Freefall

[That's So Wizard]

The plan was set, or rather what little there was of one. Erim and Master Locke had identified the ship they were going to use to start their investigation but there was still some time before it was scheduled to return to Nar Shaddaa; a few days in fact. Just enough time for her to get some practice in hunting minor targets like some strange vigilante, re-learning what she had forgotten in 7 years of what felt like eternal conflict. Doing the right thing... who thought that would be a skill you'd have to re-train?

Two hooded figures spoke in hushed tones in a dark alley. They had been extra cautious, making sure no one followed them but that caution only bred suspicion from the vigilant Jedi Knight. Their heightened anxiety was like a beacon to her, it was something she had learned to sense during the war. Fear. She understood it well, after all it was the prevailing emotion on the rain soaked forests during that first drop on Sy Myrth. That whole Force-forsaken world stank of it now.

So did this one. For very different reasons.

She slipped through the crowd barely noticed, the white mark on her face the only thing that distinguished her from any other person here. The symbol of her order, the lightsaber, lay tucked beneath the folds of her sleeveless robes. She would not need it, Erim was proficient enough in combat to take down some thugs without it. Most would see that as arrogance, she saw that as pragmatism. A giant glowing sword of energy was likely to attract so much more attention.

They didn't see her coming until it was far too late. In an instant one of the hooded figures slumped against the ferrocrete wall, knocked out cold by a swift backhand, the other only managed to let out half a cry of help before it doubled over in pain and then fell unconscious. Erim lowered her stance after kicking that hooded Devaronian square in the stomach, regarding their belongings. Spice dealers, low level but most likely working for someone bigger. There's always a bigger kath hound.

That half cry was enough though, as she suddenly heard footsteps above her. Some sort of enforcer meant to watch over proceedings no doubt, or perhaps an assassin meant to eliminate one of these two. With a small click she dropped a tracking beacon on the ground next to the two unconscious humanoids, the signal set for local law enforcement; or whatever passed for that on Nar Shaddaa at least.

Like a stimulant the Force moved through her body, empowering her legs and arms to launch herself up to a large rusted pipe above her, then another, then onto the rooftop. From this vantage point she could see the enforcer or whatever he was retreating towards another set of thick pipeworks above a main market square. Once again the Force empowered her, as if she was pulling her own body along behind a speeder. The prey panicked, firing off a few unfocused blaster bolts as it fled, the crowd below looking up in shock as the shots rang out, spraying wildly behind him.

And just then Erim realized she had made a critical error. With her speed, there was no way she could dodge these shots without slipping on the rounded surface of the pipe. Her body twisted awkwardly, two of the red lances of heat flying past her but her foot had no purchase and even has she grasped with her hands, the residual oil only seemed to make it worse. Panic flared up within her for the first time in a while. Her body and mind froze in the terror, like she was dropping out of that cargo hold again. The rushing wind, the screams... engines firing in the distance almost sounded like turbolaser fire in her mind.

No. She was back at Sy Myrth again. This had all been a dream. She couldn't escape that place.

Not again! Please not again! Don't take me back there!

She felt weightless for a moment, the pipe getting smaller and smaller above her.

Then it all went dark.