The Gathering {Closed}

[Rugs]

Morning dawned on Nar Shadaa to find Kvothe Algaterra already wide awake. He was in a small private room on his ship, the Masada. The room was small and circular, and there was no furniture within, save a small brazier in the center. Small fingers of a light blue smoke rose from the brazier, which held a little pile of smoldering powder that was the same shade of blue as the smoke that rose from it. It was Etherium, the naturally-occurring substance that Aiaru was known for. Etherium was the lifeblood of the Mythics, Kvothe's order. It also happened to be a magnificent meditation aid.

Kvothe inhaled deeply, allowing the smoke to waft into his lungs, and the Etherium to clear his mind. He'd been focused on the task that he, along with Krae Svar, had decided to undertake. Of course, given that they didn't have any real information, other than the name of the Hutt they were going after, the meditation hadn't really done much. But still, it was a daily ritual, given Etherium's mildly addictive properties.

He emerged a few minutes later, and climbed up a staircase to get back to the main level of the Masada. Fas greeted him at the top, and he rubbed the flickercat's grey pelt for a moment, feeling the contentment that came in response through the bond the two shared. "We're gonna have a busy day," he muttered to his companion as he moved through the ship toward the exit. He'd be heading out onto the streets of Nar Shadaa once more with Krae again today, as the duo began their search for more information about the Hutt they'd decided to take on. And, if fortune smiled upon them, they might find a few people that would be willing to assist them.

Kvothe stopped part of the way through the ship to retrieve his weapons--his staff, which he held in one of his hands, as always, and his sword, which went through the green sash he wore around his waist--and continued on. He was dressed as he normally did in situations where he was not expecting to dive headfirst into combat, in that he wore his robes, along with some simple leather boots and gloves that cut off at the finger.

His hazel eyes looked up when he made it to the exit ramp to see that Krae was already there waiting for him. "Mornin' Krae," he said with a nod as he entered a code onto the panel near the exit ramp. The thick metal door that closed off the entrance slid open, and Kvothe looked down to see the ramp sliding down to the ground. "Let's get to it, shall we?"

[Deleted]

Krae stood perfectly still a sword in each hand. A room large enough to practice was all he had needed for the night. Sweat ran over his perfectly defined muscles. Slowly he breathed, letting his pulse slow. Counting the seconds in his head. He knew his limits, soon he would be in motion once more. This would be the last time though. He needed some time to rest before they left to see what information could be gleaned from the streets. and... now Krae thought.

Instantly he was moving. Flowing from one stance to the next so quickly even his own eyes couldn't track it. He was a blur of steel. Judgment and Retribution flashing in the overhead lights. as quickly as it had started Krae once more stood perfectly still his swords once more at rest against the sides of his legs. Turning he walked to where his shirt and the Sword sheathes rested against the wall. Slowly he returned each sword it it's black case. His fingers played over the gold inscriptions that mirrored the ones on the side of the blades. Each one represented the name of the sword. Still moving with slow precise movements Krae donned his shirt and strapped the swords across his back and waist. Pivoting he started towards the end of the ship where the docking bay was.

It was just about the time he and Kvothe had agreed on to head back out unto Nar Shaddaa. Krae had already considered what there first course of action should be. The Bartender might know something about this Korintha so he figured the Bar where their altercation had taken place would be the best place to start. It was unlikely they had wandered into a bar that the Korintha's men happened to frequent but at the very least the Bartender would know the name. Possibly even the Hutts location.

Krae didn't have to wait long. Kvothe appeared with a greeting which Krae returned. he had to admit he was feeling a bit of excitement. This was his kind of work and it wouldn't be the first time he had done it. Admittedly this wasn't quite as dangerous as a lot of assignments he had been on. In truth he had no idea how nasty this could get. He knew what the Exchange was roughly, but had no clear idea of it's power. If Korinthas men were any sort of Judge though, it wasn't a real big threat.

Kvothe punched in the code and the ramp begin it's descent. Krae moved to the side on instinct. A long life in the military had taught it was a bad idea to stand directly in front of a ramp or door that didn't open quickly. Much to his surprise this instinct served him well. as the ramp hit the bottom it revealed a large number of people milling around the bottom. A quick head count told him there was more then twenty men standing down there. a colorful assortment of races.
Most of them were armed with blasters but they didn't have the guns leveled. Apparently relying on their numbers to check any sort of resistance the pair might put up. we're gonna need a new hide out. Krae thought as he loosened his swords in their sheaths.

The next moments were rampant with dumb luck. Krae darted around the corner and shot down the ramp at full speed his swords flickering in the docking bay lights. A few guns rose up and managed a couple shots, some of which singed the air so close to him he could smell the acrid stench of burning ozone. That was all he allowed them though. At full speed he smashed into their front line. His swords struck out and a few humans and an Aqualish fell over. Already they were acting on instinct moving away from him so they could get a shot. Krae wasn't foolish enough to give them the opportunity to. As they moved he moved with them still lashing out and letting them fall around him.

so caught up in the fight he didn't notice they had begun to break into smaller groups and before he realized his mistake he cut down the last man in the group had been attacking. Realizing he no longer had the protection of their comrades Krae turned on the spot. A human with a grin on it's face began to level a blaster pistol at him. A guttural snarl tore from Kraes lips and as the gun started to come up he rushed the man. Still, something in the back of Krae's mind whispered you won't get there in time.

[Dire Wolf]

((Long posts are long. x.x))

In the shadow of one of the massive skyscrapers sat a woman, one who looked ordinary and unassuming to anyone who's senses were not keen to the Force. Only one visible attribute made the woman stand out in a crowd, and that was her almost florescent emerald eyes. They stood out in the darkness, almost faintly glowing, and silently watched the large group of rabble crowd around the tail-end of the ship. Lazily, the woman sat on her perch like some kind of predatory feline would strech out in the sun. Wrex, her faithful familiar, sat back on his haunches and almost shook his head at the woman he had the misfortune of being bonded to. Truly, she didn't need help to wipe the hutt from the face of the galaxy... but she seeked it out anyways. Foolish woman.

Under normal circumstances her presence in the Force would be a signal flare in the deepest depths of a dark cave at midnight to the Force User inside the ship. But these were not normal circumstances. Not even Rhissai, who boasted considerable prowess in sense and telepathy, could barely feel the man's presence when she first sensed it. At the moment, she had distanced herself too far away to feel anything but the residual thoughts, emotions, and life itself on the smuggler's moon. To try and find his over the hustle and bustle of billons of life forms would be like trying to hear a whisper across the room, past hundreds of people simply talking.

It hadn't been long since her leave from the Jedi Order, from her friends and followers, before she realized that the best way to help the galaxy was to rid it of the scum that hid in its deepest shadows. Despite this mission against evil, she would outright refuse to kill his lackeys simply because they were men and women doing their job. Also because they likely didn't have much choice in the matter. Starvation and destitution tends to erode one's sense of morality, after all. Rhissai had also decided that it would be best to start small, seeing as she was new to the whole "Dark Knight vigilante" concept, and the line of work she'd placed herself in was far less then forgiving. One mistake, one overestimation of her powers or underestimation of her enemies, and she would be killed. Or worse.

Coincedentally, she had barely come to that decision when she saw the brawl in the cantina yesterday. To say that the aphithiri was impressed would have been an understatement, at least when it came to the martial artist with a copious amount of blades at his hip. Most swordsman would have drawn their blade and slew the whole gaggle, but instead he beat them down with his bare hands. That spoke volumes of his own martial skill, and possibly greater skill with the fine pieces of steel at his side. She could only skim a scant amount of information from that one, as his mind was conditioned against intrusion. Krae was his name, and the quality of his mental conditioning pointed towards him being a Mandalorian. She also gathered that him and his companion were likely after the same target as she.

How fortuitous.

The other man with him was one who she would have preferred to avoid telepathically. The information she had gleaned from Krae had told her that his name was Kvothe, and she could sense power within him. Power that could only come from one who was adept in the Force. That, coupled with his odd attire, suggested to the former High Councilwoman that he was likely a member of one of the many Force cults riddled about the galaxy. There were far too many to keep track of, so in all honesty she never bothered to try. Unless they were Dark Side aligned, then they were constantly fresh in the grey jedi master's mind.

The loud creaking of metal caught the woman's ears and caused her gaze to flick from a point of nothingness to the source of the noise. A small smile tugged at her lips when she saw that the ramp was finally opening, though she'd have to move fast if she would gain the trust of the two men within the ship. They could handle this gaggle, no doubt, but if she helped them they would be more inclined to let her help them in their mission to rid the galaxy of a loathesome hutt.

Rhissai'arckan's movements were a blur as she leapt from her observational position and onto a small porch directly above the gaggle. Her feet landed with a soft thud that could barely be heard by her own ears over the cries of battle below her. Not noting that her assumption on the presumed Mandalorian's skill with a blade was true, those green eyes flicked over to a man with his firearm leveled on her soon-to-be ally, then back to the presumed Mando'ad.

There was no way he could make it in time.

With a new sense of haste about her force-augmented movements, the woman leapt down from the small outcropping and inbetween the swordsman and his would-be killer just as a furious blast of plasma and light was thrown from the gaping maw of his blaster's barrel. No matter how hard the woman tried, she was never very skilled in the art of protection. Her powers in that field were barely above creating a small protective barrier around her hand, but it was one that could block lower end energy weapons relatively easily.

Green eyes slid shut as her hand sprang out from her side, trusting the Force to guide it to the proper location. Her brain ignored all of the other musings, emotions, and telepathic warnings for the time being. It withdrew all of its firmly planted sinewy tendrils and connections from each of her adversary's mind. All to focus on gathering the Force around her palm and shifting its consitency to that of a solid. A soft blue wave rippled out from her palm as the blaster bolt struck it and burst into nothing, as if it hit a solid wall. Burning pain roared from her hand shortly thereafter. Part of its power had drifted through the barrier and caused a light plasma burn on her hand, but it was a pain she would have to ignore for the time being.

Without hesitation, the woman threw herself forward in a dead sprint towards the gunman. The Force gathered and spun around her form like a powerful hurricane, and rushed into her muscles to allow them to perform beyond herculean feats. The raven maned woman was nothing but a blur until she reached the man, and her leg flashed up into his side shortly before a very audible snap! was heard. Lightning quickly began to crackle at her hands as the heel of her palm slammed into his chin. It wasn't enough lightning to produce anything more than a taser effect, but that combined with her chin strike and the speed of her attack threw the man into unconsciousness. She was careful not to kill him, however.

Another man whipped his gun about in an attempt to kill the woman, only to see her sprint towards him with recklass abandon and come within striking distance after a blink. Her hand slapped the rifle away just as a bolt screeched from its barrel and backtracked to slap powerfully against his temple. Like the first, this man slumped over like a piece of wet bacon at the strike. The Force warned her of imminent danger in the form of a storm of plasma heading her way. It told her where she would be hit and from what direction, and it was nothing she could dodge. Her lightsaber could easily be called, but that would make her too high profile in the fray. White Fang's silver blade could deflect any blaster bolt sent towards her with Soresu, but it would also mean that she would lose any possible trust gained with the Mandalorian.

With one final option open she whipped around while calling a maelstrom of the Force to swirl around her form. It couldn't be felt by anyone but a Force Sensitive, but those who could feel it with their ethereal senses knew that something bad was about to happen. Rhissai's brilliant green eyes slid closed and she threw her burned palm outwards towards the threat. The air from between her hand and the man sporting a heavy repeating blaster practically detonated with overpressurization. The air itself ripped and tore at her will, creating an overpressurized gust threw the man into a wall. Blood splattered from his head in a gory fashion shortly before he slumped into the cold, hard concrete.

Sadness racked her heart at the death of her enemy, as she didn't want to kill anyone. Save the hutt. But a normal push wouldn't have reached him, and it would have taken too much to charge it up to a specific level. It was actually quicker to throw all she had into it and send it outwards. At least she wasn't particularly good at telekinesis for a Master level Force User. Hardly a consolation givin the circumstances.

During this time, Wrex had managed to hop down to the ground from point to point and find himself at the nose of the ship. With a huff of annoyance, the midnight colored vornskr charged forward, towards the combat. For the longest time, he had yearned to feel the pounding of his powerful muscles as they flexed and relaxed in a charge towards an enemy. It made the almost sentient creature want to howl with delight, but instead he coiled his legs up at the end of the srpint and threw all of his one hundred and fifty pounds towards the back of one of his other's many enemies.

He crashed into one of the many big thugs, who instantly let out a little yell of surprise as the massive vornskr crashed into him. That yell turned to something of a scream as he felt the razor sharp teeth shred into the back of his neck, cleaving flesh and bone like it was paper. The big man quickly went limp as his spine was severed from the power of his fangs. Glowing yellow eyes darted up to another man, another who didn't notice him. He was far too busy staring in wonder at his other's display of telekinesis. White fangs drenched in red pulled back in a snarl as he prepared to pounce on another man, this one would die far quicker than the last.

[Rugs]

The Mythos, those holy energies that gave life to all in the Galaxy, whispered a warning to Kvothe as the ship's ramp began its slow descent down to the street below. Something was wrong. He didn't know what was wrong, but something was. Kvothe glanced warily at Krae, who'd gone to take up a position that wasn't directly in front of the entrance way, and given the feeling of impending danger, the Rilan decided it might be wise to do the same. He shifted over to behind the wall opposite Krae, and not for the first time in his life, he was thankful he'd listened to his intuition.

There were men waiting for them.

There were a lot of men waiting for them.

And Kvothe didn't have to know who they were to know they were hostile. How did they find us so quickly? His auburn hair danced lightly around his head as the young Rilan shook his head. No, that question would have to wait. For now, he and Krae would have to handle this lot. A quick glance told Kvothe there were more than twenty men out there, if not more than thirty. There were two of them, three if one included Fas. But, given the skill that Kvothe and Krae hand, and Kvothe's powers, along with the fact that those men were probably little more than hired muscle--the kind that only scared fools who couldn't fight... well, it might be fair.

Kvothe drew on the Mythos as he prepared to set into motion, but Krae was moving first. The man ran down the ramp at full tilt and dived into the ranks of men, seemingly without a care for his own safety. The tactic was foolish really. If Krae didn't have the skill to make it work, Kvothe's slack-jaw stare might have been because he was pondering what kind of idiot he'd decided to team up with. But, Krae did have both the speed and the ability to make it work, and he seemingly had those in spades. Kvothe could only stare in awe for a moment as the man worked through the crowd of men, cutting them down with those blades of his. As he watched his partner do his work, Kvothe was suddenly very thankful they were on the same side.

But, everything almost came crashing to a halt just as Kvothe was moving to jump into the fray. Krae turned to a man, who leveled a blaster at him, and Kvothe knew that Krae wouldn't make it in time. He reached out to the Mythos, hastily starting preparing to slam the thug's head into the ground with enough force to crack his skull open, when suddenly the woman appeared.

Now, Kvothe, being a Mythos-sensitive, was quite unaware of the illusion she was holding up to those who could not touch the Mythos. As such, he was a woman, beautiful and with long, flowing black hair and eyes the color of emeralds. He didn't know who she was, but he could feel that she could wield the Mythos, and that she was quite powerful. She moved in to stop the man's attack before she lashed out with a blow that crackled with lightning. Awe and gratitude both swelled up within Kvothe, but he knew the time for him to merely stand around and watch was far past being over.

The thugs moving toward the bottom of the Masada's ramp were evidence enough to that. Twisted smiles blossomed on their rough faces, and Kvothe knew that they thought they had him. They were fools. A primal urge to strike was suddenly flooding into his mind from Fas' end of their bond, but Kvothe held him back, if just for a moment longer.

A number of pistols and a lone rifle were leveled at Kvothe, and even with his average sense abilities, he could feel the rising tide of triumph within the ones that were raising them. Perhaps if they hadn't been so lost in their preemptive mental reveling, they might have noted the faint breeze that picked up--a manifestation of currents of Mythos moving about that sometimes occurred when Kvothe drew deeply on the Mythos and was preparing to unleash some of the tremendous ability he had with telekinesis. They never saw it coming. The air to either side of them suddenly compressed to the point where it was as solid as a wall of durasteel. With a simple flick of his wrists, Kvothe brought the two walls together, slamming the men into each other with the sickening sound of breaking bones.

The time had come for Fas to strike, and the flickercat leapt forward down the ramp to land on the chest of one of the men. Feline claws were suddenly in the man's throat, and those dangerous tails lashed around to cut another man's face deep enough to hit bone. He writhed on the ground as an explosion of pain washed over him, but even as he did, Fas struck out once more. One of the men had the fortitude to make it back to his feet, but that was a mistake. The three ends of Fas' tail whipped around like the heads of a hydra to focus on him, and struck as one. They blossomed out of his back a moment later, and he collapsed to the ground with guttural groan.

Kvothe, satisfied that Fas had that little cluster under control made his way to join the fight with Krae and the woman that came to help them, though the number of thugs still able to fight was quite diminished. A Rodian who was too busy focusing on Krae screamed in surprise when the bladed head of Kvothe's staff slammed into his side. Kvothe yanked bank, pulling the Rodian toward him as the blade ripped free of his flesh and then deftly flipped the staff around to skewer the Rodian through the through the stomach with the lone blade on the bottom end his weapon.

Kvothe's eyes, which had gone from their natural hazel to the deep gold that was the reflection of his resolve, showed no remorse for the life he so abruptly ended, nor any others that fell to him as he worked his way through the attackers alongside his new allies. A Gran raised a pistol to fire at him, though he was outside of Kvothe ability to reach him physically. The shot rang out, and it impacted onto a shield of Mythos that suddenly flared to life in front of the Rilan. Kvothe's staff was airborne a half of a heartbeat later, with the bottom end leading. It took the Gran in the chest and he collapsed to the ground. The Mythos screamed another warning to Kvothe and he turned around, drawing Orcus from its place through his sash and slashing in one fluid motion into the side of a human that tried to sneak up on him with a vibrodagger. Needless to say, he didn't live much longer to regret that mistake.

Unlike the woman, who, though Kvothe did not yet know it, was trying to do everything she could to avoid killing, Kvothe killed the men without a second thought. He was beyond tired of the Exchange trying to meddle in his life, and he'd be damned if he didn't put a hurtin' on them for it. If that meant some men had to die, then so be it.

[Deleted]

Krae's charge was brought up short as a woman appeared between him and his would be killer. For a moment he wondered whose side she would be joining in. The question was answered when she stopped the blaster bolt that had been aimed at him. His curiosity peaked, he pondered for a moment how she had done it but his battle instincts were screaming that he had already been idle too long. Deciding it was time to rejoin Krae pivoted on the spot looking for his next set of opponents. He was saved having to find them however as an Aqualish launched an attack on him. A brutish overhead swing with a Vibroblade that would shear him in half if he let it. Krae couldn't help but sneer at the Aqualish before he effortlessly side stepped the swing. Krae had no experience reading Aqualish facial expression but he imagined the creatures mind was awhirl with confusion and fear as it's Vibroblade made a dull clang against the gray steel of the landing pad.

Acting on instinct the Aqualish began to withdraw, attempting to put some distance himself and Krae. Sneer still in place Krae twirled around so he was standing back to back with the Aqualish. Almost casually he hefted his blade reversing his grip on it. Stabbing backwards past his side he felt the point sever flesh. A strangled gurgle behind him told that he had hit something vital. A quick yank and his sword was free. The Aqualish which towered over him began to sway on the spot and Krae made haste launching himself into another group of combatants.

It was quick work after that and it wasn't long before Krae was using a white rag to clean the rainbow of blood mixed unto his swords standing in a circle of dead thugs. A slight sigh escaped his lips. If they had not come in such numbers and with less in the way of weapons he would have been obliged to let them live. maybe this Hutt will take a hint now Krae wondered or maybe he will send sixty next time. Krae smirked at the thought. This Korintha growing more and more panicked as they carved a path through his subordinates on their way to kill him.

Krae glanced around, a few were still alive although some barley. "Saves a trip to the bar I suppose." he said aloud although more to himself then anyone else. It was obvious from the fact that this many had known where to find them and that they had come armed that Korintha had imparted them with more information then the last batch.

A curiosity that Krae had pushed to the back of his mind during the fight burst to the forefront once more. The woman who had saved his life. A slight frown passed over his face as he considered that. seems I really am cursed to live eh? The first questions Krae had for her were probably the most important. Who was she, and why had she decided to help them? At a measured pace Krae approached Kvothe a slight smile on his face. "Little bit of wanton slaughter to start out the day eh Kvothe?" Gallows humor? Krae mentally asked himself. A slight shake of the head and Krae took once more to observing the scene. As before it was littered with corpses but Krae began to account for injuries.

A number of them were nothing unusual. Someone had met the sharp end of Kvothes staff here or fallen to his swords there, but others were mangled without any signs of having been stabbed or shot. Approaching one such the slight frown once more in place. Krae knelt by the corpse, Rolling it over to make sure no signs of weapons were concealed in his back. there were none. Kraes frown deepened as he realized the man seemed to have been crushed. A quick glance around told Krae there was nothing for the man to have been crushed by.

Was this the work of the mysterious woman who had jumped into the fight or was it his own equally mysterious partner? Somewhere down deep Krae felt a tinge of fear. Quite suddenly he felt as if he might just be out of his scope on this one. The Apprehension only grew as he remembered the woman stopping a blaster bolt with her hand and Kvothe speaking into his mind. The first thing that sprang to mind was The Jedi, but Krae knew they didn't work like this... Dark Jedi maybe? but no that didn't fit either. Krae didn't trust easy and if Kvothe had some sort of evil intent Krae probably would have picked up on it already. The woman however... Krae pushed the thought aside. He Rationalized that if she were a Dark Jedi she would have been more likely to Join in on trying to kill the pair of them. With that Krae mentally crushed the apprehension. He'd be damned if he spent a lifetime fighting only to be unsettled by a few parlor tricks.

Still, how this one had been killed peaked his interest.
"Kvothe and uhh... Whoever you are" Krae shouted to the pair of them, making a gesture to indicate he wanted them to approach. "Either of you care to explain how this one was killed?" he asked pointing to the crushed remains he had been examining.

[Dire Wolf]

Deep drums of battle sounded in Rhissai's mind, forcing her augmented body to hit and run at their pace. Each beat of the soul crushing drum had another bone breaking blow landing on one of her enemies. One of her enemies tried to stick her with a shock stick, but was only met with a prompt block and a flurry of lightning-charged fists up the length of his body culminating in a final, powerful uppercut to the jaw. His body straightened out like a board and fell flat, not even bothering to flop once it crashed into the permacrete.

Her mind hardly recognized the display of brutal telekinetic power from the man called Kvothe, nor the acts of deadly swordplay from Krae. It was in a state of semi-awareness, barely recognizing the threats before her as it diverted its focus towards funneling the Force into its attacks. The actual punches, elbows, knees, and kicks performed by her were something of a second nature, an instinct that was drilled into her muscles since a young age. Her lightning fast counter attacks and blocks required no brain power to perform... like she was breathing.

The fighting went on longer than she cared to admit, or noticed, and she couldn't help but find herself utterly exhausted when it was through. Not because it was physically demanding, but rather the use of the school of destruction was mentally demanding. With a heavy sigh, she looked at the big presumed Mandalorian as he motioned for her to draw near. Her massive vornskr companion met up with her, then they both stepped over the bodies until they were close to him. Green eyes flicked down to the body he motioned towards, it was one of the ones that Kvothe had slain with his considerable power in telekinesis.

"I belive your friend here would like to answer that one himself." Instinctively, her stance went to one that wouldn't be known to either of the two men. It was a defensive form of her homeworld, Nsis'drrn, "My name is Rhissai'arckan. You may have heard of me, if not I don't care to elaborate any further. Regardless, I helped you because our goals are the same. You two are going after Kornitha the Hutt, and so am I. Which is precisely why we are joining forces." Bold, yes, but she knew that they needed her. Even if they didn't realize it.

A small, closed-lip smile graced her soft featured face at her audacity. If one didn't just see the brutal display of hand to hand prowess and couldn't sense her immense signature in the Force, it would've been easy to mistake her soft features for that of an innocent woman. One who had seen little of the criminal underbelly of Nar Shaddaa, but instead the ornate halls of a royal palace. She spoke like it, too. Perhaps it wasn't entirely false, she had spent nearly fifty-one years of her life cloistered up within the Jedi Temple. "I have no doubts about my own power, or yours, Kvothe, nor do I have doubts of your skill set, Krae. I daresay that any of the three of us could infiltrate his fortress as well as slay the wretch with little effort. Getting out alive will be the true challenge. He has hundreds of guards who could overwhelm us alone, but if we plan adequately we could protect each other enough to escape. Though I hold no illusions to the fact that we will be hunted down mercilessly for this, and nor should you."

[Rugs]

The fight went on a few moment more, and Kvothe worked through what few men remained smoothly. One man leapt at him, wielding a pistol taken from a fallen comrade in a desperate attempt to take Kvothe out of the fight. His efforts were futile. Kvothe took hold of him as he sailed through the air, wrapping a telekinetic snare around his head. The man's eyes went wide as he felt Kvothe grip tighten around him, and his head slammed into the ground with a sickening crack when Kvothe made a sharp motion down with his hand. He was dead the moment he hit the ground, and his body went limp as a pool of blood started to slowly expand out from beneath his broken skull.

Kvothe didn't pay him any mind, though, as he flowed to the next attacker, repeating the process of cutting his assailants down with his blade or breaking them with his powers until no more remained standing. Only three remained standing when all was said and done: Krae, himself, and that strange woman that came to lend them aid. Kvothe could still feel his heart pounding, the adrenaline still flowing through his veins as he leaned down to wipe the blood from the dark steel of Orcus' blade. He stuck the ornate weapon back into its place through his earthy green sash and walked over to the man who'd been unfortunate enough to be speared by his staff. The Rilan grunted at the sight of the man, who was flat on his back, with the staff sticking straight up into the air like a flag pole. What a way to die.

"Aye, nothing like a good morning workout, Krae," Kvothe called back to his partner's quip. "It's too bad this lot didn't get to enjoy it as much as we did, but oh well." Kvothe pulled the staff out roughly, and his eyebrows rose a bit to see how far into the man the weapon had gone. Pity for him. I hope he died quickly, at least. The process of wiping the victim's blood off on their clothing was repeated, and Kvothe turned back to glance at Fas. The flickercat was busying himself licking blood from the fur around his tail barbs and lights, so Kvothe turned to regard Krae and the mysterious woman with a shrug.

Krae shouted a question to Kvothe and the woman, and Kvothe's eyes, which were back to their natural hazel, though there were still lingering threads of gold through them, turned to look at the man in question. The fool had been one of those that fell to Kvothe telekinetic assault, from a small, concentrated blast of air that had taken him in the ribs, shattering some of them and, Kvothe presumed, causing a good deal of internal bleeding before he'd been slammed into a wall by a wall of air. Kvothe had not been gentle with him.

Kvothe opened his mouth to speak as he came to a halt near Krae, but the woman beat him to it. She indicated that it had, in fact been him, but her next move surprised him. She took a stance, one that Kvothe assumed was some sort of ready stance from a martial art, though he was not familiar with it. She went on to identify herself as one Rhissai'arckan, and went on to tell them of how she was working the same job as they, and how they were, apparently, joining forces. Her points were valid, though. Getting away after they'd slain the Hutt would be difficult, and it certainly wouldn't help to have an extra hand lending some aid.

Kvothe decided to handle Krae's inquiry first. "Aye, it was me, Krae." It was then that the realization dawned on him that he'd never really told Krae about the powers he possessed. "See, I can use certain powers. Most in the Galaxy know it as the Force, though it goes by other names than that. My people call it the Winds, and those in my order call it the Mythos." Kvothe shifted his weight from his right foot to his left, so that he was almost leaning on his staff casually, and shrugged. "The energies provide a great many things, the least of which is their function as a valuable tool in combat. That fool," he pointed at the man that was the subject of Krae's attention, "happened to be on the receiving end of one of the applications of those energies.

"Of course, I'm not the only one here who can use the energies," he said as he turned his eyes, which now had a few very faint threads of wary orange running through the gold and hazel that was already there, to the newcomer. "Rhissai'arckan..." For some reason he couldn't quite grab, that name tickled at his mind, as if he'd heard it before. But pushed that away for the time being. "Er... I think I will just call you Rhissai, if you don't mind. Thank you for the help. You're fighting style is...," he paused for a moment as he remembered seeing the lightning come from the woman's hands with many of her blows, "admirable, to say the least. As is you're boldness."

Kvothe turned to look at Krae for a moment. "So what say you, Krae? She's shown herself to be a friend, and she's after the same goal as us. Shall she join us?"

[Deleted]

Krae nodded absently Kvothe agreed it was his work. Krae turned and stood looking at the women as she spoke. He didn't miss her odd stance but didn't think anything of it. Rhissai'arckan was her name. She went on to say they needed her help, Krae would admit that it was probably true but he didn't like people simply stating things like he had no choice... especially since he didn't see any General stars on her shoulders. Krae let it pass, now was no time for a squabble. Instead he made his own small gesture. Perhaps to indicate he would not be ordered around. "Rhissai'arckan... kind of a mouthful, I'll call you Rhiss." It wasn't a request. "As for having heard of you... Not that I can recall"

Silently Krae considered Kvothes question. Should they join forces with her? after only a moments more thought he nodded. "She's right, we need her help. Welcome aboard Rhiss, hope you don't plan on making it home." With that Krae turned around once more taking in the battlefield. Any of these guys still alive?" His question answered itself as he spotted one covertly trying to crawl for the docking bay exit. At a full sprint he tore between the two of his companions after the Rodian. The thug realizing he had been spottted redoubled his efforts to get away but Krae was on him in before he could make it another five feet. A boot planted between the Rodians shoulder blades held him in place. "If you would be kind enough to answer a few questions then I will be kind enough to not roll you off the edge there" It was then the Rodian realized just how close he had crawled to the edge of the docking bay. No one knew exactly how far it was to the surface of the planet, the only thing they were sure was that nothing would survive it.

A few seconds of silence passed before the Rodian made a defiant noise. At least Krae assumed it was defiance, he wasn't too sure with Rodians. Kvothe! Krae called You wouldn't happen to know what this guy just said would you?" with that Krae turned to see if the other two had followed him over.

(Short post is short ><)

[Dire Wolf]

((OOC: ._. am trying to keep the posts short. I really am. Won't be doing this forever. Feel free to control Rhissai as far as getting us to / into the drug dealing place.))

Rhiss listened quietly as Kvothe explained what happened to the twisted corpse. It saddened her heart to see another man die in such a wasteful and meaningless fashion, and caused a frown to tug the corners of her lips down. Since birth she'd been taught that all life was sacred, and only now did she take that statement literally. Despite her undeniable power, the aphithiri woman outright refused to kill a soul unless it was absolutely necessary, or it was one of those scum that was worth less than nothing to society. Loathesome creatures like Korintha the hutt, or any one of his lieutenants.

Those green eyes seemed to gaze into nothing as she recalled the various teachings she'd given and received on the value of life. Wrex seemed to be doing the same, as the massive lupine creature simply sat back on his haunches with his yellow gaze taking on the appearance of the thousand yard stare. It was only until that rodian spoke up in his repto-insectoid-thing gibberish that her emerald gaze shot up to him, and then over to Krae as he yelled. The Force translated for her, as it always did, though she didn't need it to understand its general meaning. Waves of panic and fear slammed against her mental barriers like a class five hurricane.

Quietly, and without the authority in her voice and form that so many that knew her were used to, she spoke. "He's scared, Krae. Here," she edged her way towards the terrified Rodian, prepared to catch him with a web of telekinesis should he jump, "I can get the information from him, and make him forget that he'd ever seen us. Maybe even give him the drive to make something of his life. Kvothe, be ready to catch him if he jumps. I won't be able to read him and hold him mid-air at the same time." The woman's voice was hardly that of authority, but rather one of pleading. Rhissai could just as easily take the information from one of the unconscious men, but she certainly wouldn't tell these men that.

While the Force could translate his speech for her, it couldn't translate her speech for his. She edged her way to him, careful to be as unobtrusive and non threatening as possible as she curled a tendril of her mind around his. Once that was accomplished, she quietly slipped a single extension of her own mind into his, but quickly found that the terror and fear that previously hit her mental barriers was nothing. She felt it all, as her mind lie there within his weaker one. Terror and panic swept across her heart, more than enough to make her simply want to withdraw her presence from his and hide in the darkest shadow on Nar Shaddaa. Wrex quickly pressed his ears back into his massive skull and slunk over behind Kvothe's leg, rear end hunched in and shivering like he'd just seen a ghost.

It was challenging, fighting her way through the storm of fear within the rodian's mind while biting back the panic that washed through the link into her own heart. Rhissai couldn't help but see the rodian's memories in her own mental eye as she fought her way through the vortex of fear. None of which were pertainant to her search, of course, most where memories that were far too blurred to make out anyways. They were far too fleeting to work to clear, so instead of being lost within his mind she ignored them, and waded through.

Finally. Eons seemed to pass from the time that she slunk into his mind to where she was at that instant, in the eye of the storm: the core of the rodian's mind. In reality, it had only been a few short moments. Her physical body was hardly worked to exhaustion, though its skin did shimmer with a light sweat. Normally she would have simply slipped in and out of his mind, but radical emotions made for a turbulent experience, even among the best telepaths. Treading into a man's mind was never done lightly in Rhissai's experience.

Unlike the fleeting and blurred images that she saw on the outside of the terrified Rodian's mind, the telepath saw each of his memories with perfect clarity. Sifting through them was like trying to recall something of her own experience, and soon enough she found a lead that would get them going in the right direction. It was a rather intimate knowledge of the interior, exterior, and location of a not-so-well-known drug ring that was owned by Korintha the hutt.

Only until she gained that information did she work at snipping out the memories of Kvothe, Krae, and herself. Anything and everything was scrutinized for hours on end, or what felt like it. In reality the time it took to purge his mind of those dangerous details took less than a fraction of a second, as her skill with telepathy was considerable. Once that was done, she subtly shifted his beliefs, morals, wants, and needs to something that was considered right by her. She gave him the drive to make something of his life, and return to his homeworld and get a job that didn't involve hunting people for money. Perhaps meet a female, raise a family. Just be happy.

Rhissai gave a heavy sigh, and drew enough of her focus back to her own body so that she could speak. "Kvothe," her voice was distant, unfocused, "catch him." Though time seemed to skew when one took this much care in telepathy, she waited until a time that seemed adequate before she gently worked at shutting down the man's mind into unconsciousness. Neurons and receptors within the brain were blocked from necessary chemicals for the time being, and without any external provocation the terrified rodian collapsed under his own weight. He was completely unconscious before his legs even gave out.

The retreat from his mind was far easier than the entrance, as that turbulent storm of panic had faded away with his consciousness. Under normal circumstances the retreat was far harder than the entrance, seeing as one had generally exerted themselves in the push the outer layers of their mind. Though making one's way to the core of a man's mind wasn't always wise, it was certainly the most thorough way of taking information. It only took a few instants more, but burned energy like a wildfire. Though she had plenty to spare.

Once she had fully retreated from his mind, and unwrapped that coil of thought from his brain, she looked up at Krae and Kvothe, her lips gently tugging upwards from the frown that distorted them a few moments before. "There is a drug dealing ring not far from here. Its boss is one of Korintha's top lieutenants, and he will certainly point us in the right direction. Follow me." The quiet, submissive tone of her voice had been replaced with an almost happy tune, one that was full of hope and happiness. She wasn't happy to fight, but rather that she was only one step closer to dethroning a little tyrant who lorded over his subjects with a cruel iron fist.

[Rugs]

Kvothe nodded when Krae agreed to join up with Rhissai. She certainly seemed to be handy in a fight, and the gods only knew they'd need all the help they could get for their upcoming work. "Gladd to have us with you Rhissai," he agreed when Krae welcomed her into their group.

Krae took the initiative, asking too see if any of the fools that had attacked them still lived. One of the apparently did. A Rodian was trying to make his escape, though said attempt was cut short by Krae's intervention. The Rodian babbled something, though Kvothe hadn't a clue what. "Nope, didn't catch it. Maybe if we dangle him over the edge of the-"

Rhissai spoke up, and Kvothe was cut short. Kvothe's brow furrowed at the sound of compassion in the woman's voice. Hadn't these men just tried to kill them? True enough, it could be a ploy, much like the one Kvothe had put on during the interrogation of that thug the night before, but he wasn't sure. What he felt from Rhissai felt real, felt... genuine. As if he's worth anything to anyone. He thought to argue when she told him to catch the Rodian if he attempted to jump away, but he held his tongue and nodded instead. Orange was creeping into the edges of his hazel eyes, though. Why does she care about him? He's an enemy. He doesn't deserve any mercy.

Now, one thing should be made clear. Kvothe was not the sort of man that enjoyed killing, but it was not something he'd hesitate to do. And, in his eyes if someone attacked him with the intent to kill, then they opened themselves up to receive the same fate, should they fail to kill him. That applied to the men that worked for this Korintha. They were thugs. Lowlifes. They contributed nothing to society, and only took away from those that actually tried to make something of their lives. A virus is what they were, more than anything else. Kvothe thought it would be best to just eradicate said virus, but if this Rhissai woman wanted to try to make the men into something better, then far be it from him to stop her.

Fas wandered toward the woman and the Rodian idly as she did her work, and seemingly for the first time, noticed the big Vornskr that accompanied her. Fas paused and titled his head as he regarded the big creature, which, Kvothe noted was built like a tank. Then, out of the blue, the Vornskr freaked out and ran behind Kvothe, cowering as if something had suddenly scared the piss out of it. A quick glance back Kvothe told him that that, at least, was not the case. Kvothe would certainly hate to have Vornskr urine on his boots. Fas looked up at Kvothe, and a sense of questioning flowed through the bond, as if he was wondering what was up with the big dog. Kvothe shrugged.

Kvothe's hazel eyes drifted over to Rhissai as she continued to work through the Rodian's mind. Unwanted memories suddenly attemtped to surface, and Kvothe slammed them down. A sense of wariness about Rhissai remained, though. Certain events in Kvothe's past had left him with a near phobia of people reaching into his mind without permission. And, though Rhissai was not trying to break into his mind, he had the feeling the woman was a talented telepath, to be doing what she was doing, and instinct made him uneasy. It'll be fine. She's on my side.

Finally, though, Rhissai finished, and told Kvothe to catch the Rodian. Though he held onto the Mythos, Kvothe made no move to stop the Rodian until he saw the thug start to fall. Then, he reached out almost lazily to take hold of the Rodian's right leg as he fell back and over the edge of the docking bay. "I still don't see what's worth saving about this fool," he said flatly as he looked at the unconscious Rodian, dangling out in the open air."But if you think he's worth keeping alive, then so be it." He tossed the Rodian--none too gently--back onto the duracrete pavement, and that was that.

Rhissai relayed the information she gained from the Rodian to the rest of them, and Kvothe nodded. "Looks like we've got a drug ring to break, then." The irony of him, of all people, going to get invovled in attacking a drug ring wasn't lost on him. At least Etherium's legal. "Lead on Rhissai." He took his staff in hand, and Fas fell in at his side as he started to make off after the raven-haired woman.

[Deleted]

Krae stood idle as he quietly observed Rhiss work. He had to admit it unnerved him, the fact she could simply reach into someone mind and pluck information from it. Maybe he was misunderstanding but that was how it seemed to him. A persons mind was their last retreat, the only place where the secrets about them could be kept and remain secrets. If this woman could reach into the Rodians mind and see his thought, what stopped her from doing the same to him? had she already done so? did she know about his wife and daughter.

the moment he wondered their images swam to the forefront of his mind followed quickly by the fashions in which they had died. The beast that was Krae's sorrow reared it's head and roared with a fury that could not be matched by anything that had ever lived, and once more Krae found himself in a fight with himself. It was a long fought battle that would never cease... not until the day he died. Krae employed the only weapon he had against the beast. His honor, if not for that he would have given way long ago. But like the cliffs at the edge of an ocean his honor was beginning to erode and soon he would have to find a new reason to continue on.

Right now he had a purpose. He simply refused to allow himself to die until this Korintha met his end. On the surface Krae looked as if he was simply observing the goings on, even turning his head as the massive Vornskr hid behind Kvothe, but he didn't really see it. No, anyone who could see into his mind would have found him locked in a struggle with his sorrow. Inch by Inch he pushed it back into the dark places of his soul, to be forgotten until the next he tripped over thoughts of his loved ones. Perhaps it had something to do with him being a Mandalorian or maybe he had just been born a warrior but Krae saw everything as a fight. Even internal conflicts were life or death matters to him, and while this wasn't always true when it came to the memories of his wife, child and all those long dead teammates it was just that, life or death.

Finally he won his fight and resurfaced to become aware of the world once more. It was not in the state in which he had last seen it. The Rodian lay in a heap on the durasteel floor and Kvothe was moving away. Had Rhiss finished her work already? This gave Krae pause once more. He had still been struggling within himself when she had finished? had the fact the torrent of emotion been present in his mind made it easier for her to see? did she now know of his wife and child's fate? Krae was torn, he wanted to watch her closely. watch her for signs she had seen the things within his mind but he didn't want to make eye contact. Some primal thing in him wouldn't allow it. the eyes are the window to the soul his father had once said to him. Krae had scoffed at the time but now he knew that there were those who could see into his mind... into his soul.

Still unsure what to do or what had even taken place Krae moved to catch up with Kvothe, no doubt if Rhiss had seen he would know sometime. He would listen and wait. If she mentioned knowing something of him that she shouldn't then he would know, what he did after that was anyone's guess. In all honesty he couldn't even say what he would do.

He pushed the concern from his mind with an ease that indicated he had a lot of practice distracting himself. "So, whats our first step?" He asked the pair of them pointedly not looking at either. He wouldn't admit he had been otherwise distracted and didn't know what Rhiss had learned from the Rodian. Instead he would wait and listen. No doubt he would figure it after some conversation and some carefully placed questions.

[Dire Wolf]

Had Rhissai not been assaulted with Krae's inner turmoil, she would have shot a piercing glare at the oddly dressed man and let a few sharp tongued comments fall from her lips like poison. Tears prickled up at the corners of her brilliant green eyes instead, and quickly turned her vision into one confusing blur. Anguish washed over her unprepared mind, and almost made the woman fall down and cry her eyes out. Her heart felt hollow as her mind brought the images of her wizened old master and first apprentice to its eye.

The deaths of Illuma, her surrogate mother, and Miki, her surrogate daughter, were both wounds that had been healed for quite some time. They healed as gruesome scars on her heart, but healed nonetheless. Wrex slunk out from behind Kvothe and half curled his massive body around the back of Rhiss' legs, his pathetic whimper sounding much like she felt inside. "Kvothe," she croaked, "you are held to a higher standard, you wield the Force. Besides, you don't know what part he has to play in things, yet."

Her blurred vision shifted over to Krae as a single tendril of her mind slipped into his memories. She recoiled and withdrew into herself almost instantly at what she felt. Two women, neither of which she'd ever seen, flushed through that brief connection and were seared into her mind's eye. The younger of the two looked to have some of Krae's features, and when combined with the extraordinary amount of pain she felt from him... she assumed the worst. Her face quickly reverted back to the practiced stoic expression of a Jedi Knight, but Wrex's whimpering gave her away to people who knew of their connection. "Krae," she decided to not comment on the two women, "we're going to a drug running ring."

"Also," she paused to let out a pathetic sniffle, "I can make each of all of us look different to those who can't sense the Force. I'm going to do that, but it doesn't work on technology. Like droids or cameras. It will, at least, let us walk about the city without drawing much more attention." Despite the fact that her face held the same countenance of a stoic Jedi Knight, her almost florescent green eyes couldn't contain the pain within them. Her mental barriers held the inner turmoil of her own grief mixed with Krae's pain, and amplified the waves of hurt within the confined space. Rhissai forced her mind to focus on projecting a reworked image of herself and her two companions outwards, along with her will power, to subtly shift the image that one's eye would see into it. After a few moments, the task was complete, and she whirled around and walked towards the warehouse.

Thankfully the emotional suffering that her mind had been locked within abated during the walk to the warehouse where the drugs were made and stowed. The rodian's memory of the warehouse was clear in the woman's mind as rounded the corner to gaze upon the utilitarian structure. A pair of trandoshan thugs flanked either side of the only door on the massive structure, their minds easily tricked into believing that Rhissai, Kvothe, and Krae were a pair of unassuming citizens. "Here we are," she motioned towards it, "the rodian was here just before he went to your ship. We could sneak in quite easily, but would only end up having a good deal of men to cut down on our way out. Or we could just pummel them now."

She shrugged mildly at the remark, which had an apathetic tone to it shortly before she glanced back at the pair of Trando thugs. People would die here, whether she liked it or not, so to argue about taking the more peaceful of the two routes at that point in time would have been in vein. If anything, taking the warehouse at that particular point in time would make it easier later on... but such was the way of the Dark Side. Yet again, the woman let a mild shrug lift her shoulders. Rhiss wouldn't let herself fall, and taking the safer of the two routes was hardly evil.

"Whichever you two want to do. The warehouse is fairly well defended," her tone was very matter-of-factly, "but we could handle it." The rodian's memory of armed mercs, a few auto-defense turrets, and even a mando, littered about the pseudo-base flickered past her mind's eye briefly before fading once again. The bug's memories were fading from her mind fast, and it was getting harder and harder to hold onto them. She could keep some locked within her mind permanently, but certainly not all. It was simply impossible.

[Rugs]

Kvothe snorted roughly at Rhissai's comment. "The Rodian attacked us," he retorted, looking at her with eyes that had orange starting to play around his hazel irises. "Forgive me, but I tend not to be kind to those that attack me unprovoked. But it's done with now, so it's of little import." He walked on in silence as Rhissai spoke, detailing what their next step would be.

They'd move attack a drug dealing ring, and hopefully be able to snag on of Korintha's lieutenants in the process. It was a sound plan, and one that Kvothe was eager to get to; after all, the quicker they moved, the sooner they'd get the information to strike at Korintha. And once they had that information... well, the slug would be in for some trouble. Kvothe cracked a knuckle on one of his hands idly as he walked, paying little attention to the people around him. Yes, he'd make sure the slug got what was coming to him.

Some of the auburn hair that framed his head fell into his eyes, as it was prone to do from time to time, and Rhissai spoke up again as he was brushing it out of the way. Her offer was an interesting one: she could, using what Kvothe assumed to be her strength in telepathy, change the way they looked to everyone else around them, so that they could go about their business without worry. Kvothe didn't need to be told how good of an idea that was, as an image of himself flashed through his mind. What with the tattoos and scar on his face, and his strange robes and with the red and gold metal armband he wore around his left arm, among other things, he had a rather memorable appearance. "I think that would be a good idea, Rhissai," he said with a nod.

"So what do you think of this, Krae," Kvothe inquired of his Mandalorian teammate. "Looks like finding out about Korintha might not take so long after all, eh?"

They continued on for a while longer until they reached a warehouse. From the looks of the place, and the two thugs standing guard outside, Kvothe assumed they'd reached their destination. Rhissai noted that they could easily slip in through the guards, but they'd have to deal with them at some point anyway. Kvothe was silent for a moment as he studied the building that loomed ahead, and a brilliant gold started to set in to his eyes as his resolve hardened. "Too bad I left my armor on the ship," he mused aloud. Though the statement wasn't meant for anyone in particular, there was a note of wry amusement that played in his voice.

"Seems to me that we might as well take care of what resistance we find as we work our way in. We'll have to deal with 'em at some time, anyway." He grinned mischievously as the Mythos started to flow into him, and he began to reach out to set things off. "Now, if you don't mind..."

He made a small motion with both of his hands, and telekinetic bonds went forth, wrapping around the heads of each of the two Trandoshan guards. With a quick flick of his wrists, he slammed their hands together before throwing them back to slam into the wall. He released his hold, and they slid to the ground to land in unconscious heaps.

Kvothe nodded in satisfaction and turned an eye to Rhissai. "Let's get to it then, shall we?"

[Deleted]

Krae trailed along behind the other two watching the alley ways attempting to discern what the shadows might hide. For a brief moment he wished for his helmet with it's night vision but he had already decided that unless things became much more difficult then they were he wouldn't wear the armor. It was tantamount to him telling the Thugs on this moon that he was afraid of them. That he must hide behind a shell of Beskar to feel safe. This was not the case as far as he was concerned. The only people on this backwater moon that even had a shot were on his side.

Hands in his pockets Krae moved forward with an almost lazy grace. Doing his best to look like he was unaware of the potential dangers around and accomplishing it somewhat. Someone observing him closely would see his hard gray eyes follow a passerby, they would see his pale retract from his pockets slightly as if he were about to draw one of the blades strapped to his back. Nothing occurred however and they arrived at a warehouse which seemed to be there intended destination. Krae noted the two guards but turned his back trusting Kvothe and Rhiss to make sure they didn't shoot him in the back.

Instead he watched people move about behind his companions. A human covered in dirt and grime stood on corners whispering to the people who passed. Some stopped and a quick exchange was made so quick Krae was the only who seemed to notice, or maybe he was just the only person who cared. He didn't move, just simply watched as the man whittled his life away by shortening the lives of others. Krae felt a twinge of some unfamiliar emotion as he realized just how much that sounded like what he did for a living. we both kill people Krae thought but you get paid and with that Krae shook his head a slight smile on his face.

It didn't matter, as long as he could swing a sword he would swing it at someone. It was at the end of that rather bloody thought that Kvothe asked Krae a question. Silently Krae pondered it, Criminal organizations were weak in many aspects that a normal business was not but the ability to keep things a secret... some of these people would take them to their grave. Even dig themselves and early one if they had to. Finally he nodded to Kvothe "Perhaps, Rhiss's talents should make this easier then it might be otherwise. But I can only guess that a Hutt's trusted servant will be able to keep their secrets better then some half-wit Rodian thug"

Krae turned around to continue watching people moving along the streets farther behind. The drug peddler had moved on, either having reached his quota or seeking out a more profitable spot. Either way Krae didn't like it. It was just more proof that things changed as soon as you take your eyes of the world. Sometimes in big ways and other times they were small, but there was always change. Nothing that interested him beyond a passing glance was taking place any longer and so his mind wandered back to the fight outside the ship. He had nearly been killed, by a thug. It wasn't a fitting end for someone who had led a life like his. He hadn't died, help had arrived at the last second. Just like it always seemed to do.

it was his curse, to remain through luck and the help of others. Sometime he even saved himself. Countless times he had asked himself why he was so lucky. Why was he continuously saved when- he stopped the thought in it's tracks and began watching an old Rodian shuffle across the street. His eyes flicked from one person to another. watching for moment that would indicate a concealed weapon. He wasn't surprised to find that the majority of people did seem to be toting a weapon of some sort. It was Nar Shaddaa after all.

His attention was brought back to what his companions were doing by an audible thud. Pivoting on the spot Krae's eyes landed on the two grunts who had been standing guard. they know lay unconscious on the ground. Krae paused momentarily confused until he remembered who he was with. Once more a twinge of uncertainty struck him. The things those two could do were so far beyond him... and that's just from what he knew of it. Odds were they both held back, probably a lot more then he would guess at. Still, he forced down his feelings of unease.

"Guess that takes care of that, we breaking in now?" He asked but didn't wait for an answer. He simply turned and strolled lazily towards the warehouse. One hand resting on the hilt of the sword strapped across the back of his waist. At least this way, if there were guards unaccounted for his death would serve a purpose in letting his companions know what would have happened had they all marched off together. But no blaster fire rang out across the empty lot and Krae approached the massive door unhindered. "I think this here calls for talents other then my own" Krae said looking over his shoulder to see if the other two had followed.

[Dire Wolf]

Stoney emeralds gazed at the two lizards as they were slammed into the duracrete wall. The pair of lizards slumped to the ground in a pair of unconscious heaps. An elegant black eyebrow arched over at him, "I'm impressed. You are growing. These two still have more blood in them then out." A small smirk tugged at corner of her opulent lips, pulling her head to wheel over to his position.

Her tone was as stoic as her eyes when they gazed at the pair of beasts that where thrown like child's toys. Despite this, she was teasing him in her own sarcastic way. It was remarkable, to her at least, that she took to playful banter so soon after meeting someone. Anyone. Considering the type of life that she lead.

Rhiss' lashes batted over to the Mandalorian who now stood just in front of the massive doors. Compassion filled those stoic green eyes when she thought about what happened behind those great doors. The lives that were responsible for being destroyed.
"Up there," she motioned towards the windows. It was thirty feet up, "I can jump up there. You can as well Kvothe, yes?"

Her eyes sunk back down to Krae, and the corners of her lips tugged upwards in a sly smile. Without saying a word, she called the Force to her legs. Mythical energies swirled about her form, rushing into her muscles as they tensed, flexed, and bunched up into each other. Rhiss' legs flew out and straightened, and the explosion of speed and power exhilarated her beyond words. Force Jump always did.

Once her hard boots touched against the small overhang softly, she turned to look back at the two men below. Sending a pair of telepathic messages to the two was beyond easy for the woman, and the most secure way of talking at any distance. Far better than yelling, --what's the matter, boys. Scared?--

Rhissai, of course, assumed that Kvothe would use telekinesis to bring Krae to the top with them. If not, she'd simply drop down and open the doors from the inside out. It would certainly be harder than unleashing White Fang's white fury on the door, but her most treasured possession would draw far too much attention to herself. Attention of the Jedi.

Or worse.

She sighed audibly and shifted her emerald gaze back down to the two men below. --One minute,-- she slipped one final thought in before ducking into the building. The shadows clung to her form, and made the eye do nothing more than look around her. Look through her. Anything else but on her. Rhissai vaulted her weight over the railing of the catwalk, and hit the ground with an inaudible thud. The Force could do a great many things, slow the momentum of her fall being one of them.

Rhissai's speed was second only to her ferocity as she lunged toward one of the two gate guards on the inside. A wicked grin flashed across the man's lips as he wheeled his rifle about to settle on the form of the Jedi Master. It was too late for that however, as she simply batted the end of the rifle towards his comrade with a sharp wave of the Force. The bolt was sent screaming into his partner's chest just as a quick flurry of electrified fists slammed up his chest, ending in a simple upper cut.

The man's eyes rolled into the back of his head at the final blow, and he slumped back against the wall as if he was switched off with a switch. Rhiss' short black hair whipped around as her eyes met with the gate switch, and her hand threw itself to the point where she was gazing.

A loud groan was heard as the doors slowly slid open to reveal Wrex and her two companions. Fortunate they were there, too, as the whole complex just started to buzz with activity. Everyone in the complex heard that gunshot.

Everyone.

[Rugs]

"Well, I can change that, if you'd like," Kvothe said with an amused snort, adjusting the sword that hung behind him. "A little blood on the walls might do well to announce our presence, no?" Silver threads worked their way through the gold of Kvothe's irises, an indication that he was, of course, kidding. For the time being, anyway. Though this Rhissai woman may not like it, he had a feeling that there would be plenty of blood to be had by the time their group had finished cutting their way from one side of the warehouse to the other. It can't really be helped though, he thought as he looked up to watch Krae make his way to the massive doors that barred entrance in to the building.

They'd need to get through the doors, one way or another. Now, shouldn't really come as much of a surprise that the first thing that came to Kvothe's mind was to simply walk up and blow the damn things down with a blast of Mythos. Simple. Effective. A bit on the loud side, perhaps, but the group wouldn't remain hidden long anyway. Rhissai seemed to have other things in mind, though.

Kvothe watched as she ran forward and leapt up into the air, using the Mythos to propel herself farther than the would've been able to go unaided. She landed on a small overhang further up the building, near a place where she could sneak in. Kvothe started to nod in satisfaction as he walked to stand near Krae, but Rhissai's friendly taunt brought him short, and he looked up to her with a snort and a shake of his head. Kvothe could make the jump if he wished to, and could easily lift Krae up to join them, but if Rhissai was going for stealth--or momentary stealth, at least--it'd be best to let her go alone.

"She's an interesting one, eh Krae?" Kvothe's silver and gold eyes turned to look at his Mandalorian comrade as a wry grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. "But she'll be helpful to have, I thi-" A blaster shot echoed from within the building. Kvothe only chuckled softly and adjusted his grip on the staff. "Looks like it's time to go to work, then."

The metal doors shifted and paused for a moment before slowly moving apart, with a groan that spoke of a dire need of lubrication. "Have fun kicking the hive?" Kvothe asked Rhissai as he stepped into the interior of the warehouse. "Guess we'll have to deal with the wasps in a just a few moments. Should be fun." The room they were in was large, and, for all intents and purposes, looked like what one would expect any other warehouse to look like. It was a front, surely, to hide the more undesirable activities that went on deeper in.

Kvothe swept his eyes over the interior as Fas came to stand near him, taking in the various shelves, tools, the two armed men running in from some room toward the back. "Oh, there's a few of them." Fas melted away into the shadows as Kvothe stepped forward. The Mythos did his bidding as he motioned at a particularly large shelf, stacked high with containers of some sort. Most of them clattered loudly to the ground as the shelf was ripped off its bindings on the wall and sent hurtling across the room at the two men. The poor saps never saw it coming. Well, maybe they did, but there wasn't anything they could do about it.

One of them was clipped in the ribs by the end of it, though the force of the impact sent him to the ground. The other was caught in the stomach, and shelf took him with it through the air until it slammed into the other wall. Kvothe didn't know if the impact killed the man or not, though if he wasn't dead, he probably would be soon. It was a fact that didn't faze the Rilan much, if at all, though. Men would die today; there was no getting around that, and as such, Kvothe wouldn't go out if his way to keep a foe alive when he could end them just as quickly.

"Well, if there was some idiot sleeping under a rock that didn't know we were here yet, they probably do now." Kvothe rolled his neck and sighed warmly when he felt it pop. "Let's go find this lieutenant."

[Deleted]

Krae simply watched as Rhiss jumped to the ledge above. His blank face did not shift, his gray eyes gave away nothing. But underneath it all the apprehension loomed once more. He was a skilled man, secretly he believed he was on of the best. But skilled as he might have been he was still a man... a man among titans. The thought almost made him smile. if ever he had met people who could have sent him back into the arms of his wife, Rhiss and Kvothe were it. Too bad they were on the same side.

"Aye" Krae responded to Kvothe question. Rhiss was indeed strange, but then again all three of them were pretty weird. Krae continued staring up at the ledge while Rhiss disappeared inside. A feeling in his gut told him that things were about to go downhill... which is pretty much what it always told him. A few seconds ticked by and a shot rang out on the other side of the door. Krae sighed and finally took his eyes of the ledge. "I suppose when you can stop plasma with your hand there isn't much point in being stealthy eh?" He asked Kvothe jokingly.

He wasn't under any illusions that his companions couldn't die. Even they must have their limits. The Mandalorian held his ground as the door groaned open. The sound of rushing feet touched his ears and a small smile began to form. It was a familiar sound, Maybe too familiar. He moved forward with slow precise steps. The sound of metal grinding on metal was lost among the noise of preparation.
Justice gleamed in Kraes right hand as he continued his walk into the warehouse.

Already it seemed his companions were fighting, it was time for him to join in. No sooner had it crossed his mind when the fight found him. In the form of a giant of a man. Krae guessed at near seven feet tall and built like a house. The giant was truly an intimidating sight and perhaps if Krae had been ten years younger he would have been a little worried. no Krae corrected himself you thought you were invincible back then it was at the end of this thought that the giant drew his weapon. The three foot long stun baton looked like a child's toy in his mammoth hands.

The choice of weapon puzzled Krae. Was this giant trying to take him alive? That made no sense. These were supposed to be criminals. Still, if his intent was not to kill Krae could only suffice it to return the gesture. As the big man stepped into his swing Krae ducked the shot and launched a snap kick into the mans abdomen. He had not expected that to be the end of the fight but what happened next really surprised him. His foot smashed into something harder then a human body could be. It was a split second deduction that the man was wearing body armor beneath his cloths but apparently that was still too long.

Suffice it say that Krae was not a very big man, agile and strong but not big. two massive hands wrapped around his right leg before he could withdraw the appendage. Suddenly the world warped into a blur of color and sound and it felt as if his right leg would be torn from the socket, and then the pressure vanished and Krae felt wind rushing around him. Krae's body slammed into a pile of boxes. What was in them he never found out but it whatever it was, was made of an unforgiving material.

He jumped back to his feet even as pain arced through his body. Already he knew it was nothing too bad. He would have some nasty bruises but nothing was broken. A quick shake of the head as if to clear his head of the pain Krae once more advanced on the big man. let's see if that body armor will stop swords.

[Dire Wolf]

Rhiss' palm turned itself upwards so that her eyes could view it. Previously soft skin had morphed and contorted under the unimaginable heat of the searing plasma from that blaster rifle. The residual heat had quickly cooled, but it was replaced with a powerful sting. If she weren't a Jedi, and had the ability to ignore pain, it was likely that she wouldn't have been doing much more than begging for burn relieving gel. "Hardly," was all that she replied with as her hand angled towards Krae's sight. The Force had absorbed a great deal of the power, but obviously not enough. It would heal fully... in time.

Her body turned into little more than a blur as she lunged towards a stack of crates. She vaulted onto each one like a set of massive stairs, and launched herself towards the catwalk that a great deal of the dealers preparing to gun down her comrades. Rhissai's boot flashed into one man's head near the end of her flight, throwing him into the wall with the awesome power of her Force augmented muscles.

That was when she realized it was a bad idea.

Make no mistake: Rhissai was fast. Her prowess in the school of Body allowed her to augment her body's movements and reactions to almost supernatural levels. But that didn't make her a Goddess, as her real name implied. There was only so much that her precognition and her blinding speed could do, and it didn't involve dodging a maelstrom of blaster bolts.

If she allowed the use of her lightsaber, the group would be nothing. Her mastery of Soresu was so complete that she was nigh-impervious to such a level of blaster fire. But no... that was too high profile. Instead of trying to dodge or activating White Fang's fury, she did the simplest thing imaginable: she waited until the last moment, and jumped off of the catwalk just as they began to open up on her.

Right into a pair of Trandoshans.

Surprise slowed her movements enough to keep her from ruining them right away. Both of them whipped their rifles around, each weapon bigger than she was. They didn't have time to fire. A powerful slap slammed the barrel of the rifle away from her body while the other was sent into his wind pipe. Her will power created an envelope of telekinesis around the reptilian creature. Her wrist simply flicked forwards, sending the creature flying back into the wall.

Rhissai's sixth sense roared at her to move, to be anywhere else than where she was. It told her where the danger would come from, and as such her eyes traced that instinct back to the source: a somewhat dignified looking man pointing a blaster pistol right at her. She knew it was too late to try and dodge, as her senses told her that the bolt was but a heart beat from springing from the gaping black maw of the pistol and into her.

White Fang sprang to the burnt flesh of her hand, the smooth metallic hilt lighting a fire within her skin. A new star burned into existence, one who's brilliant light silver radiance seemed to cut through the deepest darkness of the storage facility. Its hum had always reminded her of a swarm of bumblebees as they searched a meadow for flowers, and the fury of its righteous light a beacon of hope in the darkness.

She rarely allowed this blade to spring from its scabbard, as it was too high profile to be running around with a lightsaber. Doing so attracted the attention of a lot of people: namely Jedi. Unfortunately, there was no other course of action for her to take. Risk the Jedi, Sith, and everyone else after her knowing her location... or death. The choice was clear.

Rhissai's blade sent the crimson bolt of lightning back to its sender with little commotion. Its only signal was a high pitched 'ding' that stung at her ears. The bolt screamed back into the man's leg, searing flesh and cloth like it was paper. As his leg crumpled like a house of cards under his weight, the Jedi calmly walked over to him. Her demeanor was radically different. In but a heartbeat it changed from one of fighting and battle to a straight backed, proud stance. One that simply radiated purpose, confidence, and fury.

The Jedi's green gaze seemed to bore a hole through the man as he frantically tried to escape the wrath of a Knight. The illusion around her slowly dropped to reveal her terrible, but beautiful face. It held the countenance of an executioner shortly before he was about to end the life of an evil, or an over-zealous judge as he was about to sentence a life term.

Ignoring her surroundings, the Jedi Master lifted her thrumming blade of starlight at the man's throat. Despite the imminent danger of a lightsaber blade at his throat, the man's terrified eyes couldn't seem to break from the spell the Jedi's unnatural green eyes shrouded around them. Rhissai as Krae or Kvothe would've known her was gone, replaced by the stoic mask of a Jedi Master... one that held a righteous fury deep within her heart.

"Where is Korintha," her words were colder than ice, "you won't be harmed." Her eyes seemed to swallow the man whole as her words drifted into his ears. She was battering her iron will, her powerful mind, as she spoke the words. There was something wrong. He didn't answer the instant she spoke. Perhaps she had feared him too much? No no no. That shouldn't matter. Her mind had sent an overwhelmingly powerful urge to answer her question truthfully.

Then his pistol flashed up to his temple and pulled the trigger in an instant.

Rhissai's stoic mask shattered into a million pieces as she screamed out and instantly fell to her knees. She pressed both palms into the side of his head and ignored the gory mess that the searing plasma had made of his skull and brain. Desperately, the woman tried to slink into his mind and gather what information she could. There was nothing. His mind was far too scrambled to make sense of the information within the scant amount of time she had to discern it.

"Dammit," she cursed as she set his head on the ground and stood up, "so much time. Wasted." A heavy sigh caused her previously proud stance to deflate into a slump. It all seemed so hopeless...

[Rugs]

There wasn't much time between Kvothe's last remark and the arrival of a new wave of foes. Kvothe's golden eyes looked to and fro to see that Rhissai and Krae were both occupied, leaving the new group to him. And Fas, whenever the flickercat decided the time was right to emerge from the shadows he'd taken to prowling. Despite the fact that a number of men with very large, very deadly blaster rifles were running toward him with the intent of making him little more than a smear on the floor, Kvothe smiled. It's always so amusing when Fas does that.

However, now was the time to focus on his new foes; though Kvothe didn't have much respect for them as warriors, he knew that he'd end up dead if he started being stupid and ignoring them. How many are there? A quick count told him there were four, with three others coming at him from the side of the room. Seven. Seven total, all with blasters of some sort, coming from two directions. They were grunts, so it was doable, but he would have to be careful.

Two of them took up a position behind a heavy metal worktable that was thrown onto its side in Kvothe's previous attack. Bad choice. A wave of the Mythos exploded forward from Kvothe's outstretched hand. They poor fools never even saw it coming. It slammed into the table with enough force to bend it in on itself. Of course, that didn't stop the blast, and it continued on, carrying the two thugs with it until it threw them into the wall loud enough to give rise to the sound of bones cracking. Two down. Kvothe didn't know if they would live or not, nor did he care, but they wouldn't be getting back into the fight, which was all that mattered.

Unfortunately, his attack, short though it was, took just long enough for the remaining five men to take up their own positions. And so, as he was standing out in the open, Kvothe found the Mythos yelling at him that a hail of blaster fire was about to turn him into a pile of burnt flesh. A barrier sprung up around him when he held up both of his hands, and not a moment too soon. Blaster fire exploded forth from this five opponents, and though his shield held strong, Kvothe did not want to have to deal with putting out the amount of energy it would take to keep it up under the assault; it would tire him out, and quickly at that. He moved as the fire continued to flow out at him, until he was able to crouch down behind another table that he knocked over. It wasn't a place he'd be able to hid long; he could see the metal starting to glow a bright orange as the plasma's onslaught continued.

He wasted no time making a counterattack. Telekinetic fingers reached out to the thug nearest him, taking him by the head and tossing him across the room so that he landed in a heap after slamming into the railing of the catwalk that Rhissai was fighting on up above. Krae was suddenly flying through the air in another direction, and though Kvothe assumed he'd been tossed by that very large man near him, he didn't have time to look and see. That's down to four. Another blast of energy went forth from his hand as he turned around, and one more man was taken out of the fight with it. Three.

Pain suddenly exploded across his side. A string of swears in Rilan flowed from his mouth as he crouched down behind his cover once again to see what damage had been done. The singing of his robe was all he needed to see to know he'd taken a hit from a blaster bolt, though thankfully it seemed to have been a glancing hit. Still hurt like hell, though. He poked around through the hole that was burned into his robe to discover that he had a burn, as was expected. Despite the pain, it seemed like it would be alright. It would have to wait, though. Though Kvothe's abilities as a Rilan gave him a good deal of ability to heal others, he wasn't that great with using the Mythos to heal his own injuries. He could do enough to ease some of the pain, but that was about it.

His head went back up to peek over his makeshift cover. Fas was behind two of the thugs, who were too intent on watching for Kvothe to notice their impending death. Screams echoed through the warehouse when two of Fas' tails took them in the backs, taking them to the ground. With that, Kvothe leapt over the table, calling on the Mythos and using it to pull the lone remaining man toward him. The Rilan's hand curled into a fist at the same time, and said fist met with the man's face as it was moving in the opposite direction. Now, it should be said that Kvothe was strong. Perhaps not ridiculously strong, but stronger than most men. Add to that the fact that the bones of a Rilan are stronger than those of a Human's, which is what his victim was, and one might be able to imagine the damage that was done when his fist met the man's nose. His nose was broken, to say the least.

"Well, that's that," Kvothe said flatly as he shook out his hand, both to get some of the blood off of it and to shake off a bit of the pain that came from hitting the man so hard. He was alright, all things considered. The burn on his side still hurt, and his hand might be sore for a few more minutes, but things could certainly be worse. "Rhiss, how g-" A gunshot cut him off. When he looked up, he saw the woman crouched over a figure. At first, he thought it was just some thug, but the frustration he felt emanating from Rhissai implied different. It only took a moment for him to put two and two together. "Well damn," he said softly. They'd been so close, so unbelievably close to the information they needed. But the door had been slammed shut in their faces. Slammed shut by itself, no less. The gold in his eyes faded back until they were their natural hazel once more as he looked up. "So where do we go from here?"

[Jace]

Hiding, Eva waited patiently in the shadows of Nar Shaddaa. She watched as the ship touched down, and its passengers disembarked. The young woman had arrived here only days before, searching for exactly what this duo now looked to find. Her intelligence sources were impeccable, pricey, but for her, money had never really been an issue. She did what she did because she was good at it, the pay was just a nice bonus to her. Every once in awhile though, business got a little personal. It wasn't usually a good idea for an assassin to get involved personally, but this was different.

It looked like the pair weren't about to get the information they sought easily. A group of thugs was ready and waiting for them, their intention clear. Eva didn't have her rifle with her, nor would she have done anything if she did. If these two couldn't handle a handful of thugs, then they weren't worth approaching. The assassin had considerable talents, but the Hutts had more than considerable resources. She knew when it was time to put pride aside, and enlist some help.

She observed the battle carefully, she was mildly impressed, though not surprised. The surprise came with the arrival of a third party, a woman of whom she knew nothing about. It was an interesting turn of events, and the momentum of the battle quickly shifted. Things were over soon after, and the now trio began seemed to have their next destination in mind. Eva checked her gear, and proceeded to follow the group, albeit from a safe distance. At least one of them were not just normal people.

Finally she found herself outside of a warehouse, and quickly moved to find a good vantage point. She watched as the trio entered the warehouse and once again did battle with Korintha's thugs. It was clear who would be the victor and so she slowly made her approach through the ceiling of the warehouse. A final shot, ensured that the information that the group so desperately wanted was out of reach...or was it?

"So where do we go from here?" spoke one of the three

Dropping down from a ladder, and landing nimbly on her feet, Eva quickly straightened herself out and faced the group with a grin.

"I believe the answer you are looking for is Nal Hutta. If it is Korintha you are looking for, then thats where ya gonna find him"

She had been rather blunt in her answer, but now wasn't exactly the time for campfire stories. It would only be a matter of time until Korintha realized that he was in danger, they couldn't take the chance of him running off somewhere and hiding. His location had cost her a great deal of time and money, and she wasn't about to let that all go to waste.

"Oh by the way, the name is Eva, its a pleasure" she finished with a sly grin.