[Pre-TL] Worlds Unknown

[Phoenix]

Talak had never been to a world quite like Christophsis before. Most worlds were desert, jungle, snow, or even water, but Christophsis was entirely different. The entire planet was made up of crystalline structures, which just went to show that the galaxy was filled with endless wonders.

Crystals. Kyber crystals had played an important role in the lives of Force-users for generations, and Talak was no exception. His pursuit of knowledge and artifacts had led him to investigate the kyber crystals he'd heard reports of on Christophsis, but he still had his doubts about the reliability of his information. Rumors had it that the CIS and Empire had strip mined the entire area for their super weapons and research projects, leaving nothing for the subsequent generations. He didn't have high hopes that he would actually manage to find anything of value here, but the Force led him here nonetheless.

His ship dropped through the upper atmosphere and streaked toward the open landing platform being relayed to his navicomputer. He pulled the controls back and slowed to a stop as the ship set down - a bit more roughly than he intended - onto the landing platform. He really needed to practice his flying more often...

He shut down the power system and hit the ramp controls, dropping it with a hiss and a flush of steam. A dock worker quickly ran up to him, demanding credits for docking and Talak quietly sighed.

You've elected to waive my docking fee, he said, with a wave of his hand. To trick the mind of another was a basic use of the Force, and one with many, many practical applications.

I've elected to waive your docking fee, the man said in the background as Talak walked away, not even waiting to see if his ship was tended to. He knew it would be, and he had more pressing matters to concern himself with. The tip he'd gotten pointed to a shadow broker in the slums who might have information about what he was looking for, and a map to an unspoiled kyber cave.

The thought of whatever shady part of town he was heading to made him reflexively touch the pair of saber hilts hidden below his robes. Now or never, he thought as he pulled the hood over his head and headed out of the docking bay and into the belly of the city. @Wit

 

[Wit]

Felisin "Stormblessed", Matukai Monk​

Felisin has spent all her life on Christophsis, and most of that in the more rural areas. This was literally the first time she had made it to the larger population areas, and it was a little jarring. Jain's training had left her reliant on her reading of people, their body language, their expressions, the way the treated their environment. To understand any situation and act accordingly. But here, in this sea of bodies, she had no idea what to do. She was very much a small fish in a very big pond.

She had wandered the city for weeks now, trying to figure out a way to either earn enough coin and get out of here. Unfortunately she has been rather unsuccessful in both regards. She had finally wandered her way to the city's spaceport and found some work helping folks load and unload their ships. They had been skeptical at first, but she could more than carry her weight and had started to get some consistent work. She had come back here every day since, and had always managed to find some captain willing to hire her in exchange for credits to get her a day's worth of grub. But with how hungry she was left even after those meals, and how the other dock workers seemed to have credits to throw on food, drinks, and a surprisingly exotic collection of entertainment, she was beginning to wonder if she was getting underpaid. She had been pretty proud of the agreement she had made that first day, a few hours of work and food for the day? That seemed like a steal, but now she had to wonder if it wasn't her who was getting the worse of the deal.

She was sitting on some unloaded crates, thinking about the best way to renegotiate her pay, wondering if punching her way to a raise was acceptable, when she saw another ship descend from the skies. The sight still awed her, despite having seen dozens of ships land and take off by now. It was still a novel sight for her, and she followed its descent as she thought on her predicament, not really paying attention as her eyes followed the figure that emerged from the ship. It was only when he stepped up to the dock master and waved his hand, saying something she almost missed that he actually caught her attention. If she wasn't mistaken, the man had just used the Force. Interesting, very interesting.

What are you up to friend? She thought to herself as she jumped off the crate and began following him from a distance, it wasn't often you saw a Force user on Christophsis. He was the first she had seen actually, ever.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Talak walked out of the hangar and paused. The problem was he didn't really know where he was going, and making friends wasn't his strong suit. He stopped and closed his eyes, drinking in the Force that covered this world. People were going everywhere, rushing through their lives. He could hear them stepping past and feel the rushing winds reflected off of passing speeders.

Navigating to the... the thought was cut short as some unforeseen issue pricked the back of his mind. Like an itch he couldn't scratch, something felt just a little bit off and his eyes started quickly darting from person to person in the crowd.

Without waiting further, he walked along the street, altering his pace between fast and slow. His eyes flicked to the windows of nearby buildings to see who was behind him in the reflection. He continued until the streets began to clear up and fewer people were nearby. Passing pedestrians became an increasingly rare sight before he took a right down an alleyway.

The second he passed the alley, he moved quickly. Calling the Force to himself, he leapt up to the top of a second story stairwell and crouched into the shadows. He was fairly certain someone was following him, but he didn't know who or why. Surely some bounty hunter or rival assassin hadn't followed him all the way out here? And to have already been waiting for him... impossible.

 

[Wit]

She followed after him as best as she could, trying to maintain a line of contact while staying as conspicuous as she could. She had thought that she would have stood out in the city, with her blue robes and unconventional appearance, but it had been fairly easy to blend in. That could work to her advantage now as she tried to follow the Force user.

It got a little harder when he started getting a little erratic with his movements, she had to push and shove past a few as she tried to keep him in her sights, attracting more than a few glares and curses as she moved past them. She ignored the glares, but stored away the insults for later. Jain hated that, her tendency to collect insults and less than savory habits. He didn't think it was appropriate for a monk. But he wasn't here, and she was beginning to realize it was a lot easier to get things done if you spoke like a local. And in places like these that meant throwing in an curse or two.

But while she had learned a new curse or two, she seemed to have lost her query. She had seen him slip down an alley, but when she turned into it herself he wa nowhere to be seen. She slowed down, careful to make as little sound as possible, not to stay hidden but rather to try and catch any sounds that might help her identify the direction in which the man had gone. She had heard stories about Jedi being able to sense things around them, see things that weren't visible to the naked eye. Either Jain had never gotten around to teaching her that trick or it wasn't something in their toolkit. She still had trouble understanding what made the Jedi different, Jain's rambling explanations hadn't really helped, maybe she would get lucky and this man was some sort of Jedi. Maybe she could ask him. Provided he was friendly, and she hadn't already lost him.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Talak watched as a young woman rounded the corner. She was dressed oddly, and looked harmless enough, but looks could be deceiving. Some of the greatest spies and assassins made their living by looking harmless and being quite the opposite. Managing to put your opponent off balance was a powerful tool.

He waited until she had passed him below and leapt over the railing. The Force gripped him as he dropped to the ground just behind her, his landing coming softly and adeptly. Without further warning, he grabbed her and slammed her up against the wall, placing his saber hilt up against her belly in preparation to cut her in half.

Why are you following me? he growled, hand coming up to wrap around her throat to hold her against the wall. His face was half obscured by his hood, and his voice had no warmth or kindness to it. Whoever she was, he was on the verge of killing her here and now, but even he wasn't one to make such a radical move without first investigating. Yes, because slamming her into a wall and threatening to kill her was a very reasonable interaction.

Of course, he didn't realize what she was, and perhaps she had a trick up her sleeve of her own. In fact, now that they were in such close proximity he realized that the Force was quite strong in her. Perhaps she was a rival assassin after all.

 

[Wit]

She had let him get the jump on her, both literally and figuratively. Jain would have killed her for that mistake, thank the light he wasn't here to see that. But that was about the only positive she could see in this situation. She was pressed against a wall and had the feeling that there might be a lightsaber pressed against her back. The man was probably justified in reacting like this, she had been following him after all. Who wouldn't get creeped out by a stalker? But him manhandling her, and something about his tone, had rubbed her the wrong way.

"Bugger off!" She growled in response, beginning to draw on her reserves of the light and suddenly increased her body's temperature. Her control wasn't as refined as Jain's had been, he could selectively heat up certain parts of his body, she had to take a big hammer approach and just go hot everywhere. But the effect would still be one that she wanted. The skin on her neck, where the man held her, would suddenly get hot to the touch. Maybe not hot enough to actually do any significant damage, she was yet to truly master the ability after all, but it would be hot enough to surprise him and give her an opening. She would use that opening to push against the wall and leap backwards, opening up distance from the wall and also throwing him off of her.

Turning her fall onto the ground into a backwards roll, she would come to a stop crouching on a knee, her staff held ready at her side.

"You greet everyone like that? What's frakkin wrong with you?"

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Talak wasn't expecting what came next, and he cursed himself for being caught off guard. He shouldn't have been this careless to let her escape from his grasp. Her skin suddenly became so hot that he could feel it even through his gloves as if they might suddenly burst into flames, and it elicited precisely the response she wanted: he released his grip and pulled his hand back.

She was already moving and pulling away from him, using the wall to leverage away from his grasp and strike. His crimson saber burst to life and he swiped after her, but it was too late. Instead the blade sawed through the wall and she was well out of the range. Reflexes and speed of a Force user, there's no doubt about it.

He once more cursed himself for having been so sloppy and hoped it wouldn't be his death. The woman was fast, and if he wasted any time reprimanding himself further now he'd make a misstep that would end in his death. The one piece he couldn't work out, however, was who she was and how she'd cut him off at the pass. Someone being here before he'd even arrived? He could feel the Light emanating off of her like scalding water, and he realized that perhaps it was as simple as a lightsider once more wanting to cut a darksider down without cause.

Shut up and fight, assassin, he said. The staff in her hand and the Force powers she'd already demonstrated indicated she wasn't some random pedestrian, and although Talak's assumption about her purpose was obviously misinformed, the title he'd used for her might have been the only indication of their misunderstanding.

 

[Wit]

Her eyes widened as she noticed the lightsaber, having never actually seen one before. Who was this guy? And just how much trouble had her curiosity dragged her into? Still crouched, she observed him and tried to think out her next steps, when he spoke up. Impulsive and quick to react as she was, his words tossed out any planning that might have been going on in her head. Incredulous pride taking over.

"Assassin?" She snapped almost at once, pushing herself to her feet as she did so, staff held in front of her, though she had to wonder what good it would be against a lightsaber. "I'm no assassin, I'm a..." She came up short as she realized she wasn't sure what to say. So far she had gotten along on people's assumptions of her being one of the Matukai, but she hadn't yet publicly claimed to be one. And she had the feeling that now might not be the best time to declare to the world what she was. She did have some common sense, despite what Jain had often told her. "I'm a concerned citizen. I saw what you did to that dock-master, and you run around with a lightsaber and have to worry about assassins. Who exactly are you?"

Jain had always said she had to help where she could, and it seemed like a situation where poking her nose in aligned with that directive. This man was either trouble, or in trouble. In either case, she had a feeling there was a good feeling that sooner or latter someone was going to get hurt around him. That was something she ought to investigate.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

Talak's eyes narrowed, focusing in on her and taking in every piece of the alley. Narrow alley. Bad maneuverability. Agility won't work, he began running through his mind. He favored agility and speed in his combat, but that wouldn't be worth much here. She's not wearing armor either, that means she's at the same disadvantage, he thought as his feet moved to the side so that he could advance and she'd end up with her back against the wall.

All of these thoughts flooded through his mind like instinct before he realized she was claiming not to be an assassin. That didn't make sense. His eyes shot down to her weapon... a simple staff that didn't look to be made of phrik, cortosis, or anything else that could stop a saber. You didn't hunt a Force user with something that couldn't attack or defend against them.

Nerf druk, he spat. He didn't believe for a moment that she was just a "concerned citizen." They didn't stalk people around the seedy places, but he didn't think she was an assassin. A thief perhaps.

I'm not the one following you, so you're going to spill first, he said as he reached out with the Force to feel his surroundings. If she was here to rob him, then she might have friends, and he wasn't going to have someone sneaking up on him. It was clear that he was a stubborn individual, but he also knew that he didn't want to stand in this alley waving a saber any longer than he had to. Even if no one was walking through this area frequently.

 

[Wit]

While Alak was studying their surroundings and weighing up his options, Felisin was trying to figure out the man. Jain had trained her, and she might know how to fight, but she lacked the experience and combat sense that Alak possessed. It simply hadn't occurred to her to think ahead like that.

"Look," she finally said, lowering her staff and raising her other hand up in what she hoped was a placating gesture, with how many cultures and species there were in the Galaxy you never knew what might insult someone, "I'm not looking for any trouble, I'm just here to make sure you aren't brining any trouble here. Let's just talk this out." Saying so she slowly lowered the staff to the floor and placed it at her feet. "See, let's just talk." She hoped that putting her weapon away would buy her some time. Not that it would matter, against that lightsaber the staff was worse than useless, and she really didn't want to lose it. It was all she had left from Jain.

But the opportunity to make the decision was taken away from Alak as at that moment a chuckle came up from behind her. "Look here boys, looks like we have some guests." She was about to turn around to check out the source of the voice when she noticed three figures entering the alley from the other end, behind Alak and in her line of sight. Tall, buff, and smelling so bad she could notice from here. One carried a blaster, while the others were armed with clubs and batons. Alak would notice a similar count of thugs at the other end of the alley, behind Felisin. The leader, a shorter but broader Trandoshian, armed with a mean looking blaster, smirked as he walked further into the alley. "Credits, valuables, anything you got. You know the drill!"

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

She didn't seem to want to fight, but he wasn't sure if that was just a ploy to get him to drop his guard or not. Always the suspicious one, this was what he assumed. Either way, he knew he wanted to get out of site as soon as possible and was about to casually break into one of the nearby buildings when trouble found them first. His senses tingled in the back of his mind as three men came up behind the woman, and more - though he didn't know without looking - came up behind him as well.

Kriffing perfect, he thought, gritting his teeth and watching them come in behind her. His first thought was to just leave altogether and avoid the confrontation, but with enemies in front of and behind him, that wasn't going to be an option.

Seven enemies and one of him. Those weren't odds he liked. Two vs six were odds he could live with, especially given these were just a bunch of street thugs, but that required that he trust the woman... which he didn't. Mandalorians had a saying that he'd always taken to heart: the enemy of my enemy isn't always my friend. But she was less likely to kill him than they were at this point.

No more time to wait, he thought to himself, knowing that he had to make a move sooner rather than later. He deactivated his saber and turned to face the men behind him, preferring to turn his back on the woman than the thugs since he had to choose. He held the saber up in the air as if in surrender.

One blaster visible. Clubs for the rest. Gun not drawn, he evaluated. That was his answer then. He set the saber hilt on the ground in front of him and backed up. He let the tendrils of the Force wrap around the hilt as he took his step back, and the man began to smile proudly that their quarry was surrendering so easily. That was when the saber hilt leapt from the ground, ignited, and slammed into the chest of the blaster wielding thug.

Talak's other hand reached around and gripped his second hilt, activating it as he brought it around in front of him to his own defense.

The attack had caught the thugs off guard, and perhaps Felisin as well, but she was a Force-sensitive as well, which meant her reaction speeds were better than some spiced-out thugs. Or at least, Talak hoped.

Thisss curssssed sssstrap, the Trandoshan thought, wondering what he had done to anger his gods that they would foil him now. Felisin would have a small window of opportunity as the Trandoshan reached for his blaster in a panic, struggling with the release clasp on the holster. He wasn't used to his quarry fighting back, and he was perfectly happy to shoot the both of them and rob them instead.

 

[Wit]

Felisin was a little surprised to see the man put his blade down, was he really giving up? Had she read him wrong? But those doubts were quickly put to rest as the blade sprang up like by magic and took out one of the thugs. That was Jedi magic, the likes of which she had only heard off but never seen in person. And if that wasn't enough, there was more to come. Her eyes widened as she saw the second blade emerge. Two?! She was suddenly happy for the arrival of the thugs, she would most definitely have been turned into porg-kebabs if she had tried to fight this guy.

Well, if she wasn't fighting him then she might as well handle the goons that had jumped them. She wasn't sure how she felt about teaming up with Alak, but what other option did she have. So she sprang into action. While the Trandoshan was confused, she saw her opportunity and sprang into action. She turned around to face the three men, performing a graceful kick that ended with her foot tucker under her staff. She kicked it into the air, right in front of her, and slammed a fist into it's base. The staff went flying through the air, slamming into the Trandoshan's throat, forcing him to stop fumbling with his holster and instinctively raise his hands to his throat. That was more than enough time for her to rush in, getting down low into a crush and performing a spinning kick that took his legs our form under him. She caught her staff as it fell besides her and slammed it into the fork of the Trandoshan's legs before holding the staff up in a horizontal stance in front of her. She grinned at the two thugs in front of her.

"Who's next?"

Meanwhile, the two thugs who were left standing betides the man Alak had taken out had a moment of confusion while they just stared at each other before the sounds of fighting pulled them back. Perhaps it was fear of their impending doom that drove them, but they rushed forward. One charged towards Alak, a foolhardy charge as all he had to face a lightsaber was a club. His companion though was a little smarter, for while his friend made a stupid charge he dropped down besides his dead companion and began fumbling with his body for the lightsaber that had taken him out.

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

One down, two to go. Talak was on the defensive stance against two enemies, but at least they didn't have any real weapons. They had some sticks, and he had a lightsaber. That was as long as they didn't get a hold on his lightsaber.

The sounds of the fight behind him tugged at the back of his mind, but he knew he couldn't focus on that right now. Someone he wasn't friends with was being beaten up. Hopefully that wasn't the girl, but no matter who it was, it wasn't his concern.

As the next man in line charged at him, he swung down, and Talak wasn't sure what he was expecting. The blade came up in his left hand and instead of the club hitting the Dark Jedi in the head, it was cut cleanly in half before the blade gutted the man and left him slumping to the ground, clutching at his belly in a grisly display.

Then there was the last man. By now, he had the lightsaber in hand, but Talak had the Force, and he was brutal. A killer through and through. The Force wrapped around the man's throat as he started to move forward. His eyes went wide in shock and all thoughts of impaling Talak had gone away. A moment later his head was slammed into the wall repeatedly. Over and over until the man's head content was on the wall.

His body slumped down and the saber leapt back into his hand. Finished.

It seemed that the two thugs at Felisin had gotten their jaws pulled up and their resolve had returned. They still weren't sure what they had just witnessed, and thought that surely this girl couldn't take them both on? They came in, one from each side, looking to catch her in the middle and club her down into the ground.

 

[Wit]

Felisin grinned as the two thugs seemed to have found their spines and moved in to attack, flanking her from both sides. Jain had always said you learned more from clashing fists for a few seconds than you would from hours of practice. Or something to that effect, he had always scolded her for only remembering her own interpretations of what he said. But whatever he might have said, there was some logic to justify the thrill she felt whenever she was in combat. She felt more alive in combat than she did at any other moment. Maybe not sex though. Yeah, sex came close.

She chuckled and got to her feet as the two men approached. Sex and fist fights, just what Jain would want her to be focusing on. Some monk she was.

She raised the staff in her right hand, holding it up over her head and began spinning it in her hand. It was a simple enough trick once you spent enough time practicing it. But it always had its desired effect. She didn't have a glowing stick of death to draw the eye, so tricks like this would have to do. The moment she noticed their eyes dart up towards the staff she sprang into action. Charging forward, staff coming down to chest level as she ran ahead, jabbing to the right as she reached the first thug and sending him crashing to the ground with a sound hit to the temple. From experience she expected him to be out cold and concussed for a few hours. More than enough time for her to deal with his friend.

But even as she stopped and turned to face the other man, he dropped the club and turned around to dash out the way he had come. Having witnessed his advantage dwindle from a six against two situation to him alone facing two was more than enough to break his resolve. He still thought that he could take on the girl, but the man with the lightsaber had done some magic to take out his friends. He didn't want any of that.

Felisin stood there and watched him run, having no inclination to give chase. Instead she turned around to see what had happened to the rest, finding them all disposed off, even faster than she had been. And she didn't even actually have to fight one of them. Impressive.

"You seem to know how to use those blades. Not a common weapon that, and yet you carry two. Who exactly are you?"

She was about to say more when she noticed a sound approaching from the distance. Sirens, the constabulary had arrived. Having already had a few run ins with them, she had no doubts that she would somehow have to take the blame for all of this. She was sure the local thieving guilds paid off the coppers.

"We have to move!" She said urgently as she began moving down towards the exit form the alley. "This shit will get you locked up if you're here when the bluecoats arrive." She would begin walking and stop at the end of the alley to see if he followed. "The name's Felisin, and I guess I owe you one for this whole mess. I know a place where you can lay low for a bit. Coming?"

@Phoenix

 

[Phoenix]

The reality was that Talak was a brutal man with a singular goal, and people who weren't a part of that goal were expendable. The death of a single person in order to maintain his secrecy was nothing to him, and even less when his life was that of a criminal. He was weighed in the balances and found wanting.

The pair of sabers flashed out and slipped back onto his belt just before the Force extended from his hand once again, wrapping around the head of the running man. He began to slow, confused by what he was feeling, and then his head yanked to the side in a completely unnatural angle and there was a sound of snapping and crunching before the man fell forward. He didn't want any witnesses to talk about who had come to this port. He'd already made enough of a mess as it was.

His eyes flashed angrily toward the woman who he blamed, but he also knew that his anger was misplaced. At least she had managed to fend off the other thugs and had his back in the fight. That bought her more goodwill than anyone else on this planet thus far even if she had been the reason he came down this alley in the first place.

The sirens approaching were the last thing he wanted to involve himself in, and perhaps the most interesting thing was this woman didn't want to either. He followed after her as she led toward the exit of the alley. He didn't answer his questions about who he was or why he was here, but he did follow her to wherever she would lead.

I hope it's close, he said, looking back over his shoulder to where the colors of flashing lights. Because they're here, he said, making out the other end of the alley and onto the street. He didn't know where they were going, but he knew that anywhere was better than here.