Ferod said ad shut the comlink off, looking at the women.

 

"We were in the middle of something I believe. Oh yes. About this Gordon fellow. He must have one of the older lists of Jedi from before the Clone Wars. Some of them have been found on the black market for anyone to buy. He won't know who left, who was expelled and who turned to the Dark Side during the War" Ferod said to Niara before looking at Shyla.

"And I doubt you will have to fly us anywhere. I have my own ship that I blieve is much more able than yours, whatever yours may be"

[Flamehart]

From where he was, Viktor could see where Carollus left to find the bank. He decided now would be the ideal time to approach her, and find out some more information regarding the Jedi's plans. He made his way quickly to cut distance between the two, but waited for her to make a turn alone down an alley by her own lost hoping before approaching her silently from behind.

 

"Hold it right there, Jedi," he said, withdrawing his blaster on the girl. "You're here with another Jedi. What is your business here? We don't need you dragging Republic affairs to our peaceful hideaway," he said glaring at her. She could tell in his eyes that he was able to see through her and her master's disguises. Now, while Viktor's intentions for holding her up were not true, as he did not truly care what happened to this sector of the world, he needed an excuse for stopping her to get the information from her.

[Grace]

Shyla glared at Ferod. "Don't be slammin' my ship," she growled. "Me an' Artie have spent years on that thing... brought her from a hunk o' junk to something that only looks like junk... and will send space dust in the face of any ship of the same size and a few larger and smaller ships too."

[Black Knight of Keno]

Carollus turned, removing the straps covering her lightsaber. As her hand rested on the lightsaber hilt she looked around. The alley was dimly lit, taking it was some sort of passage usually used only by personnel of the Wheel. That is where her race's setbacks in dark vision kicked in. She couldn't figure out much even in dim light, so she resorted to using force vision to at least see a colorless sight of the man now in front of her.

'Well this was a good idea. Cut a few minutes from the trip by taking an alley and this happens' she thought while still resting her hand on her lightsaber hilt.

 

"You're mistaken badly, mercenary. There is no Republic anymore. Neither are there any Jedi. Only remnants of a Republic and enemies of the Empire" she noted and took a step back.

"We are here in the search of a mercenary called Gordon. He was supposed to meet us at Black Eye, but nobody has identified himself as him. You wouldn't happen to know the man, would you?"

 

---

 

Meanwhile Ferod chuckled and looked at Shayla with curiosity in his eyes.

"I still have doubts your ship could outfly, outmaneuver or outgun my ship. I and my apprentice have been working on it since the first ARC-170s came into service. Completely redone model with nothing but the hull still in stock form if the new paint scheme isn't counted" the Vultan said and took a drink of his milk without looking away from the woman.

 

"I would be willing to bet all my credits that I and my ship could do the Kessel Run, which seems to be popular amongst the smugglers these days, under twelve parsecs" he said with a smug smile before turning to Niara.

"Why do you have ties with a CorSec operative? I would think that you were more likely on their hit list than on their friends list" he noted, even if he hadn't been told who exactly Shayla was. At times like these it payed off to have been the apprentice of the slightly paranoid Dark Woman.

[Writer]

((Joint post with Grace))

 

 

"Ex-CorSec," Niara corrected. "And you're right... I am on their hit list. So as it turns out, the connection was mutually beneficial. I saved her from being shot when she stole her ship; she took me with her... for a brief trip, anyway." She frowned darkly at Shyla. "And she still hasn't apologized for that..."

 

"Well, I'm sorry if an exiled Jedi got me jittered," Shyla hissed, careful to keep her voice low. "Yeah, you saved my life, but I've known Jedi before... and I've heard stories of exiles. I couldn't take the chance that you were..."

 

"Unfriendly," Niara completed. "You might have at least dropped me off on a genuine planet. That would have freed you from the situation you find yourself in now."

 

"And what situation is that?" Shyla demanded. "So far as I know, you have no legal binding contract with me. If I decide I'm not going to do anything for you, there's nothing you can do about it."

 

"True," Niara agreed. "However, you want to help. I can feel your guilt. You regret leaving me behind. Now, you're presented with a situation in which you can redeem yourself, but you play hard to get because you're afraid I hold a grudge against you."

 

"If you don't, you sure play a grudge well," Shyla grumbled. Niara smiled faintly.

 

"I only confronted you in the way you wanted to be confronted," she said. "You felt guilty and you wanted justification. But the guilt is not yours, Shyla. Let it go."

 

"Can't do that," Shyla protested. "You may not hold grudges... still not convinced of that, by the way... but I have a mind so sharp I can't forget anything... and I can't..." She sighed. "I'm sorry, Niara. I just can't let it go. And that's why I can't stay."

 

"I won't stop your departure," Niara said. "But I know you'll be back."

 

A mixture of several emotions flooded Shyla's face and she stood, prepared to move to a seperate table. But then, she sat right back down.

 

"Redemption, huh?" she asked. "Could use a little less guilt on my head." With a reluctant sigh, she finished, "Alright, Niara, Ferod. Tell me how I can help."

[Flamehart]

The man lowered his blaster. "No, I haven't. However, I know of the recent changes in the Republic to the Empire. I fought in the wars beside you Jedi. What are your intentions after meeting this Gordon?" he asked.

[Black Knight of Keno]

Ferod looked at the little scene unfold in front of him and leaned back, drinking his blue milk with a raised eyebrow and a smile on his lips. As the conversation between the two women continued, he reached to his belt and took out the amount of credits he needed to pay for the milks. When the question came, he finally turned back to the women after a glance to the door.

"Well it would be nice to know who this Gordon is who we came here to meet and which of these patrons in this bar is he" Ferod said and called the droid around again to bring the check.

"But it would be great to know what's keeping Carollus for so long"

 

---

 

Carollus removed her hand from her lightsaber and looked at the man.

"Leaving, unless the Empire gets here before that and forces the security to fetch us for them to kill" the jedi said and approached the man with a smile. As she came closer, her hand went up to his arm and up for the man's shoulder. A seducing smile danced on her lips as well.

"You know, I'm not a jedi anymore. I'd love to be... protected by such a strong and handsome man" she lured him, walking close to the man and leaning for his ear. She knew that her kind weren't compatible with humans, but she was still counting on the lure of a female body. That way she might be able to catch him when he's off guard and extract some information from him instead

[Flamehart]

The man could only laugh and smile in response. "Is this some new form of Jedi Mind Trick?" he said, brushing her off lightly, no intention of hurting or harming her. He stepped back, just to give himself some breathing room. She could tell her advance had not bothered him, as he was a man, he was also a hardened warrior, and even in such a situation, preferred to have some room to maneuver should things go sour.

 

He leaned against the wall and looked at her, "Go on, get it out. What do you want to know? I have nothin' to hide. I'm not working for anyone and holding any secrets that your creative theatrics would have to persuade out of me," he said.

[Black Knight of Keno]

Carollus was obviously disgruntled because of the man just brushing her off rather coldly and backing away. She looked around and moved her hair off from her face.

"Fine..." she grumbled while stepping back herself.

"Ferod is much more better at thinking up these things. I guess first of all would be how do you know I am a jedi and second, do you know who we are looking for?" she asked, assuming the mercenaries would know each others rather well. How should she know any better anyhow. All the experience she had was from frontline warfare and what jedi teachings she had received since the war began

[Flamehart]

"Only heard of him. Beats me out on a few jobs sometimes, but other than that, I've got nothing personal on him and I don't know him other than as a name," he answered regarding the mercenary.

 

"First of all, that lightsaber," he commented, now addressing how he knew. "Second of all, your posture, the way you carry yourself. You have an air of superiority around you," he added. He continued, "That, and I saw your master, as much better as he is at hiding, he has a familiar look, like someone I might have served temporarily with during the war," he paused, then addressed the final reason. "Finally, I can sense Jedi. Your fellow Jedi taught me many tricks during the Clone Wars, one of which was how to, on a level, detect Force sensitivity amongst others. That about wraps it up," He finished explaining.

 

"Now where exactly are you going? Perhaps I can offer you this protection you asked for, and maybe both of us will benefit in the end, that way you don't run around here totally clueless," he offered at last.

[Curt-Man]

((Sorry I Haven't been posting, the thread keeps telling em there has only been two posts, which is why I haven't been checking it))

 

Gordon finally realizing that the jedi had come in got up and walked over to them.

"My table is over there, I'll join you guys in a sec." Gordon said as he went to the men's room. Apon his return he sat down comfortably in his booth. "Sorry 'bout that, didn't realize you guys came in until you started drawing a crowd." Gordon said to all of them. "I'm Gordon as you know, so I'm suprised you guys wanted to meet with me, so what's up? Galaxy saving quest?" Gordon said then detected a look fo confusion on their faces. "Did you want to meet with me or were we both set up...?" He suggested, being the step ahead thinker he was, on occasion.