Plurality in a World of Singularity

[Moriarty]

Kenzie looked back at Kiri and the others as she put her lightsaber away, and then at Sohsat as he quickly made his way to the entrance. "Let's move," Kenzie said as she turned to follow her Master-to-be. Kiri and the men quickly grabbed their things, flung their coats over their shoulders and rushed to follow the Jedi and their sister. Kiri pulled a hood over her head and handed Kenzie her own jacket as she kept a wary eye on their surroundings... And their new companion.

"How do you know that we can trust this man," Kiri whispered almost inaudibly to Kenzie as she watched the Jedi lead them through the crowds and to the docking bays. At this point, with Kenzie's father sending assassins after them in any shape and form, as well as after Sohsat, Kiri didn't know who to trust. Neither did Kenzie, but she knew that she could trust what she felt and saw from Sohsat. He displayed a protective and loyal nature that she knew she could rely on. Even if he was hiding something, she was sure that Uravin had brought them together for this season and this period in her life. She needed direction, as well as the others, and he gave them that.

"I don't, Kiri," Kenzie finally replied. "I trust in Uravin. And I've already fought beside this man against enemies from my father; if he was here to kill us, he would have done so."

"Sometimes assassins wait until you're-

"Enough, Rhoka," Kiri interrupted. "Right now, The Jedi is our only way off Serr. Kenzie seems to trust him, and even against my doubts, he did protect us all from attackers. Give him a chance before you totally dismiss his motives. Beggars can't be choosers," she added. Kenzie sighed in dismay, wishing that they could tap into their Divine Logic enough to read his intentions. But perhaps he had only opened up to her because the Jedi path was meant for her to take alone, and they weren't coming along... The thought saddened her, but she knew what had to be done. They were old enough to take care of themselves, and they would always be a holo-message away.

She continued to survey her surroundings, ignoring their arguments about who was trustworthy and who wasn't, and kept a wary eye for any others who sought to take their lives. She looked forward at the Jedi as he led them, and then she thought about the lives they took in order to defend themselves. She didn't regret it; they tried to kill her and she overpowered them. In her mind, what was done was done, and she was meant to survive. She wouldn't go out of her way to kill, but it was clear to herself that she wasn't beyond killing to survive. But she wondered how he did it.

"Master Sohsat, I've got a question for you," she began, careful not to use a rude tone; "How do you make peace in your heart with ending a life? Even if it's to protect your own?" She asked.

 

[Gian Greydragon]

Sohsat waited patiently, at the hall entrance, and grinned as the rest of them came into view, noticing, but unable to hear what was being said between Kenzie and Rhoka. He got the feeling some of the people he was helping did not fully trust him, which was warranted, as far as he was concerned. He let it pass, and continued guiding everyone through to the front lobby of the motel, where the service droid sat, idly, waiting for a sentient being to come along, and prompt it's pre-recorded greetings.

Sohsat took a small satchel of credits and tossed it on the desk, next to the droid, "For the clean-up," he said, before walking out of the motel, with his new comrades. It was when they were walking down the road that Kenzie posed an interesting question. "How do I cope with killing?" he asked, restating the question, "well,' he began, taking a brief pause, and looked up at the sky. "I typically don't kill unless my comrades or loved ones are in danger. I find lethal force justified, when it is easy to see that the aggressor is a danger to others besides myself. The Force will guide my hand either way it goes, and I neither hesitate, nor regret taking the life of someone who would harm the innocent." Sohsat said, after giving the question a moment's thought.

They'd gotten half of the way down the marketplace road, to find a group of armed guards demolishing the fruit stand Kenzie and he ad met at, just an hour or so ago. "Kenzie," he said, placing his arm in front of her, and forcing the rest to stop, "take your family, and move through the alleys to the Gestoran Mining Freighter in the port. Take this key, and get everything ready. Wait for me, for ten minutes, no longer. Set these hyperspeed coordinates, and travel there; it will take you to the Peacekeeper, the Army of Light flagship. There, you will begin you and whomever else among your fold are fit to serve. Send my regards to the Generals. They'll know hat's happened here," Sohsat said, pressing the ship's key into her chest, and then dashing forward before she could respond. "Go, now!" he said, telepathically before walking, briskly toward the men who were tearing apart the man's fruit stand, "Rather rude of you to haphazardly destroy a man;s livelihood, you know," he shouted, garnering the attention of the guards, who made the connection of Sohsat and the description given to them.

"You! Lay down your weapons and come with us! You are under arrest for the assault and murder of several Serran guards!" one of the guards, a human male, said pointing at Sohsat with the end of his vibro-glaive.

"No, no, you've got it all wrong. They attacked a teenaged girl. I was not about to allow that, and defended her," Sohsat responded, not once breaking stride. Another guard, wielding a blaster carbine raised the barrel of his weapon at Sohsat.

"Stop where you are, Jedi, or I will fire! That girl is the exiled Jurress of Serr, and her silence has been demanded by a Judge. You are interfering with Serran affairs..." he shouted, a tinge of nervousness in his voice. The arm he used to brace the barrel of the rifle was shaking visibly, and even at 5 meters, Sohsat could see that they did not want to engage him.

"If defending an innocent child makes me an enemy of the state, go ahead and shoot, then. I've no intention on going quietly." Sohsat spoke, the kind tone that usually came from his voice left no trace in his last sentence, before dashing to the left, and prompting the blaster wielder to fire. Missing Sohsat, he turned, with his staff, batting it back at them, hitting dirt. From there, Sohsat grabbed one of his hatchets from under his coat, and surged forward, before throwing it, and taking the riflemen out of the fight, planting the blade of i into his right shoulder. Wailing in pain, the man fell to the floor, dropping his rifle and clutching the handle of the hatchet.

The man with the Vibro-glaive rushed forward to meet Sohsat, charging in with a committed thrust at his midsection, to which the Vahla reacted in kind, jabbing him hard in the gut, and cutting off the attack early with his nine-foot-long staff, and covering out of attack range of the seven-foot long polearm, and following up with a deceptively swift series of slashes and jabs at Sohsat, testing his defensive capabilities. In the end, the man had over-committed to a swing, and an opening presented Sohsat the oppurtunity to strike his foe across the helmeted head of the guard, jarring his brain greatly, and knocking him end over end, to the floor. Sohsat stood ready as the man gathered himself, and moved in for another attack, attempting to sweep his legs, to which Sohsat answered with a quick hop and a heavy kick mid-jump, knocking the guard up and back, forcing him to drop his glaive and land next to his injured ally. Sohsat lowered his guard as he stepped over the glaive, it vibro-motor disturbing the dust around the blade, before dying out behind him.

"Run back to your Sith overlord, and tell him we've got his daughter. And we're coming back for him. The both of you!" Sohsat shouted, causing the two men to scramble to their feet and flee without their weapons. Grabbing them, to keep them out of the hands of children, as well as other enemies that might be hidden within the crowd, and made for the shipyard.

@Holmes

 

[Moriarty]

He pressed the ship's keycard into her chest and firmly ordered her to go and take the others to the ship they were going to hijack. Her eyes darted between him and the other group of soldiers that were clearly searching for her whereabouts. She was about to defy until rhoka put a hand on her shoulder. She looked back at them and into their eyes, knowing what they were trying to say; they needed to go. Sohsat could handle himself. She nodded and followed them down the alley, leading them through the back streets and hidden lanes she had come to memorize so well.

The gestoran mining freighter, from her understanding, was docked at a small, barely public bay with off-world security that Serran officials rarely meddled in. Their identity would either be known yet not of any concern, known and wanted for a bounty, or not known at all. Kenzie prayed for the latter. One thing she did know; the ships there were easy to hijack, and even some public transport to the inner rim was available.

Kenzie paused as they got to the end of the last alley, across from the entrance to the bays. In between them was a public street with crowds of people. She presumed there was some sort of festival going on, since this street was never this populated.

"C'mon," she said as she began to casually wedge her way through the crowd. She noticed guards scanning the crowds and motioned for Kiri and the others to pull their hoods up. If they were compromised at all, it could turn into a bloodbath. Her thoughts turned to Sohsat, hoping that he would make it out in time.

They reached the entrance to the bays and slipped in unnoticed, as far as they knew. Immediately, Kenzie rushed to the ship registrars for which bay held the gestoran freighter. As she was searching, however, Kiri put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at her, raising an eyebrow at her expression.

"This is it for now, Kenzie..." Kiri stated.

"No!" Kenzie protested.

"Where you are going, I can't follow. I'm not destined to become a Jedi. Uravin has other plans for my life. You... you have this path. We must follow another," Kiri explained. Kenzie opened her mouth to protest, but she knew it would be to no avail. Instead, she embraced Kiri tightly and then the rest of them. Her eyes then rested on the human pilot standing and smiling awkwardly by the front dear where a Rodian sat and waited for paying customers.

"I'll visit when I can," Kenzie promised. Kiri smiled and nodded, then turned to the pilot and, with the others, approached him. They talked only for a moment before he nodded in agreement and led them, presumably, to his ship. They would be safe and off world. She finally saw the gravity of her destiny. Uravin made things clear for her; this was her destiny. Hers alone.

She traveled through the doors that entered into the terminals to the four docks on the right side of the bay, and traveled all the way down until she found the dock with the registry for the freighter which was now in her possession; a correllian freighter that looked to be an expensive and custom make and model.

She entered through the open door of the dock and casually walked to the loading ramp of the ship, where a security officer stood guard at. She held her cardkey ready, but felt as though it wouldn't work.

"Umm... you aren't the original owner of this ship," he said as he stopped her.

"I have the cardkey right here," she said innocently as she showed it to him. His brow furrowed as he examined her.

"I don't think you know how this works, honey. I have the faces of the pilots of this ship on this datapad," he said as he showed her the screen. "Now you better explain why you have that key, or I'll assume you're trying to steal this ship." She was relieved that he didn't know who she was, but nervous that he was so keen on who the original owners were. Her mind raced for a solution.

"I bought the ship off them," she responded.

"Fat chance. Not only is this ship too expensive for a teenage girl, unless you were royalty," he stated. She almost laughed. "But it's a company ship. This company doesn't just sell an expensive, state-of-the-art craft to someone they don't know."

She had two options; reveal her identity or... The idea finally hit her; she knew of powers by using divine-logic where she could control what the weaker mind believes, thinks, and says. A mind trick, almost. That would be her ticket out.

She searched within herself for the pools of divine power reserved in the core of her spirit, and tapped into them as she extended invisible, mental, telepathic tendrils from her mind and into the mind of the officer. He was intelligent, but she was smarter. Reading his mind gave her all the information she needed.

Finally, still in control of his mind, she waved her hand in front of him, sending a wave of overpowering energy into his mind, subjecting him to what she was going to say. There was still a high chance of this not working, because he wasn't truly a weak mind, but hers was stronger.

"You will let me take this ship, forget you ever saw me, and check the ship out of registry," she said calmly. His face was blank, and then he stiffened.

"I will give you this ship and forget I saw your face, then I will deregister this ship," he repeated back to her as he stepped out of her way. She sighed and broke her concentration as she entered the loading ramp and watched him walk off. It worked...

She inspected the entire ship as quickly as she could, ensuring there were no other passengers, then made her way to the cockpit. She sat in the pilot's seat and began the engine start-up. The motors whirred to life, then roared as the ship ignited. All the systems checked green, and she began the lift off process. . She kept the ship grounded, however, and kept the loading ramp open as she waited for Sohsat. Once he arrived, she would pull out of the bay and leave Serr, taking the ship to the coordinates he gave her. Her life will have just begun...

(@Gian Greydragon this is my last post. If you want to post something about Sohsat making it off, or just leave it as assumed that he made it to the ship and they left is up to you.)

 

[Gian Greydragon]

Sohsat broke sight of the goons that had attacked him, and swiftly, he made his way to the main road that led to the port, when he sensed the movements of several platoons of guardsmen approaching. Sohsat was not able to blend very well into a crowd, he tended to tower over most other humanoids, and even some aliens. Before they could see him however, he leaped upward, onto the nearest roof, and landed in a hunkered crouch, clasping his staff at the middle in his left hand. With his right, he concealed himself in the force, and moved quickly across the roof, keeping low, and leaping to another roof, keeping his mind's eye on the platoons of guardsmen below him.

Seven minutes passed, and he was a short distance away from the entrance to the port, which was now heavily guarded. He'd only hoped that Kenzie and her family had made it through, undeterred. The guards seemed calm, as though they had not encountered any of those they'd been sent to arrest.

He noted the gate was solid durasteel, and just barely taller than the small shop that he'd jumped to. Noting the guards at the gate had been preoccupied with an alien of some sort, attempting to gain access to his ship. The haughty guards were simply harassing the poor fol. Normally, the Jedi would intervene, but he was in no immediate danger. Sohsat used this to his advantage and climbed atop the billboard next to him, and bound forward, over the fence, and behind a small ship, out of the view from the guards, using the Force to soften his fall, landing in a roll. Quickly, Sohsat weaved through the shipyard, to the ship he'd arrived to Serr aboard.

Sohsat was just a few meters away to watch Kenzie's family leave her to go elsewhere. It was their prerogative, and Sohsat saw no need to intervene. He only stepped from the shadows when the guard had stopped the girl at the gate, only to witness her mind trick the guard into giving her access and un-registering the ship. He followed her in, and allowed her to inspect the ship, then sit down in the cockpit. Silently, he moved into the cockpit with her, and sat next to her. "Shall we?" he said, as the engines kicked on and they lifted into the air, and out of the atmosphere, where they entered hyperspace set for the Peacekeeper.

END OF THREAD​