A Brief Encounter

[Connor Harrison]

The Trade Street
Nar Haaska, Hutt Space

It was more apparent that the Silver Jedi were surrounded by criminals, degenerates and rogues, all detracting attention from the Light Side clowns hiding behind them.

Hutt Space was next on Connor's list to visit, and Nar Haaska was the planet picked known for it's over-population and heaving trade output located perfectly on the Saqqar–Droxu hyperlane.

--

The main street in the capital was alive, and then some. It was packed on both sides, and it ran for what must be a mile or so full of traders, clubs, gambling houses, markets stalls and even cheap hotels. The smell of warm spice, hot foods, rich fabrics and sweet perfumes filled the air at everyturn, and there was an assault on the senses with each step.

Connor Harrison walked, hands in pockets. He was in no rush. Simply taking in the street itself and looking for the sort of people the Jedi surrounded themselves with, and to see how these people in Hutt space operated.

Lights flashed high and low, smells wafted around the citizens and music pumped out in various establishments just about heard over the chatter of sellers, buyers and those just looking for a quick bargain, or a quick fix.

Neon signs flashed above and illuminated his face with pink and blues as Connor passed by a large glass establishment fixed in the middle of the street. Glancing in, patrons were getting laser tattoos and drinking, smoking and eating boxed food. He afforded himself a smile - these people certianly weren't boring.

A ship passed by overhead, which looked like a police cruiser, but what it was doing here, Connor did not know. Was there any law beside Hutt law in places like this?

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza was no stranger to Hutt space and not for the right reasons.

Were there really any right reasons to be here? It was never pleasant and more of an exercise in learning to pick out certain behaviors. She liked to take new recruits here and have them people watch, look for the abused who walked with their eyes down and their steps soft and unobtrusive, trying to make themselves as invisible as possible. She taught them how to recognize body language, when to observe and when to approach and how to pick your targets. The city taught them how to not crumble under the eyes that passed over you, the eyes that lingered on you a certain way, when it was harmless and when it became dangerous.

A lesson in street savoir faire.

There was a very loose interpretation of the law here, which made her surprisingly comfortable. Not because it felt more like home—it didn’t—but it gave her a taste of what it was like to live in a lawless society. It had a certain charm when viewed through a glass window, but glass could be shattered if you apply enough Force.

It was a weeknight but The Rift was packed to the brim with the usual crowd—gangsters, call girls, addicts and the like. Rough crowd, not her usual crowd but she was here on business with a side of pleasure. She’d had a quick chat with the club owner, a Rodian fellow who she got along with on vaguely polite terms. For now she was sitting pretty on a bar stool, legs crossed, mixed drink in hand and a lit cigar between her lips as she observed the ebb and flow of the crowds. She watched for how they moved, where they went and what they did.

She took in a heavy draw of the cigar before exhaling a dainty puff of smoke up towards the ceiling. She was working, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy herself right?

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

There was no need to look at anyone eye to eye as he walked. No need to square up to anyone walking past him, trying to get his attention or selling him something. He just looked ahead, glancing left and right at the buildings as he felt a few small spots of rain on his face.

He passed another food stall to his right, steam rising from burnt meat on a grill. To his left as he passed, a flashing sign of another club that was fixed to the large window letting passers by see what they were missing by not being inside.

Connor had walked by when he stopped. His eyes looked for an answer, and he needed confirmation. So, he walked backwards a few steps to the window and looked back through into the club. Zeltrons stuck out for a number of reasons, but amidst a small crowd either of Caucasians, they blinked to him like a beacon. The face and the flaming hair struck a chord, and he hoped it was for the reason that alarmed in his head.

The music inside got a little louder as Connor walked in from the street, greeted by noise and warmth that clung to him. His eyes were fixed on the Zeltron at the bar, sat crossed legged looking out smoking a cigar for all the world to see. He brushed passed talking patrons, drinking patrons and dancing patrons for she was the only thing that mattered.

It was a face from a past he could only picture thanks to the former Jedi, but it was an important face and just what he had hoped to find on a planet like this.

In a few seconds, he had crossed the way and stood before her.

"Joza Perl of the Silver Jedi?"

Connor slowly stuck his hand out.

"So glad to finally meet you."

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

It was a pinprick at first, but she felt it—the unmistakable tinging of familiarly up her spine that almost made her groan. It wasn’t a good feeling and she didn’t find comfort in the fact that her senses reacted before her head could, given that she didn’t know exactly what was triggering this sort of response.

The feeling grew as the moments passed and she lowered her drink, eyes shifting around the room to try and find the source until green gaze landed on the form of an approaching figure. He certainly was familiar, no doubt about that, but that was all. Something fundamental had changed in Connor Harrison, and it wasn’t just his gait or his eyes or the way he held himself.

Has it really been that long? She thought, slotting the cigar between two pink fingers and tapping the end of it over an ash tray. He hated her smoking, she remembered that. Joza didn’t like the fact that she remembered. It has been that long. She mused dryly to herself, drink coming to rest on the counter behind her for the time being. She tilted her head back, smiling at the bartender with the saccharine sweetness they’d come to expect here and he let her be.

She wasn’t sure if he’d come to her with ire given their last personal meeting, but that would have been expected. What he opened with was not.

Joza remained still, the smoke curling lazily from the edge of her cigar the only animation to her form for a few seconds. She analyzed first his face, then his hand. Her eyes crinkled in a mix of confusion and suspicion, removing the cigar just long enough to tilt her mouth to the side and exhale smoke away from them, keeping her gaze fixed to his. She did not take his hand, not yet.

“What are you on about, Harrison?”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

He allowed a small confident smile as she confirmed it was indeed the Zeltron he thought.

"Joza Perl. Failed Jedi, successful businesswoman. Mother. On-off lover to Sith Lords. Traveller and a good Samaritan when it suits, ruthless and cunning also when it suits. That’s you. He never could lose faith in you even at the end."

He sidled around and sat beside her, walking through the smoke and pushing his greatcoat to the side and rested on foot on the rest, the other on the floor.

"I didn’t come looking for you, don’t think that, but in all the systems and stars, I come here and by chance you’re sat without a care in the world, almost as if you were waiting." People watching was always interesting as they passed by. "You came so close to being something for him, and he for you, but he threw it all away with his ego, his fear and his broken dreams. You could say you had a lucky escape."

After a second or two, feeling her looking and working out what this person was doing, Connor turned back and looked back at her through the haze of cigar smoke.

"For what it’s worth, my apologies for how he acted. And as I said, it’s a pleasure to meet you. He is not here anymore, so please try to remove how you felt about him when you talk to me."

He linked his hands, elbow resting on the bar, knowing she wasn’t going to take the hand. Not yet.

"Where do you stand with the Jedi now, Joza Perl?"

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Both brows rose up at the introduction.

“You’ve got my resume, then.”

There was a note of mirthless humor in her voice, quickly smothered by a long sip from her drink and then a mumble.

“Should put that on my business card.”

She was sure that this was Connor, but was it the Connor she’d come to know within the Silvers? The man who she’d grown close with at one point and confessed her sins to? A lot had happened after what they had spiraled, both of them leaving Voss to satisfy their own curiosities. In different directions, it seemed.

Right now she couldn’t figure out exactly what this man was—he recognized her by site at a base level, was he feigning memory loss and trying to catch her off her guard or had something happened?

She flicked at the cigar between her fingers, an idle movement as she sized him up. There were still pieces missing, things she couldn’t glean from body language or any ability she had lest she try and invade his mind. For now, she was more interested in talking. “You know so much about me, it’s a surprise that you don’t know where I stand with the Jedi.”

Though loosely allied with the Silvers, her ties with them were no secret. Same went for the Galactic Alliance and the Outer Rim Coalition. She did business with them all, worked on a friendly basis in terms of humanitarian aid. She had nothing against them and so far they didn’t seem to hold anything against her.

“So what happened?” She waved her cigar hand in a semi-circle, a gesture in reference to the whole picture. “Memory lapse?”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor shook his head this way and that, mulling over her analysis. She was close, sort of.

He reached out and took the cigar from her slender pink fingers and held it with thumb and forefinger, placed it in his mouth and took a good amount in with a slow drag, before blowing it up above her head. With a gentle flick of his finger, loose ash falling from the tip, he handed it back over. This was not the Connor she would have known before.

"Of sorts, yes," he blew the excess out mid-sentence, "but due to nothing but a slow death for the Jedi Master and his sins that allowed me to come forth finally. I'm here to find my own place in the galaxy beyond his shadow."

Then, turning, he reached over and took a drink from the bar that was obviously not for him, and took a sip, holding it.

"Let's just say I'm trying to work out what he classed as important in the galaxy and I'm making my own mind up about them. I know of you, but I don't know you."

With a generous mouthful, he swilled the drink and swallowed, smacking his lips slightly. Whatever it was, it was fruity. He placed the glass back on the bar and looked out to the patrons, still feeling her looking at him.

"I can't imagine you're a gleaming Jedi Master, not in a place like this. Tell me, what sort of business DO you do anyway? That part what never clear."

He smiled at her, leaning on the edge of his stool.

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

She watched him take a draw of her cigar and a drink from an unknown glass. When he went to hand the cigar back to her, she raised a hand to him.

“Keep it,” She insisted, hand sliding down to the pocket of her skirt where she retrieved a tin. She hadn’t known Connor to be a smoker, but she supposed that this wasn’t Connor. “They’re expensive. Make sure that you take every last drag.” Expensive and potent, a high quality brand gifted to her by [member="Slevin Thawne"]. The two were rather fond of their post-coital smoking.

She lit up a new one for herself, eyes sweeping over the man beside her as she tried to gauge how much he knew about his…former life? It was an odd concept, one full of holes right now.

“Certainly not. I’m a ‘failed’ Jedi, remember?” She swiped her thumb over the glowing lit edge of her cigar, not long enough to cause the hiss and sizzle of skin she reveled in but just enough to catch a brush of pain. “Textile manufacturing, cosmetics, force imbuement, non-combat starships to name a few. Entertainment and humanitarian aid are my main operations and where the majority of my focus goes.”

She had pride in what she did, what she’d overcome and the choices she’d made. Her feud with Connor Harrison was a thing of the past, dulled by time and lack of attention. They’d gone their separate ways and come out different people, but she caught glimpses of the Connor she’d known in this man.

“In which sensationalist tabloid did you pick up that flattering description of me, anyway?”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

At her rebuke of the cigar, Connor tapped the ash and extinguished the burning embers on the cold metal of his black cybernetic hand on his lap, emitting a small hiss and wisp of dying smoke. He brushed the ash away and pocked the cigar in his side pocket.

He settled back on the stool.

”No tabloid, just memories. Thoughts. I know they may not all be true, but it’s a picture you painted and left him with. I’m just flicking through, but I’m here to make my own mind up and choices with who stands with me and who stands against me."

A sly smile tugged at his lips.

”Not that I’m here for war or anything like that. I’m simply wading through viper’s nest of memories and faces on my way getting rid of them once and for all, so before I do I want to see the faces that meant most to him, and either say goodbye, or a warm hello."

He scratched his eye, the smoke irritating his dry scar.

”Commendable work you do, Joza Perl. Entertainment and humanitarian aid. Laughing without a care in the world one day, helping those dying the other. You must make a profit though in your humanitarian work – seeing what markets are needed, where the money is, what you can provide. It’s all about the networks after all and don’t kid me otherwise." Connor reached back for the fruity drink and took another mouthful. ”I’ve certainly seen enough of the handywork left by the Jedi and Sith forces. If the Jedi would simply back away from trying to preach so much we’d be alright. But, then, you’d be out of business so I guess it works for everyone, am I right?"

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza sucked in a low breath through her teeth, hissing sound soon smothered by another pull from the cigar. She wrinkled her nose for a moment as he extinguished the one he’d taken from her and stored it away in his pocket.

“You know,” The Zeltron turned back to the bar with a push of her leg against the swivel seat. She took another deep inhale off of the cigar, slow, savored before exhaling to the side and tapping the ash off of the end and into the tray below. “Sometimes there are no big ugly secrets behind wanting to help the galaxy’s unfortunate.”

Her gaze sharpened, not quite the predatory sort but there was something there that blunted the edges of her stare on purpose. Something that made her seem more detached from the situation, further away than Connor had ever seen her. Joza was an earnest woman but she’d learned to pick and choose who she let that side out to.

Her cigar hand was idle, smoke whisping from the glowing end before she reached down to press it against the hand that went for her drink again.

“Quite enough don’t you think? Of the drink and the patronizing. If you’re here to make up your mind on the broken memories you were left with, drawing hasty conclusions won’t do you many favors.”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

The cigar end came down on the top of his hand, and as the flesh sizzled, Connor sucked in his bottom lip and hissed, embracing the pain as another reminder of how human he really was.

He drew his eyes up to her bright orbs.

”Simply memories left by a broken man." The burnt black ash mark framed a raw pink circle on his hand as he drew it back. ”You're lucky I don't have my own mind yet, or you'd find yourself with a hand crushing your windpipe. Don't do that again."

He admired her gall, and her strong sense of character. She knew herself, more than he knew either her or himself. Connor had to give her that. Letting the mood simmer for a second, feigning people watching. He turned to her again.

”Tell me what you and he had. Why do I feel the resentment he had. The desire to protect you, but the longing you never would let him in? That's all I want to know. You're the Joza Perl he knew, so I want to know that person."

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

“Don’t act like a jackarse and neither of us will feel the need to get violent.”

The reply was swift, cold, though not devoid of her typical nature. Her features had sharpened well into this conversation, keeping Harrison just inside her line of sight whenever she turned her head to exhale some smoke or sip at her drink.

For all she knew, he would be far more dangerous than the man she’d known on Voss. Back in the Silvers before layers had been torn away, at both the Jedi and themselves. The Silvers were still around though, working as they always did. She had to admire the quiet tenacity.

“Hm,”

It took a few pulls from the cigar for her to find words that would make sense, that would do their past justice. Part of her didn’t even want to dive back into that but it was necessary, she figured, for self reflection at least.

“I’d come to him in a time of need and he comforted me. We grew close, then fizzled, then popped. We argued the last time we saw the other, but didn’t end up full of hatred.” No, it was something different. There was certainly anger involved in the mix but no one feeling could be singled out or pinned down as the defining aspect of their relationship.

“Tension.” She decided. “There were a lot of mixed emotions. In the end it didn’t work and I’ve made my peace.”

Joza downed the rest of her drink and gave him an expectant look, wondering what he’d make of that and if it would satisfy him.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor looked sideways on to Joza as she spoke, one elbow resting on the bar edge, the newly singed circle of flesh atop his hand resting on the knee. It seemed the Jedi wasn’t very good at admitting faults or making peace with anyone.

”I see. Thank you for telling me, I understand it wasn’t the best of times. For what little it means now, I know he regretted everything, and all the bad words spoken and harsh suggestions made were irrelevant at the end. He made his peace with you in the final moments when it was too late to come back."

With a forced smile, he moved his hand and tapped it on the bar, evident of her look to him – one of judgement and expectation, and great suspicion.

”Come, Joza. Tell me what next for your future. Where has your business taken you on these adventures? I’m eager to know how much you are expanding in the galaxy."

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

She nodded once. It was good to know that the man she’d known had made his peace as well, even if he no longer exists and even if she didn’t show it—the tension would just make it sound condescending.

“Business is good, can’t complain.” She wondered why he asked. “I’ve settled on Zeltros though I’ve got venues on Coruscant, Shaddaa and Lianna to name a few.” The Zeltron took another drag of her cigarra, exhaling to the side again. “Keeps me busy.”

She paused, tapping the ash into the tray next to her with one stiff finger. “How about you? How did…” She waved her hand in a short circle over him. “…this come to be? You were a very different man the last time I saw you.”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Dark eyes watched the smoke blow from her lips.

”I congratulate you on your little empire, Joza."

He sighed a little, one of contentment, and adjusted in his seat, leaning forward a little.

”You only live twice, Miss Perl. Connor used his time, now it's my turn. The dark world of Maena was where he repented for his sins and made peace, and it was there the Sith Sorceress manged to draw forth the true form inside his shell to stand, or rather sit, before you."

Looking up at her, he brushed a loose hair back from her brow, conscious of the proximity of her cigar, with a little chuckle.

”I know he was an emotionless, heartless fool, even in the Light. Perhaps in the Dark, he can be so much more through me. When I have finished my journey to find that identity, I do hope I get the chance to see you again. There is so much more left to do in the galaxy."

Connor sat back and titled his head back a little.

”Of course, if it goes wrong and I don't come back, then at least I got to meet the famous Zeltron sat before me."

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

The cigarette twirled between her fingers, weaving in and out like a party trick. It was the sort of thing you picked up from years of anxiety, but now it was just a simple habit.

“Thank you.”

Empire. She liked the way that sounded, but that would make her an Empress. Such a fancy title with an equally fancy target painted square on her head.

She took another drag from her cigar as he brushed a stray wisp of hair away from her forehead. There was something she couldn’t place about him, something seemed…off.

The Zeltron glanced down at his metallic arm for a moment and grunted.

“Seems as if you’ve been through a lot.”

The cigarette, nearly finished, was snubbed out in an ashtray to her side.

“Is the goal to find yourself?” She reached for her drink, taking a quick sip. “Or is there something more?”

[member="Raijin"]