Spice Of Life

[Ghostie]

Lights flashed on by in a blur as the yellow speeder weaved in and out of traffic. While not in a rush, it was trying to making a meeting. The driver of the speeder was obviously going faster than most expected. Whether he was clenching the wheel from nerves for pedaling the gas from annoyance, no one could tell, except for perhaps his companion sitting next to him.

The speeder’s decent was minimal, but it went lower and lower into the heart of Coruscant over time. Its destination laid at the lowest of the lower levels. The kind of places where the sun wouldn’t shine during the day. The kind of place you didn’t take a twelve year old, no matter if they were a Jedi or not.

The Mon Calamari had hoped that the Council wouldn’t make him take his padawan with him. Who knew what would happen tonight? Rune could handle himself against a pack of blaster-wielding smugglers, but Kalan…

He was unsure about the padawan’s combat skills.

So instead of just himself, they were both off in the middle of the night undercover. They were to pose as smugglers, receive a package from the ring, and then apprehend the leader. Usually a spice ring was left to CSF. But not this time, as the leader of this little ring was force-sensitive.

So instead of just a pack of blaster-wielding maniacs, there was a chance there was going to be a lightsaber as well. Even more evidence for Rune’s argument that Kalan should’ve stayed at the Temple.

Rune’s poncho whipped around, this time he was wearing a wooly green one, with tribal patterns on it. It hid his grey tee shirt, and most notably his saber. His grey pant pockets were stuffed with everything that normally belonged on a Jedi’s belt; a communicator, a small rebreather, and even a small grappling hook.

“We’re almost there. Remember, stick close to me. Don’t do anything without my permission. Always keep a mental note of where you hid your saber. If weapons get drawn, dive behind the nearest cover and then get back to speeder.”

Sure, Rune might seem like he was being hard on Kalan, but in his opinion the boy shouldn’t be here at all. His tone was colder than he usually used around the boy, but he was only looking out for him.

“Remember the story, we’re smugglers that these guys hired. We’re business patners, I found you on Fondor trying to pick my pocket one day. Try to weave ‘holonet’ into a sentence if things go wrong. If I send you back out to the speeder, that means we’re about to leave in a hurry so make sure it’s running.”

The club, ‘The Outlander’ came into view. That’s where they were meeting the group. Rune landed the speeder down the street from the bar and then hopped over side. Waiting for Kalan to catch up with him, they were blended into the crowd at no time. For a Mon Calamari and a Miraluka, they really didn’t stand out on these lower levels.

“Try not to look so nervous. They’re going to be looking for a reason as to why we shouldn’t be there.”

Rune hoped that Kalan would be ready for the encounter, but his own nerves were running high. If it was just him, he might be okay. But now he had to watch out for another. If something happened to Kalan, that would mean he lost two padawans. Rune didn't think he could handle that.

The two Jedi where on the threshold of the club in no time.

[Juzt]

Kalan was terrified, this was no big news of course Kalan spent most of his time experiencing feelings from slight nervousness to downright scared. However, this was a whole other kind of fear. The kind where it feels like some one has tied a weight to your stomach and cold fingers caress your spine. Other Padwans had gathered round him overexcited back at the Temple saying how jealous they felt he was going on a mission and not them. Quite how they knew about the secret meeting his master had with the other members of the Council he had no idea, but it looked like even Jedi could not always keep secrets. Kalan had stared at each of their jealous faces and felt really jealous in turn, that they were staying and he was going. They had laughed, clearly not knowing him well and thinking he was joking. Kalan had slunk away to sit under one of the desks in his favourite classroom. Apparently he was meant to be excited, all he felt was dread. Adults had a curious delusion that kids did not notice things. Kalan did notice things. Kalan was perfectly aware he was quite near the beginning of his training as a Padawan and therefore had little skill as yet or confidence in his abilities and to top it all off they were pitted against Spice smugglers. Exactly the same sort of people who had kept him as a slave in appalling conditions for most of his short life.

Much as he hated to say it his Master was certainly not relieving the tension. The Speed journey down to the lower levels of Courscant was fraught at best. Judging from the way Rune was driving the Speeder, he was no more happy than Kalan was about this. Kalan tried to concentrate on not being sick on his civilian clothes, as the Speeder powered through the traffic. “We’re almost there. Remember, stick close to me. Don’t do anything without my permission. Always keep a mental note of where you hid your saber. If weapons get drawn, dive behind the nearest cover and then get back to speeder.” Rune said this in a distinctly harsh tone that made it clear no argument would be stood for. Kalan had no intention of arguing. The Saber he had concealed amongst the voluminous pockets of a tatty grey coat that was slightly too big for him. Kalan found it hard to give his reply voice so he simply nodded along with what Rune was saying.

“Remember the story, we’re smugglers that these guys hired. We’re business patners, I found you on Fondor trying to pick my pocket one day. Try to weave ‘holonet’ into a sentence if things go wrong. If I send you back out to the speeder, that means we’re about to leave in a hurry so make sure it’s running.” Rune's constant stream of instructions made Kalan feel far more worse than if his Master had said nothing. His Master was worried and that made him more worried, it also made him feel down. He knew he was not much use in this situation they were in, but he felt a little like his Master was emphasising it, drawing his attention to his inabilities and inexperience again and again.

Kalan gave a jump as the speeder came down and his Master leapt out of it, poncho waving in the breeze. Kalan despite his dislike of flying and flying machines almost wanted to stay in the speeder, but he knew it was not an option. He leapt out and and jogged after his Master's long strides.

“Try not to look so nervous. They’re going to be looking for a reason as to why we shouldn’t be there.” It could be argued his Master had said the wrong thing here because now Kalan felt even more self conscious and therefore more nervous than before. He nodded dumbly again as they stood before the threshold. The thought entered his head, “At least being a Miralukan they can't see the fear in my eyes.”

[Ghostie]

The two Jedi stepped into The Outlander. The cantina was packed, which made it hard to move around. Many different aliens wandered the place, outnumbering humans in the establishment. The place had an eerie red lighting to it, trying to set a mood.

Rune led Kalan to the back, the smugglers having rented out one of the VIP sections. There was only a handful of people in these halls, either the very rich or couples. There was no bouncer, which was surprising to Rune, but it was most likely for the best. He didn’t think he could get past one with a kid in tow.

“Keep your eyes open.”

Rune realized what a poor choice of wording that was for a Miraluka the soonest the words were out of his mouth. Miralukans didn’t have eyes.

“Just… Just watch for anything.”

Still not the best wording, but it would have to do for now.

Rune keyed the terminal and the door of the private room slid open. On the other side was a small room, with a table in the middle and several chairs around it. There was a viewscreen on the wall which was currently shut off, and step down into the room. A bottle of alcohol sat on the table along with several glasses.

Inside the room was three individuals. One was a Bothan, with a blaster strapped to his side. He seemed to be going over a datapad. Rune instantly tagged him as the brains of the operation.

The next was a Wookiee armed with both a bowcaster and a ryyk blade, a special sword wookiees used. Rune knew of a wookiee, a friend in the Order, who had one. It was considered an insult for someone besides a wookiee to wield one without earning it. Rune tagged him as the muscle.

And in the middle was a Nautolan. The green alien was tall and muscular. He had a silver cylinder hanging at his waist, a lightsaber. He was leaning over the table, hands on the back of a chair. He was the rogue force-user, the one they had to bring in.
The Nautolan looked up has Rune and Kalan enetered the room. He offered them a friendly smile, one quick Rune didn’t return. The green alien crossed the room and shook hands with Rune.

“Kor Tun.”

Rune told him, providing his fake name.

“I’m Dal. We talked on the terminal, no? That’s Terrik and over there is Anamid.”

The Nautolan responded, pointing to the Bothan and Wookiee respectively. He was very friendly, which was something Rune didn’t expect out of him. It made him unsettled. Were they already given away?

“So, lets get to business.”

Both Rune and Dal sat down next to each other, at the two chairs closest to the door. Dal eyed Kalan suspiciously, as if wondering what a kid was doing in a place like this, attending such a meeting. But his attention was draw back to Rune once the Jedi Master started to talk.

“My ship is at the Corellian Hound. I just need the package loaded and the payment we agreed on.”

Rune provided the location of an actual ship and an actual spaceport, but the ship was one that belonged to the Jedi Order, and the package and those who delivered it would be put into custody.

“Of course, of course. But let’s deal with that later. Care for a drink?”

Rune waved his hand, passing.

[Juzt]

As The Outlander club's doors open, Kalan felt the heat and noise of the place hit him full in the face. He could feel the heat of the lights and the sweaty bodies inside and such noise. Kalan followed Rune tentatively into the club, he felt like a insect surrounded by massive slow moving banthas. He nudged into a few people his fear affecting his concentration. He pushed them out of his mind as best he could “Come on Kalan if you don't concentrate you could ruin all of this.” He took a deep breath, and put himself in the head of Sponza, the identity he had been given. “Just keep quiet and look like nothing bothers you.” He thought. Somehow it got a little easier by seeing through someone else's 'eyes' so to speak. He found his usual ease again of weaving through the crowd and being ignored.

Kalan heard his Master speak “Keep your eyes open.” Kalan looked up at his Master for a moment.


“Just… Just watch for anything.” Had this been under any other circumstances Kalan would have found this amusing. As it was it was a further sign to him that his Master was worried and falling over his words. “I'll do my best.” Kalan said softly back. Most people found Kalan's species blindness unnerving, after all many species claimed to get a sense of motive and emotion from a person's eyes. Kalan hoped in this case it would prove an advantage.

Kalan wondered into the VIP room after his Master and took in the surroundings, the bottles of alcohol, which Kalan knew were banned in the Temple but was unsure as to why, he suddenly felt thirsty and was tempted to reach out for it but one view of the Wookiee made him change his mind. Kalan's attention was immediately drawn by the the Nautolan who called himself Dal, and the lightsaber at his hip. No doubt this was the one. He greeted Rune with a friendly reasonable manner, Kalan however took and immediate dislike to him. One advantage of seeing through the force is seeing what Force sensitives were like on the inside and there was something not quite right about this man. His Master he had always seen as a powerful torrent of pure bright power like water, and many other Jedi in the Temple were like this. Some however seemed duller, no less powerful or potent maybe, but not really very bright. This one was dull in colour yes, but encroaching on his colour was a creeping darkness and it made Kalan uneasy. He wondered if his Master would like to know about this not that he could find a convenient way to tell him.

“Of course, of course. But let’s deal with that later. Care for a drink?”

Kalan was jogged back to reality as he saw his Master wave his hand in the Negative. Kalan's mouth felt dry though that was mostly due to fear. He felt the eyes of the others in the room occasionally point his way. He tried to appear nonchalant and indifferent, it was all he could do to stop his hands wringing in their normal nervous way.

[Ghostie]

So far things were going okay. Dal was being somewhat cooperative, though his companions unsettled Rune. What made the Nautolan think he needed that much back up? Perhaps he doubted his own skills, which in that was the case it would be easy to take him in.

The wookiee in the corner let out a low growl. Well, taking Dal in would be somewhat easy.

Dal’s posture changed though, he leaned back in his chair with his hand resting on his lightsaber. The Nautolan whistled, and the Bothan immediately stopped what he was doing on his datapad to watch his boss.

With all three pairs of eyes on the two Jedi, something what obviously about to happened. Dal probably felt their force sensitivity the moment they entered the room. What came next from the Nautolan made it pretty clear that the two Jedi had been made.

“Right, Jedi don’t normally drink, do they?”

“What’re you talking about?”

And their investigation was over. They were made, and now a fight was going to erupt. Rune tried to play it cool, but there wasn’t really a point anymore. He turned to Kalan, the boy needed to get out of pretty soon, before the lasers started to fly.

“I think I left the speeder lights on. Go check on it.”

But before the padawan could cross to the door, the Bothan with the datapad reached the exit first. He crossed his arms and stood there, as if too block the exit.

Being trapped in the room with a group of hostiles, it was pretty clear that everything else had been tried. Rune sprung up from his seat, igniting his saber as he did so.

The cyan blade sprung to live with a snap-hiss, and the sound was echoed by the Nautolan’s green blade coming to life as well. The wookiee let out an ear splitting war cry, and drew his own ryyk blade. With that, he charged both Jedi.

Rune side-stepped the wookiee as he swung downwards, where the Jedi Master just was. He brought his own saber blade down upon the ryyk blade, slicing it two as if it was paper.

[Juzt]

Kalan could feel the way the wind was changing, the atmosphere had decidedly thickened and he felt hotter and more choked than before.

“I think I left the speeder lights on. Go check on it.” Kalan had felt his legs begin to start shuffling backwards before this instruction was even made. The whole moment felt bizarre, everyone was smiling, but tense smiling, carrying on as this was all a friendly chat. Certainly till the Wookiee advanced on his Master.

Kalan turned around quickly only to sense a rather large Bothan in his way. Kalan found himself smiling just like the Adults had been. His smile was different, it was a smile of 'Oh Force! Please don't hurt me.' Kalan knew Spice miners rather more intimately than he would like, he knew that violence against a child was perfectly fine in their book. Kalan desperately tried to think of a way around this huge and terrifying obstacle. What would his alter ego Sponza, a former street urchin and criminal partner, do? Kalan laughed nervously and the Bothan laughed cruelly back, while he laughed Kalan stamped as viciously as he could on the Bothan's foot and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. He had no idea if Sponza would have done that, but it shocked the Bothan enough for him to get past.

The Patrons in the bar of the club all were looking round hearing the unmistakeable signs of a fight. Many of them seemed to be hoping it was a good one as all they normally saw were two drunks slugging it out for ten seconds before falling into a stupor outside the club for the CSF to pick up. No one took note of a frightened little kid pushing his way out.

Kalan made his way onto the street and through the crowds to where the speeder was parked, he leapt into the seat. He was confronted with a console full of buttons, “If only I paid attention when Master started this damn thing!” He muttered. Through his force vision all the controls looked the same, he had to fall back on the age old method of resolving these issues. He began to panic, pressing buttons at random. Most did nothing naturally as the speeder was deactivated, one of the buttons gave a loud klaxon like sound that made Kalan jump almost a foot in the air. For a moment everyone on the street turned to look at him. He muttered apologies to no one in particular and finally pressed a small silver button near the hand control, he heard the speeder's motors come alive. Kalan swapped to the passenger seat with relief, then growing fear as Rune had not yet made his way out. He swiveled his head round to look back at the club and wished and wished to see a glimpse of his Master. If this was what the other Padawans thought fun was, he would gladly be bored.

[Ghostie]

Rune sensed Kalan leave the room and run for the speeder. His padawan’s presence grew faint as the Miraluka exited the bar though. Kalan soon was lost in the sea of people outside, but he would be safe for now. Rune just needed to make sure he reached him soon.

The wookiee was completely stunned by the fact that his blade was broken in two. But it seemed only to enrage him more. Rune used the shock to his advantage, and before the large alien could do any, The Jedi Master reached out with the Force and threw him against the wall. The wookiee slumped down, dazed.

The Bothan had since ran off after Kalan, so only the Nautolan was left. Dal charged Rune, using Niman. He seemed to have some experience in the form, but he wouldn’t be too hard to overcome. Dal’ was aggressive, so he wouldn’t be expected to be put on the defensive.

The lightsaber duel led out into the hall and soon back to the main area of the club. Rune was trying to lead the Nautolan outside; out into the open where they could fight without harming anyone. And then the Jedi could call CSF, and they could get to the criminal and quickly surround him.

The patrons were expecting to see a drunken brawl, but what they got could be considered much more exciting, but certainly much more dangerous. The soonest Rune and Dal entered the main area of The Outrider, their sabers drawn and fighting each other, the patrons all screamed and there was a mass exodus into the street outside.

Rune and Dal dueled across the floor of the main bar. The Jedi Master started to employ Djem So against his opponent, putting the Nautolan on the defensive. It was clear that this was where he was weak, as he started to use the Force to throw furniture at Rune. Two stools sped his way, The Jedi Master slice the first. It fell in two pieces on either side of him. He had to spin out of the path of the next.

By the time Rune had recovered, Dal was already running out of the club. There was some shouting outside, it sounded like he was telling people to run. Rune made it to the exit in time to see the Nautolan hop into a speeder and head off.

The Bothan had ran out here, and falling short of finding Kalan he found Rune instead. The crowd cleared as he leveled his blaster, firing off two shots at Rune. The Jedi Master easily deflected them back at their source, the first one catching the Bothan in the stomach and the second hitting the blaster itself, overloading the gun and causing a small explosion.

Running for the speeder, Rune deactivated his saber and jumped over the side. Kalan already had it running, Rune was pleased he remembered too. Getting comfortable, Rune sped off as fast as the speeder could go in the same direction Dal had taken.

“Hold tight, and let me know if you see him!”

Rune yelled over the speeder engine and the rush of wind. He still had to work on his wording.

[Juzt]

“Hold tight, and let me know if you see him!” Kalan nodded and felt his body slammed back into the seat of the speeder as it accelerated. “Right Master, I am glad your ok.” Kalan gripped the sides of the Speeder his knuckles whitening as the speeder powered through lanes of traffic. An angry Ithorian who they cut across waved his fist uselessly in their direction. His moment of distraction causing him to crash into the slowing speeder ahead driven by a Twi'lek, as they shot down the lanes of traffic, Kalan could still hear them arguing secretly glad he did not speak their language. Kalan found it awkward as speeders flew out them on all sides his natural instinct being to dive out of the way of oncoming fast objects. Rune seemed tense at the hand controls moving them with a degree of aggression.

Kalan tried to calm himself and keep aware of their target. The noise and the traffic and the tension of the day was all starting make the little Miralukan feel frayed at the edges. He clutched the lump of his lightsaber in his jacket for a moment to try and help centre himself. He reached out in search of the Nautolan, it was hard to sense anything in such a mass of species. However a little way in the distance Kalan made out and sense that familiar greyness with a creeping darkness encroaching it. It had to be him. Kalan pointed in the direction of a large mass of slow moving almost stopped traffic. “I think he is there trying to get lost in the sheer amount of speeders.”


Kalan felt himself slide slightly in his seat as Rune changed direction, and he felt the speed increase again, Kalan started to feel sick again he had no idea the speeder could go any faster. They shot like blaster bolt for the heart of this traffic jam. When they were not too far away, Kalan saw Dal's presence through his Force sight, drifting away a little from pack slowly and sneakily hoping not to be caught. Kalan shouted over the noise again “He is breaking away, and diving lower.” Kalan was sure Rune probably could see and sense all this himself but he at least felt like he was helping.

Rune took the speeder into a sudden dive, and they weaved passed more lanes of traffic and down further and further. Kalan turned his vision backwards and saw all the lanes of traffic above them rapidly retreating like swarms of insects, as they dove lower into Courscant's heart.

[Ghostie]

Kalan was a great help to Rune in pointing out Dal in the traffic jam. The Nautolan was easy to lose track of in the mass of speeders. However, with Kalan’s special sight they were back to chasing him in no time. Dal saw them catching up, and then dived. He wasn’t going to let the Nautolan get away.

While the speeder was far from a starfighter, Rune started to treat it as such. He dove after their quarry with all the speed he could get out of the vehicle. They dove, and keeping diving as far as they could after the Nautolan. Dodging speeders and buildings and bridges, the speeder had a surprising amount of agility.

Soon, they were in the lowest levels of Coruscant. The heart of the planet. There was barely any lights, and Rune flicked on the speeders headlights. Dal had since leveled out, and Rune followed suit. Except, the speeder didn’t want to pull up as fast as Rune needed it to. The bottom of their speeder ended up hitting the top of the vehicle Dal was in, and both vehicles went spinning out of control.

Rune tried pulling on the controls all he could, but to no avail. The Jedi Master witnessed Dal’s speeder go down a little ways away from their own. There was nothing Rune could do before their speeder hit a large pillar, impacting on the driver’s side, and slid down the construction.

The speeder was spewing smoke and it’s lights had since broken. It was little more than a bent piece of metal at this point. Rune had hit his head a couple of time during the crash, the result of not having a roof on the vehicle. A small trickle of blood ran down from the dome of his head on the inside of his left eye.

Rune blacked out when the speeder hit the ground, luckily flat on its bottom. Before passing out, Rune heard a high pitch cry. That of a Cthon.

[Juzt]

Kalan groaned quietly, he was hanging over the side of the smoking speeder. Kalan no longer felt sick, he felt like he had gone ten rounds with that Wookiee muscle of Dal's. Everything ached and felt bruised. He gingerly pulled himself up, his hurt only seemed to be superficial. Then he heard it, the cry of a Cthon. Kalan had never seen one, most people hadn’t but the blood chilling noises they made were well known from stories, to books and films. They had featured as the big bad monsters in many a story based on Courscant. “No no.... we must be at the very bottom of the world.” Pure terror,settled like a dead weight in his stomach. He turned to his Master.

“Master!” There was no answer.

“Master!” This time Kalan reached out and nudged the immobile Mon Calamari. The sounds were drawing closer and from the sounds of it there were more than one.

“MASTER!” Screamed Kalan shaking him more vigorously, he felt a gentle warm trickle on his hand. He traced it to its source on Rune's head. His Master was bleeding, Kalan could see from the flowing currents of energy within Rune that he was still alive. It was clear his Master was in no fit state to do much at the moment, which left Kalan alone with Dal and these things.

Three Cthons rounded a pillar, and Kalan felt sick he could smell their putrefied flesh. They like him were blind but they knew where he was they could hear and smell him, and they were closing in on him. Kalan looked desperately at his Master, and realised it was down to him. He patted his Master's shoulder and said in a quiet voice dripping with fear. “It is all right I'll deal with it.” He stepped out of the speeder and chanted over and over in his head “I am a Jedi, I am a Jedi.” To silence the little nasty voice in his head telling him to run. He pulled his heavy and over sized lightsaber hilt out of the pocket of his coat and lit it. It made a satisfying noise as its orange light lit up their general area. It made him feel a little calmer not much, but a little. He took a small step forward and suddenly one of the Cthons dived at him. Kalan sensed it coming at him and dived in a distinctly undignified manner out of its path. The Cthon seemed confused normally any pray unlucky to end up down here was lost in the dark. However Kalan like them did not need the light to see.

A second Cthon charged at Kalan, with one clawed hand outstretched scrabbling for Kalan as he staggered into a standing position again. Kalan brought his saber up to protect himself in and almost involuntary manner. The scrabbling hand was separated from its arm with an agonised scream from the Cthon. The other two also closed in on Kalan now, the one armed on made to snap and bite at Kalan, in shock ducked under its jaws and in a slightly clumsy but effective way slashed the creature into two pieces. The other two suddenly seemed less eager and more cautious at viewing one of their own being killed. This did not fill Kalan with confidence who could barely even remember killing it, he backed away a little more one followed him carefully no matter where his small feet took him. The other suddenly started to edge towards the speeder and Rune's unconscious form.

Kalan without thinking gave a shout a using a little nudge from the Force leapt in its path. He almost lost his balance still not quite getting the hang of his abilities and slashed at it desperately. It went down with a sickening thud. “Leave.... him … alone” Said Kalan breathlessly. The third one saw its chance and its clawed hand, scratched at his shoulder making a small tear in the jacket he wore. Kalan pivoted on his feet and with all the power his tiny frame could muster he struck the Cthon removing its head.

Kalan fell wearily to his knees breathing and sweating hard. “Oh Force... Oh Force...” He muttered to himself over and over then he heard screeching again more were coming, Kalan spun round to the Speeder “Master.... Please wake up.”

[Ghostie]

Rune started to stir in the wrecked speeder. The first thing he immediately noticed was a large pain in his side. It wasn’t a broken rib or something like that, he had had those before. This instead felt like he pulled something while being whipped around during the crash. The next thing he noticed was hot liquid running down his face, in the inside of his eye. He must’ve banged his head pretty hard.

While Rune was not particularly adept at healing abilities, he could use the Force to mend himself until he could receive proper medical attention. Without opening his eyes, Rune placed one hand on his head, and one on his side, summoning the Force. The cut decreased in size, looking s if it was gained days ago. His pain in his side reduced, instead of being an actual pain it was more just sore now.

And then he heard it again, the cry of a Cthon. The sharp high pitched cry pierced the darkness. Rune immediately looked to see where Kalan was, expecting the boy to be right beside him in the speeder. Rune looked around, but he wasn’t sitting in the wreck anymore. He couldn’t see much past the wreckage, there was no lights down this far, and sunlight had no chance of getting this far during the day.

The Jedi master reached out with the Force, and as he did so, relief washed over him. Kalan was okay, physically at least. He was standing outside of the speeder, and seemed exhausted. Rune figured this would’ve been a taxing mission for any padawan, especially Kalan. They would defiantly start working on physical training.

The high pitched cry of the Cthon came again, this time much closer. Unfortunately, the Cthon had forgotten all diplomacy. Rune reach for his saber, only to find it had dropped of his belt during the crash. The cry was closer. Rune felt around with his feet in the bottom of the speeder. The Cthon kept coming, he could sense them now, five of them.

All of a sudden there was a rattle of a certain cylinder in the bottom of the wreckage. His saber. Rune reached for it in the Force. He could see the Cthon now, they were charging the wreckage itself. The Jedi Master summoned the Force once again and jumped up, pulling his saber with him as well. Igniting the cyan blade in mid-air, Rune landed on top of the hood of the once speeder. His side produced more pain from the maneuver, slightly unbalancing the Mon Calamari as he landed.

All five Cthon were there in striking range. With a two handed Djem So strike Rune dispatched two of the Cthon, cutting the first’s head and continuing on into the body of the second.

“Kalan, get up here!”

Rune kept the Cthon at bay with his saber. They were backing up now, having seen two of their number go down at once. Yet, they still wanted their prey.

“Let this be a lesson in combat. Always seek the high ground against swarming enemies.”

[Juzt]

“Kalan, get up here!”

Kalan's heart leapt in his chest. “Master!” He felt the cold sweat brought on by his fear dry up almost immediately, and his breathing steadied. He leapt on to the front of the speeder next to his Master as Cthons came in range.

“Let this be a lesson in combat. Always seek the high ground against swarming enemies.”

“I am so happy to see you on your feet again Master!” he grinned happily, suddenly he did not feel scared any more. He reignited his saber, its orange light joining the cyan of his Master's. Kalan swung his saber in a typical Shii-Cho style vertical slash down hard onto the head of a Cthon reaching for his foot, and slashed a one trying to approach surreptitiously from the side.

“I am afraid I don't know where Dal is, I have not seen him since the crash and then these.... things came from everywhere. I hope there won't be many more.”

At that moment he heard more piercing cries from father off in the distance “A vain hope clearly.” He sighed but nothing at this moment could dampen his mood, his Master seemed fine a bit stiff but that was hardly surprising from the accident they had just had. Kalan felt a little like nothing wrong could happen in Rune's presence. His tension had eased up, and he was moving his saber still in quite a clumsy way but at least none of the things were getting close without a nasty or slash from the saber.

“Dal must have crawled away while we were dazed.” Kalan had been trying to keep his vision trained on Dal but was finding it hard to concentrate while surrounded by the Cthon.

[Ghostie]

Kalan dropped one of the Cthons with a blow to the head, and the other was injured after losing his hand. The Padawan fought better than Rune had expected. Maybe he was just focused better now. Another high pitched cry was heard in the distance.

“Don’t worry about Dal, I’m sure he’s still around. Our mission remains the same, to capture him.”

The two last Cthons were backing off, retreating to the same direction the cry was heard. They disappeared behind two buildings. There was a moment of peace in which Rune rubbed his side, still sore.

But as if to echo Rune’s words, more Cthon came tearing out of the buildings, with the two that had retreated. Following them was a certain Nautolan with a green lightsaber lit above his head. Why weren’t the Cthon attacking him as well?

The simplest answer Rune could think of at the moment, and the most likely, was that Dal was very experienced with telepathic abilities. Using that, the Nautolan must’ve influenced the Cthon to seek the pair of Jedi out.

With a force-user fighting against them, there was no point to remain on the wreckage. Rune hopped down and charged the group heading for them. He was able to gain the upper hand for a moment, as the Cthon clearly hadn’t expected to be charged at back. He recovered swiftly however.

The Cthon where the easy part though. Rune stopped a couple feet before they met and threw up a Force Barrier, which a couple of them bounced off of. Lowering the Barrier, Rune met the dazed Cthon and sliced the first one he encountered horizontally.

Throwing three with the Force, the rest of them scattered, heading back the direction they had come or going for the wreckage. Kalan could handle himself.

Dal’s influence must’ve broken with the threat of death. Rune went straight for the Nautolan, who was clearly surprised his charge of Cthon hadn’t worked. Rune was diplomatic though, if the Nautolan gave up, no more fighting would be nessecary.

“Give it up, Dal. You don’t need to die.”

“That’s not my real name!”

Rage overcame the Nautolan, striking at Rune with an overhead blow. Their duel continued.

[Juzt]

“Don’t worry about Dal, I’m sure he’s still around. Our mission remains the same, to capture him.”

Kalan nodded it was what they were here for, from all that he had been told about Dal, he was a very dangerous man. Though he was pleased to see the two of the Cthons pulling back, Kalan was relived that they seemed reasonably easy to overcome, they clearly relied on greater numbers of their prey. However, as he had seen, if you kept a calm and cool head and were disciplined they would find it hard to get near you at least in small groups. Kalan still found their appearance and frankly their smell horrifying but he knew now he could deal with them reasonably comfortably.

Then he spotted Dal coming towards them, emerging from round some buildings. He was in the midst of them following a large group coming their way. Kalan again noticed that faint grey aura with an encroaching darkness this time also in the Cthons where it had not been before. “Perhaps he is controlling them.” He muttered to himself, then he saw his take a few purposeful steps and charge straight at them, he seemed to Kalan to plough through them like a bulldozer. He saw him throw up a barrier and swing his saber round and even fling some of them from around himself using the force.

Kalan stood open mouthed and impressed, as he heard his Master and Dal shout some things to each other then begin their battle. Their blades throwing up striking shadows on the decaying remains of the streets down here. “Be Careful” He shouted, unsure if he could be heard over the furious clash of blades. Kalan wondered if he should go to his Master, he knew he stood no chance against Dal but maybe he could help in some way.

Just as he made his mind up to go a group of the Cthon, broke of and headed for him surrounding the downed speeders, some of the other had run off in fear. They seemed to have lost that faint aura Kalan had seen before with his Force sight. “That rather settles that.” He muttered now cut off from his Master's duel. Perhaps it was for the best while these Cthon were attacking him, they would not be distracting his Master. Kalan took the Shii Cho stance, and with his saber in hand made the purposeful two handed slashes that Form I, demanded, of course in his own rather clumsy style. While he avoided scrabbling claws and snapping teeth. He prayed his Master would win.

[Ghostie]

Rune and Dal traded blows for what seemed like an eternity. The Nautolan's niman was well matched against the Mon Calamari's Djem So. Rune had since stop using Soresu, preferring a quicker end to this duel.

The blue and green sabers flashed through the darkness of the night, twirling and swinging all the while. To someone watching from a distance, it could look like a light display or a flashing neon sign. However, the objects in play were far more deadly than a simple piece of advertisement.

Which is why Rune didn't call Kalan over. While the miraluka may have an actual saber compared to all other padawans his age, who all had training sabers, this was still far more dangerous than Rune thought he could handle. Kalan had proven his could handle the Cthons, and as long as he stayed on high ground, Rune wouldn't worry.

The Jedi Master then focused. He became what some would term 'In The Zone'. The only thing that existed to him at the moment where the two flashing sabers, and combatants, and the terrain. He did what felt natural. Rune relied on instinct, not thought. He let the Force guide his movements.

Dal kept his saber, and subsequently his blows, high. The Nautolan aimed for Rune's head and shoulders constantly. Once Rune noticed the pattern, blocking such strikes became routine. The Mon Calamari shifted his own focus to Dal's legs and lower torso, making the Rogue Jedi have to spend extra time to block the attacks.

Their duel brought them close to the edge of the street. After the railing, it dropped. The bottom, or anything after the drop, was not quite visible anymore save for a few vague shapes. Once close to the edge, Dal disengaged from saber combat, and started to hurl debris towards Rune. Pieces of cement, speeder parts, and even a trash can. Anything that was spare and lying around.

Instead of being distracted by the debris just so Dal could escape like last time, Rune caught some, the waste bin in fact, and threw it back with as much Force as he could muster. The rest of the debris either missed or Rune dodged before grabbing the trash can.

The bin hit the Nautolan in the chest, knocking the wind out of the alien. His arms flew up as if to catch and hold onto the can, but there was no way for him to get a grip on it. The green lightsaber went clattering down to the grounds, shutting off as it did.

Dal went flying backwards, towards the edge of the street. He tumbled, and at the last minute grabbed the ledge before falling. Rune walked over, lightsaber still drawn, and watched the nautolan try to scramble up for a minute.

The Mon Calamari reached out a hand for Dal, to help the criminal up. However, they were both sweating from their intense duel. Their hands slipped the first time, and they tried again. When Rune finally had a good hold, he pulled Dal up. However, the Nautolan never made it. Their hands slipped again, and Dal fell down into the darkness, screaming all the way.

Rune watched for a minute or so, stunned. That was the second time today that something had happened so fast he didn't have time to react. Rune was too slow, and it cost Dal his life and almost ended Kalan and his own.

He retrieved Dal's saber with the Force, and returned to Kalan. No doubt the boy was handling himself fine versus the monstrous Cthon.

[Juzt]

Kalan was swinging his saber for all its worth, its hum like and angry swarm of insects. The Cthons slow and stupid though they were were leaning to keep away from the small Miralukan when his saber was cutting through the air.

A handful of the monstrous Cthon lay dead often in more than one piece surrounding the downed speeder, two now stood just out of reach of his saber, probing round his saber to find gaps in his defense. One of them go bold and made a flying leap for the boy, and Kalan swung the saber hard through its middle. At just that moment Kalan heard a blood curdling scream. He turned towards the sound, just in time to see his master loose grip on Dal. Kalan recognised this was a silly mistake almost immediately, he felt a white hot pain running up his thigh. The last remaining Cthon had taken the opportunity to slash at Kalan with its vicious claws.

The claws shredded his trousers and caught the skin beneath. Kalan groaned and staggered back a bit. The Cthon attempted to press its advantage, but Kalan pivoted on his foot and parted the Cthon's head from its body. As I dropped the injured Cthon limped and staggered back the way they had come, perhaps in search of easier prey. “Ow ow ow.” muttered Kalan He looked down at his bleeding leg, the cut seemed superficial.

When Kalan had worked in the Spice mines of Ryloth he had been hurt many times , broken bones, head injuries as was to be expected but for some reason unknown except to the universe the least serious ones always hurt more. This stung. Kalan shook his head at the weirdness of the universe, and shut down his saber. He ran over to his Master the adrenaline still pounding in his blood. He stood for a moment looking at his Master and then down the side of the street.

“Is he dead?” he said quietly, the strange exhilaration at having been in his first fight, ebbed away as he realised how far the man they had been sent to capture had fallen. He wished they would never have to do anything like this again, but secretly he knew they would. Going into the dark places of the galaxy was a Jedi's job after all.

[Ghostie]

Rune just starred now in the dark abyss for a few moments as Kalan made his way over. The boy inquired about Dal's demise, or lack thereof. Rune honestly couldn't give him an answer. He didn't feel Dal die through the Force, but he had disappeared, falling down to who knows where.

Rune stuffed both his own and Dal's saber into his pant pockets, and then grabbed Kalan by the shoulder. He turned them both around and headed back towards the speeder without saying a word. There, around the wreckage laid several Cthon bodies, no longer moving.

Kalan had handled himself well it seemed. He was able to hold off more Cthon while Rune dueled Dal. The Mon Calamari was proud of his student. Rune gave Kalan a nod, as if he approved of the boy's work, he did good. He let himself have a moment of pride, and then let it go. Then Rune finally noticed Kalan was hurt.

“Let me take a look here.”

Rune picked up Kalan and put the boy on what was left of the speeder. His side and ribs hurt as he did so, a dull pain that lingered. But he looked past it, worrying about Kalan more than himself. The miralukan had been cut by the Cthon, or so it seemed. It was lucky that unlike their cousins, the Rakghouls on Taris, the Cthon carried no plague or virus.

The cut wasn't deep, but was long. It ran across Kalan's shin and ankle, and looked rather painful to Rune. He summoned the Force to heal once again, placing his hand over the cut. Now, it seemed as if Kalan had the cut about a week ago, and it healed and closed up.

“Sorry, I'm not the best when it comes to healing techniques. At least it isn't bleeding anymore.”

Rune offered Kalan a smile. It was then that exhaustion finally hit him. Between the chase, the crash, fighting Cthons, dueling Dal, and using the Force so much Rune was tired. His side and ribs throbbed again. The Mon Calamari turned around and sat on the wreck next to Kalan.

Fishing a comlink out of his pocket with one hand and holding his side with the other, Rune gave Kalan the communicator. They need to call for someone to pick them up, before anything else happened. As far as Rune was concerned, the mission was over. And they could both use a visit to the medical wing of the Temple.

“Call for CSF to come pick us up. The number should already be keyed in.”

Rune waited for Kalan to make the call, using the Force to heal his aching side a bit more before the pain became incapacitating. He needed to lay down, unfortunately, the wreckage didn't offer much in the way of comfort.

“You did great Kalan. I'm proud of you.”

Rune didn't usually offer Kalan much in the way of compliments or affection. He had spoiled Iago, and it proved to be his down fall. Kalan was going to get a tougher time at training, but he'd be better for it.

However, when the miraluka did an excellent job for his age and amount of training, Rune couldn't help but say "atta boy". He'd definitely proved he could handle himself and have a successful mission all at once.

[Juzt]

Kalan was wide eyed with surprise at being scooped up and deposited on the speeder, it was odd feeling like a kid again. He waited in silence while Rune used the Force to heal the long gash running down his leg. It felts deeply unsettling feeling the flesh moving configuring and knitting together. However it was over quickly and the wound looked as if it was older and nearly healed, and most of the sting had gone out of it, just a slight tightening of the skin as Kalan experimentally kicked his leg out.

“Sorry, I'm not the best when it comes to healing techniques. At least it isn't bleeding anymore.”

"It is fine... Master?” said Kalan the last part of his sentence trailing off into a question.

Master Oki was looking and smiling at him. In Kalan's experience Rune smiled very rarely, this felt almost like the skin knitting on his leg strangely unsettling. Kalan looked back at his Master.

“Call for CSF to come pick us up. The number should already be keyed in.”

Kalan felt the smooth comlink pressed into his hand, and he looked at it dumbly. His thumb trace the outline of the activation button. He felt oddly nervous, Kalan was shy of talking to people he did not know, the familiar cold sweat greased the palm of his hand. He looked back at his Master now lying back on the front of the ruined speeder. To Kalan's untrained eye he did not look very good but then that could just be exhaustion. He pressed the button on the comlink and wetted his lips nervously in preparation to speak, when his Master said something that threw him off balance a little.



“You did great Kalan. I'm proud of you.”

Kalan could not have been more surprised if Rune had stated, “I am really Chancellor of the Republic this Jedi thing is something I just do in my spare time.”

Rune was not big on compliments. Not that he was cold per se, he was just more inclined to say 'Not bad.' when something had gone particularly well. Kalan felt embarrassed not being used to much praise, when he had been a youngling he had been used to the sympathetic and slightly patronising 'You did your best.' kind of comment. He blushed a little and realised that a voice on the other end of the comlink had been shouting “Hello!?” for a few seconds now.

"Oh um sorry, this is Kalan D'ravk padawan of Master Rune Oki. Would you be so good as to come and fetch us at these co-ordinates.” He tapped a few numbers on the Comlink.

In return the voice on the other side agreed talking in a slightly patronising, 'Awww isn’t he a cute baby Jedi' kind of way. This irritated Kalan but he could not be bothered to comment. The voice signed of and Kalan flumped backwards over the speeder. “What a day.”