[JEDI MISSION] A Damsel In Distress

[Noire]

INDUPAR, MID RIM TERRITORIES // NEAR EASTERN STRONGHOLD // SUNRISE // NEW JEDI ORDER SAFEHOUSE
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The Jedi Knight awoke with a jolt. His eyes snapped open, the intensity of his dream ensuring they would not close again for the night, and his breath came in short, ragged, gasps. He lifted himself up into a sitting position instead of attempting to settle back down on the cot; though he desired nothing more than several more hours of rest it was more than apparent that he would not get it. He groaned as he slowly - reluctantly - rose up from his bed. Taking note of his own quickened breathing, and the rapid pounding of his heart, the young man opened himself up to the Force, exhaling deeply as a sense of calm washed over him. Finally, he thought with a sigh. But the Knight knew fragments of the relentless nightmare still lingered within the far reaches of his mind, waiting for another chance to strike.

If only he knew what it all meant.​

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"What?"

It would seem that the day had just gone from bad to worse to unbelievable. Caden Ansgar folded his arms roughly but softened his imposing stare into a resigned, somewhat accepting, expression when he noticed the Padawan openly wearing a 'stung' look on her face. Although he immediately felt apologetic, as the girl was simply a messenger and not the individual who made the decision, he didn't offer an apology for shouting at her. Much like he hadn't back on Naboo a few weeks ago. He took a deep breath instead and pressed his fingers to his temples; his frustration was this close to boiling over and, quite frankly, he did not have the time for any distractions. The assignment wasn't anything more than a simple investigation that would probably lead to an arrest, if even that, or a wild bantha chase, if not.

Either way Caden was convinced he could handle it alone. And yet, as usual, he had been assigned a partner as though he could not. The Order's lack of faith in his own abilities, however disturbing , was not the real problem. The real problem was 'who' they had assigned to be apart of the mission along with him. The real problem was the Jedi he had never been able to get along with, much less consider a "partner", was now someone whose back he'd have to watch and whose judgement he'd have to trust.

He didn't like it.

Caden let his disgruntled gaze fall upon a transport ship beginning its long descent towards the landing platform not too far from where he stood now. Kai Trivasste would be on-board. He took very little comfort in the thought that the other Jedi might have changed over time and gritted his teeth as he began a slow walk towards the landing platform. The sooner this mission was completed the better.

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It was a masterpiece.

But he had not the time to remain as he stood and admire the overcast sky. Jacques Logi, or Lord Paxis as he preferred to be called these days, stood silently on a crudely constructed balcony with his hands clasped behind his back and his feet spread evenly apart. He had waited a very, very long time for this moment. From the days when he had been nothing more than a pitiful village boy who cried at the slightest insult, from the days when he had been a disillusioned Padawan unwilling to rejoin the Order after the abandonment of those on Coruscant to the Empire's wrath, to a few months ago when he had returned to his home-world of Indupar seeking to exact his revenge, he had waited patiently. Sarah Wesley, though innocent in the matter, would die. Lord Paxis had seen this in his vision. It would come to pass without question.

Most unfortunate too, he thought, she's quite the beauty.

The woman, who he had actually known prior to ever becoming a Jedi, was well-liked and well-known within the small village they had both come from. Her unexplained disappearance would have been noticed and reported within hours and ultimately that was the sole reason why he had chosen her; he knew more surely than anything else that there would be Jedi sent out to search for the abducted young maiden. As much as he loathed both them and their ignorance he knew the Jedi were not complete fools. They would investigate and discover him sooner or later and that was what he was counting on.

The self-proclaimed Lord exhaled, relaxed his rigid stance, and nodded to himself. He allowed for his arms to fall to his sides as he began the short walk back into the safe-haven he'd carved out for himself inside of the mountain through sheer Force power alone. He could feel the dark side raging within him, demanding to be released, but he kept the potent weapon at bay. He would wait until the Jedi arrived before he unleashed all of what he'd learned in the past several years. But Lord Paxis wouldn't kill them - at least not at first; such an action would be useless to both himself and his growing power. No, what he would do is drain the Force from within their spirits and feed it to his own.

Such was a true scheme of the Sith.

 

[TwoSidedHeart]

Kai Trivasste sat cross legged and shirtless on the floor of a small room on board the transport shuttle, the small almost square space holding only a cot taking up two corners and a small pile of his own belongings in one of the remaining corners. Among them was a black, hooded travelling poncho, a long sleeved white shirt, his black standard issue 'Jedi Boots', his datapad and of course his new lightsaber. He had yet to cut his messy black hair since returning to Galtea a mere week ago and as such it still hung around his face giving him a slightly edgy look, with several nasty looking still healing scars scattered across his torso. The boys eyes were shut and he seemed to be in a deep meditative trance. The truth was, as evidenced by the sweat on his brow, that he was exerting a great amount of effort to reach out to the Force. The last three months had all but crippled his connection to the 'Great Wind', though returning to Galtea and entering the crystal cave, a place strong in the Force, had somewhat rekindled the connection. Apparently the connection only remained so potent while actually within the cave and since leaving it, the Force was little more than a whisper to him. A faint presence that was right in front of him, yet just beyond his reach.

A sudden shift and he noted that the shuttle was beginning its descent. With a sigh, he stood and quickly dressed before exiting the room and heading towards the ramp to meet his partner for this mission. It seemed strange to him that he had received one so soon after his return, but it was far worse than it could have been simply because the mission was not a solo one. Oh no, apparently the person he was assigned to 'assist' was his former fellow student Caden Ansgar. Another little tidbit he'd picked up from the message was that Caden was now a Jedi Knight. Which was all well and dandy. He'd barely seen Nakoma before having to ship off Galtea to come meet Caden for a mission. He'd barely had time to... recover.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he steadied himself as the shuttle landed and the ramp opened, walking casually down to the bottom where he took in the form of Caden silently for a few moments. Before he'd been taken, he would have tried to reach out with the Force to the other boy to try and glean some hint at the other males emotion towards him but for now that was beyond him. Though, he doubted that whatever the other male was thinking was good. After the brief silence, he spoke up in a somewhat respectful tone although he failed to keep eye contact with the other male, instead focusing his gaze just off the other males as though scared to make direct eye contact with another person.

"It's been a while Caden. I... look forward to working with you on this assignment."

 

[Noire]

Upon seeing Kai again the first thing Caden pictured was the Twi'lek girl from Cato Neimoidia laying at his feet unconscious. He hadn't even thought of that incident in a year or more, yet now his eyes briefly widened as he recalled the intense fear of the slave girl and the swift wrath of the younger Jedi. That incident had been the final straw of sorts between them and they'd hardly seen each other since - something he'd never been particularly affected by. He shook his head, narrowing his eyes, and crossed his arms as Kai approached. He could tell almost immediately there was something distinctly off about him - an air of misery - and yet as curious as that was he was not interested in any of Kai's personal troubles.

Caden withdrew his commlink from his belt and activated it, watching in silence as a hologram of a young man dressed in Jedi robes appeared and slowly began rotating counter-clockwise. "This is who we're hunting and his name is Jacques Logi. About ten years ago, around the time of the Battle of Coruscant, he abandoned the Order and vanished for over a decade. A few days ago, a woman was kidnapped from a village not too far from here, and although we don't have much information yet, the Masters are certain that Logi is the culprit for a lot of reasons they didn't bother letting me in on." Caden said, pausing briefly as huffed.

"The villagers claimed the abductor had magic powers so we at least know that he still has his training, and we know that he's somewhere up the mountains. Got it all? Good. Now let's go ahead and rescue the girl and get this mission over with." Caden finished, not bothering to give Kai a chance to speak. He pulled the hood of his cloak up and over his eyes, checking his belt to ensure the lightsaber he'd borrowed was properly secured and his blaster firmly holstered, and began walking toward a winding path that would take them directly through the village. Once there they could garner a bit more information than what they had so far.

Hopefully.

 

[TwoSidedHeart]

It was clear to Kai immediately that Caden was still not his biggest fan, with good reason. The Kai he'd known had been an impulsive asshole to say the least. A little damaged, but nothing compared to the near husk he was now. He did agree with Caden on one thing however. The council sure did love their secrets. Instead of dwelling on the clear distaste in the air as Caden set off along the winding path that would lead to the village, the padawan simply sighed and drew up his own hood before pulling out his datapad to read over a few bits and bobs since clearly a nice friendly discussion was apparently off his list of options. However despite the face his eyes were scanning over the screen, Kai's real focus was shifting rapidly from the near past to the present and back again. Memories were really becoming something of a curse to the young man though it hadn't been the torture or mistreatment he'd suffered that had left the biggest scar. It was the very fact that nobody had come for him.

That Nobody cared.

Lost in his thoughts, Kai found himself soon wandering into the village a step behind Caden letting the Knight lead as he supposed it should be now that they were no longer considered equals in terms of the Jedis Hierarchy. He glanced around briefly taking in the setting but purposefully avoided the gaze of anyone they came across. It was up to Caden to socialize and question the residents he decided. He would follow behind almost like a ghost and survey the surroundings keeping an eye out for trouble. And if there was a rogue Jedi that the council was somewhat concerned about on the loose, then it was more than likely that trouble would find them.