Unclean (Invite)

[Neutrino]

Una let the rain soak into her dark hair and slide down her white skin. She blinked droplets away from her eye lashes. Holding out her hands, she let the blood mix with the water and be washed away. Her small white hands dropped the razor blades into the churning mud below where they would be lost forever.

The planet Jabiim was a difficult place to live, even when you had as much money as Una and her father. The torrential rain hardly ever stopped. It washed away everything. Everything was mud. The buildings were made of the processed ore that the planet was rich with. And like ships at sea, these buildings had to be anchored to the solid ore far beneath the surface.

Worse though, was the planet's unstable electric field. Repulsor crafts became unreliable and unsafe. Alternate and less efficient forms of transportation had to be exploited. This transportation needed solid roads, or bridges rather, that connected grey building to grey building. On one of these roads is where Una stood looking over the edge, arms outstretched.

All the blood was almost washed away now. She watched with fascination before turning her face towards the grey sky and closing her eyes. For the first time in a long time, she felt free. If she had known murder would have such a calming effect on her mind, she would have been doing it a long time ago.

This planet, with all of its draw backs, seemed perfect for now. Una's father had increased his fortune with the help of the ore here. Jabiim was not within the Republic and was more or less paid little attention to. Her father had taken advantage of a small niche within the market. So far, business was good. And for now, Una was calm.

Her dress was soaked and it clung to her. It was the season of warm rain so she didn't mind too much, but she had better keep moving before anyone saw her. It was rather suspicious, within this small colony, to be standing there enjoying the rain.

She began to walk home. It wasn't far. Una had had an umbrella, but it had gone over the edge into the mud during the struggle. A small smile tugged at her lips as she thought of the boy, a would be stalker, and how she had let her razor blades slice through his throat. After he was dead, she had dumped him into the mud after her umbrella.

What a fool. Did he really believe she wanted to go out with him? For a long time he had harassed her for a date. And finally she had obliged.

Her small hand went to a pocket on her dress. There, she could feel the clear adhesive tape folded over on itself. It contained a single strand of hair from the boy. Una had never killed something so big before. It would be a nice addition to her collection.

Una's eyes warily watched for passersby. There were pedestrians and transports rumbling about the roads now that she was in a more crowded part of the town. Spacers and colonists were everywhere.

 

[D.C.]

And then...

A stranger arrived in town.

A Human male with dirty blonde hair, that was starting to grow grey. He had a small beard and a small growing moustache. His hair was half-long, and he did not look anything special, except for his eyes. His bright blue eyes, blue as the sky above, they reflected the young adventurer he once was and the lust for adventure.

That day, when he walked out of the space port into the village on the rainy planet of Jabiim, he wore a black leather jacket, black pants and black leather boots. The shirt he wore under his jacket was grey and he wore two brown leather gloves. His two 'companions', as he called them, were hidden in the pockets of his jacket and his blaster rested in the holster he wore on his right hip.

With slow pace he stepped out of the vessel with which he had come to Jabiim. The reason he was there was because he was sent to scout on the planet. To see what it was like, and what was going on there. He had taken the mission, and he was glad he was the one sent on the mission, because he liked adventure, and he liked traveling to places he had never visited before. Even when it was raining forever on those places.

Rain rain... Go away... Come again another day, all the world is waiting for the sun... The adventurer thought to himself as he walked through the village. He quickly entered a cantina and walked over to the bar. He patted on the counter with his right hand and said: "One corellian ale, please."

 

[Neutrino]

Una's steps were slow and even. She tucked some of her soaking wet hair behind her ear so that it would not dangle in her face.

There were some young men hanging out in front of a cantina she was coming up on. They didn't have anything better to do than just huddle in the entrance of a lame cantina? They were talking amongst themselves when they say her approach. Hopefully they wouldn't talk to her and ruin her calm that was so rarely settled upon her.

She had no such luck.

"Hey there beautiful!" He was obviously a spacer since she did not recognize him. "You're all wet." Some laughed.

"Come on inside and have a drink." Another one said grinning stupidly.

Una just kept her face blank and she kept walking. "You don't want to have a drink with me." Her voice was soft and barely audible over the traffic in the street.

"I don't want to have a drink with you." Said one in a dazed sort of way.

"Well I sure do!" Said another excitedly. This annoyed her.

"Leave me alone." And they did. Her back was on the cantina now.

 

[D.C.]

The stranger had just finished his drink when there was something that caught his interest. There was something going on at the entrance of the door, something involving the Force.

"Thanks for the drink." He said to the bartender.

"Anytime!" The bartender said with a smile.

The stranger got on his feet and walked over to the entrance of the cantina, wondering what was going on over there. He saw a group of guys, saying things to an innocent looking girl, but was she innocent? There was something about her, something Force Sensitive.

When she turned her back on the cantina, the stranger didn't hesitate to walk out and talk to her, because he had to know. He exitted the cantina and stood right behind her. His voice was powerful and full of authority, while still sounding friendly. It was something only a few could do.

"Wait for a moment, girl." He said. "Can I have a word with you?"

 

[Neutrino]

Una felt the hairs on her arms stand up at the sound of the man's words and she wondered what it was she was feeling. She found herself turning to face him. Her eyes were met with a handsome but scarred face. Quickly looking him over though, she wondered why she had turned for him in the first place.

He was obviously just a spacer.

"No."

And then she turned back around and began to walk away.

 

[D.C.]

His voice was now less friendly, but still had the full authority: "Yes!" He said.

He walked over to her and started walking next to her. "Because," He started, but he paused and looked at her. He really could sense it, this was obvious. She indeed was a force sensitive. It was still raw, and very untrained, but it was strong. She had a very strong connection.

"You are Force Sensitive."

He was straight to the point at times like these. He didn't want to waste time, and especially not when he had the chance of meeting another Force Sensitive who could have been a nice addition to his Order.

"And you won't walk away from me."

 

[Neutrino]

Una was getting a very strange feeling from this stranger. She kept walking with him at her side though. "I don't know what you're talking about." But the fact that she was even responding to him meant she was curious. His words intrigued her. His voice was laced with some kind of power she had never experienced before.

There was no way she was going to stop to talk to him while standing on the street with rain pouring down on her. He could follow her to her house if he wished.

They were just beginning to enter the residential district.

 

[D.C.]

"Of course you don't, little miss." He said. "Nobody does at first, but then they find out and their eyes are opened. I can sense that you are curious, so you can't deny that to me. Oh no, little miss, you cannot possible lie to me. I might sound like an idiot, though. Name's Quentell Xall, pleased to meet you."

He grinned, and let both his hands slide into the pockets on his black pants. Of course, it was still raining, as always, but Quentell didn't really care about that. The Force Power within this girl was great, and he had to convince her to join the Order he belonged to.

 

[Neutrino]

Una listened to this Quentell Xall. She had heard of this force and Jedi before. But he looked nothing like the Jedi that were pictured in her school materials.

"I am Una Riou." She did not look at him. "And that is where I live." She pointed at a large condo with a high gate surrounding the property. Soon she was punching in a code and the gate allowed them inside. Guards were about to approach but she waved them away.

She didn't feel like explaining the stranger she had brought home. They would watch out for her more carefully now that they had seen this suspicious man. Una led Xall into her home.

Apparently her father had just gotten home and he was hanging his jacket up when his eyes went to meet Una's. "Welcome home sweetie," he was obviously happy to see her but then his eyes went cold as he took in the stranger at her side. "And who, may I, ask is this?" There was a coldness in his voice.

"My friend," she said dismissively, cutting in before Xall could respond.

Her father frowned but moved on, "And why are you soaking wet young lady?"

"I lost my umbrella in the mud." She tired of his eyes on her. "Please, go to your office and finish up some work. Do not worry about us."

He frowned even harder but then nodded. "I have to finish up some work in my office. You kids," Quentell was almost as old as her father, "be good. There is food in the kitchen." And then he turned to go down the hall to another part of the condo.

Una began to slip out of her shoes, as was obviously customary here, before walking any farther into the home. She went into a sitting room and stood waiting for Xall to follow. He wasn't as soaked as she was so it seemed fine for him to sit on the furniture.

 

[D.C.]

Quentell was impressed by the way Una spoke to her father, but he was not much impressed by her lifestyle. Not at all, since he lives in a huge palace. Of course, he shares his home with Knights and Padawans and other Masters, but still it's a huge and a beautiful palace. Bigger than this home. This didn't mean he disliked the house, because he indeed liked it.

Quentell followed Una into the sitting room and said: "I did not know you were able to use the Force already. Where have you learned that?"

 

[Neutrino]

Again, "I don't know what you're talking about." She was using this force? By telling her father what to do?

Una's father did what she wanted because he didn't want to upset her. Or at least, that's what she thought. She didn't order him around very often, but when she did, he usually did what she wanted.

She was frowning at this Quentell Xall. "I have to change. I will be down in a moment." She was indeed dripping on the floor. Una turned to go up the stairs out in the hall.

 

[D.C.]

"Of course, miss Una." Quentell said, and he sat back in the chair. The whole room was nicely furnished, and he looked at the many objects. He liked it, but he did not want to stay here too long. Her father was weird man, he thought, and so was she. An eccentric family. He wondered about her mother, but decided it was not important enough to ask her about her mother. What was important, was the girl herself. It would be a shame if the raw Force Power that was flowing through her, wasn't trained, and it would be chance he would miss. The Order he belonged to, needed more members also, and Quentell was always on the lookout for new members. Una, might be a nice addition.

 

[Neutrino]

Once in her room with the door closed, Una carefully took out her trophy from her pocket to delicately place it inside the music box on her dresser. There were many other trophies there already and they would all keep each other company. This was her first human trophy. It didn't seem more special than the others though.

Soon Una had slipped out of her wet clothes and into a dry dress. Not bothering with her hair, she padded back down the stairs. She sat down in a chair across from Quentell Xall and fixed her eyes upon his.

"Please, Mr. Xall, explain yourself." She wanted to get right to the point. She didn't want to have to deal with a meaningless spacer if it wasn't worth her time. Something about him, though, told her he was no ordinary spacer.

 

[D.C.]

Quentell leaned a bit forward, and said: "I am a Force User. You are a Force Sensitive, and I can sense that the Force is very strong in you. It's raw and untrained, but you, believe it or not, could become powerful."

After he said that he remained silent and looked straight into her eyes. He remembered how he got other sensitives into the Order he belonged to, and he had always been straight to the point.

"I assume you have heard of Jedi Knights? I am, in case you wonder, not a Jedi. I am much more. Ask your questions, miss Una, and I will answer."

 

[Neutrino]

Una's attention was definitely caught by the idea of power. But she wondered why he would care if he were not a Jedi. "What are you then, if not Jedi, that makes you care to talk to me?" She couldn't help but be suspicious. He hadn't exactly told her his objective yet so she was very wary of him.

 

[D.C.]

"I am a Master of the Shade, miss Una." He answered. "A master of both the Light Side and the Dark Side of the Force. I walk the Shaded Path, but I fight for the Light, using the Darkness as my weapon. I am not a Jedi, I am a Shade."

 

[Neutrino]

So there were sides to this force. Una shifted her position in the chair. "What does a master want with me?" She was getting right to the point and for some reason she was hoping he would say he wanted her to be within this Shaded Path. And that she was special.

Her face remained blank as she thought about her options for the future.

 

[D.C.]

"A master wants to train you in his way of the Force. Join us, little miss Una, and become what you have dreamed of for so long. Become powerful."

The reason Quentell wanted to train her was, he had not come across individuals with such a high force sensitivity. He was surprised that she wasn't already taken by the Jedi, and he wanted her to join the Shades. With the Jedi, she couldn't train herself to the full extend, and she would live a dedicated live. A live dedicated to the Force, and she would not be allowed to do much other than protecting the innocent. With the Shade, she had more freedom. Much more.

 

[Neutrino]

Una wondered how this Quentell Xall could know what she wanted. She didn't even know what she wanted. Power sounded good. But to what end? She was far too calculating to just go after power blindly. And she still wasn't sure she believed him. The whole thing was very strange to her.

She did want to learn though. This force was a mystery to her, and so was this Quentell Xall. She wanted to know more.

"Teach me then." She said confidentially yet wondering what it was she asked for. "Train me."

 

[D.C.]

"To train you, I must take you to the enclave our Order resides in and where our students are trained. Are you willing to leave your home and come with me to the enclave, where you will be trained in the ways of a Shade? Or do you have more questions you want answered first? Or perhaps, you might want to think about it for a while?" Quentell said.