Out of the Frying Pan and into the Desert

[roadkill]

The Firebrand hung in orbit of Tatooine as Nyx scanned the sensors for a place to put down on the surface. Nali had it in his head to embark on some fool crusade to bring justice to the frontier, where the Republic and Jedi Order’s influence were thin and weak. Her own time out on the Rim had taught her one thing: no matter how much good one did out there, a hundred dark deeds would wipe all traces of the act away within days (if not hours). Slavery was rampant, mostly at the hands of the Hutt Cartels. If there was any place that Nalialu could begin his fool’s errand, it was Tatooine. With a sigh, she shook her head and looked over at him. ”I might still have a few contacts in Anchorhead, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been here,” she said.



The last she knew, Anchorhead was a den for smugglers and other criminals. Czerka had once had a spaceport there and extensive mining operations, but that was long ago. If the Hutts or Exchange hadn’t muscled their way in by now, Nyx would have been surprised. She knew there was no talking Nali out of it, for he had been guided by the Force to mete out justice for the lawless. It would get him killed, and well, she couldn’t have that. ”We can start at the cantina, and figure out our next move from there. But listen, Nali, these people don’t like Jedi, let alone respect them. I would strongly advise you to keep your lightsabers concealed. It just might save your life here.”



She would wait for him to acknowledge what she had said before taking the ship down, though she knew he would raise no qualm with her chosen starting point. The Outer Rim wasn’t like the Core or even the Mid Rim, where some semblance of order could be seen. No, this was practically Wild Space. There was no love for the Republic, or any large governing body here. Too many times had promises been made and subsequently broken. Too many corporations and organizations had come and gone, leaving behind tatters and shattered dreams in their wake. The Hutts, of course, liked it. So did the Exchange. Wherever there was chaos, those two groups were not far away.



If nothing else, Anchorhead would have a cold ale and a race track for her to enjoy, if their search turned up fruitless on the first step. Provided Nali could maintain at least some modicum of self-control over his identity. Crossing the Hutts wasn’t exactly far up on her bucket list. The Exchange had a decent enough reach, but nowhere near as long a memory. Crossing them might mean she couldn’t show her face on Tatooine for a few more years, but pissing off the Hutts would mean a death mark on her for life. Part of her hoped Nali knew the risks as well, and would at least pretend to heed them before earning them both a bounty so high that bounty hunters would spend an inordinate amount of time and money pursuing them to the edge and beyond.

[nonune]

The Firebrand wasn’t Nalialu’s native environment and it showed. Temples had wide halls, still halls. Stone had a vibration and treble in the Force, especially some of the old structures the Jedi inhabited. But those were memories, worn into the stone by centuries upon centuries of shoes and soft debate and brilliant saber duels.

For the last few days his world had vibrated and it would have been unsettling if not for his faith in the pilot. Nyx’s demeanor told him there was nothing to fear, so he pushed it and that slight queasiness that always accompanied spaceflight down as far as he could. When she looked at him he was reading on his datapad. No substitute for experience, but at least he would not go in blind.

Blinking up at her for a second he still had that far away look of someone distracted, his mind slipping out to taste the planet below. Foul with villany and scummed over like a dead still pond. It wasn’t long before she even mentioned Anchorhead that his eyes snapped into focus on her.

The cockpit was her place, he had sat at one of the redundant stations and tried to relax in the perpetually too small chair, and let her have her way. Sometimes while she flew he watched her, eventually he would need to know how to fly. Largely it was a calculus he could not understand, so while she flew he would meditate or read and stay out of her way.

At first he just nodded, but when she mentioned hiding their lightsabers his face scrunched up in distaste. It wouldn’t be the last time he made that face. But reluctantly he took his sabers from his belt and looked about. “I’m sure I can find something to rig a harness in the hold…” Whether he liked it or not, he trusted Nyx too much to argue and his mind jumped immediately to how he could keep them with himself.

Then he looked down. He was a Jedi, and had been for longer than he could remember. The last time he had worn something that was not from the Order came when memories were still fluid. The sabers would be easy to hide. The walking advertisement for the Core worlds, civilization and the Jedi Order…

Looking back up at her he gave her a wry teasing smile, “ You aren’t going to make me use a blaster are you?”

[roadkill]

It started as a small chuckle, but rapidly erupted into a chorus of full laughter at the thought of Nali trying to wield a blaster. The image of him holding it completely wrong, arm outstretched; a moment of frustration at it not working at his mind’s instruction, and finally him throwing it at some imagined foe. ”Oh!” she exclaimed, trying to ward the laugh away, her eyes moist. She jabbed a finger in his direction and succumbed to another brief fit of laughter. ”Oh, oh no. I don’t think the galaxy is quite ready for that,” she managed between chuckles. As she gained composure, Nyx wiped away her eyes, body still wracking slightly from the fit.

She knew it wasn’t ideal for him to have to conceal his identity, but it wasn’t a permanent thing. Yet. If the Council ever caught wind of their relationship, or if their journey saw fit to make an enemy of the Hutts, then perhaps it would be. For her, keeping her identity secret was second nature. Out on the Rim, Nyx had found that the average person felt more comfortable talking when they believed the person they were providing, often unknowingly, intelligence to was just a regular being like them. Certainly none in a hive of scum and villainy such as Anchorhead would give any information to a known Jedi.

”I’ll just, um, take us in. Meet you down in the hold,” Nyx offered, feeling the slightest bit guilty for having a raucous laugh at Nali’s expense. She turned her attention back to the controls and brought the Firebrand down into atmosphere with practiced smoothness. Flying was a skill like any other—it would take one a matter of minutes to learn how, but they would easily spend the rest of their lives getting smooth at it. Others, like herself, were gifted with a natural affinity for it. Hers were the only hands that ever touched the Firebrand either during a flight or for repair. At least, the only ones since Da’Gar went and got himself killed. The Old Man had kept her together with hope, it had seemed, until he picked her up as his Padawan. Ever since, Nyx had kept her in a state of good repair—even talked to her sometimes when working on the drive trains. Da’Gar had once said the Firebrand was the sweetest of maidens, take care of her and she’ll get you out alive.

Once she broke atmosphere, Nyx throttled down and engaged a false registry ID to transmit to the docking authorities. On approach to Anchorhead, the control tower pinged her over the comm. ”Transmitting signature and registry now, Anchorhead control,” all she would offer. The less she said, the better; such was an unwritten rule among the seedy underworld. “Confirmed, Celestial Maiden, cleared to put down in docking bay fourteen,” came the reply before Nyx killed the comm.

It was a simple matter to put them down in the docking bay.

----------


The main hold was situated next to the boarding ramp for easy access. Nyx wasted no time in getting her swoop bike ready, packing the saddlebags with what few consumables she had on-hand. Rations, water, macrobinoculars and spare power packs for her sidearm. The vornskyr, Urz, was curled up on the deck. Nyx stepped over her, sure to give her companion a scratch on the head and under her chin. ”Gonna have to stay put, girl,” she quietly issued. ”Plenty of water, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Nonplused, the pup huffed just once, dismissing her bonded human without a care. Urz had always been an independent sort, not unlike Nyx. The Jedi rolled her eyes and sighed in return, unsure of why she even bothered to speak to the pup, before patting herself down to ensure she had all the equipment on her person required. Satisfied, she turned to Nali once more. ”Sorry. Only have the one bike. Hope you don’t mind riding bitch,” she said, a playful grin playing at one corner of her mouth.

Without another word, she keyed the sequence into the wall panel to lower the cargo loader to the dusty floor of the hangar bay. Nyx fired up the repulsor on the bike and walked it off the deck, waiting for Nali to step off before sending the loader back up into the ship. She straddled the bike, taking the controls in either hand, and nodded to indicate she was ready for him to climb on the back.

[nonune]

The pride of youth had been run out of him long ago, a lesson of Mivaal’s that had had him itching for the space to run. Her entire ship had him a bit claustrophobic, except for a few distractions. Nyx was most of them and her laugh sent shivers down his spine. Considering the subject matter he joined her in the chuckle, it was a humorous thought.

The Firebrand, foreign as she was to him, made a certain sense. There was almost a heart beat to the technology. From simple observation he had picked up those levers that controlled the landing gear. At least he was mostly sure. A blaster…

”I’ll see you in the hold gorgeous.” His voice still happy as he left the cockpit, sliding sideways through the doorway carefully. What he didn’t understand was why so many walls had switches on them, and after switching on an entire panel of alarms to some system or the other, he took great care leaving. Coincidentally gave him a moment to look back and watch her, finding a calm surety in the way her hands.

If she could perform the minor miracle of transporting him to another world, he could squash his discomfort with hiding his identity. Especially when she had looked that worried. Something he didn’t like to see on her face, so around to the hold he went moving more like his normal jungle cat self.

Calling back to her “Let me know before we…” Hit the atmosphere. It was a tiny shift in his world, a bit of the inner ear that shifted as they hit the atmosphere, giving him a bit of vertigo and causing him to lean against the wall of the hold for a moment to hold down his lunch. With his training it took just a moment, but he still was not used to all this space travel.

”There is no motion, only peace….” He muttered a small shift of the noted Jedi code before continuing into the Firebrand’s hold. The one thing he envied of Nyx’s was there. Her workbench. It had everything he wanted, and included several tools he didn’t know. The Jedi had always provided for his every need, given him space and communal work areas. Never before had he wanted his own space, until he saw this area.

As wide open as the interior of the ship could get, it was also where he felt the most at home. Scratching Urz on the back of his head, then swatting at the pup as idly as the pup snapped at him. The had developed a standoff relationship. Sometimes the pup was as sweet as pie to the shining Knight, a benefit of making his bonded human smile from primal activities the pup just loved getting a sniff of. Othertimes the pup idly wanted to kill Nali. Since this was better than most beings got, the big man accepted it for now. Bag of bones… That should do it…

Setting his lightsabers in the stands he set about gathering some supplies from around her hold. Grabbing some leather straps from the stash to make pull toys for the pup, he did the best he could do. Taking off the outer layers of his Jedi robes he put them in his trunk, and used the straps to tie up his sabers at the small of his back. They would take a bit longer to draw and he wasn’t happy with it, but it would do for now.

As she packed her saddlebags he packed up his own shoulder bag, happy to work in silence. In preparing he at least knew what to do, this was a desert planet. What the book told him. A couple extra bottles of water, a ration pack and some medical supplies. Enough that with a little Force, hopefully he could turn around a bad day. It went over his shoulder and lay against the small of his back, further hiding the sabers under layers of leather cloth. From his locker he pulled a rough spun cloak, that billowed out when the hatch’s seal broke and they descended into the heat.

Tugging the oversized hood up around his head, he let out a groan. ”I’m getting an animal if we are staying here… I don’t…” Nali eyed the bike one more time, looking more unsure of the bike’s ability than a blasters, before hopping on the back and wrapping his massive arms around her tight. ”I don’t like this Nyx I should get off.”

[roadkill]

”Oh, I’ll get you off alright,” Nyx retorted, over the dull roar of the repulsor engine. Once she was certain her passenger, however unwilling, was secure enough on the rear seat Nyx gunned the throttle to careen into the wild streets, dodging other traffic both pedestrian and vehicular with the reflexes only a Jedi could bring to bear. The engine screamed, had obviously been hot-rodded. Midday was hottest, and the twin suns beat down upon Anchorhead relentlessly.

The trip to the cantina was relatively short, but Nyx wanted a vehicle closeby when it came time to leave. The establishment appeared to be under the same ownership as Nyx remembered, a Chadra-Fan by the name of Kobo; evidenced by the sign above the door, that read simply: “Kobo’s” in Huttese. Swinging her hips, Nyx slung the bike in a near hundred-eighty degree turn just outside. Feet down, she eased the machine back, so that the nose would be facing toward the street in case the need for a hasty departure arose. Nyx cut the engines, and indicated Nali could safely dismount with a nod.

”Ah, but of course,” she said as she too dismounted and turned to face the cantina. ”Don’t let him fool you, Kobo’s easily the savviest information broker this side of the Tingel Arm. You know, that isn’t a Hutt. But….” she bit down on her lower lip, and narrowed her eyes a bit at the remembrance of her prior dealings with the little Chadra-Fan. ”He will know what’s worth knowing about the goings on around here. Owes me at least one favor, unless I’ve already collected.”

The Shadow relinquished the hold on her lip and un-scrunched her face and strode through the entrance with an almost swaggering confidence. ”Come on.”

The interior was dimly lit, a stark contrast to the bright glow of the suns outside. Patrons within seemed to be grouped up into little cliques, if one cared to pay enough attention. Stick with the tribe—another unwritten rule when it came to the underworld. There was safety in numbers. Some establishments might have forced ones weapons to be relinquished at the door, but that didn’t mean the patron’s brains’ or reflexes had changed. Kobo’s was no exception, though the crowd was afforded the luxury of retaining their weapons. Wearing them openly, and plain for all to see. Her own sidearm was slung low on her right leg, steel polished for a faster draw. She was fairly handy with it, though obviously lightsabers were the preferred method. Eyes scanned briefly, sure not to maintain eye contact with anyone in particular for any length of time. Kobo was at his usual station behind the bar.

Nyx walked up, hand already in her pocket to produce currency enough to pay for drinks. ”Single-malt Corellian scotch, as old as you’ve got, Kobo. And whatever he wants,” she said, inclining her head in Nali’s direction as she gave her order. ”Leave the bottle.” The Chadra-Fan squeaked and chirped something in response, and looked to Nalialu for his choice of refreshment.

[nonune]

Nali didn’t have time to retort, and by the time she had stopped the thought had left his mind. Instead he grabbed onto her with both big arms wrapping around her waist and held on for dear life, and thought about what she said instead of what they were doing. The warmth and supple softness in his arms doing wonders to bolster the nervous wreck he was around putting faith in unfamiliar technology. By the time she took the first turn he had settled in a bit, her confidence had him giving a nervous whoop by the time they screeched around the second turn. And by the time she spun the bike around he tried to move with her, reacting how he would if they were dancing.

When she gave him a nod he let go, and nervously dismounted and looked down at the bike while pulling his hood up. Even with his training, the emotions of fun poured off him. Excitement and joy, the rid had been exhilarating once he had let go. He still didn’t trust the tech, but he also couldn’t deny the smile that just wouldn’t wipe off his face. ”Alright, I want one… That was spectacular.”

Then listening intently as she spoke about Kobo, the work of the moment set in and her warning to be careful rang in his ears. Seriousness settled over his features as he made a quick scan of the street while she spoke, something he was sure she had done and kicking himself for getting lost so early in his first mission helped bring him back to the moment.

Bars and taverns around the Galaxy were mentioned in many stories and reports as a good place to go to find information, but they had passed at least three on the way here. To be truthful he wasn’t entirely sure he was too busy having fun to keep the best lookout. Making a few mental notes of questions to ask Nyx on the ship he listened and followed.

Blending in for him was not possible, towering above much of the people around. A few aliens and beings in armor stood as tall as him, but largely that just made them stick out and notice each other more. Using this to his advantage he settled into a bodyguard posture and kept watch on anyone looking for Nyx, at least he didn’t look too out of place. Except being unarmed.

As they entered the Chadra-Fan’s bar, he thought furiously at her. I’m still not getting a blaster… And followed her lead of scanning the room but not maintaining eye contact. In the dark everyone seemed to want to go back to their drinks, at least to his untrained eye. More than anything though what bothered him was the dirt and wear that he saw around the place.

Hoping that no one wanted to pick a fight he stepped to the bar and blinked when the little furry thing chirped and looked up at him. Whatever he wanted… Looking to the sign he saw it displayed in some gibber gobble and threw that idea out. Several of his favorite dishes from around the Core popped into his head but he decided against food here, ”I’ll have a glass of water… and a Juri Juice… and one of whatever she’s having…” It spilled out of him as quick as it could, the first things he thought of just spilling out in an excited blurb of one completely out of his depth.

Shooting a sheepish glance at Nyx, he clamped his mouth shut and winced under his hood. Not cool Nalialu… And making note of those noticing the excited commotion at the bar. Reaching out with the Force he was perplexed as again Nyx’s words rang in his mind. He had met a few soldiers on Coruscant as quick to kill as everyone in this room, but even the most belligerent drunkard on Coruscant and the civilized Core didn’t have the shoot first ask questions later mentality he found himself surrounded by.

About the Shadows job he had read, walking amongst the shadows and Darkness was necessary for the good of the Galaxy. As was bending the law a bit. But the difference between book learning and the Reality of Nyx’s job had his mind reeling as it took quite a bit not to draw his sabers and see how many of the criminals around him he could bring in with her help.

Being outnumbered wasn’t new to a Jedi. And he liked these odds...

[roadkill]

Kobo busied himself with the menial task of retrieving their orders. The bottle of scotch came first, along with two mostly-clean glasses. Nyx poured them each and slid a glass down to Nali by the time the Chadra-Fan had returned with a glass of water and a glass of Juri juice. He chittered and chirped the price and asked if there would be anything else—a question he would soon regret.

Nyx nodded, lighting a fresh cigarra and leaned in. ”So just where on the Dejarik board do you fall these days, Kobo?” she asked and took a drag from her smoke. Kobo peered around, eyes darting back and forth between her and Nali, and the patrons around. Satisfied they weren’t in earshot, he chirped his response. ”Well, good for you,” Nyx said. ”Means you won’t mind telling me who’s who in the card game in back tonight.” Kobo seemed to hem and haw a bit, reluctant to part with information. ”Oh, relax. I’ll make it worth your while, you little sleaze. Are you certain that you weren’t actually born a Toydarian?” It was a good thing he wasn’t, she thought. She could have simply invaded his mind and gotten what she needed, but such things always left a trace behind. She needed Kobo to be grateful and happy. At least, for now.

Kobo relented at the sight of credits being put on the bar, and quietly chittered and chirped out the details of the high-stakes sabbac game in the back room. Nyx offered an aloof thanks before turning back to Nali with her drink in hand. She took a measured sip, sure to roll it around in her mouth before swallowing. Certainly wasn’t the finest on the market, but it was far better than the usual swill served in places like Kobo’s. For the discerning customer, which seemed rare if the dust on the bottle and glasses was any indication. Still, it passed muster. ”Kobo says there’s a semi-private game in back. Most of the players work for the local Hutt. All I have to do is show up to the table with enough credits, enough booze, and surely someone will let slip a detail or two about their work. But first…I’m going to enjoy this drink.”

More like, work up the false courage to get tangled up with the local Hutt. This was supposed to be a sabbatical of sorts. Though, she supposed it was a nice change of pace from her usual work. At least it wasn’t another greasy Dark Side cult. With any luck, the local Hutt overseer was low on the food chain and not well-connected in the Cartels. All of that would be preferable intelligence to have before making any moves, but she knew Nali was restless. Like a caged jungle cat, itching for the word “go”. It was soft, gentle work that required finesse. When it came time to kick in a door or two and/or crack some skulls, it would be Nali’s turn to lead. It wasn’t so much that there was a procedure to follow…simply due diligence. He was doing well, though. At least, as well as could be expected for someone so unsuited for the task.

”Try to relax your posture,” she said. ”but without letting your guard down.” Cheap advice from a veteran. Act like you belong, believe it hard enough, and they will too. If the cover gets blown, double down first—it might be lifesaving. Selling a cover was all about making it believable.

[nonune]

A big hand hit the bar and caught the glass she slid towards him, pulling it in with a little trick of the Force so it wouldn’t land anywhere but right where he wanted it. Juri juice was a curiosity from a… report? A book? Simply the One thing he could remember about alcohol and Tatooine. What a juri was or how it was made, he had no idea. Lifting the glass of the… Reaching out with the Force he did what he never did when she ingested it and investigated the drink fully. Poison. She had ordered poison.


As she spoke to the little chittering thing, he made another mental note about languages. Wondering if she would ever stop with her array of amazing skillz, he turned slowly and inspected the bar. She was about her business, it wouldn’t look odd for her bodyguard to make a look about the bar. Scowling about the amount of blasters in the bar, and grumbling to himself about never picking up such an uncivilized weapon, the glass was brought to his lips.

It was poison, but it was Her poison. There had to be a reason she ordered it. No where near a discerning customer, he knew not the first thing about drinking. Let alone anything else. The honeyed fire went down his throat in one quick glug. Pouring a warmth through his body that wasn’t entirely welcome in the heat, but setting the glass down he thought he might enjoy that more when they were back on the ship.

The confidence that came next was almost as surprising as the dizzy, and as he placed both hands on the bar he saw her glass in her hands as she sipped. Closing his eyes the massive shoulders raised once in one big long breath. Where the hell was that beat coming from. Oh that was his heartbeat. Turning to look at Nyx, his hand started to slide the glass towards her, but forgot to let go and ended up looking into it.

Setting the glass down gingerly, he did the wise thing and picked up the water. Turning to Nyx he sipped the drink and tried to hear her over the thunder of his own heartbeat in his ears. Eyeing the Devorian over her shoulder until the horned man broke the contact, he made sure that one wasn’t checking her out. Nyx may look like an easy mark, but Nali was sure either of them could take the entire bar. Before the drink he had only been mostly sure.

Now… Taking a large swig of the water he scowled before his manners kicked in and gingerly set the water down. At best that was the chemicals he tasted. Whatever else was in it, he didn’t want to know. Then he set his empty glass in front of her. ”I see… It's sterile. Alright then.”


In the future he was going to be more careful, and this time he watched her first. Sipping… Mmmhmmm. After staring into her green eyes and wondering which tree on Tython had leaves that shade for a moment he realised he hadn’t heard a word she said. Well he had heard it. It was there, if his mindscape was a physical place he could walk to the shelf and pick up the memory.

Outwardly at least, staring into her eyes had relaxed him a bit. Perhaps too much, but perhaps that would just make him bait. Reaching out with the Force he made up for it by looking for anyone who had any hostile intent towards them. It might set off a beacon, but only a little more than he normally did. Nali announced himself like a roar, this was a bit wobbly for him. His technique was sloppy, if far more confident than normal as his aura in the Force spread around the bar.

And quickly found another reason why Nyx didn’t use such techniques. Everyone was Hostile, and the realization sobered him back up and he swung around and leaned back against the bar, arms crossed across his chest. Relaxed but ready to spring into motion like some great jungle cat ready to pounce.

Looking sideways at her with one big blue eye, he was clearly out of his element but starting to relax into it. It helped he hadn’t been given a choice in the matter this time. Trying to let her know he might be shaky but still game he tried something he never would have tried sober. Lips curling up in a predatory grin he gave her a quick wink before scanning the bar.

”I take it my job is to look impressive? You need me to build…” There it was again. That damned weird slickness in his memory. Knowing Where the memory was seemed to just not matter sometimes, working his way around it was a challenge this first time. A quick learner with a very overactive metabolism, he was about to eat out all her stocks on the Firebrand and he wasn’t quite sure how to tell her, this time he picked it up.

”Street cred?”

[roadkill]

By the time she spotted the empty glass, Nyx also realized Nalialu was…working on his way to drunk pretty fast. Surprising, as big as he was. ”Such confidence,” she uttered as he winked and scanned the cantina. Whilst he did, she forced a smile and poured him another glass full. Probably not the wisest of decisions, but they had a cover to sell. ”S-street cred?! Nyx choked out, stifling back laughter. It was preposterous. He was adorable.

”This is why we sip our drinks, dear,” she said, patting him on the arm a handful of times. ”But, yes. Look impressive, stay cool, but don’t come off as submissive. The jungle here would eat you alive, as you no doubt have gathered by now. We’re tourists, looking for entertainment—nothing more, nothing less.” She took another long sip from her drink, savoring it as she gazed upon the foolish man that accompanied her. A fool he might have been, but he was her fool and it pleased her.

She took a drag from her cigarra, flicking the ashes onto the floor with practiced nonchalance, still softly smiling. There would be trouble here, she knew it. They would have to fight their way out of here later, and the sum of credits she had paid Kobo would almost cover the damages should he survive. Danger sense tickled the hairs on the back of her neck; such a sharp warning. Nyx fought the reflex to turn her head to spot it immediately. Instead, she casually turned her body back to the bar to glance briefly at a pair of Kaleesh dressed to kill.

Literally.

Masked, each sporting a bandolier of explosives, moderate armor, and large electro-staves, peeking out from the back room where the card game was set to occur. They posted up outside of the door, obviously the bouncers and not privy to whatever was going on outside of cards. A glance was all she needed before turning back. ”Don’t look now,” Nyx prefaced. ”But I think we’ve received the last of the guests for the game.” Goons like that were an indication that whoever was in the back room was of the utmost importance to the Hutt they served. Kaleesh were fierce warriors; almost as fierce as the Ubese. They only came second in her book because Ubese held a blood oath to kill Jedi.

Passing through them was a lone T-7 astromech droid, beeping that it had a message for someone in the back room. The Kaleesh allowed it through and returned to their silent guard duty. Getting in might not have been as simple as she originally thought. Still, if she had credits aplenty to wave around, certainly it would suffice for entry into the game itself.

[nonune]

Codes of etiquette and politeness, unspoken rules of courtesy generally had ruled his days. The soldiers he had interacted with were officers on a Senatorial deck, who spoke with his own Coruscanti higher crust… Education. She was going to add the rough edges to him, because they had been worn off a long time ago. Here those rules could easily be taken as submissive.

Picking up the glass she slid back to him, thinking himself the perfect bodyguard but utterly missing her laugh at his preposterousness. Not looking submissive was far easier for this inebriated version of himself, he was far more brazen and less polite to strangers. His blue eyes watched her own green while she took a long sip, before realizing he hadn’t absorbed a thing about drinking the liquid that had nearly floored him because he was simply watching her. Shaking his head he returned to scanning the bar.

He was watching everywhere else when they entered, intent on being a good bodyguard. The predatory grin entirely fueled by the honeyed liquid that he tried sipping like it was hot tea. That made it easy to maintain the level of brazen he needed, but it took all of his quavering willpower not to simply look when she told him not to, so he scanned around the bar the other way as he spun back to the bar as well. She was glancing where…

It took him a second to find them. The real threat in the room, some alien he knew he had seen a sketch and some etchings of. There was a file he had read, several in fact, during his studies. Not placing the name of the species, it was by the way they moved and held their staves that he knew they were the real threat.

Taking a long sip of the golden liquid he got just a little braver, almost staring right at the guards. The four of them. As strong as they looked, Nali was sure he could take them. The only reason he wasn’t staring right at the two, was he was looking at the one of the left’s stave. The one on the left, but in the center. But then all the way on the left, looking away from the guard himself.

Turning back to Nyx a bit more quickly than he should and far more excitedly, he looked her right in the eye. ”Beautiful, you bring me to the most interesting places. Dibs on the electro-stave.” Twice in the same day she had shown him something he actually Wanted outside his life as a Jedi. She seemed to do that a lot. His eyes dropped to hers and he briefly entertained simply tearing the bar appart for her, handing her whatever it was she wanted.

Setting the alcohol down in front of her, he breathed out huskily. ”I’ll follow your lead, I have your back Lady.”

”Still. Dibs.” Shaking his head and pulling himself up to his full impressive height, brazenly ready to follow her to the gates of the Valley of the Sith Lords in that moment.

[roadkill]

Overgrown boys and their toys, she thought. No, he was still adorable. ”Right, then,” all she said as she turned to Kobo once more, credits enough for another bottle and then some already on the bartop. ”Another bottle for me, and another round of whatever your players back there like. Just send it back.” The original bottle was still just over half full, but Nyx had a feeling it would be a long game. She downed what was left in her glass, committing the same mortal sin Nali had—though her tolerance for alcohol had to be much higher given her regular practice at it. Like all things she indulged in, Nyx was a Master of the craft. Bottle in hand, she swaggered away from the bar, and toward the Kaleesh guarding the back room.

Reflexively, the pair broadened their stances and readied their staves at the interlopers’ approach. Not a word was uttered by either of the imposing figures. Nyx tried on a smile that somehow simultaneously fit and didn’t fit her face. The hand that held the cigarra placed it between her lips and disappeared into her coat pocket for a handful of credit chits—slowly, with measured precision as to not make the twitchy guards with weapons ready even twitchier. ”Just looking to get in on the game, boys,” she said. The Kaleesh turned to each other, then back to the pair before them. Silence was still the rule of law for them. A voice from the back, harsh and commanding shouted: “Let them back so they can lose their credits!”

That was the thing about regular games—you got to know your regular opponents and things grew stale. The smile on her face grew, the first bid of her gambit had paid off; just as she knew it would. Just as Da’Gar had taught her. It was how he became her Master—she had tried to swindle him inside the Jedi Temple; had mistaken him for a freighter captain. He caught her red-handed, and revealed himself. He taught her how to hide in the Force, how to be a Shadow, and how to be a better cheat at cards.

Without hesitation, the Kaleesh stood at ease to allow them both past. Nyx swaggered through, almost Corellian, and into the back room. One table sat dead center, dimly lit. Around it were three beings situated. A Devaronian, a Twi’lek, and one massive Gamorrean. The Twi’lek was large and muscular, even for a Twi’lek. If the characters in the main, open bar were considered rough, these were leagues darker. Violent, murderous, but protected by their Hutt overlord. All three turned to regard the newcomers. The Twi’lek became the likely spokesperson—likely the one in charge among the three. “A little fresh blood is just what we need, isn’t it?” he hissed salaciously, rhetorically. The others cravenly chuckled and chortled in agreement, the Gamorrean snorting and the Devaronian wheezing.

Nyx toked on the cigarra still between her lips, smoke rolling from her nostrils. ”Gonna deal me in or what?” she growled around the cigarra. The Devaronian kicked out a chair from the table and beckoned her to sit. Through the Force she reached out to touch Nali’s mind. Stay calm, she willed out to him as she approached the table and sat at her place. The bottle was placed atop it, as was her handful of credit chits, freeing both hands to play. The Twi’lek pattered off the table rules for the hand, standing until changed at his discretion before a new hand. One of Kobo’s server droids clanked back to the table with the fresh round she took the liberty of ordering. Nyx had more than a few grafter cards up her sleeve, and pensively probed their minds through the Force, assessing their malleability. The Gamorrean would be easy, the Devaronian somewhat harder and the Twi’lek would be….a challenge to manipulate. She had seen sterner, but his mind was like a steel-trapped maze at a cursory glance.

Cards were dealt, hands were played. Nyx was careful not to win too big too often, even folding when she had a winning hand just to keep them guessing. The more they were relaxed into the game, the more they would converse among themselves idly—past the witty, practiced banter among frequent game mates. The T-7 unit had wheeled itself into the corner, having already delivered whatever message to the Twi’lek. Nyx wanted that droid—its potential was wasted. No, she needed that droid. The game had a second purpose, their secrets and their droid would be hers before the night was through.


----------------


As the hands rolled on, the pile of credits before her ebbed and flowed. The other players were well and truly drunk. The Gamorrean and Devaronian had long since run out of credits on-hand to gamble and the Twi’lek was running low. Over the course of the hands, she had been able to ascertain from bits and pieces of talk that they all served Borgia the Hutt. None of them were direct reports, but the Gamorrean dealt with the gladiatorial slaves as a second-banana. The Devaronian dealt with the…pleasure slaves in some capacity, while the Twi’lek plotted and schemed ways to kill his boss, Borgia’s own Majordomo to take his place in the hierarchy. None of them were particularly…smart, save for the Twi’lek. Though it was all too apparent that he had no idea how smart he really could be.

It was not unlike how the Sith operated.

It had all come down to the final hand. Nyx had a sure thing, with the perfect grafter to form an Idiot’s Array at the ready. The Twi’lek sub-domo-whatever couldn’t match her bet if he went all-in, prompting quite the conundrum. As if on cue, Nyx suggested her preferred solution. ”That droid, then. The T7.” The Twi’lek shot his attention over to the droid, back to the table, back to Nyx’s confident, mirthy smirk. “Borgia will have my head if I lose that droid,” he retorted. Nyx cocked her head to the side a few degrees, shrugged her shoulders and inclined her head toward the Twi’lek a few measured centimeters. ”I’ll have your head if you can’t cover the bet,” she quipped. After some initial hemming and hawing, the Twi’lek relented.
Cards down, Nyx fed the grafter from her sleeve into her hand, palming the unwanted card. ”Read ‘em an weep,” all she said, scooping the pot over to her. ”T7, report to docking bay fourteen,” she added. The Twi’lek issued change of ownership commands, grudgingly and the droid rolled away. Rising from her chair, Nyx stretched her arms wide. ”I wish I could say it’s been a pleasure, boys, but you really need to work on your bluffs and tells.” As she was pocketing the winnings, she turned to leave. The card she palmed carelessly fell from her sleeve and onto the table for all to see with a decidedly un-surreptitious clack.

The scene froze. The players eyes went downward, gazing down at the card then tracking back up to Nyx. Then down at the card again, and back to each other as if there was any need for debate on how to proceed. Nyx wrenched her eyes shut for just a moment at the realization she had been busted. The Hutt flunkies were beginning to rise from their seats. A hand went down to grip her sidearm, clearing leather long before her opponents managed to fully stand. Trained dead center-mass at the Twi’lek Nyx shrugged. ”Let’s not do anything hasty,” she beckoned. The Gamorrean had a rather large vibro-axe on his person, the Devaronian had tried to go for a concealed holdout blaster. Interestingly enough, the Twi’lek appeared to be unarmed, and hadn’t tried to reach for a weapon at all.

By then, the Kaleesh outside had already heard the ruckus set to commence and wheeled around to encircle the pair of Jedi.

[nonune]

Upturned lips turned harsher and brasher, a smile as unsuited to his face as this place. Eyes on her back as she ordered new drinks, marking each of the thugs that paid any attention to their motions. While he was done with the drinking, he had found an inspiration for his stare of utter indifference and the room still swam with bravery. That glimmer of why not just change things, make them the way he knew was Right. He would need to ask Nyx later how she controlled the impulse when drunk… And maybe try again in hyperspace. Just not where his control mattered.

Fortunately they were on the way to the backroom before his defiant stare brought any real challenge, or their cover would have been blown early. But they were fancy offworlders, but she actually fit the mold of a threat that could belong here. No one here was nearly as clean as he was, hair cut just so not so long ago. They might have been a mark later, if they weren’t headed to lose their money to the bosses.

For a moment he was her bright shadow, a wall of muscle and Force at her back. The closer they got the more clear there were only two of the Kaleesh, and the more he questioned his ability for just a moment. Only his desire to keep Nyx safe kept it from his face as they stopped for a moment at the door and she flashed her credits. Taking his cue from the Kaleesh he held the code of silence, slipping into the backroom and taking up a stance against the wall near the door.

Stay calm. Came her mental command, she must have known long before they entered this room this was where he would have the most issue. Other than her the only being in the room that didn’t belong on a Republic prison barge was the droid. Listening to their chatter he assembled a small set of dossiers in his mind, as far as he was concerned they were confessing their sins. The Gamorrean was the hardest for him to read, speaking in some guttural language he could not make out.

But as the game went on, things became more difficult for him. Undercurrents and plots she probably picked up on easily were missed the moment he heard it. Slaves. It took all of his willpower not to destroy their cover and listen to her commandment, but by the second hand he was well and truly sober and working his way through the Crystal Code again in his mind.

The second time the Devaronian mentioned what he called a pleasure slave he clamped his stomach down. He knew about prostitutes. Knew about slavery. But.. How could anyone do something so… But…

Then the Gamorrean snorted out something about some of his gladiatorial slaves being no better than meat, happily thinking about the meal he would get later of the leftovers and he had to clamp down his mind. Look impressive and not submissive… Muscles bunched under his clothes he was a spring trap, a great jungle cat waiting on the edge of the game to pounce on the first of them that showed a drop of blood.

With his Master he had fought the Sith in the last war, however briefly. These were not the first combatants outside the sparring ring he would face. These were the first that made him feel he needed a shower. The game went on and on, and he tried to block their banter out by watching the cards, looking for patterns. Each time he was sure he knew who had what… Nyx came up with a hand he couldn’t understand.

Of all the beings in the galaxy, Nyx’s movements were quickly becoming Nali’s favorite. She needed him to Stay calm. So he focused on her hands as she played, and even as focused as he was on her hands, intent on finding Something. What he didn’t know, but it didn’t matter as his unpracticed eye never caught anything. Maybe she was just that good at the game, but that seemed statistically impossible at this point.

Having lost himself in a study of his Lady, he had almost forgotten where they were for that moment. And that illusion had kept him from ripping the filth apart.

CLACK.

The moment of silence was broken as they started going for their guns, but he was already chuckling low and deep in his chest. A noise that gradually filled up the room in a rich baritone laugh that had the Devaronian, Twi’lek and Gamorrean stopped for a moment more as they looked from Nyx to the laughing man leaning on the wall.

Her hand went for her blaster, so it wasn’t time to go bright just yet. The silvered metal of the vibro axe shivered on as he reached out with the Force and flicked it on and grabbed it with a bit of telekinesis. Pulling it through the air it spun and the heavy metal haft smacked the Devaronian on the back of its filthy head, sending him forward into the table as the large axe flew across the room to thud into Nali’s outstretched hand.

”Ah Nyx… I love you so much…” It didn’t fit, they were outnumbered and outgunned. Without drawing their lightsabers, Nyx and him only had her blaster and a vibro-ax. They had a room full of armed thugs and two Kaleesh coming through a doorway, and who knew how many more between them and the ship.


His eyes lit up with his normal innocent exuberance as he looked at Nyx, the door opening behind him to reveal a pair of shocked faces. Guns they had expected. Instead… ’Oh!!! That is why you wanted a droid!”

He had done his job and given her a distraction, and for a moment he was a youthful giant kid. This was His element, hers was seducing this element of life into giving up their secrets. With the card dropped, the ruse was broken and now there were only villains that needed smiting. Spinning with the vibro axe held out at his full arm's length, he called on the Force to speed the blade and accelerate his body to a near impossibly fast blur.

To Kaleesh's credit, he got his staff up in time to attempt a block. Planning for this Nali struck through the door and pushed with the Force to smash into the staff and through into his chestplate. The brute’s arms were set to take the force, but it couldn’t get its legs under itself before it was thrown back into the bar hard enough to crash into a table, sending the denizens scattering.

For a moment as the second Kaleesh snarled and stalked forwards spinning his electrostaff menacingly, the cantina was deadly quiet except for the noise in the back room. The Devarion would have been disorientated for a moment, and at least the Gamorean didn’t have his axe. Hopefully she made short work of the Twi’lek. But one of the reasons he followed her like a lost puppy was she wasn’t a damsel to save.

Eying the Kaleesh brandishing his electro-staff at him, Nali looked at the massive weapon and back at the staff, almost ignoring his opponent in a moment of arrogance. Which bought him a crack of metal on his knuckles as he used the haft of the axe to block a strike from the staff. The fierce warrior came hard and fast at him, as the bar behind him erupted in a raucous din. Not as fast as his own movements but fast enough that his first surprise spin was quickly made apparent it had been a Surprise.

Fortunately many aspects of his favorite Soresu could be applied regardless of the weapon. Znap-Hiss, electricity arced from the shock ends of the staff, tendrils of energy rippling through the air. Clack-Clang went the two hafts, impacting in staccato sound before stopping suddenly. One massive hand finally reached out when the Kaleesh tried a longer flourish, the moment chosen through the Force, his fingers wrapped around the shaft of spinning metal stopping it.

Grinning at the stunned face of a battler ready for the fastest these streets offered, he had not been ready for a Jedi. And especially not these ones. Pulling the alien towards him by the staff he gripped hard and planted his giant foot in its chest. But before he could press forward, the trained and dirty fighter’s hand came up, a filthy green sheen to the edge of his knife. Whisper soft the edge of the blade sliced through the cloth and flesh of his leg. Not deep, a nick that Nali in his arrogance simply dismissed.

But enough...

Out went his leg, the Force to push the guard out into the cantina and shove back the oncoming crowd. Giving the crowd an enthusiastic grin he slammed the axe into the control panel on the wall, shorting the door out and slamming it shut. Turning back to the room he clung to the staff as one end hit the floor, the electricity flickering off as he used it to lean on.

The room spun as he looked over Nyx’s progress, the room so much a blur that he couldn’t quite make it out. ”Uh…. Nysss… I t’ink ‘e ‘as a prol… pro…. Proleem.” And for some reason he was extremely proud that he got the word out but was that the floor...

[roadkill]

Nyx punctuated Nali’s chuckle with a quick burst from her sidearm. Two center mass and one in the head was what the Twilek had wrought; the body slumped over the table flesh still sizzling as Nali stunned the Devaronian while retrieving the Gamorrean’s weapon. Lightning fast, she wheeled her focus to the giant pig-man, now weaponless and the proverbial last man standing for the moment. He was smart for a Gamorrean, deciding that making a break for the back door was his best option. He turned as Nyx rattled off another burst, striking him about the arms and side; not enough to incapacitate the large alien. Her danger-sense prickled again, beckoning her attention to matters more immediate—the pair of Kaleesh.

”To the moon and back, my dear,she retorted dryly. No, it didn’t quite fit, but that was all part of the package. Still adorable. The poor thing had a surprisingly low tolerance for alcohol. She would have to work on that. Or not, more fun that way. She couldn’t complain about a cheap date.

Nali was dealing with one, but the other was a more pressing threat than the fleeing witness, sure to report straight to his Hutt overlord. She spun and took aim at the second, launching an overcharged burst center-mass. It didn’t penetrate armor, but it was enough to knock the fierce warrior back and buy her the precious seconds required to drill him square between the eyes. The Devaronian was starting to come-to, groggily remembering the holdout blaster. The fool was arrogant enough to believe that just because her back was turned, she was vulnerable.

Danger-sense plucking her attention once more, almost fast enough to avoid getting shot. The bolt singed her off-arm, just at the shoulder as she rattled off another overcharged burst to see that threat eliminated. She grunted and growled, wrenching her eyes past the reflex to shut. Howling, she spun back around to see Nali pushing the oncoming attackers from the main room and sealing the door shut. ”Oh, no you don’t,” she quipped as the big man sputtered and made for the floor. Not able to catch him physically, in time or capable, Nyx reached out through the Force to halt his impending fall. One look at him and she was certain there was something other than the alcohol afflicting him.

”Let’s take a look, quickly. We have to get out of here.” She couldn’t carry his ass out the door and fight. Hell, she wasn’t even certain she could carry him, even if she wanted to. She holstered her blaster as she approached him from the side, a hand going one each upon his back and breast, still using the Force to keep him upright—and eased him over to her empty chair and down. Almost motherly. One hand still upon his chest, she tapped into the healing aspects of the Force. Nyx connected on a level somewhere above cellular, and could feel the poison working its way through his veins. Not the alcohol, though that was a poison of a sort. The Kaleesh had a doped blade. Of course. Foolish mistake, showing off and working the crowd rather than focusing on eliminating the threat. Oh, she would have words for him.

But later. They had to get out of there. Nyx pushed, healing what she could, but it was only temporary. Hopefully enough to allow them to fight their way back to the Firebrand’s med bay. Tenderly, she planted her lips upon his forehead before welcoming him back to his feet. ”You’ve been poisoned, Nali. I’ve done what I can for now, but you need kolto.” Never one to sugar-coat things, it went unspoken that his need would be dire sooner rather than later. Kolto and likely fresh blood, or at least time to recover. That was the plan, then. Get him on his feet, out the back door and around to the swoop bike to make a hasty escape.

”Back door,” Nyx said as she inclined her head toward the only avenue of escape left to them. There was likely to be resistance out there by now, or arriving soon. Though she could still hear someone working on the door Nali had sealed.

[nonune]

Blinking he realized he could taste the green of her eyes and see the taste of a battery core in his eyes. Her words swirled around in his mind before he could latch onto them. Poison. A dumb mistake on his part that he hoped he wouldn’t get her killed over. There were Several lectures coming, Mivaal was already there in the back of his mind. It was always the threat you weren’t looking for that got you, and instead of looking for the hidden blade… he had been tossing someone around and giving away what he was.

The staff hit the floor as he pushed himself up to his feet with her aid, wobbling a little bit. With a bit of meditation, medical attention and kolto the threat of the poison was minimal. ”I have a medkit… It's on the bike with my bag. How long was I out…” There was also a lot of water that would help. Whatever this drug or poison was, it wasn’t anything he knew of. A half galaxy away even.

The kiss on the forehead told him all he needed to know, he’d make it up to her. Somehow. Leaning on the staff he tried not to look too sheepishly at her, and pushed himself towards the door. ”Go, fight. To the bike?”

Looking back at the door he had jammed solidly with the axe, he was already starting the lecture on himself. Later. At least he had thought to do that. With whatever they were working on the door with, it wasn’t going to hold long. And he was sure those Kaleesh were just a kicked bee hive.

Latching onto the Jedi Code he moved forwards. And wished it had been painful. A real injury would have softened what was coming, instead his leg was just pleasantly numb as he limped along holding himself up with the staff. Stifling his pride as he passed the Twi’lek, Nali snatched up the holdout blaster that had fallen from his hands when Nyx had shot him.

Taking cues from how Nyx held her blaster he scowled in distaste. With each of the Kaleesh he had chosen their chest plates because they were most likely to survive the hits, he wasn’t quite ready to take a life yet. Injure and piss off, that he was fine with. Blasters were too quick for his taste, uncivilized and barbaric. But as woosy as he was, all he could manage was not pointing the tiny gun at her or himself.

Maybe he could be a distraction at least. Maybe he needed… a slugthrower… The difference between accepting her world and the Reality of her world set in quick, and after his lesson in humility… Practicality was winning over pride.

[roadkill]

Killing was unfortunate, and her path was often violent. These were not kind or gentle souls that were capable of knowing mercy. Comprehending it. The scene was grisly, yes; but that she had gone behind him to finish off those he had merely incapacitated…. Well, it was best to have as few witnesses as possible to such a thing as a backroom slaughter during the weekly card game. But Kobo knew, he knew the second she strolled in the bar, there was going to be trouble. Once she inquired about the game in back, he knew this would not be over anytime soon. The credits she’d given him made up for it—almost. It would buy his silence as her to identity and act just as surprised as everyone else when it was revealed she was a Jedi Master.

Nyx eyed the carnage and went for the back door, blaster out and up. She hoped she didn’t have to pull a lightsaber out in getting around to the front. ”Don’t fall behind,” she grumbled, lovingly, turning her head enough to glimpse the blaster in his hand. It looked…foreign. Alien; as if non-Euclidian angles met a human hand in disharmony. Moving quickly was all about defensive fire. Precision was less important as “getting in the ballpark” to suppress whoever lay between one and their target; then maneuver. It took a special kind of thick-head to run toward blaster fire.

Out the door, it seemed they had a moment or two to gain ground before the Hutt’s underlings caught up to them. Left was always right, Nyx surged on, careful not to keep a pace so fast that Nali couldn’t keep up. Of course she wouldn’t leave him behind. But they had to make all haste. Not just to escape the coming swarm of trouble she had kicked over, but to get Nali treatment. It helped that she could abscond with the droid, as well. At the corner she halted, pressing her back to the wall and holding out a palm, flat, to signal Nali to stop as well.

Corners were tricky. Anything could be around the bend, and they had the advantage of visibility. She had the advantage of the Force. For a moment she tuned in, reaching out to sense any life around the corner and…. The majority had come from around the front. Perhaps more, once word got out, there were killers and cheats loose and running from Borgia the Hutt. But if she spun fast enough, she could gain a foothold enough for Nali to get around the bend, and find cover enough to shoot back from. With unnatural speed, Nyx wheeled out, discharging her pistol toward the oncoming crowd as she zigged toward a set of metal crates in the alley. Wide enough to drive a speeder comfortably through, it wasn’t quite a street but the space between buildings was ample. Finding it, she remained focused on the group out for their blood, trying to take their attention from the ailing Nali behind her.

He had best use that thing in his hand, she thought. At least fire in the same direction as her. Wounding was often more effective as it removed two combatants from the fight. One, and their buddy who stops to check on them. Whoever could inflict the most casualties and outmaneuver the other, often won the day. She had no compunctions when it came to killing this lot. They were not innocents, but they were likewise outside of her directives from the Order. This was a sabbatical. A vacation. Go to Tatooine, Nali said. It will be a good time, he said.
Famous last words.

[nonune]

Nali wasn’t a complete stranger to battlefields, though the ones he walked in the last war had far clearer lines. His side had even been in white and the Sith in black, multicolored rainbow of shining blades meeting angry red. With his Master and several Republic troopers he had strode through blaster fire, and knew that he and Nyx were untouchable as long as they didn’t get surrounded. If he could carry through with the slice of the blade that would take a life.

But these were criminals, not enemy combatants… Ethically… BLAST.

They were down for the count, as hard as he had hit them their ribs were cracked. Their domes rung by the force of the things they crashed through on their way to the floor. And she ended them…

That was what held him up, not his leg going numb to his knee now. The coldness of Death that was necessary. The room spun as he heard the challenge and began Moving. Clack, thud went the staff and his dead foot as he moved as fast as he could behind her using his size to make the distance as quick as he could.

Watching her move and learning movements was his first memory of her, then it was lightsabers this time it was to cover points as she moved. The basics worked for a bit and it gave him a bit of relief to lean on something. Pins and needles pierced his flesh as he tried walking on his foot, pumping the poison further into his veins.

Unable to leap he couldn’t dive into the fray, and her cover points quickly became things he couldn’t hide behind. When she dodged around the corner he counted to two before rolling out into the alley, and then quickly launching himself with a grunt behind a set of crates with the staff landing hard against them. They had been shooting at Nyx as she zigged and drew their fire, but now seemed to be splitting their fire.

Smiling his brilliant white smile sideways at her, he fired his blaster down range at the enemy as many times as he could pull the trigger before the Force told him to take cover again. Alright, they wanted to kill them. His ethical dilemma became something for libraries.

Not that that was going to stop him from flirting with her. ”Wouldn’t be a real vacation if you didn’t get to save my ass at least once…” Answering her thoughts out loud, and keeping to himself the sass about going bright making this easy.

[roadkill]

Firing wildly, often blind, from cover, it took Nali significantly longer than she had presumed to make it there. For a moment, she briefly considered drawing a lightsaber. The crowd amassing was hungry for a fight, and even hungrier for the payday that would surely result in turning the corpses of the two brigands who had cheated Borgia’s men at cards, absconded with a droid and murdered two top lieutenants. Nyx would have called it self defense, though blasters never would have come up had she not cheated them. It wasn’t cheating if one was on a quest, and those who had fought had simply sped up their ultimate fate. It was all a wash, so she resolved to tell herself later, in the wee hours when she was truly alone.

They had to get back to the ship, Nali’s need for medical attention grew more dire with each pump of his heart. She had to make a hole for them to slip through, and reach the parked swoop. Void-damn it all, would he even be able to hang on? It sure beat holing up in some freshly abandoned hovel in the seedier part of town. Nyx fired an overcharged burst into the crowd, creating enough pause for her to reach out through the Force and toss the still-falling bodies into those still standing—not for long. It was a gentle nudge, not enough to arouse suspicion that she was really a Jedi Master. ”Let’s not go jumping off any cliffs yet, love,” she quipped back. ”Time to move again.”

Nyx surged from behind the crates at preternatural speed, augmented by the Force, firing her sidearm as she sped right through the crowd—still reeling from her previous manipulations. Her offhand went for the shoto saber concealed by her coat, and the Shadow commenced to making short work of any witnesses. Though the lightsaber holes and scores would bear witness to Borgia that a Jedi had come to meddle in his affairs. It was necessary, she deigned, for Nali to be able to make it back alive. But it was a complication that she was sure would haunt them later in the campaign. No time for that now.

Nyx cut the group to ribbons, keeping their focus on her so that Nali could limp along further. Around the next corner lay the front of the building and who only knew what kind of crowd lusting for their blood—or perhaps rethinking their life choices if the screams and shouts from the mouth of the alley were any indication of what carnage lay in store…. They shouldn’t have poisoned him. No, he shouldn’t have been showing off; but Nyx wouldn’t have been anywhere near as furious had they not threatened to remove him from her life so easily. Poison was the coward’s tool.

But since when did a Hutt’s bodyguards possess abstract concepts such as honor?

The last of the mob had been dealt with, but Nyx paused to wait for her charge to get within a manageable distance before she pressed around the final bend. It was sure to be a death trap; they had ample time to set up the perfect crossfire. She checked the charge on her sidearm, finding it half-full. Plenty enough to get them into the open and gunned down….

[nonune]

Feeling her movement before he saw it was one of his favorite things, and for a moment he pitied those that could not. Though not the thugs firing at them. With a thick heavy thud he set his staff and began to rise as she began to move faster than many would be able to track. Still, rising long before the threat was truly past as she made quick work of them. A couple got a shot off at him, but seeking out through the Force as he was… A lean to the side on the staff was all he truly needed.

They were no longer threats to him, she was seeing to that. So he followed her command and Kept Up. Through the Force he could watch her move, feel the eddies of the energy of her blade as it made short work of the thugs. A normal man wouldn’t be able to appreciate the beauty of her movements, simply be amazed at them. At least he kept himself moving instead of standing there dumbfounded.

When she looked back at him he was grinning at her with that wolfish grin again, though softened by it actually being genuine. A mixture of pride and hunger danced behind his eyes as he made the final few steps to the bend, his leg numb to his thigh as he fell against the wall heavily, the impact belying the cool nature he was almost pulling off.

Looking down at the holdout he snarled and tossed the little thing aside, smashing it against a wall farther down the alleyway. ”You are a dream to watch Nyx.” Part of him knew he should feel guilty, they were only having any difficulty because of him. If he could move like her they’d be gone now.

While he certainly couldn’t run as fast as her, and certainly not walk the shadows and Darkness like she did, this next corner was something he was better at. Placing his big hand on Nyx’s opposite shoulder he held her back in the corner, knowing full well his wildcat might just rip his arm off. When she turned to protest, she found his shining blue eyes looking right at hers and his lips sealing her’s with a kiss so she couldn’t protest what he was about to do. It was only a moment then he went around the corner, leaving her holding the wrong staff.

A fool's move for most other people, including many Force users. A few of the Jedi however had what his old Master called common sense and mastered the art of Soresu. Flinging his cloak out behind his back, as he gimped along into the middle of the street his silver hilts came out of their hidden loops behind his belt. A bolt from the left found a sapphire blade igniting and sending the shot straight up into the sky.

Arrogantly he looked back and winked at her. She thought he was showing off before, without looking the purple blade ignited and sent another shot wide. This time coming from the right. More blasts rained in around him as he sprung their trap and he batted the shots that might have hit him back at those that fired them.

Cursing started arising from the thugs as some of their weapons started exploding in their hands, the blaster bolts finding the targets Nali chose and the Force guided his blades to send home. Back to the blaster packs that fired them or if he couldn’t find that, just sending many harmlessly into the air above him. Normally he could have simply stayed like this forever, eventually if they kept firing even taking them out without moving.

Some of the combatants fell as their hands exploded from the mini grenade they were holding exploding in their hands, their blaster packs hit by their own blasts. Injuring instead of killing, they fell screaming and cursing. In the war of attrition they were losing numbers fast as he shattered their firing lines with a swirl of sapphire and violet.

But the numbness was reaching up his thigh, eventually he’d fall and then he’d be so much cooked meat in the street. He needed that bag, he could see it hanging on her bike. A full medkit plus a few extras he liked to have on hand. In case. Enough Kolto to get someone to a hospital or healer. Enough to get him to the ship.

Thud went his foot and he worried how long he’d be able to stand for the first time in his life. Sweat began to build on his forehead as his mind did a little spin and he stumbled, a blaster bolt grazing his numb leg, filling his nostrils with the scent of burning. He had thought getting shot would hurt more.

[roadkill]

She knew. On some level, she knew just how graceful she was with a lightsaber in her hands. Footwork had been almost balletic. Still, she couldn’t help but smile as Nali told her such. But there would be time for quips later. The pair of them darted out around the final bend, encircled by blaster fire and lightsabers blazing. The pair of them had slipped back into the ancient art of Soresu to defend, deflect and advance toward the bike. Though she was a master of the form and had championed its teaching to every Jedi she ever bothered to train, Nyx was an outspoken critic of the art. It lacked any real means of offense, but the Jedi were not assassins and soldiers.

Even if they could deflect and dodge the blaster fire pouring in, Soresu would keep them advancing too slowly. Nyx leapt, shoving her sidearm into its holster and replacing it with her main saber. It was death from above that had been prescribed for the weequay that had once been emptying entire charge packs at them from behind a parked speeder. Pieces were all that remained as she landed, crouching behind the speeder just long enough to get a sense of where the rest of the combatants had begun to shift and focus their fire.

Oh, yes, Borgia would know beyond any shadow of a doubt that two Force and lightsaber wielding Jedi had come to meddle in his affairs. But victory was not the order of the day. No total elimination of the threat, not today. Escape, survival; That was the mandate. Several blasters exploded in the hands of their users, as Nali ripped through the onslaught admirably. Though he couldn’t, she felt the blaster bolt strike his dead leg. Yes, getting shot definitely hurt far more when one could actually feel it. Rage burned, momentarily, as if she had been the one to get struck. Nyx lashed out, leaping from behind the speeder to assault the one who had fired the shot. ”Get to the bike!” she cried out, plunging her golden blade deep into the chest of Nali’s would-be assassin.

She wheeled around, blades up and ready to deflect. Nyx needed them to focus on her, just a bit longer. Just long enough for Nali to saddle up and start the bike. The fearsome manka cat shouted and trudged forward, swiping blaster bolts aside with each saber as if they were mere fruit flies. ”Tell Borgia I’m coming for him,” she sneered, slashing across another’s armor, careful to leave him alive to tell the tale to his master. The Gamorrean would accomplish that task nicely, but supporting witnesses were always helpful.

Nyx looked up long enough to see Nali was struggling. She tapped into the Force to shove the remaining line of attackers off their feet, and summersaulted through the air to her love’s side. Crouching, Nyx got under his injured side, his arm around her shoulders and rose. ”Let’s get out of here,” she uttered, raising her blades in time to resume deflecting incoming fire. Pushing ahead was slow, but with four lightsabers up and spinning around, nothing much could touch them. Not considering the damage they had collectively dealt to the group. But reinforcements were certain. Escape was mandatory.

By the time she got him to the bike, there weren’t but a few remaining. Nyx ducked down, turning around so that he could seat himself on the back while she mounted up and ignited the repulsors. Her shoto saber deactivated and was clipped back to her belt, while the main remained glowing brightly and got tossed to her offhand. Within an instant, Nyx was able to twist the throttle and scream away from the carnage, and back to the spaceport.


--------


Not once had she let off the throttle, all the way back to the docking bay. Few could pilot something at speed like Nyx could, and even then they were likely Force users. Knuckles had gone white from the death grip she held on the controls. She cut the engines and coasted into the bay, free hand moving to the commlink to transmit the opening sequence for the cargo ramp. Once it was down, the T7 droid rolled atop of it as Nyx nudged the throttle just enough to get them on it. Another tap of her commlink and the ramp was retracting back into the ship.

A moment before the seal hissed, Nyx hopped off the swoop and worked to get her love on his feet again. Tee-Seven, get the medical bay prepped, yesterday.” she grunted out, straining a bit under the weight of Nali. But once they were up, she made all haste toward the medical bay, shuffling as fast as she could behind the astromech. The droid beeped and branked a question. ”He’s been poisoned,” she growled in response. Before long, she had him on the bed and had moved to rip open his trousers at the site of the poisoned wound and went to work cleaning it and preparing a kolto patch.

”I’m going to give you a sedative to lower your heart rate,” she cooed, hand busy with the hypo. The less his heart pumped, the less the poison would move through his body. The droid connected the meager monitoring equipment present in the bay. Nali needed a hospital, truly, but her battlefield medicines would have to suffice. ”Sharp pinch,” she said, with a wry smile trying to take hold of her lips, poking the hypo indelicately into his leg. Within moments the lights would fade out and he would be tugged towards dreamland. Nyx stoked his hair back, gingerly and planted a soft kiss upon his forehead. ”Get us into orbit and hide the ship in the dark side of the planet,” she issued to the droid. It beeped and bipped and rolled away for the cockpit as Nyx crawled into the tiny bed, resting her head atop his chest.

They would not take him from her, today or any day.

[nonune]

Arrogantly he slapped a bolt back at its owner’s pistol, ending his days of thuggin in a flash. In the Core getting such wounds fixed, even as extreme as they were. Out here, medical help of that sort was harder to come by. That had always been his answer to not having any offense, he never needed it. Someone always brought enough to harm. With him acting as a wall so she only had to truly deal with those in front of them, advancing towards the bike was easy. On any field of battle he shared with her, he never needed to bring more offensive capability anyway.

Disarming his purple blade he slipped it onto a loop on his belt when he reached the bike. When he could he sent the bolt back, when he didn’t need to pay attention he reached down and flicked a few controls on the bike. Prepping it while she finished the next few and hopping onto the back of the bike before her, and even before he was settled the purple saber was out again. She would have a wall of light at her back as they sped away from this little street brawl.

Bursts of motion, while sometimes epic and flashy, are often the worst thing to do when poisoned. And Nali felt it start to spread through his system, a wave of dizziness sending his vision wonky was what it took to disengage his sabers and wrapped his arms around Nyx tight as he could without putting them away.

Every Lightsaber wielder was uniquely attached to their crystals, it was part of building your saber.”The crystal is the heart of the blade.” Most would miss it, that soft tremor in his speech, and he did his best to hide it. His crystals hummed in their hilts as he drew on the Force. ”The heart is the crystal of the Jedi.” It took the entire ride to get through something he had memorized when she first met him, able to pipe it off with the enthusiasm of a child.

The bit of the Code that wasn’t Traditional in him. ’The Jedi is the crystal of the Force.” She didn’t need to listen or respond, he was pulling on a lot of Force to hold the poison at bay. But his voice was getting softer and softer as she helped him off the bike. ”The Force is the blade of the heart.”

Now that they were moving it was coming faster than while he just had to hold on, his sabers never left his hands. As he lay back on the bed, he wondered how he had gotten there. She was going to slow his heart rate down. Good that would give him time, he wondered if she knew this trick. ”All are intertwined. The crystal, the blade, the Jedi. We are one…”

One long slow breathe was all he had left before he let the trance take him, she had given him kolto and a sedative. Poison was easy with Time. And Time was easy to pass with her. Especially when Dreamland was a place Force Users could visit.

If she intended to meet him there, she was going to have to wait. If what they had was a violation of the Jedi Codes, his old Master had stayed silent. Knowing her Mivvy was pleased by their pairing. But her orange and white lips, and epic crown of purple montrails were not set with a pleased energy. Perhaps it was a dream of him punishing him, perhaps it was Mivaal herself reaching across the viel when it was thinnest for him. ”You were showing off young Padawan… What have I told you about showing off?’


---------------------------------


Beep. Bipp. Silence, blessed silence had finally come to his mind some hours ago. Not that what had happened had ever been Loud. Persay. Some might have pronounced him dead during the longest pauses as the Force worked through his body drawing out the toxins. Beep. Bipp. Life's drumbeat was almost back to its normal thrum in him, a little longer than normal but done slowly and safely rather than quick and flashy. Awakening had been a certainty for a while as the temp had slowly increased its rhythm. They would not take him from her today at the very least.

Mortal men may have needed a hospital, but Nali just needed safety and time to heal. Opening his eyes to the inside of her den he didn’t have to look far for his hellcat. Blue orbs swirling with light as he opened them to look down at her and brush a bit of hair out of her face. Predatory the wolf lingered a bit behind the mist of his eyes, loose and wild from the drugs if subdued by his actual feeling of repentance.

”Exactly how many ways am I about to die and be brought back from the dead?” The word Sorry didn’t cut it. Things were shifting in him, what had happened would not happen again. And there was no need to hide that he did feel apologetic for making her feel that way. But a word did not encapsulate his….


”WHAT… THE…KRIFF!” Shock and the medications and trance had held things off as long as they could. His half drunken quip quickly forgotten as the pain from the shot actually made it to his brain. Some said you only learned from pain. Blue eyes almost went white as he looked down at his leg, a blaster shot was something he had patched up before. But he had Never actually been shot.