Private A fresh start (Solo, story building)

[Belizarius Krusi]

OCC: practically this is so I can create a story arc for my character to catch him up. I was just going to fill out my factbook more but I found it kinda, bare. I had a series of ideas about what I wanted to do and it was hard to know what felt right by just rushing an explanation. I am hoping this thread allows me to more organically fill in the blanks over time. Might take awhile but at the end I can hopefully get an idea for the direction I want Belizarius to go.

Nadiem, 1 and a half years ago
"So, you believe that you don't owe them an explanation... you're just going to leave?" Varess said as Belizarius was packing away his books into crates and closing them up. He looked at her with frustration in his eyes from her questioning his life choices which he did enough himself.

"I don't owe the Republic anything, it's been months since this government was formulated and already I just see too much of old history repeating itself. It's practically a rump state on the border of wildspace manipulating worlds into joining it's rank, so yeah, I'm leaving" He closed the last container that held his Jedi Shadow robes, in the last few months the Republic had grown increasing bold with it's expansion in the region and he didn't see it ending well. He wasn't going to wait around for this to collapse all around him and he could still do good without wasting what talents he had on a doomed venture.

They both started walking out with a hover-trolley carrying the crates to his ship. Varess could sense that as much as Belizarius had a speech for leaving all planned out in his head this was about more than all that. She had only knew the Jedi for the last two months but there was something more to all of this. He didn't sleep well and this is something that he's offhand mentioned happens quite often. He has night-terrors and working for the Republic doesn't seem to be helping him sleep at night. She could feel that he was more angry and paranoid about himself than anything else and it had something to do with his dreams.

They finally managed to make it to the garbage pile that was the Watchman, Varess started to worry "You aren't.... serious right? I thought you would have organized a transport" she had been forced to fly on this ship a few times now and hated it every single time. Her favorite memory was when the life support failed for 2 hours and they had to use space suits while trying to repair it. Which wouldn't be so bad if the communication systems on the ship didn't constantly fail to communicate with anything that wasn't 'waving hand out the window' distance.

"Yeah, because if there is one job in this entire galaxy that pays well.. it's a Jedi" he pulled down a lever on the side of the rear door and it creaked to life as it slowly lowered, it stopped about 50cm from where it should have gone and Belizarius sighs "Just bloody once" as he kicked the ship and it falls down with a sharp "clunk". They placed the crates down and he turns around to her.

"You don't need to come with me. I don't even know where I am going at this point and it might not be safe" the Twi'lek gave him a puzzling look, sometimes he did worry that her time as a slave meant that she just followed orders and he felt like he had to be remind her at times that she actually does have a choice in what happens in her future. A grin then appears on her face "oh no, you said that you'd make sure that I was fine remember? not going to let you abandon me now you've lost your chance to do that" Belizarius was taken aback by that statement and looked worried but in the end the company might do him some good. He pulls on a lever on the inside of the door which started closing it and the screech from then door ruined any moment that they could of been having as it was deafening.

He moves past the mid-section of the ship and past the beds, he was going to have to get used to living like this again and it was not going to be pleasant but part of him could feel that even if he was unsure this seemed like the right course of action to take. He walked into the cockpit with it's four seats and took his place at the main pilot station. Varess taking on the position of co-pilot as he'd been making a point of teaching her the very small amount of knowledge he had on properly flying a vessel, he was mainly hoping she would one day become better than him and he could never had to do this again... but that was unlikely.

As the ship lifted off, Varess turned to him and said "So, what are we doing now?" Belizarius plotted a course in his computer as the sky gave way to the stars and for the first time in awhile he was free. "Jabiim" as he pulled the lever to enter hyperspace and left the Republic behind.

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

As the ship arrived at it's destination, Belizarius had a weird feeling in his gut. It had been awhile since he had helped out the refugee camps on Jabiim and he wasn't quite sure what sort of welcome to expect. Even though he never promised the refugees permanent help, it's what they tended to expect when he stuck around for a few months.

Varess looked at him, skeptically as they flew through a storm with nothing but mud and marsh underneath them "What are we doing here? freedom to go anywhere in the galaxy and we've come to the planet of the mudrats" Belizarius simply sighed back "I know people on Jabiim. this was the last place that I set up before joining the Republic. I am just hoping they haven't moved on yet" "who haven't moved on?" "The refugee camp named Vinclum use to house about 20,000 refugees fleeing from Mandalorian attacks in the mid-rim"

They approach the camp site, rows of metal shelters made up the center but as you moved out from their it slowly became more and more messy. Some were simply shipping containers repurposed for use with makeshift entrances and others were made from random junk which was leftovers from previous conflicts. Many of these people were sadly here because there wasn't anywhere else to go. Back in the history books refugees like this would flee to Coruscant or somewhere else in the core of what was then Republic territory but the coreworlds lately have been extremely unstable and showed no sign of improvement. The main people suffering were people in the outer-rim who needed real shelter from the constant raids.

Vinclum was one of the smaller camps that Belizarius had helped in the past and funny enough probably in better shape then most. Easy access to building material made things easier and the constant misery that was the weather did give them some access to water but food could be an issue and they usually relied on the refugees trying to find what work they could with the local authorities or simply begging for food. The planet authorities were at least more sympathizing than most.

He finds a small landing pad which could just fit his ship, Belizarius takes a deep breath as his heart races. He didn't tend to come back to these places once leaving because the few times that had happened, things went downhill fast after he left. In fact his main concern was that refugee camps get a little too use to his help and that causes problems.

As he landed a crowd gathered outside.

"You said that you knew these people right?" Varess said as she saw the size of the crowd, easily about 200 strong standing around the landing pad. "It's been awhile, but it should be..." WHACK as a rock hit the window of his ship. Luckily the ship wasn't so rubbish as for the glass to break but it made him realize that this might be a awkward visit. Looks like before he can try to move forward, he was going to have to face issues with his past behavior.

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

For the first time where he could of probably done without this happening, the rear entrance to the ship opened without a problem to the jeers of the crowd around them. They were angry, he knew that much and I am guessing things have only become much worse with his absence which was a common problem. It's the main reason he wanted out of that lifestyle to begin with. Jedi draw attention and that's why you either move on quick or you stay forever, the latter is not something at the time or even now he was willing to do.

"I want to speak with Jolari!" Belizarius shouted over the jeers which just made them more angry to the reply from the crowd
"He died, they killed him a month after you left us!" and that was painful. He was the nearest thing this camp had to leadership and if he was dead then something went really wrong when he left. As it looked at the buildings around him for the first time... he noticed a blaster burn that had still not been fixed on one of the buildings. The slavers probably killed and enslaved thousands to make sure the point was driven home... don't accept help

"I tried to..." the next thing he remembered was a large rock hitting his face knocking him unconscious as Varess screamed from inside the ship.

------ sometime later -----
Oh he did not miss that metallic taste in his mouth, his vision was a blur as he slowly took in his surroundings. The compact dirt underneath him meant that he was in a tent and he tried to move his hands so that he could lift himself up but of course they had been tied behind his back which one of the more uncomfortable sensations around. When he did open his eyes, he found that he in the room of a cabin tent and the sting in his head made him know they definitely hit him good. The room had a table off to the side with his lightsaber left on top of it meaning at least the people he was dealing with were not very bright and the rest of the furniture were just two broken chairs and a heater for warmth.

He saw Varess who was sitting on the other side of the room, seemed to be a two roomed tent meaning this was practically a palace compared to most. "Did they hurt you?" he said weakly, still collecting himself. "They brought me in with you, what happened? how did they hit you with a rock?!" she said angrily in his direction. "I wasn't focusing" he lied and Varess saw right through it "You let them hit you! I've seen you deflect blaster bolts and you thought now was the time to be modest?" Belizarius signed at this comment "Lightsabers escalate things, they don't calm things down. When you are surrounded by a angry mob and the last thing you want to do is fight.. don't... take out... your weapon" she did not look impressed and Belizarius continued to explain "People think that everytime a Jedi or Sith take out their weapon most people just shut up in awe, that's what most people imagine. Hell that's what most padawans think. 'This is the weapon of a Force User' but reality is most people all they see is a lasersword, they've most likely never seen a lightsaber and most who do at first see it as a relic of a weapon thats useless in a real fight. Not everybody... but some always try to attack you and next thing you know you've had to 'defend yourself' against people who never stood a chance"

"Why did you even come here?" Belizarius smirked at this statement "expertise mainly, you would be amazed how many people here are helpful when you need information on where to go next" Varess found his reaction weird "Do you think they're going to let us leave?" and then he just shook his head and gave out a small laugh "No, they're keeping me here because Jedi can get a decent price with some people. We need to get back to the ship and move on". He then revealed that his hands were untied and started moving towards Varess "How did you untie yourself! I have been trying for ages" he went to a nearby table to get his lightsaber, to be honest they probably just didn't trust leaving it with anybody else "Because I am in fact a Jedi and can use to force" as he waved his hand undoing her cuffs.

As they walked out the there was a group of 10 staring at the door, was probably a bit much to hope they thought he was secure. Some of these people did know him. This was going to get much worse before it got better....

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

It was a standoff between him and the 10 guards, armed with blasters of all makes and models wearing only rags. He could sense the fear with them and he personally had no idea what was the next step to take. Sure he could fight his way out but he didn't want to hurt anybody here since they were just scared but he also could sense an alternative purpose for them tying him up more than just wanting to find some way to punish him for leaving.

"What did the slavers promise?" he asked carefully and calmly. Slavers didn't usually take Jedi as they were too much trouble to keep under control and if they control was lost a lot of damage could be done. So in his mind their had to be something more going on here if they were planning on selling him.

One of the men, a brown Zabrak with his horns filed away was quick to speak up "They promised they'd leave" Belizarius quickly replied "let me he.." "NO! we hand you over, they leave. They've attacked us every week since you left and we have barely anything left. So many of our children are gone"

"He did nothing but help you people! and this is the thanks he gets?!" Varess screamed "Shut up child! He spent months fighting, arresting and killing them. Then left without giving us anyway of protecting ourselves! Yes we were struggling but if he just moved on then none of this would of happened!"

"I know you're angry but I know that there is no way you guys think that's true, they don't just move on especially when they have so many thousands of potential product to take and sell in their eyes... LOOK!" he shouted to get the attention of everybody nearby, he had a small crowd but he knew that this message had to be communicated better. "I get that everybody here is angry but please give me a chance to try and do something. Get what ever people you want to represent you together. If Jolari is dead than surely you replaced him with somebody else. You know deep down those slavers won't go anywhere... getting rid of me simply means that you guys lose all chance of protecting yourself properly from their attacks"

1 hour later

They were in what was once a food warehouse, not particularly big but it was built back when this refugee camp only had about 2000 inhabitants. The stained, rusted floor panels screeched as Belizarius walked over to the table and sat down. They agreed to find somebody who could help them figure out their next move. Varess walked behind him and she was extremely out of her comfort zone, guess this is still more excitement than she was expecting.

They sat at a circular table with 8 chairs evenly distributed around it. In the middle was a basic holographic projector. The idea was that eventually this room was to be used to help organise efforts to finally find these people somewhere permanent to go but in the meantime that wasn't going to happen. Belizarius knew most of the leadership of this camp and he honestly wasn't sure what to expect. The only one that tended to help and give him the information that he required was Jolaris.

The door opened behind them and Belizarius looked around to see a Mirilan with Yellow-Green skin. Wearing brown pants, a yellow shirt and brown jacket "oh shit" he mumbled under his breathe "what? who is it?" Varess replied "...An Tor, when I was here last she was captain of the miltia. she didn't like me" " why is that?"

"Because I kept telling Jolari that we needed to stop counting on some Jedi, who came from nowhere to solve all our problems and train our own people to defend themselves"

This was going to be a long discussion