Electric Work, What a Shock! (Reboot) [Jedi Mission]

[Ral]

Objective:
In the outer rim territory, there is an ecumenopolis planet named Christophsis, which has recently taken damage from a series of asteroids passing through the atmosphere. Many engineers on the planet are focusing on higher priorities such as hospitals and space ports, so there is a need for smaller projects such as housing to be fixed on. No technological knowledge required.

Participants:
Padawan Mjou Frisk
Padawan Awande Nombeko
Padawan Kai Sera

Draedan - NPCs

Kai had never imagined there to be a planet quite like Christophsis. As the transport approached the bluish world Kai looked out one of the windows. Kai had hitched a ride with a relief freighter headed into the system bringing emergency foodstuffs and aid workers. The recent asteroid strike had damaged the power grid of the planet and several key buildings. They would all need to be repaired eventually, but while most of the technicians and aid workers focused on getting power back to the important buildings there wouldn't be anybody to help the normal citizens. That's why Kai was there; he was going to do what he could to repair some of the damage to the residential areas and anything else he could help with; preventing crime and whatnot. Of course he wouldn't be doing this alone.

"It's quite a view, wanna take a look?" Kai remarked to the girl sitting next to him. Turning to look at his partners, Mjou and Awande, Kai smiled and offered them a view out the window. Nearby, Kai's astromech, R3-4U1, or R3 for short as Kai hadn't gotten around to making a nickname for his droid yet, squawked an obnoxious series of whistles. "Why would you need to look out the window? You're a droid! You shouldn't care about the view!" The droid beeped back at him and Kai rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Ignore him, he has a temperament." Kai commented to the girls with a sigh. Again, the droid squawked obnoxiously in response, but Kai ignored it. "Well, it's one of my first missions and I'm excited! How about you?" Kai was unusually talkative today, perhaps it was just his nerves. He hoped Mjou and Awande wouldn't mind it; he couldn't tell if they did or not.

Minutes passed and the finally the relief freighter landed at one of the working space ports. Stepping off, Kai pulled at his jacket; the air was a little nippy. "Keep your eyes open, R3," pulling his long hair free of his long coat he looked around the port. Nearby were large crystal towers spanning high into the air. They had landed in Chaleydonia, Christophsis' capital city, also known as the Crystal City. Also close by were natives and government officials directing where they needed relief the most. "You got an idea where we should start first?" Kai inquired looking over his shoulder at his partner. His first instinct was to go ask one of the officials, but in times like these where the Jedi were hunted and treated like criminals discretion most definitely was the better part of valor. Plus, there was the chance they would get sent to a place that didn't really need them. If anything they could trust in the Force and see where it took them. Making a face he thought, Maybe, that's what I should have done to begin with...

 

[Just Falcon]

Awande had signed up for the mission for the same reason she made any sort of a major life change - boredom. Meditating got old, and she needed something to do. Plus the promise of potentially weird electrical systems, of course. No way could she pass up an opportunity like that.

She brought her Akk Dog, Hoju, along for the ride. Partly because her neighbor charged an incredibly steep fee to reptomammal-sit, and partly because he was a great equipment mule when he felt like cooperating. She was half asleep against his scaly hide when Kai asked if she wanted to take a peek out the window. "I'm good. Thanks though." She closed her eyes again, ready to wait out the landing. "Planet. Crystal things. Light being pretty. Seen it before."

When the craft touched down, she slung her pack of supplies around one shoulder and climbed atop Hoju, riding him outside behind Kai. "Probably just ask one of the cops. Or construction workers. Anyone on the ground, really." She snapped at a passing vendor and picked up a bag of snacks. "We're just here for basic repairs, I mean. Don't even need to tell 'em we're Jedi for stuff this small. Probably best to do the hidden thing if there's baddies about, anyways."

 

[Nostromos]

Mjou was a lot less jaded than Awande, pushing over Kai until she was draped over him in order to look outside. “ Coooooolll” Wide-eyed and grinning, the thief pointed to various things as Kai spoke to his Droid. She was more than excited to be on this mission, it felt like she was finally able to do something for the Order other than eat their food and take up space.

The young thief followed the two out quietly as she was far too distracted with the crystalline structures all about them. Mjou snapped to attention as Kai inquired as to what they should do, no longer lingering behind them she trotted over to the two of them. “ Well, when stuff like this happens the first thing you want to do is get communications back up. The main communication towers are probably already up and running but there might be patches of dead zones that the citizens need. Maybe we as where to go to find those dead zones?”

 

[Ral]

Kai didn't mind Mjou's excitement as she climbed over him to get a look outside. After all, he was pretty excited himself. While he didn't mind Awande's more straight-forward approach, Mjou's energy helped keep him positive about being on his own. Once they were on the ground Kai listened to what the other two girls had to say on the matter of what to do. Frowning slightly as he thought about what to do the boy nodded. Speaking quietly so he wouldn't be overheard by passersby Kai looked at the girls but kept his senses attuned to the motion of those around him. "Those are good points. I think Mjou has the right idea, let's go see if there are communications that need to be repaired somewhere. But we should also not make it obvious we are Jedi, we don't know if there are Sith spies or bounty hunters about."

Looking around the landing pad Kai noticed an alabaster white humanoid standing under a tent. Now that they had a plan of action, or at least an idea of one, Kai felt comfortable enough to ask one of the officials where to go. Motioning for the girls to follow him the boy made his way to the tent making sure he had his pack and all the necessary gear to make basic repairs. Seeing that the humanoid was free, Kai approached politely. "Hello, my name is Kai, I was sent here to help restore power to the suburbs and housing. Is there a group of houses that requires power to be restored more than others? Or perhaps a communications array that needs to be powered up for the repair crews to coordinate better?"

 

[Undine]

Oe Naora turned around as a young man approached her and introduced himself. Oe was a [thread=60867]Nemirel[/thread] electrical engineer and had come on a medical transport ship from [thread=60866]Nemeira[/thread]. She had quickly been put in charge of the electrical repairs in the sector. She gave the boy a top-down look and shrugged, they needed all the volunteers they could get. "Very well then, but first we need to get the electricity up and running in some areas before we worry about that. Even if you don't have any training I'm sure you can flip a switch. Here take this holocomm, I'll be able to track your movements and guide you to your objectives. If you have any questions for me feel free to call me with it." She handed the human the device and turned to sit at her desk.

Opening the laptop she looked back to the boy who called himself Kai, she pulled a small scanner from the side and aimed it at the holocomm for a few seconds before returning it to her desk. "Now then the holocomm is active, the first location I'm sending you three to is just a few streets from here but we have been unable to spare any proper electricians for the task. Your goal is simple, find the power station three roads east and a few dozen meters north of here. I'll contact you here or there to give you more detail directions. Now do any of you have questions? Oe Naora smiled at them, they were mere children but she had an idea of who they were.

Her people had been naturally telepathic and in tune with what they called the Force much longer than their Order had been around. Oe wasn't Force sensitive herself but she could still feel it in the children before her. She turned her gaze at one of the medical personnel that had come with her just as the women was Force Healing a wounded Rodian child. Turning back to the volunteers she grinned. "You'll find no hostility from us young ones, my people have been using what we call the Kawa for far longer than the Jedi or Sith." ​

 

[Just Falcon]

Awande slid off her grumbling steed's back as they approached the relief coordinators, making him sit and wait by a kart. An Akk Dog snorting over your shoulder made conversations most conversations thoroughly irritating. She followed Kai and listened to the instructions being given to them by Scaly McNew-Girl the electricitian, palming the offered holocomm for a second and cloning its signal over to the one she kept on her belt. None too subtly, their new guide pointed to a Jedi Healer and gave one of those knowing, you-can't-keep-things-from-me grins before telling them it was safe.

"Mmm," said Awande. "I'll keep that in mind." Probably a safe bet that the volunteer electrician wasn't out to get her, but she wasn't really a fan of people butting in on her brain. Have to learn to block that, somehow. Maybe some sort of mystic Forcey chant. Or a big lead hat.

"No questions here, I'm good to go whenever."

 

[Nostromos]

Mjou just gave a shrug as she followed after Kai, still kinda enthralled by the amount of people and the strange buildings. Since the youth had no real tech to call her own, she’d rely on her teammates for navigation; she had experience with electricals and it probably wouldn’t be THAT hard for her to do what needed to be done when they actually reached the locations.

Mjou nodded in agreement as Awande spoke. “I’m ready to head out whenever. I’ll probably have questions when we get there, you won’t mind if we contact you with them once we get onsight do you?”

 

[Ral]

"I'm sure it will be fine, Mjou. Now, come on. We've got a job to do."The boy whispered to his friend. Leading the pair of girls away from the tent, Kai made his way in the direction the lady had told them to go. Walking down the city blocks Kai kept his senses wary, but he didn't think they would run into any trouble. Chaleydonia was a beautiful city, even if it was different from most of the others. Perhaps that is why it was beautiful. Kai shook his head, now was not the time to think on such things. They had a job to do, but Kai also figured that some easy conversation would make the time pass more quickly. "So, Awande, how do you like the Order so far? I know you're not really one for the whole meditation thing, but I'm sure there must be some other things that you like."

It only took them a few minutes to reach the power station. It was right where Oe said it would be. Moving his way up to the door, Kai found it unlocked. Odd, I'll have to tell Oe that it was unlocked. Perhaps that's what they wanted... Still, it doesn't seem safe. I should inform her anyways. On the other side of the door was the interior of the power station. There was a complex-looking device of some kind behind a cage, but beyond that were a series of three power boxes. Leading his fellow Padawans around the cage Kai looked at each one of them and shrugged. "One for each of us?" Reading the printed directions above, Kai figured that all that was needed was for them to flip each breaker switch and press the activation button to make the circuit, and that they should go from top to bottom to make it easier. Taking position in the middle he waited for the other two girls to pick a switch. "Looks pretty simple. We just need flip the breakers and hit the button. On three? One... two... three!" And with that Kai threw his first switch before moving on to the next one right below it.

 

[Just Falcon]

"So, Awande, how do you like the Order so far? I know you're not really one for the whole meditation thing, but I'm sure there must be some other things that you like."

"Aight, I guess." She watched a trundling caravan pass by and felt the flickering sense of their everyday troubles. "When stuff's going on."

The unlocked power grid door landed pretty squarely on the unsettling side of things. Uncontrolled, unguarded access to a grid's power. Just an all around terrible idea. Awande fell in line behind Kai and picked her switch, pressing her finger against the bottom and flicking it in place. "Hope this won't blow us up . . ."

 

[Ral]

"Yeah me either." Kai muttered before he started counting down. On Three Kai flipped the switch and hit the button before doing the same to the next dozen switches directly below it. Once they were all on Kai looked to see how Awande was doing. She also appeared to be done. Smiling at the Pantoran, Kai nodded before sending the all clear back to the alien woman at the tent. "Well, we're still alive. I suppose that's something!"

Suddenly, his comlink beeped. It was the woman; now that they had suceeded in restoring power to the area she was directing them to proceed farther east until they came to the large communications hub. Once there they would need to flip the breakers so that could get local communication back up. This time the woman gave them the key code they would need to get inside. Humming to himself, Kai looked to Awande making sure she had heard the message as well. Leading her out the door, Kai made sure it appeared closed and locked.

The walk over to the communications hub was rather quiet. With one exception when he decided to ask Awande another question to see if he could get her to talk more and break that shell of hers. "So, Awande, why did you want to join the Order? Or did you have much choice in it? I know some people don't choose to join but are more or less adopted in."

Standing outside of the hub, Kai found their way forward blocked by a fence to keep hooligans out. Looking at the blue-skinned girl next to him he grinned and motioned for her to follow him. Walking up to the fence Kai used the Force to hop over it. Waiting for the other girl to join him, Kai looked around and easily spotted the breaker shack. Once Awande had gotten over the fence Kai walked up to the shack door and punched in the key code. Inside, there was a panel of switches and buttons similar to the power relay station they were just at. Walking up to a set, Kai looked back at the girl with him. "Well, this should be easy. On three?"

 

[Just Falcon]

Awande nodded after hearing the message, following Kai outside to their next location. "I wouldn't really say I wanted to join your Order . . . wasn't super against it either, I guess. It's like . . ." She chewed her bottom lip and let her gaze wander a bit. "You get a new speeder, yeah? Birthday present or whatever. Keeping it locked in the garage is a dumb idea, you might as well learn how it works. I guess." She rubbed her weird, freaky, impossible to take off bracelet and tried to deny the little tingle of darkness. One bad thing about her spiffy new Force Sense - it made the thing that much harder to ignore. "Between you lot and the Sith, I pick the less-creepy option. Could never pull off all those scars anyways."

They came to a fence, and Kai did some fancy Force hop over. Dunno why. There was a door two feet to the left. Locked, sure, but telekinesis beats tumblers every time. She joined Kai inside, holding the door open with her foot as she slipped inside and took her place at the breakers. "So do we get, like, a key to the city or something after this?" She pressed her thumb underneath the switch. "Permanent discount at that bazaar?"

 

[Ral]

"Ah I see... Well that's a good way of looking at it I guess... so long as its what you actually want." Looking at her bracelet he raised an eyebrow. It was a strange looking thing, not the kind of thing most women would wear for fashion, and Awande didn't look like she was the kind of person to wear that sort of thing anyway. "So, that thing looks kinda funny. Is there a story behind it? I'm sure it's pretty interesting, I don't think I've seen you take it off yet, but then again I haven't seen you all that much yet." He said with a little smile on his face.

Flipping the switch Kai started to chuckle at the Pantoran's comment. "I'm sure we can ask what's-her-face back at the med tent if we can get you a discount. So..." He was about to ask what they should do now when his comlink beeped again. "Wow, right on time. They must have had decent reporting to know that we've done what they wanted." Activating the small handheld device the alien woman's voice came through the speaker. She told them that they had one more job to do for the time being, but they had to come back to the med tent to pick up the piece they needed. Turning back to Awande, Kai shrugged. "Looks like we're called back to the landing pad. Might as well hustle so we can get this done..."

 

[Just Falcon]

"Hmm?" Awande followed Kai's eyes down to her ever-present bracelet. "Oh. This. It's a thing. Irritating Sith-y thing. Does thingey stuff." She waved her arm up and down and let the gold-fringed jewelry click and clack. "Won't come off, makes my wrist sweat, won't come off, feels all evil and Sith-y and evil . . ." She sighed. "It just is, I guess. Feel free to find one of some Jedi Master's to take it off if you want." She narrowed her eyes. Irritatedly. If that was a word. Which it wasn't. "They've failed every time before, though."

Awande hopped back on her Akk Dog for the ride home. "Mush, I guess." She slapped Hoju's rump. "Back to where we started."

 

[Ral]

Listening to Awande, Kai frowned, but nodded. "Huh, that's interesting I guess. Well, I doubt there is a Jedi who would know what to do then if everyone who has tried has failed. Maybe the Sage Master, we could always go talk to her if you haven't already, she might have an idea or two on what to do... but I'd be willing to bet there's some evil Sith ritual you gotta do to get it off or something dumb like that. But then again, I'm just making this up completely, so who knows! Maybe it'll come off after a while. It might not even cause you a problem, ya never know either way I guess, huh?" Kai replied placing a hand on her shoulder. He was trying to show her that he thought it would be alright, but he wasn't sure if she would get the message without him saying it. Although, he had to admit, he did find the way to brush it off to be interesting. Perhaps if he were more responsible he would find her carefree nature worrisome, but truth be told he found it refreshing. So, when she hopped on her Akk Dog, Kai decided to jog alongside it until they reached the landing pad with the medical tent.

When they got there they found a Zabrak with a large duffel bag in his hand. "Are you the techs that have been helping us out here today?" Kai nods in response. "Here, I have this for you. It's a converter box. One of the boxes south of here went out and we need it replaced before we can restore power to the houses down there. It's about ten blocks due south of here, shouldn't be too hard to find, I'll send you the coordinates as well. Just look for the big sparky thing. When you get there be sure to flip the breakers off otherwise you'll electrocute yourself. Once you do that, just unbolt the old one and take it out and place the new one in and make sure it's secured. Got it?"

"Seems easy enough," Kai answered as he took the bag. Looking inside he saw that there was a pair of drills that could use remove the large two inch bolts that secured the converter. Turning to Awande, Kai motioned to her and he started to lead her south.

About halfway to the power station where the converter was that needed to be replaced, Kai felt something odd in the Force. Motioning to Awande to pause, Kai listened hard for a few moments. "Hey, you feel that? I think I heard something. Sounded like glass breaking." Kai wondered what it could be, but a feeling deep in his gut told him that it was nothing good. If there was someone in trouble, it was Kai and Awande's duty as Jedi to make sure everyone was safe. They couldn't ignore their mandate to help the needy; it was their duty. "I think someone over there is in trouble. We should go check it out."

 

[Just Falcon]

Bad guys tasted bad. Well not tasted, not really, just that funny niggling Force trouble-sense that made the roof of Awande's mouth ache. The closer she got to the supposedly abandoned shop the stronger it got, until the rattle was enough to shake her teeth and run down her spine.

Definitiely indicated some sort of trouble. With Kai at her back, Awande stepped through the door.

Four people were clustered inside a space barely meant for three. One looked profoundly unhappy; the other three looked downright vindictive. Probably because hey, they were obviously the bad guys. Or girls, in this case. A Bothan woman with frosty fur held up a Zeltron shopkeep by his throat while her other hand drummed up and down the stock of her blaster. A Twi'lek woman and her human friend rounded out the group. Judging by the way the man kept glancing at the white Bothan, she was the one in charge of this merry little band.

"Ah. Visitors. Hello." The Bothan woman smiled, letting go of her captives throat. Her bow was pure mocking over-indulgence. "I would appreciate you two exercising a degree of discretion, if it's not too much of a bother. The shopkeep and I have some business to discuss. Now, I realize," she smiled, "That your minds are probably a-whirl with stories of damsels in distress and unsung heroics, but I'm afraid I'll have to insist that you keep those in check, for now." The fangs in her smile lit up in the darkness, and she scratched her chin with the barrel of her blaster. Juuuust to show off that the safety was very much 'off' at the moment. "You two look smart. Infer unsavory outcomes if you find yourselves inclined to make a move."

"Smart girl like me, wouldn't dream of it." Awande tried staring the Bothan down and met a brick wall. Her eyes were flint; her voice was firm and her words concise. Weak-minded and susceptible to the Force she most certainly was not.

Her friend the human on the other hand, the shaky little boy with the stun baton he couldn't quite hold still . . . well. He was another story. Hello, target.

"Blondie." Awande locked her eyes on his. He didn't look away; good sign number one. "There's a bug on your friends jacket. It's really bothering her." Awande's voice layered and stacked on top of itself; echoes within echoes and an undeniable will behind it all as she ladled on the Force. Never done this much before; never dipped this deep. It was . . . unsettling. Her gaze swallowed him up; her will turned him inside out and propped it back up as her dancing little stooge-puppet. "Stab it."

"Really. A bug." The Bothan said flatly."That's your play? A schoolyard prank that--hey. Wait. Danny, what exactly do you think you're--"

Even with lazy, possessed arms Danny the human could jab a mean stick. He turned on his leader and lashed out, jabbing the spark-spewing tip of his baton into his commanders chest. She screamed for what was probably less than a second and went rigid; blaster tumbling out of her grasp and clattering to the ground. As Danny blinked his mind back in control his Twi'Le partner lunged, fingers grasping for the trigger of her boss's discarded weapon. Before they could connect Awande reached out with the Force and sent the blaster flying across the room in a poorly calibrated burst of kinetic force. Didn't have the control to send it anywhere in particular after that last Mind Trick, but her Push was enough to send the gun skidding across the floor before landing underneath a nearby desk.

It also sent Awande reeling back into a nearby chair as her legs cramped and exhaustion took hold. Definitely never dipped this deep before; the toll was downright undeniable.

"Soooo Kaiiiii. . ." She probably sounded more than a little groggy. Almost giggled at the end for crying out loud, never done that before in her life. "Stab the rest with a lightsaber or something."

 

[Ral]

Walking next to Awande, Kai remained quiet as they approached the place where they felt the Force was drawing them towards. It didn't take that long for the pair to find the building in question; the closer they got the more of a disturbing feeling grew in his gut. The feeling was hard for Kai to describe other than it was just bad. Standing outside the building Kai could see that it an old abandoned shop of some kind, what it used to sell Kai had no clue. In his bones Kai could feel that there was something going on just past the door. Nodding at Awande, the boy followed the Pantoran inside the building.

On the other side of the door, Kai could see four people standing in a rather cramped space. Judging by the fact that one of the people, a Bothan, was holding a Zeltron up by the throat Kai knew the Force had brought them to the right place. Watching the exchange that followed with a silent smirk on his face. Although, his smirk disappeared when the action started. Kai could feel Awande use the Force as she reached out to affect the mind of the human male. His eyebrows shot up as she spoke; he was honestly she surprised that she was using Mind Trick on him. What more he was surprised by the order she had given. It wasn't the order he would have given, but then again there weren't a lot of options and this way they would remove two hostiles out of the picture. Watching as the human jabbed his stun rod into the Bothan's chest, Kai winced slightly before going for his lightsaber with his dominant hand. The Padawan did not intend to draw it, but thought it better if he had it in hand and ready to go.

With his left hand, Kai waved it across himself horizontally as he directed the Force into the minds of the three hooligans. Seeing Awande almost collapse into a nearby chair Kai swore to himself. "Exhausted ourselves have we?" He asked with a smirk on his face. "And for the record, I'd prefer to settle this with as little violence as possible."

With that Kai used the Force to create the illusion that all three of the thugs had gone blind. It took a lot of focus to do all three at once; Kai wasn't used to doing anything like that before, but it he figured it was better than running in and cutting a few imbeciles up with his lightsaber. Even if he set it to training mode and stunned and burned them into submission he still would have felt it to be a bit extreme. So instead, Kai focused on each one and used the Force to Stun each of them in turn. By the time he had finished he felt exactly like how Awande looked: exhausted. But at least all the goons were neutralized, and once he was done, bound with some tape and extra fabric the Padawan had found lying about. Laughing at himself for his own hypocrisy, Kai looked to Awande. "Well, that takes care of that. We should make sure these three are shown to the proper authorities, though." Turning to the Zeltron. "Could you call them? And I hope you don't mind, but I'd prefer you not to mention what you saw us do here for your safety and ours. If the cops ask, make sure to tell them a passerby came by and shot them with stun rounds. The affects should look roughly the same and the after affects will make their story seem unlikely."

Grabbing the three's weapons, Kai turned to Awande. "Ready to continue on?"

 

[Just Falcon]

Awande watched Kai from her seat. He reached for his lightsaber; but didn't draw. He dipped into the scumbag criminal's heads, but didn't shut them down. Everything was juuust short of what needed to be done. Just short of that imaginary moral line Jedi loved to draw. He got the job done at least, and to be fair these were just a bunch of petty little pissants.

Especially the human. She'd been inside his head. Nothing evil up in there, just a whole lot of idiocy and some . . . unwanted thoughts hurled her way.

Awande bent down next to the Bothan while Kai gave his little speech to the shopkeeper, rifling through her pockets and plucking out a wallet filled with credits. Not like she didn't deserve a reward, after all. "Feel free to add me roughing them up if you want. Makes for a better story."

She followed Kai out the store, tucking away her spoils. "So just, y'know. For future reference. That lightsaber on your waist." She glanced down. "What's the magic threshold that makes you pull it out? Zero-sum, threat of death, squawking innocents . . . or is keeping it hidden up to the literal end another Jedi thing?"

Hadn't recovered from dipping so deep into the Force earlier. Exhaustion made her pissy. Shocking.

A sneak-thief tried to go for her wallet as she walked the streets next to Kai, and Awande cuffed the Neimoidian pickpocket on the back of her head. Amateur. Probably wouldn't even notice the Bothan's stolen credits she tucked into her belt. Steal from a thief, give to another . . . seemed pretty Jedi-like. They loved balance, after all.

"You know he'll talk, by the way. That shopkeep." Awande tucked her hands back in her pockets. "I give it a day."

 

[Ral]

Frowning at Awande as she began searching the pockets of the Bothan, Kai shook his head. Old habits die hard, I guess. He'd have to keep an eye on her. The girl's behavior was a little erratic at best all things considered, but perhaps that was just the way she had grown up. He wouldn't say anything though, not yet at least. If he found the girl's behavior becoming problematic he probably would though, but he wanted to give everyone a chance to adjust, and he knew that some people just required more time than others to get used to the way things were done in the Order. Walking out of the shop, Kai looked at Awande when she asked him what required him to draw it.

"When it is required." He said simply at first. But then he thought better of it as he felt like Awande was about to make a snide response. "When I need to defend myself or others with enough force to maim or kill. That," Kai motioned behind him to the shop that they had just left. "Was anything but. Those thugs represented no threat to us, and I didn't need to hurt them to disable them. If we abuse our ability to use the Force we become no better than those we fight. When the time to use such force is required however, since I know you're wondering, I will know, and so will you. A trio of thugs with blasters and stun rods are anything but a real threat."

Watching at the Pantoran smacked a pickpocket on the head, Kai continued to walk on towards the power station where the converter box was. Glancing at the girl when she said the shopkeeper would talk, he looked back at the jade crystalline buildings around him. "Don't you think this place is gorgeous? A city covering the whole planet with most of the buildings made out of crystal. You don't see that in very many other places... It doesn't matter if the shopkeeper talks, we'll be done here by then. If he takes a day we can switch ships on Tatooine or Naboo, before heading back to Lamaredd or one of the other outposts. Now c'mon. Let's finish putting this piece in where it belongs so we can finish our job and call it a day."

 

[Just Falcon]

"Mmm. Don't really dig the crystals, honestly. Or this place." Awande glanced away from the looming, ominous spire of a crystal tower. Felt like the whole place was glaring at her. "Just feels . . . I dunno. Fake, I guess? Nothing's natural, nothings growing, nothings green. Just big, shiny fake rocks. Which yeah, I get, they grew from minerals or other rocks or whatever makes crystals but still . . ." She sighed, fiddling with her comm. "Reminds me of all those noble prisses who slap on rings and jewelry and makeup and anything they can their hands on, just to hide what's underneath. Mud." She dug her heel in the cracked Christophsis dirt. "Dirty. Ordinary. Mud. Tatooine might have been a dusty crudhole but at least it was honest. It felt alive. Dusty, boring, savage, and dull, but still . . . alive. Don't get that vibe here."

They reached the converter station. A dull, flat, ordinary building pressed against the side of some sort of municipal power generator. Sparks were indeed cackling out of the station; and the static played with Awande's hair, setting it on end. She leaned against her Akk dog at the converter station; worn out from before but not too willing to admit it. "Honors are all yours Kai. Let's finish this."