What war can lead to.

[Ash]

Nar Shaddaa: Post war... It was something awful. The city-planet was normally fairly active and decent, even if it was like a cheap knockoff of Coruscant and filled with scum and villainy. But no matter what, it didn't deserve this. No one needed to have their home invaded by aliens and have nearly the entire surface scorched away. Too many times this has happened, and Ash was getting tired of war.

With the aid of the force, the man moved some rubble, lifting tons of it from the surface they were on and loading it into a large, awaiting hover-truck to be taken... wherever it was that they wanted it to go. That was all on them while he was just someone helping out. The group he was helping was glad to have someone such as Ash around, with a strong connection to the force to help expedite movement of debris and the cleanup.

"Oi! Forcie! Go an' take a break. There is plen'y more ta do, and we don' need yous burnin' out, ya hear?"

Yea, got it chiefy."

Ash spoke back to the human yelling at him from the story above. The gruff chief of this operation tossed down a canteen of water and walked away, leaving Ash back to this blown out wall. The former Jedi manipulated the force once more, sweeping large chunks of rubble into a large pile that he would be able to easily move once the truck showed back up for the next round.

Ash sat down next to the rubble and took off his glasses, massaging his eyes. He was still working to shake the after effects of being under the Archeri influence, and he knew his eyes showed purple still, as if he was under their control, but over the past day, since the Archeri fled, it was beginning to dim down slightly. At least he imagined it to be so. The man could have been wrong and his imagination was just at play.

"Archeri... a blight on this galaxy..."

Ash was very bitter against the aliens. Normally he wasn't so jaded, but he wanted nothing more than to escape Nar Shaddaa and slaughter every single of the fungus crystal dickwads that he could find. He looked down at his hands, flexing them and turning them so he could see them. The synthskin was cut into and slowly falling away from a year of disrepair and doing the Archeri bidding, and he could see the metallic bits that were his hands.

Ash brought back his wandering mind to reality, taking a breath and settling himself down a little. He didn't need to get worked up. Things will be sane soon enough. Just needed time.

[Rugs]

For once, peace.

A warm breeze tugged at Io’an’s jacket as he walked the rubble-strewn streets. The sun peeked, here and there, through drifting gaps in the haze of smoke-clouds that still lingered over the devastated city. It had been some days since the JMOC Coalition defeated the Archeri forces. Some Coalition ships still lurked in orbit, keeping guard until the Hutts were returned to power on Nal Hutta.

Io’an stepped over a pile of metal and duracrete that fanned out into the street from a collapsed warehouse. He felt, for the first time in ages, pretty alright. Some fatigue still lingered, but with the Chorus gone, and their Spires destroyed, the worst symptoms of the Archeri Plague had started to fade, and quickly. It would take time to get back up to full strength, but any improvement was welcome.

”You got the damn pickup yet?” Reflex’s voice buzzed through the small comm device in io’an’s ear. The Herglic sounded irritated. ”You can’t keep us in the dark all damn day, you know.”

“Calm down,” Io’an said. “And yes, I’ve got it.” His hand reflexively went to a small package his jacket’s interior pocket - a data chip bearing information on Black Sun activities collected from a contact. Io’an hadn’t been sure if they’d part with it willingly; that they did made his job significantly easier without having to slice into their servers and steal the information.

Even with their home in ruins, the Exchange’s work couldn’t stop. Now more than ever, with the Hutt Cartels as weak as anyone could remember, they had to prepare for coming storms. That they had survived one didn’t assure that they’d see their way through another.

“Thank the fucking Force,” Reflex sighed loudly through the comm. “You had me startin’ to wonder.”

Io’an smirked; a rare expression on the Sephi’s face. “You think I’d screw that up after all we just got through? It was easy by comparison.”

Nearby, a team was busy hauling rubble away. Io’an had seen dozens of similar scenes in his time out in the city since the battle ended, and didn’t doubt that countless more played out all over Nar Shaddaa — and Hutt Space in general, for that matter. But here Io’an felt the Force in use. A man, moving rocks around without toughing them, caught his attention.

Don’t recognize him.

“Yea, alright, tough guy.” Reflex’s voice was flat now. “You headin’ back?

“Yea, I will be in a little while,” Io’an said, watching the man as he walked to a resting spot. “I’ll buzz you if I have any problems.” He felt a strange connection to the man. It wasn’t the Force; he wasn’t sure how to describe it. It was a subtle thing, but he’d felt the same with Lidah, and Qiki.

It was a subtle thing. Io’an could only guess it had something to do with the Archeri.

“Archeri,” the man said, rubbing his eyes after taking off glasses, “a blight on the Galaxy.”

Io’an hesitated. He didn’t know this man or what he was doing on the Smuggler’s Moon. Maybe he’d been there. But he was no novice with the Force, and it would do the Exchange well to at least be aware of him.

“I think we’re all glad they’re gone, right?”

[Ash]

Ash didn't have much time to sit and relax before there was this odd... buzzing in his mind. Or something like that. It was a distraction that he recognized, yet didn't know. Something familiar on the edge of his memory, like a dream that couldn't be completely recalled.

He slipped his glasses back on, polarized lenses hiding his eyes once more, and he looked around casually, as if checking for his misplaced lunch. Glancing over the people in his view, he didn't recognize anyone. Not that he would with having no reason to come to this moon at all in the past.

Yet when his eyes scrolled by one person, one young man... there was a spark of a connection. The buzzing faded away to nothing and Ash went back to minding his own business. For all of three seconds before this person wandered closer and spoke up. Eavesdropping was not very nice.

"Yea. For the moment at least. Something I can help you with?"

Ash turned towards this newcomer, speaking up in a neutral tone. Ash wasn't really one for company, especially right after his year long eloping session with the Archeri. Ash took a small breath, settling himself again and finding his inner peace. He opened his mouth to say more, thought differently, and closed it. He would find out what this guy wanted first.

[Rugs]

Io’an regarded the stranger for a long, silent moment. He kept to himself--kept his hold on the Force as loose as he could — but even surface glances showed power radiating off of the stranger, like heat from a furnace.

“Something to help with? No, just passing by...” he said. How had someone like this man wound up helping a construction crew? Surely his talents could be put to better use elsewhere. Yet Io’an could not help but feel sadness — a remorse, of sorts, drifting from the man.

It was a powerful, deep thing; the root of which likely lay beneath countless layers of protection. Io’an felt no need to pry. It wasn’t his business, and he wasn’t the sort to do so, anyway.

“Besides, I’d hate to take you off of your work here,” he said with a small smile, nodding toward the construction site. “We’ve got a lot left to rebuild.”

[Ash]

"Not too much work going on, mate. Everyone gets to take a break to collect themselves."

Ash was immensely curious as to why this man decided to stroll on up over here and start this idle chat. Maybe it was the connection both Ash and this strange young man had. This man had to have once been part of the Archeri, as Ash had been before. In some way at least. It was the only thing Ash could make out.

"Yea. We do have a lot to do. I am willing to bet even the Exchange is willing to throw in with the repair efforts in some way. Huts too."

Ash was playing a hunch. He had a feeling this man had a connection to someone in either the Hutts or the Exchange. Could have been their link telling him, or maybe he was imagining things. He kept his senses through the force open, trying to pick something up that his words may have caused.