Caf and Consequences

[Darth Kravos]

Kal relaxed a bit when he heard her respond, glad to know that they were still relatively safe. He pushed himself up to sit just as a sandwich came flying to hit him in the face and fall into his lap. Despite the pain he was still in, he was actually in a remarkably better mood now that he wasn't worried about dying. He let out a sigh and thanked her for the sandwich and grabbed the bottle of water, guzzling it greedily.

He finally paused and unwrapped the sandwich as she told about her experience out there, face twisting into an almost pained and embarrassed expression as he realized how new of a world this was to her. They're pigs. Most of the people in these underlevels are, he said, not offering an explanation for how he knew so much about this place. He did manage a grin as she mentioned nearly hitting him. He would have deserved it for sure.

He waved off her apology moments later. It's fine. Battles are... stressful. They certainly don't bring out the patient side of me, either. Was that your first real fight? he asked, already fairly sure he knew the answer. Give her a few more and she may not have quite the aversion to killing. He wasn't sure if he should try to break her of that idealistic worldview now or preserve that innocence as long as he could.

After another long pause he sighed and added, You'll... get used to it.... kinda. Not that it was ever fully adjusted to, but the coping mechanisms would kick in eventually and the potential bad habits that Jedi really shouldn't have. But once you're in a real battle - if there are even enough of us left for one anymore - you just... can't let it all get to you. There's the fiery rage of Exiles, and you just have to be... passive. Even when you kill it's not... personal, he said.

Even as he said it, realized this may have been opening himself up to another lecture. But maybe if you can get through this war without killing then you're already a better Jedi than me, he quickly added, an element of truth slipping through. He didn't believe that everyone was going to get through this war with clean hands. Thank you for patching me up, he said with a smile, trying to show that he didn't bear her any animosity for her opinions.

 

[Andraste]

Alais nodded as he asked if that had been her first fight, her cheeks growing pink, “It was… very different than what they teach us at the temples,” She glanced at him as he spoke, seeing a pain there that was conveyed on his face but not in his words. Had he seen a lot of warfare in his day? Being on the younger side, she had been largely sheltered from especially dangerous missions. Every now and then she would hear about older Jedi going into operations and not coming back.

“I don’t know if I want to get used to it..” She looked down gloomily, “Being detached to where I don’t feel anything if I kill someone sounds like giving up who I am,” Alais fidgeted with her bottle of water, “While it might be frowned upon for Jedi to not have attachments, the rest of the galaxy still has them. If we kill someone, we sever those people from any attachments they have in their lives. We take away someone’s son…their daughter.. their brother or cousin. It’s always personal.”

As he remarked on her being a better Jedi for going along without killing, she had to smile, “I hope to keep things that way as long as I can,” Alais nodded in response to him thanking her, “All that stuff you did with the saber… can you teach me some of that? You moved so quick I could barely keep up. If we’re going to go after these slavers, I want to be better prepared,” She glanced down at his bandaged form, stifling her excitement, “When you get better…of course.”

 

[Darth Kravos]

And they've taken from other people their husbands and children and wives. Lex Taliionis. An eye for an eye. At least that's what my Master always said about Jedi administering justice. Whether or not you agree with him is... a whole different issue, I guess, he said with a shrug. Master Evoros wasn't exactly your classic Jedi, though, he added.

He smiled when she mentioned teaching her about sabers, his eyes lighting up a bit. Of all the skills Jedi were expected to be proficient in, Kal had always loved to use his blades. He found it thrilling and practiced often. I'd love to. I love... he couldn't admit to loving fighting ...saber drills and practice. A look of sadness flashed across his face momentarily as he realized that her need for it would no doubt increase with time.

He pushed himself up to sit and took a bite of his sandwich that tasted a little dry. He got up to look at his gear and see that everything was where it needed to be. He pondered whether or not they needed a different plan and decided that was a "yes." Maybe they could call local law enforcement. So what's your story? How'd you wind up out here with me? he asked, hoping to get to know his partner a little better.

 

[Andraste]

Alais lit up as he mentioned he’d be happy to teach her. She was a Knight by title, but she knew she still had a lot to learn. Watching him eat the sandwich she realized she was being more than a little picky. She picked up her own and started eating it again, quietly observing a cockroach from the distance for a moment, “My story…”

Should she tell him that she had sold her own mother out to the Jedi and she had been sent on a dangerous mission that cost her her life shortly after? Should she tell him that she was dead against killing when she was indirectly responsible for the death of her own mother? The thoughts still caused her to abruptly wake up with a cold sweat many nights, and she found herself suffocating from the guilt.

No attachments. What she did was correct and she had followed protocol. Why, then, did it haunt her so much? The flood of events came and went, and she had to ensure Kal couldn’t see the rapidly changing expressions on her face, “Well… I’ve been at the temple for as long as I could remember. I kept hearing about other Jedi going off to do missions and they would come back with whole new perspectives. I wanted to experience that for myself so I started taking up more field duties.”

“Besides,” She grinned, “Guarding the archives got to be pretty boring. If I have to hear Master Elwyn give me another lecture on plants and flora, I might put a saber through my own eye,” She turned around to face him, “What about you? Since you’re older and stuff you’ve probably seen…real war…” Her eyes were wide with wonder then, “You’ve probably come across real Exiles!” She cleared her throat, trying not to make it obvious that this was an exciting topic, “I mean.. it must have been very difficult.”

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kal gave a knowing nod when she mentioned being sick of the temple. While he hadn't spent as much time there as most, he could certainly understand the frustration of boredom. He smiled, Yeah, I can see why you wanted to get out, he said.

Most of my training wasn't at the temple. My master and I were on the move a lot and he oversaw a lot of my training on his own. Somewhat irregular, but I was Knighted when I was about your age, too. I'm pretty sure if it weren't for him watching out for me even after my knighting, I wouldn't be here now. He died, though, he said with pain in his voice. Jedi weren't supposed to form attachment, but he'd never bought particularly well into that and Evoros was the closest thing he had to a father.

Yeah, I've seen some of the war, and yes, the Exiles, he said. He could certainly understand her interest and excitement. Even he was sometimes thrilled by the clash of blades, but that wasn't something he was allowed to readily admit. They're... scary. But that's why we practice because if we don't... we don't come home. There was no doubt she knew Knights who had left the temple and never come back even at her young age.

So we'll have to make sure you're ready when the time comes, yeah? We'll have you ready, he said, reassuringly with a smile. She seemed like a good person and perhaps one worth investing time in. But I suppose dealing with these slavers has to come first, doesn't it? I'm thinking we need to do more recon before we go in again so we're not caught off guard. Unfortunately, local law enforcement wasn't very prompt about coming down here, so backup would be all but nil.

 

[Andraste]

Alais drank in every word as he explained his backstory and all the fighting he had seen. She had seldom met people that had actually fought Exiles that took the time to interact with her. Normally they were seen as heroes if they actually came back, “How come you’re not… famous or something?” She blinked at him curiously. Clearly, he was taking on risky roles, but until this mission she had never heard of him.

She privately agreed that she needed to be prepared for the fight against Exiles. She was in no condition to take on a fully trained Dark sider, not when she knew the types of attacks they used. Alais nodded as he mentioned that they needed to do some planning before attacking the slaver mission again. She stood up and walked around the room for a moment before she picked up a comlink, tossing it to Kal, “I managed to nab that off the Rodian while we had him in custody. We might be able to get some more information on his inner circle through there.”

Alais paced back and forth before pausing, “More than the slavers, I want to get to the actual slaves themselves. When I was in the warehouse they called someone named…named… Cipher I think..” She looked down at the comlink, grimacing at the initial lock screen, “Do you know how to slice? I think if we track down this Cipher, he’s the one in charge of meeting the goons when they bring in new slaves.”

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kal actually laughed when she asked why he wasn't famous, but it was abruptly cut short as pain shot through his side. I'm not famous because I'm kinda a nobody. I haven't really done anything notable before. A lot of Knights have fought in battles. Even if there aren't many of us left anymore... The fact that they were being pushed into Knighthood so young only reflected that fact all the more. Their numbers were too low to keep up the war much longer. At least not as it was.

You're right. While I'd like to bring these slavers down, getting the captives out is priority one, he agreed as she mentioned the comlink. He caught it, his reflexes returning now and he looked down at it. Uh, no. I know next to nothing about slicing, he confessed. But... he paused, but it was too late. He had already let slip that there was something else. An uncharacteristically sheepish look crossed his face and he picked at the comlink. ...I can try something else.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the object in his hands and reaching out to the Force. He caught flashes of what the Rodian did. Where he had been and the people he had met with. He saw the horrible conditions that the captives were kept in and the cruel hatred and insatiable greed that its master had for others. He caught glimpses of a warehouse not unlike the one they had visited earlier and a truck with the words "Amfast Shipping" on the side.

His mind snapped back to the present and he was panting heavily, eyes wide with shock as he dropped the comlink back on the bed. It took him a moment of silence to recalibrate himself to his situation once more, blinking several times as if he didn't know where he was. He rubbed his eyes and remembered where he was again. I... I think they're using a company called Amfast Shipping for it's cover. We might be able to start looking for Cipher at their shipping centers, he said, his emotions inside a swirling mess as he tried to center himself again.

Either way, he got himself up and started putting his gear and jacket back on. Probably means some poking around. You up for it? he said, tone flat. Clearly whatever he had done to the comlink had affected him in some way.

 

[Andraste]

Alais sighed in dismay as he mentioned not having any slicing skills. She was about to suggest hiring some seedy person to do the slicing when he mentioned he had another way. She quirked her eyebrow inquisitively as he got to work. She could tell he was concentrating and had his hand on the comlink. Alais felt through the Force enough to know whatever he was doing was taxing him. She had never seen this kind of power before, and she had to make a mental note to have him teach that to her.

When he opened his eyes again and followed up with a slew of information, Alais audibly gasped, “Whoa! What did you do?” She could tell he was very exhausted from the endeavor and now was not the time to pepper him with questions. This nifty trick along with his other injuries took a large toll on him. She needed her partner to be in top shape if they were going to take the slavery ring down, “Shipping centers. Got it. You need to rest some more because whatever you just did really took a lot out of you..”

---​

After a while, they had asked around about the shipping areas to finally make their way to it. The area was a giant factory building with docking bays for the cargo ships. Alais was fascinated by the size, and for all intents and purposes, it looked unassuming enough. She could see workers walking around here and there and nothing looked immediately out of place.

“Are you…sure this is the right place?” She felt nervous even asking that after how badly gleaning the information affected him. Alais grew frustrated as they failed to find a lead, finally approaching a sleazy looking man puffing on a cigarra. He immediately gazed at her lewdly as she approached, and she largely ignored him. She opened her mouth to ask him a question but sighed, “Oh whatever,” She honed in on the Force, staring right into the man’s eyes, and waved her hand to the side, “You will tell me where Cipher is.”

The man’s eyes immediately glazed over and he vacantly stared at her, “Cipher....down one level…main corridor all the way down…last door on left….down that hall…he has a little base of operations there…”

“Lovely, thanks,” Alais rolled her eyes and walked off, ignoring the now confused looking man behind them, “Is this entire planet full of creepers?!”

After following the mentioned directions, Alais and Kal came to a door, a Gamorrean guarding it with an ax. He gave a nasty look to Kal and then looked over at Alais. After that, a sick grin spread across his face, “Fresh meat for ‘da boss eh?”

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kal had wanted to argue with her and say that he was fine, but the fact was, he was tired. More so than he wanted to admit. He didn't believe in his own limits, but sometimes being so stubborn wasn't the best route, so he'd gotten some rest before they headed out again, feeling much better now, but still not 100%. He only nodded when she asked if this was the place. I'm sure that this has something to do with the slavers, he added quietly.

He saw the guy leering at Alais and noted how she nonchalantly waved him off with the Force. He suppressed a smirk as he realized she was already getting better at handling these under-level trash sacks. In these under-levels? Pretty much, he agreed.

He followed after her as they came to a Gamorrean in all of his snorting, drooling glory. Kal gave a straight, dry look to the guard. It didn't take much effort for him to sneer at the slaver, his own disgust for the pig - in more ways than one - almost boiling over. That's right. I heard he likes to see the merchandise before the purchase, so I'm here. And on a time crunch I might add, he said, voice barely above a growl and his hand resting on his blaster pistol. His foot tapped impatiently.

Heh, calm down, pirate. Boss is down there, he grunted and motioned down the hall with his head.

Kal nodded and gave Alais a slight push in the back as if he were escorting her down to an unpleasant fate. Good work, he said quietly as he ushered her down the hall. We're going to need to shut this guy down fast or he'll trigger an alarm, he said. After what he felt of that Rodian's spite and greed, he was having beyond a difficult time having even remote sympathy for these slimes. In truth, he wanted to - and might - execute them all if given the chance.

He hit the control on the office door of this "Cipher" and was surprised by what he saw. The man in front of him was... old? Far older than Kal would have expected. He was a human with completely white hair and had to be at least 70.

Ah, come in, pleasure to see you. I take it this is from the latest batch. I must say, I've never seen your face around here before, he said.

Kal pushed Alais inside again, suppressing his own desire to shoot this man in the face here and now. The man stood from his desk and circled around, leering at Alais as he did so. Kal hit the button and closed the door behind him, leaving them alone. He glanced to the corner and waved his hand subtly by his side as he reached out to the Force and pushed a surge through the security camera, frying its internal systems and leaving them truly alone. They would only have minutes before someone noticed.

 

[Andraste]

Alais played along as Kal nudged her down to Cipher’s quarters. She glanced back at Kal, noticing his expressionless face but also the anger that was roiling beneath. It was actually amusing to see him get just as irritated at the leery looks she was getting. Once they were making their way down the corridor and he praised her efforts, Alais beamed, “I’m learning so much! This is really exciting!” She knew it was a bizarre perspective on things, but she certainly enjoyed this more than sitting around at the temple.

As they were in the room with Cipher, she was more than a little disgusted to find that he was a very old man. This was who was having young girls captured to do….horrible things? Alais was visibly uncomfortable around the man, and it was like having a grandparent creepily stare at her. She looked around the room, spotting pictures of girls here and there. They looked like innocent young girls, some as young as nine or ten years old from the looks of it. Most of them were pictured looking terrified and set up for display, their hands bound. The sight of it began to make her bubble over with rage, and her jaw tightened.

After the door closed behind them and Kal had taken care of the cameras, Alais wasted no time. She unleashed a powerful Force Push to make the old man topple backwards over a desk, “You sick old fossil!” Alais yelled at the top of her lungs, rushing towards him and jumping clear over the desk.

She pressed a hand on the desk and launched herself down to the other side, landing atop the old man. He cried out and wheezed as she clutched his neck, “How could you do that to those poor girls?! Where are you keeping them?!” She had never felt rage like this course through her before, and she saw him cough and sputter.

It was a few moments before she realized what she was doing and she quickly released his neck. The man was stronger than he looked, and he took the opportunity to bodily toss her to the side. He quickly retrieved a gun from his side and trained it on her, ready to shoot point blank. She could only gaze back with the most terrified look on her face. This was it.

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kal watched as she leapt over the desk, seizing the man by the throat. While he could understand the sentiment, it wasn't really the right way to go about it. He gritted his teeth, about to step in when she pulled back.

Almost in a flash, the tables turned. The old man - evidently stronger than he looked - threw Alais off and suddenly there was a blaster. Kal reacted without thinking, drawing his pistol and putting a gunshot through the man's head before he could fire. The grey hair was removed and the upper half of his head disintegrated and sprayed the wall. It was only after a moment that he realized that they had needed him for information. Kriff, he spat, more at himself than anyone else. This was what happened when he switched over in his mind from "Jedi" to "undercover." The Force wasn't his go-to in this frame of mind.

He scrambled forward, pistol still in hand and checked that Alais was okay before checking to see if the man was alive. That was a joke, as without his upper head, he most certainly wasn't. He gritted his teeth again, realizing how royally he had screwed up. Kriff, we need to find if there's information on the girls in here, he said. With the perverse images and projections of his captives, there had to be.

I'm sure there's something in here that can point us toward them, he said quickly. Look for it while I... he didn't actually finish his sentence as he was distracted and began his own business. He thought back to what he had read pre-deployment of police records. These ones were at war with the Black Throats, another low-life group and he intended to use that now. He quickly pecked away at the keyboard of the computer and typed up a note.

Don't **** with the Black Throats. Get out of our territory tonight or more retaliation will follow.

He glanced back, hoping that Alais had found something and getting ready to join her in the search in the meantime. Anything? he asked, knowing full-well that he was on the verge of starting a turf war and hoping that innocents wouldn't be caught in the cross-fire. Unlikely, but this was their best bet for saving the girls.

 

[Andraste]

Alais closed her eyes, fully knowing that she had no time to react with the blaster facing her. She heard the boom and expected tremendous amounts of pain, but it didn’t come. Something warm splattered on her face and she forced her eyes open to see the horror that was half of Cipher’s head. She saw the fragments of bone and the bubbling fountain of blood and guts only inches away from her face. This was not an image she would be able to get out of her mind anytime soon.

This was the first time she faced true combat. This was the first time she saw it in the flesh, the raw guts and viscera. This was the first time she smelled it, the first time she felt warm blood splash on her that wasn’t her own. She frantically wiped the blood off, but it still seemed to cling to her. This was the first time she truly felt as if she were going to die. This was the first time she saw an instance where there was no choice but to kill. All of these thoughts whirled within her mind and she stared at Kal as he came over to check on her. She saw him, she saw his lips move, but she didn’t hear any of his words over the sick sound of Cipher’s head exploding that cruelly played repeatedly in her head.

She couldn’t hold it back any longer and she turned her head and vomited right there into the puddle of blood and guts next to her. She hadn’t been able to control it, and she could only think about the horrific images she saw. Hot tears ran down her cheeks as she finally recovered from vomiting, her eyes bloodshot as she scrambled back away from the violence.

Kal was calm as ever and had begun to give her instructions and she still couldn’t hear anything. She knew she couldn’t delay, and her heart pounded against her chest. Alais finally peeled herself off the ground, tears still welling up in her eyes as she wiped her nose and mouth, “I-I’ll look..” She spoke meekly as she shakily began to look around the room, hugging herself tightly and trying to pointedly avoid looking at the mess on the ground.

 

[Darth Kravos]

He finished up his job and saw that Alais was more than a little shaken. He couldn't very well blame her and realized that perhaps he was being a bit too insensitive to her situation. He paused what he was doing, despite knowing they only had a few moments at best and took her by the arm looking her in the eyes and averting her gaze from the mess that had been Cipher. Hey, look at me. It's gonna be ok, right? he nodded his head at her, trying to reassure her that everything was fine.

He could feel her anxiety in the Force and couldn't blame her. He tried to channel his own empathetic energies toward her, though he had no idea if such a thing would work. Just breathe, he reminded her. There are people counting on you, Kal. Both of you, he reminded himself. So, data on these girls, he reminded. With any luck they would have some means of tracking their "products" or a manifest or something of the sort.

He hurried over to a data cabinet and began fiddling with the lock, pulling out his multitool and pulling at the key panel. While he didn't know anything about slicing, he did know a bit about locks, and this one he thought he knew how to bypass with a few minutes. Minutes they may not have. He paused what he was doing and Force pulled Cipher's gun across the room to himself, hoping to not force Alais to go near the mess again. Have you ever used one of these before? he asked, handing it out to her. We can't let them know we're Jedi, so no sabers, he said, not having more time to expand. If they come down that hall, I need you to put shots down the hall until I'm done. Just enough to keep them from advancing, okay? I need you to try to focus, he asked as he went back to working on the lock. In many ways he felt sorry for her that this was her first operation out of the temple and already going so... sideways. He hoped it didn't completely break her spirit right out of the gate.

 

[Andraste]

Alais was still very shaken up. Once he grabbed her arm, she cried out from fear before realizing it was only Kal. As he paused what he was doing to reassure her again, she stared at him with wide eyes. He was calming her down as she began to focus on looking into his eyes. She gazed deeply at him, slowing her breathing and focusing on his words. Her heartbeats began to slow down and she finally came back to reality, suddenly remembering they had a mission to focus on, “Okay… Okay….”

By the time he released her, she felt exceptionally better. Whether she liked it or not, these were the realities of combat she had been told about. None of this was anything new, but it was still jarring to experience it first hand. As he mentioned the girls again, the fire was lit back in her heart. That was what they came here for, and she thought back to all those images. Alais wiped her face again, nodding in focus. She quickly went back to the desk, opening up the drawers till she found files containing information on some of the girls, “It looks like he keeps a log of when they’re moved and where..” Alais sighed in dismay, “Some of them have already been sent off-planet. We’ll need to focus on the ones here.”

As he mentioned they couldn’t let anyone know they were Jedi, Alais nodded. She looked confused as he handed her the gun, “I’ve…done some practice shots but I have horrible aim..” She hoped she would only need to pepper bolts down in a general direction at most. Alais took up guard duty as Kal got to work on the lock.

After a moment, there was a sharp knock on the door, “Yo boss we need you upstairs. Lots of commotion going on and our Rodian friend appears to be dead.”

Alais began to panic, knowing full well if their cover was blown, they would be completely cornered and trapped down here. Having a blaster was helpful, but it would still go empty before the slavers were dead. She chewed on her lip, the man behind the door getting suspicious. He rapped on the door a few more times, and she heard him shuffle around no doubt looking for a key card.

Doing the first thing she could think of, she began to scream in a high pitched voice, “STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE YOU HORRIBLE OLD MAN!” She slammed her hands on the desk behind her a few times to imitate the sounds of a struggle. The man behind the door paused for a moment before chuckling, “Sampling the merchandise I see? I’ll come back.”

Alais grimaced, horrified and disgusted that her antics worked and the terrible implications of that. She glanced back at Kal, “Are you done? We need to get out now! It looks like there’s another doorway out,” She looked behind him, spotting the door. Alais used the Force to call the keycard from Cipher’s body to herself. It worked on the door and opened up to another passage. She saw the halls lined with racks of clothing for young girls. Alais tried her best to ignore all this, walking to the end of the corridor till she spotted a set of stairs that led up, “We might be able to make it out of here without drawing attention…”

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kal kept working even as he tried not to think about what she had just done for their cover. He had no remorse over what he had just done. Whether that was the Jedi way or not, he didn't really care because it was just, and justice was the Jedi way, wasn't it? That slime ball deserved to be missing his head and Kal wasn't going to lose sleep over that one, even if Alais might.

After what felt like an eternity, he heard the hiss-pop of the lock on the cabinet and he opened it up, grabbing the datasticks inside and shoving them into his pockets. They should have a complete network now if they were lucky with shipping routes that they could use to bring down these scum.

We're good, let's go, he said with a nod, hurrying to follow her out with the keycard she had found. He glanced back one more time over his shoulder at the dead man and almost wanted to spit on him, but kept walking instead.

He followed the staircase up, wishing he could have just used a saber to cut his way out, but that would have been far too conspicuous. Instead, he continued, pistol raised until he reached a speeder platform. Perhaps it was time for them to get lucky after all. He motioned with his head and climbed into the speeder's driver seat, waiting for her to climb in before booting up and taking off.

Did you say you know where they are? Do you have a datapad? Plug these in if you do, he bombarded her with questions and handed her some of the datasticks, hoping they would have information about supply lines, shipping routes, allies, lists of bribed officials, and other things to bring down this smuggling ring. First, of course, they needed to find the girls on-world.

 

[Andraste]

Alais was still trying to keep up with everything. It was clear that Kal had been on countless missions before, and he had no problem with doing a million things at once. As they moved up the stairs and into an area with a speeder, Alais grimaced at the barrage of questions, “I uhh yeah.. I can load the information up!” She had grabbed her datapad after her captors had attempted to toss it away.

As he nonchalantly made his way towards the speeder and got in, Alais stared at him in wonder, “Is this yours? This isn’t yours. Are you just stealing?!” She knew she had no time to lecture him on stealing. This was the most bizarre Jedi she had ever met, and he had no qualms with doing shady things to get to his objective. All she could do was stick around for the ride.

Alais hopped into the speeder next to him after she began to hear commotion behind them. She scrambled through the datasticks she had nabbed, quickly inputting the information into the datapad, “I’m see a lot of tracking information for ‘cargo’,” Alais grimaced as she read through the information, “I think this is…referring…to the girls. I see produce and merchandise and I think it’s just a cover up.”

She sorted through them for a moment before speaking again, “Okay so there’s a ritzy club in the more well to do area called the Midnight Lounge. It says here that most of the ‘cargo’ gets funneled into that lounge. I’m guessing there’s some shady underground operation going on underneath the club where the girls are kept,” Alais looked over at him and then at herself, “How are we ever going to get in? That place must be guarded like a fortress! And we definitely don’t look like we have the money to get in!”

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kal looked at her with genuine surprise when she mentioned that they were stealing the speeder. He furrowed his brow momentarily as he hopped in. I think this is the least of the things Cipher will be missing, he said. Like the rest of his head, he didn't say, though the thought almost struck a sick humor inside of him. Good riddance to that creep.

As they zoomed off, Kal was kicking around ideas in his head for what they could do to get into this club. The fact that there was a club like that made him feel ill, but he knew that was just the way of things down here. It shouldn't have been, and he would fight against it, but he could only solve it one point at a time. Their next point needed to be getting into the club, and for that he didn't have a plan yet.

He swung the controls around and headed for the facility as he spoke up, more of brainstorming aloud than anything. Okay, so we need to get inside, and we don't look good enough for the front door. Side exits, then. There has to be a back door, doesn't there? So we find a delivery door and then either cut our way in or trick our way in. I don't know that posing you as a captive will work again, he concluded, realizing it was almost rambling. He bit his lip, trying not to look nervous or flustered.

He zipped along and began looking for his next turn off when another speeder slammed harshly into their side, sending them hurtling down toward the ground quickly. He pulled on the controls and got them level again but could see the other speeder coming in again. He made out two people inside, a Weequay driving, and a Besalisk in the passenger seat, a pulse rifle in his hands. They must have tracked the Jedi somehow and Kal grunted in frustration. We need to... deal with them! he said, though he wasn't sure how. He pushed the speeder down to get them to ground level in case something went wrong.

 

[Andraste]

Alais gave him a mock glare as he mentioned they didn’t look good enough to enter the lounge from the front, “Are you implying I’m ugly?!” She snickered before getting a serious expression on her face again, “Apologies…I shouldn’t be joking near my elders..” She muttered the sentence quietly under her breath as she focused back on the datapad, her face glowing bright red.

She looked back through the information, “So there’s a schematic here for the lounge. I’m seeing a few entry points and this one looks… bigger so bank towards the left of the building! I think that’s a loading bay for deliveries. Actual deliveries,” Alais was about to mention more when they were rammed from the side. The force knocked the datapad out of her hands and she collided harshly against Kal, her lip splitting open in the process.

As Kal landed the speeder, Alais quickly jumped up and over the front of the speeder. The speeder that rammed them made a beeline for them directly. Alais landed on the ground, drawing up her pistol. She aimed at the driver, firing off a shot that hit him on the shoulder. That impact threw off the aim, causing them to veer off instead of ramming them. Unfortunately, this put the besalisk directly in line with her. He drew his rifle and fired a shot directly at the duo.

Alais used the Force to jump up and to the side, “Keep him distracted!” She shouted at Kal as she snuck in towards the two. They quickly began to get out of the speeder to press the attack. Through this all, she realized that they were picking up attention, local passerby glancing over. Alais spoke to Kal through the Force, “We need to blend in somehow! We’ll lose our shot if we draw too much-“ Alais ducked as the Besalisk turned towards her.

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kal brought the speeder to a skidding halt that was less than nice. But under the circumstances, it could have been much worse. In an instant, Alais was out of the speeder and returning fire, stopping them both from being rammed and killed by their enemies. It gave Kal a moment to swing out as well, spinning and raising his pistol as he took cover behind the speeder.

He pulled the trigger twice in quick succession, the blaster rounds flying out and slapping against the side of the other speeder and forcing the occupants to remain hidden. Go! he said, indicating that he would keep her covered from the gunfire. He fired again, hitting the Besalisk in one of his four shoulders, but the large alien just kept moving. He fired again and hit the alien in the back this time as he turned toward Alais, giving her an opportunity to get away or close the distance as he pivoted his aim toward the Weequay.

In the meantime, the large, four-armed alien had dropped his rifle with Kal's shots and now charged toward Alais, looking to grab her with two of his arms and punch her with the third. He was large, easily outweighed her, and certainly seemed as though he had a grudge. Retreat! he practically shouted through the Force as he tried to keep the wounded Weequay's head down.

Meanwhile, more bystanders were gathering around, and the gunshots certainly weren't helping them remain inconspicuous. We need to go, he projected, glancing back to try to see if she'd gotten away from the alien and preparing to help if she hadn't.

 

[Andraste]

As the Besalisk barreled towards her, her eyes went wide with fright. It was scary when the man had pointed a gun at her, but seeing him charge like that was much more terrifying. She didn’t need Kal’s warning to know she was in deep poodoo. As he rushed towards her, she purposely waited till the last moment, calming herself through the Force. Ultimately she was significantly smaller and quicker than him and she had to use that to her advantage.

As he was directly almost atop her, she abruptly shifted to the side, letting him go slightly past her. When he charged past, she whirled around and thwacked the side of his head with her blaster. It was directly on the temple and sent him reeling to the floor, the blow harsh and close enough to temporarily knock him out. The downside was that the sight elicited a few screams, and she quickly had to hide.

Alais drew down her hood to hide her face, turning around and disappearing into the alley that connected to the loading area, “Come meet me around the other side! We can’t be seen together!” Her heart was racing as she made her way to where she saw a delivery vehicle parked outside. It appeared there was a little argument going on between a man receiving shipment and a produce delivery boy.

“What do you mean lock-down? I have bantha meat in here that’s gonna go bad! These cuts don’t come cheap, you know!”

“No go. Now scram before I have to get physical.”

“Don’t threaten me! I’m just trying to do my job!”

Alais quietly watched the exchange, looking for ways to sneak in past the arguing. From the looks of it, it was just one man standing guard there and the delivery man.