Ask Lothal Burning Everything You Touch

[Maxims Tionson]

Lothal had done well for itself since the downfall of the Empire and one of the biggest improvements to most people was the fact that they had managed to build a giant spaceport close to the outskirts of the capital city. Max, personally, didn't rate the planet and it was only slightly because of the ghosts of the old Temple that had damned near killed him that one time.

Mostly he just didn't like it because, being in the Outer Rim, it was rife with crime. Most of it went on behind the scenes but there was a minor Hutt here and that just stank of corruption and crime. Sure it might have been a stereotype but he knew that, in this case, it was one that had been proven to be correct. The local Hutt was buying slaves from his least favorite bounty hunter.

Which meant it was time to wreck some of his toys.

Namely the three yachts the Hutt had brought to the system when he'd arrived. They were up on one of the higher levels of the spaceport and they were, if rumours were to be believed, rather lightly guarded. When you were dealing with a Hutt they tended to have the local population so browbeaten that it was clear that they didn't need too much muscle. Unfortunately for the Hutt in question, he was from out of town and hadn't gotten the memo that he needed to be absolutely terrified of the Hutt and his boogymen.

He turned back to Larana.

"Ready to make life hard for Tabouil?"

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Larana Basai]

Their trip from Ryloth to Lothal and seemed a silent eternity, though in truth it had only taken them a couple of days. Larana had done her best to avoid Max, for fear that he might view her as a burden or feel obligated to teach her in her Masters absence. In fact, she was surprised that, after their almost disaster on Ryloth, that he had allowed her to continue on this assignment with him and she didn’t want him to regret his decision.

She had questions though, that he hadn’t yet answered. What was his purpose in allowing their target to escape and why hadn’t they followed him? Why were they now targeting his clients and why weren’t they being more direct? Larana didn’t have a lot of experience in dealing with the Hutts, but she knew enough to know that destroying their ships was a very bold move.

“Of course I’m ready.” She caught up to him as they made their way through the crowded spaceport, remaining close so that she would not fall behind or become lost. From what she had been told, the target ships were on one of the higher levels, meaning they were still a few minutes out.

“He seemed really upset when you showed up to his camp. I hope it isn’t too bold of me to ask because I know it isn’t really my business, but I’m curious. How exactly did you ruin his reputation with the Trandoshans?” She looked up at him for the first time since they had arrived on Lothal, somewhat nervous for his response.

 

[Nima Deleste]

.

Lothal was the third different planet Nima has been on, and once again she was not impressed. "First a giant disgusting city, then a destroyed city in a desert, and now a random spaceport in somewhat of a desert." she thought to herself. However, Nima was once again being offered a good sum of money to be a guard, this time for a Hutt. She stood nearby the Hutt in some sort of living room, while the other guards were located outside of the room and guarding his ships. The Hutt was enjoying his time with a few female Twi'lek slaves; Nima was probably told to stay in the room because of her appearance as well. The Hutt would occasionally try and persuade Nima to join in with the slaves but she would just ignore his enticements.

Being in the room for so long made Nima begin to feel flustered as she had to hear the sounds of presumably naked Twi'leks. Without a word, she stepped out of the room and had one of the front guards take over her spot, while she went for a short walk. Nima was paid for two jobs this time around, protect the Hutt and his belongings; she wasn't exactly aware of what classified as his belongings. However, she did know the three yachts probably had something to do with it. She made her way over to the top floor to check them out. All three ships were beautifully crafted, although Nima didn't expect much less. She wondered how much each one cost as she began to inspect each one from the outside.

 

[Maxims Tionson]

She had questions, he knew, and she had done well to keep them to herself for the most part. But even her patience had limits it seemed. He couldn't fault her for curiosity however so as they walked through the spaceport he eyed her for a moment before deciding to be more forthcoming.

"I showed him up as an honourless and skill-less cur in front of some." he admitted before adding, "I also cut my way through a Trandoshan elder/council member to force him to accept my right to command him and his to stop the support of slavery of wookies."

It had been quite the week.

As they ascended to the highest level of the spaceport he spoke again in the lift. The other passengers had taken a mild mind trick to be convinced that the lift was full with just the two of them in it.

"He has just recently arrived to do business with the local Hutt - he has sold him a slave." he snarled slightly at this, "Her name is Vinchenza and we shall be defacing the Hutt's yachts with her name and then cutting their moorings. They'll crash to the planet below and the Hutt will know it was all due to Tabouil and buying Zygerrian slave product."

Max didn't trust the goodness in the hearts of people who bought slaves - he trusted in their greed and their pride. How did you make a Hutt stop buying slaves? You made it too costly for him to do it.

He stepped out onto the floor required and passed the padawan a fusion cutter to write the name.

"Keep an eye out for guards and act like you belong here. If anything tries to stop us, let me do the talking."

@MatureContentWarningx @sayso

 

[Larana Basai]

It appeared that Max and Tabouil had quite a history of conflict compacted into a short span of time. Larana decided it was best not to press the matter further by asking him any more questions, though a part of her did feel conflicted about the vandalism. It seemed criminal, though their intentions were honest, and potentially opened the doors for even more conflict. Would this begin a war of endless retaliation? She didn't want to think about it, and it wasn't her place to question Max's motives – she was just a student of the Jedi Order, not even considered yet for her trials.

The lift came to a stop on one of the upper levels, metal gears grinding as the doors slid open. She took the fusion cutter and held it tight in her fist, giving Max a single nod of her head to show that she understood his direction. "I can do that." Stepping from the lift, her attention was drawn to three large ships that sat on mooring towers, suspended several hundred feet above the planet surface. It would be a task to reach them so they could be defaced, but not impossible.

"I'll take the one on the right and we can meet at the center. I don't think that blending in will be too much of a problem. It seems he doesn't care too much about his ships, or they'd be guarded more heavily."

@Nefieslab @sayso

 

[Nima Deleste]

.

After admiring the yachts for a moment, Nima received a transmission on her commlink "All guards, we just received a notification from that slave trader that there may be some trouble makers that follow. So far nothing has been suspicious but just don't be sitting on yer ass, m'kay?" Based on the transmission, Nima assumed that if any foes were to arrive they were most likely coming for the slaves in the Hutt's room. So, she turned around and began walking towards the elevator, until she noticed that the elevator had come back up again.

Nima recalled hearing the elevator go back down a little bit after she had stepped off. There were other people besides the guards on the floor, but the top floor wasn't necessarily packed. Although more people arriving weren't exactly suspicious, Nima but couldn't help but feel like she should stay on the top floor. She looked around for a moment to see if there were any individuals that she did not notice before, and that is when a man with an eyepatch caught her eye. There was a chance that it was just some random individual, but Nima didn't want to take any risk. Out from within her cape came out P.o.TC, and Nima ordered it to just survey the man from a safe distance. Nima would try her best to keep her eyes on the individual while also continuing to look around the surrounding area for anything else suspicious.

@Nefieslab @MatureContentWarningx

 

[Maxims Tionson]

It was more a case of the Hutt knowing that no one local would dare to mess with him but he didn't correct her. There was no reason to since all it would do would make her feel slightly more self conscious and look over her shoulder. If he told her she would be on guard but, well, he didn't know her skills well enough to know that if she was alerted to potential danger that she wouldn't suddenly have tells that made her look far more suspicious.

Keeping an eye out (even in his own mind he made dad jokes and it was the true sign of his age) for anyone paying any particular amount of attention to him, he head across the floor. He made a beeline for the yacht he was targetting because he didn't want to look like he was wandering.

He wouldn't be wandering, he would be a man striding with purpose, which often got overlooked more than most would assume. Reaching the edge of the ship he smiled brightly at a guard.

"Hi there! I'm here to touch up the paint work."

He waved his hand casually as he spoke and pushed with the Force. The guard's mind bent upon request and the guard relaxed and stepped to one side to let him past.

"You're here to touch up the paint work."

Max smiled and patted the man on the shoulder as he passed.

"Exactly. Keep up the good work."

@MatureContentWarningx @sayso

 

[Larana Basai]

There was a brief moment where one of the guards was occupied with Max, which she took as an opportunity to slip by unnoticed; she hoped. It was all she could do to walk like she belonged there, with the hope that no one would question her presence. Larana was good at blending in; it had been a talent that she had discovered in her youth as a runaway. It was fortunate though, that talent only carried her so far or else she may still be on Andara, surviving on petty crime and thievery – those hadn’t been her proudest moments.

The fusion cutter was clasped tightly in her hand, held parallel to her side so as to casually conceal it from anyone who may have been watching her. Her pace was purposeful, but not rushed, and she made it a habit to acknowledge her surroundings so as not to seem too intent in her reason for being there. No one had appeared to notice her thus far, and the ladder that led up the mooring tower wasn’t more than a few yards away.

In her approach, she did made note of the long beam that ran lengthwise down the ship, as well as any other ways in which she could access the beam in case someone did take notice and the ladder became disabled or blocked. It wasn’t her intention to become trapped atop the tower in the event that anything didn’t go exactly according to plan.

There was a small part of her that worried too, as she approached the base of the ladder now, that she’d be questioned and have nothing to say, literally. Max had been clear in his instruction for her to remain silent and let him do the talking, but three huge ships separated them. Could she pretend to be mute? That sounded absolutely absurd.

@Nefieslab @sayso

 

[Nima Deleste]

.

Looking around, Nima noticed a blonde girl carrying something in her hands; she would have overlooked it until she saw the girl walking towards a ladder. Before she made a move, Nima's droid informed her that the man from before was heading towards one of the Yachts. Nima immediately activated her commlink "Two suspicious people in the top floor, one is heading towards the yacht and the other seems to be doing the same. Short blonde girl and an older man with an eyepatch" After notifying the other guards, Nima quickly readjusted her droid to survey the entire area to see if there were more than just two intruders.

Nima decided the other guards could handle the girl since she was not nearing a yacht yet, but when she looked up a bit she saw that the older man had already reached the yacht. "Did he take out the guard already?" she thought to herself. Using the force, Nima enhanced her body to quickly make her way towards the man. Nearing her mark, Nima used the force once again to create a quick burst of speed; it would almost sound thunderous on the top floor. Immediately stopping a few feet behind the old man, Nima spoke out with her monotone voice "What are you doing?" She looked over as one of her fellow guards was simply just standing there as if nothing was happening.

@Nefieslab @MatureContentWarningx

 

[Maxims Tionson]

The Force was humming.

Usually this was something that happened, a sensation he observed, when he was using the Force or if someone close to him was. He was able to shake the feeling only because he was convinced that it was merely residue from him using the mindtrick on the guard.

Of course the next use of the Force was loud, flashy and rather ill-trained in his opinion.

He turned his head a slight amount to eye the woman with his one eye before turning back away from her without a word. Instead he picked up the fusion cutter and began to deface the yacht as he spoke to her.

"I'm showing the Hutt you serve that there are consequences to buying slaves from Zygerrians." he shrugged, "Bad for business one might say. Be a good little pet and run along and tell him."

Despite his show of dismissal, his right hand was on the hilt of his saberstaff ready to be used and hidden from direct sight from the woman by his cloak. The Force, he drew in on himself, ready to enhance himself both physically and beyond, depending on her reaction to his blunt statement. He was expecting some kind of immediate reaction and he knew how to provoke it.

"Good little doggy."

@MatureContentWarningx @sayso

 

[Larana Basai]

Surprisingly, she found very little opposition; her presence didn’t seem to draw any unwanted attention, but the same could not be said for Max. He was just visible from her position, high up on the mooring tower, engaged with a rather odd-looking woman, though she couldn’t hear what either was saying. Larana trusted that he had things under control, but kept them in her line of sight, prepared to step in if things didn’t go as planned. Things rarely went as planned.

The fusion cutter made easy work of the ships hull, warping, and burning the metal will little resistance. It didn’t take Larana more than a minute to write the woman’s name across the side as tall as her short stature would allow – surely large enough that the Hutt would think twice about making purchases from Zygerrian slavers in the future.

It would already cost him a small fortune to repair the damage, and they hadn’t even cut the ships loose. It was unlikely they would survive a fall from several stories.

“That’s one down.” Larana noted in a hushed tone, making her way across the metal beam that connected the two towers together, careful to not lose her balance.

The closer she got, the clearer the pinkish figure had become. She noted several of her features; the marking on her forehead, the black band that held her hair back, and the intense color of her skin that made her hard to lose track of. It must have been hard to work as a criminal when you were basically incandescent. The idea of it was rather amusing.

@Nefieslab @sayso

 

[Nima Deleste]

.

Nima noticed the man holding something with his right hand, but couldn't exactly tell what it was. However, it was clearly a weapon. Nima was already standing a good enough distance away for any average-sized melee weapon to not reach her, so it would be extremely easy to take care of the man. Ignoring the old man's pointless comments. Nima reached her hand out a way to use the force to crush the fusion cutter in the man's hand however, she did notice he had a strange aura around him; the man was clearly another force user. With the fusion cutter destroyed, Nima no longer cared for the man; if he wanted to continue defacing the ship he would have to use the force to do so while leaving his partner to be attacked.

Taking ten to twelve steps back incase the man lunged towards her, Nima reached her hand towards her earpiece "The old guy is being handled with. Blonde-haired woman is still on the other side attempting to damage one of the Hutt's yachts." There were a few responses from other guards, and a few were already on their way to the top floor. Nima reached into her robe to take out her lightsaber, which she ignited; the surrounding area would be lit by a purple glow. Looking at the man's eyepatch, and then back towards his other eye, Nima spoke with her bland voice: "Old and missing an eye. Just go get your friend and get out of danger before you or she gets hurt even worse."

@Nefieslab @MatureContentWarningx

 

[Maxims Tionson]

So she had chosen to make it difficult - very well.

When she reached out with the Force to crush the fusion cutter he let her because he reacted differently. Spinning on the spot slightly, he thrust his now empty hand at her, sending a strong Force Push directly at her while she was busy trying to destroy the fusion cutter. The attack would travel across the short distance between her before she would be able to fully change her focus and even with partial blocking she would be staggered.

He completed he turn to face her, both blades of his saberstaff snapping to life as he stood in front of her. She hadn't gotten the chance to say something since he had so rudely interrupted her with the Force attack. But he could still see her properly now and he could note the Force and the lightsaber.

His eye narrowed.

"Padawan you're serving evil within this Galaxy. Do you not feel their suffering through the Force as you stand by and allow it to happen? You can't be so deadened to the Force that you don't feel it."

That, after all, wasn't how the Force worked.

People connected to it could feel the emotions of those around them as clearly as they could feel the Force itself. For someone to be able to stand by as slaves were tormented and wallowed in abject misery... it said something about the person sensing it. It said something about how they felt about others.

Even as he spoke he stood ready to respond to her with Force or saber if needed. Did he want to fight her? No. Would he fight her if she made it necessary?

Absolutely.

He refused to kill those who stood against him but he was no pacifist, no silent coward who would not draw his blade to defend his ideals. No, he was a Jedi Master and he would stand as such.

@MatureContentWarningx @sayso

 

[Larana Basai]

Their brief confrontation drew her attention and she paused, high up on the beam, over them. Larana crouched, hand rested on the hilt of her lightsaber, eyes following the pinkish woman as she ignited her own after crushing the fusion cutter that Max had held. It was quite clear from her display that she was attuned to the force, but her loyalties didn’t lie with the Jedi Order; that was a shame. Though, there wasn’t any time to mourn her loss.

It was apparent that the two of them had almost run out of time and, with Max occupied, that left the completion of their task up to her. She had no doubts in his ability to hold his own while she released the ships from their holdings, but she’d need to be fast.

Larana stood, moving quick across the beam, careful not to lose her balance – it was unlikely she’d survive a fall from such heights if the yachts couldn’t.

Her hand followed along the smooth side of the ship, using it to brace herself as she moved towards their moorings. It shouldn’t take her long to each one, so long as their neon nemesis remained occupied and her reinforcements weren’t too quick to answer her call. Perhaps luck would be her friend today and the Hutt would be woefully unprepared for an attach of this nature.

@Nefieslab @sayso

 

[Nima Deleste]

.

Nima was surprised by the sudden use of the force, and staggered back quite a ways. She stared at the man for a moment, but once he began talking she continued to notify the other guards via her commlink. After speaking, she rested her hand on her lightsaber and turned her back towards the man "I don't know what a padawan is, and I'm a Zeltron, of course, I can feel their suffering; much more than you can. It doesn't matter though, life is forever unfair. For someone to be happy means that someone is sad. For someone to prosper means that someone has to be deprived."


Pausing briefly, Nima looked over towards the elevator where a group of four guards just exited; some began shooting at the girl standing on the beam while others made their way to her position, though it would take them a decent amount of time. Nima then took her hands off her lightsaber before turning her head back towards the older man, "I assume you're the master and she's the student. No point in fighting you then, even if you accomplish your goal you will automatically lose if you're precious student is taken away from you." Nima just stood still casually waiting to see what the older man would do.

@Nefieslab @MatureContentWarningx

Spoiler: OOC

I apologize for the late response, university started recently and I've been having to fill out a bunch of paperwork, setting up loans, and etc. I should be more active from now

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Was it a competition? She could feel their suffering more than him so... she was even closer to the yawning pit of apathy than he had thought before. It was strange to see just what some people thought they should take pride in. Taking pride in her ability to feel suffering, actively work to continue it and defend it? That was kind of messed up.

"Spare me your teenage-level of nihilism." he told her bluntly, "You're not nearly half as insightful or wise as you believe. Merely... apathetic and pathetically lost without knowing it."

She was a rather pitiful young woman in terms of morality.

While she was looking to the guards, he ignored them in favor of deactivating the magnetic clamps that held the yacht to the dock with a movement of the activation switch. He walked toward it, one of the blades of his lightsaber passing through it even as the yacht began it's descent to the ground below.

Without power or shields it would crumple into nothing upon impact.

"She's not my student." he told her with a shrug as he walked away from her, "And she's better trained than you, let alone some slave soldiers. Either leave or try and actually stop me, little girl, because I am not free to give you a lecture today."

He didn't ignore her though, he kept his senses on the Force even as he walked away from her.

@MatureContentWarningx @sayso

 

[Larana Basai]

Larana pulled her hand away only seconds before the ship made it's descent to the planet surface, sending debris in all directions upon impact. It would be quite an unsettling display for their target, though she hardly had the time to admire their efforts; there was still more to be done.

It seemed their blinding neon friend had invited more unwanted guests, their attention and weapons drawn on her. This wouldn't have been a problem, except for her unfortunate position and lack of cover high up on the mooring tower. It was not a height that she would want to fall from though, admittedly, she had survived worse.

Drawing the hilt of her lightsaber and igniting the beam in one swift motion, she deflected the first round of shots back towards the small group of guards near the elevator. There was a momentary pause which Larana took as an opportunity to drop down to one of the lower beams closer to the ladder.

"Too scared to fight your own battles, Bubblegum?" She called out to the unsightly woman as she moved across the lower beam towards the ladder. "Too worried the Hutt wouldn't want you around anymore if you only had one eye?"

@Nefieslab @sayso

Spoiler: OOC

Sorry for the shorter post. I'm not feeling so great today, but didn't want to keep anyone waiting!

 

[Nima Deleste]

.

Nima found it a bit ironic that another old man who thinks he is wise is lecturing her. "You must be a Jedi. My father told me about your people. He was correct in saying you guys get frustrated when people disagree. Said you guys claim to be peacemakers and diplomatic; I find it ironic." She turned her head back around right after the man deactivated the magnetic clamps. She rushed to the edge of the walkway as she watched it make its descent.

Changing her focus between the eyepatch and the other eye, as Nima was unsure where to look, she gave a blank stare once again and let her monotone voice reach out to him for the last time "Luckily for you my contract doesn't mention anything about fighting. Just protecting the ships. Make sure you escape; the thought of hunting you and your student for a bounty excites me." With a small head nod, Nima jumped over the railing and landed on a platform a few stories below, using the force to amplify her body and protect her from the fall. Using the force, she would slow down the yacht's descent and use all of her energy to place it into a nearby hangar bay. After minimizing damage to the first yacht, she began jumping from different beams in an attempt to save the second yacht.

@Nefieslab @MatureContentWarningx

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Oh goody.

An edgy teenager who didn't see the point in 'stuffy Jedi teachings' and how they 'totally understood the lies of the Jedi' or some such. If it hadn't been something he'd heard a lot of in the past he would have rolled his eyes. These days it had rolled all the way back around to being amusing honestly.

"You mistake my emotions young one. I'm not frustrated or upset about your worldview - I'm bored of it. Heard it too many times in the past I'm afraid."

Truly an indictment of the Galactic schooling system or how much holovids pushed the idea... or something. He wasn't really going to be paying much more mind to it now. He smiled a little bit as he caught her looking between the eye and the eye patch, uncertain where to actually look.

It happened a lot.

"In future - focus between the eyes. Makes it feel less awkward for everyone." he advised her with a shrug, "I've still got my mission to engage in I'm afraid."

Hence why he watched as she tried to stop the first yacht he had caught - tried being the operative word since he reached out with the Force to counter her attempts. Rather than fighting her for control, he merely waited for her to attempt to dock it before breaking those docking clamps as well.

Much less work than attempting to lift a yacht that weighed several hundred tonnes and it would crash into the ground as she was attempting to move to the second. While she was moving, he focused on moving to the third yacht. He blocked a few stray shots from a couple of guards before squeezing his left hand, pulling both men together violently so that they crashed into each other before falling to the ground.

Not dead though they would need assistance later.

@MatureContentWarningx @sayso

 

[Larana Basai]

A momentary pause offered her the opportunity to find her way back to the main level, dropping down from one of the lower beams as Max took out two of the guards. The remaining two stumbled back in anticipation of being thrown together as well, but Larana took advantage of their backward movement instead and extended her hand to push both of them into the elevator that stood open behind them.

The force of the impact caused one guard to crumble to the floor unconscious and, as the other worked to pick himself up, she pulled the doors closed in front of him. That solved her problem, for now at least.

Larana found her way back to Max as he was working on the third yacht, realizing now that their friend had made an exit to chase after the ships. It was a fruitless endeavor, but she liked the idea of watching her bounce from beam to beam in an attempt to save the second ship.

Max was already busy moving the third ship, taking advantage of the woman's distraction, and so she took over breaking the docking clamps for the second. The metal screeched and moaned as it began its descent to the planets surface, falling loose from the mooring towers.

She kept her distance from the edge, ready to counter any attempts their pink 'friend' made to save them.