A Jedi and a Sith can be friends... or maybe not

[VenomTartarus]

The recent treaty between the Republic and the Empire has lead to a time of peace. An unstable one but present at the moment. Such was necessary to help both dominions to rebuild... most likely their armies for another war. But until then peace was ensured and the daily life of both Sith and Jedi was a lot easier. For Jedi, a blessing, for Sith, an eternal waiting. But even with peace, internal problems still persist, like smuggling operations. Something both sides can agree as being an annoyance. Against the law for both parties, smuggling but me dealt with. And sometimes the intervention of more capable individuals is necessary. Venom was in charge of that.

Along the Hydian Way smugglers are responsible for shipments of illegal weaponry and seizing of Imperial trading ships. There as even been rumors they are operating on Republic territory but that is irrelevant. In fact if they had been working only on the Republic's dominion, Venom might have even helped them. But that was not the case and as such intervention is needed. These kind of action is not tolerated by the Empire. As always the origin of these smugglers is the planet of Nar Shaddaa. They are smart, their main base on Nar Shaddaa but their operations on the Hydian Way, so far away from the base, makes it harder to relate their base with the operations. They are too spread out to be taken out so easily, but if their boss is killed maybe the rest will fall in chaos. So Venom travels to Nar Shaddaa to kill a Hutt... cliche.


@Joshua DragonsFlame

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

And on the other end of the equation, the Republic was dealing with the issue as well. As he sat inside The Final Dragon, meditating, Josh thought back at how much smuggling tended to annoy him. Sure, his best friend was a smuggler who happened to know a few force powers, but his occupation still annoyed the piss out of Josh, and they would constantly get into arguments about his illegal work.

And yet, here Josh was en route to Nar Shadda. The Republic had asked for the Jedi's help as many members of the Republic had gone to deal with it and never returned. Seeing this as an urgent issue, they had sent Jedi Council Member Josh DragonsFlame to the fray to deal with it personally.

Finally, ship touched down on Nar Shadda... Or would, if some blasted Toydarian hadn't got onto the communicator and was shouting about fees for parking.

Josh sighed. He knew there wasn't fees for docking... This was some shrill hoping to make some quick credits over a landing pad that most likely didn't even belong to him. It was the "Was your inbred mother as poor as you?" comment that made him raise an eyebrow after he had sat and listened patiently.

"So, has a Toydarian ever tried to fly with both his wings ripped off their back?" Josh asked casually, as if the question bore no importance to him. The Toydarian froze, before letting out something that sounded like "No no! My mistake Mr. Jedi! You're on Bawlets list, see! The big VIP list! You land for free!"

Josh sighed, thanking the Toydarian while trying to hide his disdain at a criminal trying to pull a swindle on him and backpeddling at the thought of Josh coming out there and ripping his wings off. Not that he would have done it, mind you. But he would have likely given the man a piece of his mind if the insults had continued. Josh looked over at his droid, R4-J6, Codenamed Kaiden.

"If he or anyone else tries to come in here... You know the drill" he instructed the droid with a slight smile. The droid let out a few happy beeps at the thought of being allowed to use his flamethrower.

Josh walked down the ramp of the ship, knowing Kaiden would have everything under control. He paid little attention to the swindler. "Ah, I sure missed being swindled on Nar Shadda" he remarked as he took a breath. He knew he would likely have to kill a Hutt before his time on this planet came to an end.

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

Venom landed on a landing pad next to another one. In that other pad what looked like a modified [SIZE=10pt]YT-1300 was stationed[/SIZE]. The YT was a ship that remembered Venom of a past foe... He would have destroyed the landing pad just for the sake of it but he needed to walk on Nar Shaddaa discreetly so he ignored it, and walked to the city with a robe and a hood to hide his armor. His HK remaining behind on the ship, to avoid drawing attention.

The life in Nar Shaddaa was... overwhelming. Which was good for those hiding themselves. That meant Venom wouldn't find the Hutt through the force and instead he would have to ask around... But since asking on this planet means credits he would instead just force them to talk. So what better place to force information than the place were despair reigns? The refugee sector was his next on his list to visit.

Venom walked through the city... saw some beggars, some Exchange thugs doing their work, deals on dark alleys, and the rest of the vulgar day by day of the Smuggler's Moon. Venom was used to it, after all he owned a warehouse that he checked on regularly, and every time he would see the same events. As long as they didn't bother him he didn't care. But they would... Venom threw two Exchange thugs off the city platforms down to the surface, far, far, down. They threatened Venom that the Exchange would put a bounty on him for disrespecting their orders. But they can't really warn the Exchange if they are dead. Which they now were.

Venom continued his path towards the refugee sector. Upon arrival the Exchange was collecting some of them for forced works and punishing those that didn't comply. With their presence the refugees wouldn't even dare to beg for credits from Venom. He continued to walk to find his usual informer but from what he heard from the other refugees he was killed by the Exchange. A pity since he was very helpful... So Venom just found another one. On a dark alley where no one else was there, Venom drew the attention of one of them with credits to lure and then threw him. Using the force to press him against the wall and lifting him, Venom asked where he could find the Hydian Way Smugglers... The refugee would insist he didn't know but of course he did. So Venom started crushing his throat until he would speak. If he didn't, then there would still be plenty more refugees to ask to...

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Venom's grip on the refugees throat suddenly began to loosen, as if a telekinetic force was pulling at it... And then it was wrenched away roughly when Venom didn't let go.

"Release him" commanded a familiar sounding, calm yet firm voice. Looking at the source of the voice, Venom would find his old "friend" Josh DragonsFlame standing behind him with a serious expression on his face. Josh had been asking around to find out information about the Hutt and it's location... And as he wandered, he had seen Venom choking out a refugee. Regardless of who he was, Josh wasn't going to allow him to harm innocents for no reason.

But yet, to Venom... Something seemed... Different about Josh from last they had met. He had a different aura about him, a more powerful one obviously, but it was something in that way that he moved and spoke that seemed to suggest the Jedi Knight had matured and changed since their last encounter. Obviously a result of him becoming a member of the Jedi Council, no doubt.

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

Venom was so close to breaking his throat apart, when he sensed his grip loosen... Of course it could only be a Jedi, but any other Jedi would have been just a normal day for a Sith.... Until he heard his voice. Venom turned his head to look back, only to see his "friend", standing behind him, once again the knight of justice. Hatred filled his veins as he remembered how he failed to finish him off in that temple... That was why he felt a urge to destroy the ship next to his. It was certainly the ship of @[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"] and Venom recognized it partially.

Venom did not let go of the refugee... not yet "I see you still believe the galaxy can be saved by saving one life? I suppose much hasn't changed... except for a few things. You seem more powerful, but time and training can do that... And I've had plenty of it." Venom pushed Joshua with the force, not to hurt him but to distract Joshua from his effort to protect the refugee. On that brief moment Venom needed only to close his hand... You could hear the snap coming from the refugee's neck and his dead body falling to the ground.

"Waste of time old friend.... These refugees were dead anyway." Venom drew his saber and pointed it at Joshua "You should have died long ago... The rumors say you are part of the Jedi Council now... That won't stop me from one day hunting you down and finish you off. Why are you here Jedi? I do not have time to fight you... not this day"

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh frowned as he landed on his feet in time to see Venom crush the refugees neck. As Venom drew his saber, so did the Council's Weaponmaster.

"This is where your shortsightedness puts you in the wrong once again" he said. "Saving just one life and leaving it at that may not mean much... Save the oft chance they go on to do great things... But those little lives pile up. Suddenly after tine and time again of doing it, you've made a massive difference, perhaps even saves the life of the next big inventor, the next big engineer... The next big war hero... It goes on and on. And yet.... As well, people don't forget things like that. A simple saving someones life can turn into massive gain for yourself in the future...."

He sighs, his gaze never leaving his adversary.

"If you really want to know, I was sent by the Republic to deal with a Hutt thats giving us a few smuggling problems. Seeing as you've already murdered the personI was going to ask, I might as well get back to that" he stated calmly.

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

"Small lives saved piled up still mean little... they are just that small lives. And to come something great out of them? Doubtful... Even if it were possible I wouldn't care, they aren't citizens of the Empire. Believe me I would have dealt it in another way if he were. I care about greatness in the Empire not in the rest of the dominions... But why do I bother you obviously do not share the same vision so it matters little."

Venom heard @[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"] words and laughed. So the Republic had the same idea as the Empire, send out an "enforcer" to finish the Hutt. "Don't worry about that, he didn't know anything... I even spared you the time of asking. You are looking for the Hutt smuggling on the Hydian Way correct? The Empire has low tolerance for smuggling as well... I'm here for the same reason."

Venom turned off his saber and looked around to see if they were not being watched "I hate you Jedi... Do not forget that but I can see reason when it is necessary. If I am to find the Hutt or you are, then we cannot fight each other, at least not now and not here. It would draw too much attention, from the Exchange and the Hutt. If we do, we fail our missions, both of us.... You won't trust me and I don't trust you but you can see the truth in my words. We shall have our fight one day... but not this day."

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh chuckled. "Well, look at me. The Jedi saved a young child from a speeder and he became an amazing Jedi... When said Jedi lost his memory and was starving and about to die on Tatooine, Cody Jorin saved that Jedi, brought him back and that Jedi became one of the greatest lightsaber users in the Order... And a member of the Council to boot. All because someone saved that person, not knowing their potential"

Josh turned off his saber as he listened, nodding slowly at his words.

"Here's a better idea...." he said. "If you didn't realize, not only is there a treaty, but an alliance being worked on as well as trade between the Republic and Empire. The Empire's success is now effected by the Republic's, and vice versa. What better way to ensure that then to work together against the Hutt?" he suggested.

"If you aren't interested, I won't push it. I'll just leave and kill the slug myself" he said with a shrug. "But we have a common enemy and a common goal. Would at least make it easier, even if I haven't forgotten about you trying to kill me"

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

"Exactly look at you... Someone saved you and you became a Jedi. It would have been in my interest if you had died long ago... And had I known what you were going to become I would have killed you myself. But so be it..."

Venom listened and thought about it. Unfortunately he was right... It was in the best interest of both and until this worthless treaty was over he might as well play by this new set of rules. He cared little for the Republic but the Empire's stability was something else. Besides the Hutt had a big reputation... For having many minions and being untouchable and that meant that it could be a lot easier if he worked with the Jedi. Otherwise he might not be able to get close enough to the Hutt to deliver the killing blow.

"And I haven't forgotten that you aren't dead... But I guess I can forget that temporarily. Besides, did you think I would leave this job in the hands of a Jedi? We'll go together so I can make sure he gets killed..." Venom nodded as a sign of agreement and moved to look at the main street from the dark alley where they were. "We should move with haste... Do you know where to find the Hutt? Or do I need to crush some more necks?"

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh smirks a bit. "Not entirely... I saved the life of a Sith just recently actually... I figured she would run off and try to hold onto some Sith pride, instead she somehow saw the light and turned" he said. "Before the treaty of course. This was a few months ago" he corrected. "Just goes to show what happens if you're selfless" he added.

"Regardless..." he said, shrugging. "I did garner a bit of info. There's this card in the cantina that is real close with the Hutt. A Twi'lek. Yellow skinned male, likes to flaunt his.... Assets around. And by that I mean his slaves" he said, spitting in disdain at the thought of slaves.

"Normally I would do the pacifist method like the good JEDI I am..." he said, smirking at how much Venom hated the Jedi for seemingly no reason. "Buuuuut.... As a show of good will as allies, I WOULDN'T MIND at all if a giant Sith that looked like his armor was made of rocks suddenly STRANGLED said slaver and got the info out of him...." he said. "But pfft, what are the odds of THAT happening?" he joked, grinning.

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

"Yes... You keep giving me reasons to kill those that need saving. You saved a Sith and she turned to the light? Should have died... Maybe I'll save a Jedi one day to see if he or she becomes a Sith. I'll send you message to tell if you were right or not. The Sith are not selfless, they will never be, and Jedi will always believe in second chances. So that is why I won't try to change your view and you will only waste your time trying to change mine... But at the task at hand."

Venom listened to Joshua's information, and thought to himself before opening his mouth: " I believe I've seen that Twi'lek you mention before... he once tried to force me to buy him a drink... I forced his elbow to bend the other way. A good day." And then he heard the most wonderful thing, Joshua's next words. He looked up, as if thinking about what the Jedi said, murmuring: "Hmmm.... "

Moments later they would arrive at the cantina, the Twi'lek talking to his friends, accompanied by his slaves. One moment laughing, the other flying away to the other side of the cantina. The Twi'lek run upstairs to try and escape, and closed himself in a small apartment. Venom with his saber slashed the door open and there he was cowering like a little child. Two guards came but Venom slashed one and grabbed the other by the neck, throwing him out the window, his scream heard for quite sometime as he slowly fell to his doom. The yellow twi'lek was pushed against the wall and lifted by the force, and slowly Venom crushed his neck: "Who would have thought a Jedi would have such great ideas?" Venom looked at @[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"] and laughed " Having dark ideas Jedi?... I thought you were merciful to everyone but it seems you can have your exceptions...Maybe you should make it a rule instead of a exception. A little like me, I can be merciful... Maybe once every 100 years but still."

"Tell me pathetic fool... who is your friend? The one that pays for all your fun? The Hutt you work for..."

Twi'lek: "Wh-wh-what friend? Hutt?" he laughed in a nervous way " I don't know any Hutt"

"Of course not..." Venom closed his grip more and more. Twi'lek :" Argh... Wait... Wait... I work... With a Hutt called Voba the Hutt... He works for the Exchange...And I work for him..."

"And the Hydian Way Smugglers?" Twi'lek: "Yes! He is the one... I... can.. show you... his house... let me give... you this datapad."

"Throw it to him" Venom pointed at Joshua and the Twi'lek threw it to him. Twi'lek: "It is ... all there..."

"Good job... Goobye" Venom threw him with the force off the window, off to make company to his guards. Screaming like a litte girl again "He may not be very manly... but he had good taste" Venom said looking at the Twi'lek slaves that were standing on the other side of the room scared. Venom looked down to the floor and sighed. "As a show of good will Jedi... one in every 100 years." Venom looked at the three scared Twi'leks, got near them, drew his saber and slashed. They screamed but then they realized what happened. Venom slashed their slave collars. They were free. "Leave now..." The Twi'leks laughed at the thought of being alive and free, they said many thanks and left. Venom returned to Joshua "What does the datapad say? Can we find the Hutt?"

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh watched, leaning against the wall casually as the Sith Knight went to work. He seemed to be enjoying himself, so DragonsFlame didn't intervene... At least until a guard backed up in his direction, to which he responded by tripping said guard, allowing Venom to throw him out the window.

He watched patiently as he interrogated the Twi'lek, catching the datapad as it was thrown. As Venom made his statement, Josh chuckled a bit. "My merciful ways are for people and animals, Venom.... In my eyes, slavers aren't people.... And the term "Animal" is too good for them. So they get a pass" he said, smirking.

Josh watched with an amused look as he freed the slaves, and nodded slowly. "Well, and here I thought you were a mindless butcher. I guess even Sith have a heart... Or at least some common sense" he snarked, grinning.

Finally, Josh decided to check the datapad, taking a couple of minutes, before nodding. "Yeah. He hides in one of the ships he owns, while using another big ship as a decoy. We'd have to figure out which is the decoy, which he's hiding in" he said, sighing. "Not going to be easy, obviously"

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

"Sith have a heart when they were born with a soul... Our past still lingers no matter how much we change..." For a moment Venom recovered his humanity, something that he was loosing with each day, a remnant of his past life. But as suddenly as it came, it went away. The artifacts took over again and his heart was lost again. Venom returned to his cold standing and would waste no more time with this. "I simply didn't feel like killing this time..."

He heard what @[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"] had to say about the datapad and then Venom asked for it and checked himself "You're correct Jedi... And we can't have the luxury of invading the wrong one since that meant the Hutt could escape. We could either gather more info on the Hutt or we could split. Each one of us investigates one of the ships and report to the other of their findings. The one who finds the decoy, leaves to assist the other. Got a better plan?"

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh noticed the change in stance faintly, and tilted his head... Was there something keeping him as cold as he was? Something told him that he wasn't doing everything of his own free will...

Regardless, he gave him the datapad, and considered the two plans he laid out.

"Splitting up on Nar Shadda, especially with Hutts involved is a horrible idea" he said, shaking his head. "It would be best we do some more investigations. Better that then to attack both at once on two fronts, just one at a time. We'd likely be captured, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Hutt was on edge and expects someone to attack by now, seeing as we just killed one of his buddies and his guards" he added.

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

"True... I can almost smell the fear. Even better, then we should question more of them and cause even more fear, this time you get to throw them out the window." Venom laughed at the idea of the Jedi throwing someone out of the window "But of course Jedi always kill in the least cruel way... Anyway, any more ideas Jedi? Maybe the databanks of the Republic have something that can help?"

Venom looked around as he awaited for an answer, maybe he could find more in this apartment... assuming it was property of the Twi'lek, but nothing was there. "Maybe downstairs in the cantina, there might be information to find... " Venom went to the corridor and went downstairs, only to find several Exchange thugs pointing their guns at him. Venom drew his saber, deflecting some blasts and then run towards where he came from. "Not this way apparently...."

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh was about to answer, before the Weaponmaster was inturrupted by several Exchange thugs.

"Oh. Visitors. Lovely" Josh said, putting the datapad away before igniting his lightsaber. The dark blue blade hummed as he deflected several bolts, closing his eyes as he let the Force envelop him...

What Venom saw next would be the most joyful thing to happen to him today. The Jedi suddenly zipped past the Sith Knight at blinding speeds, before frontflipping over the head of one of the thugs, deflecting bolts as he went, one of them hitting one of the thugs and sending them crumpling to the floor...

And as Josh landed behind the thug that he'd leaped over, he suddenly kicked him in the back, sending the thug flying toward Venom, a gift from the Jedi that gift wrapped and practically handed the Exchange thug to Venom for slaughtering.

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

Venom saw Joshua fly past him towards the enemy and "kicking some ass" , not bad... for a Jedi ,he thought. Then the thug went flying towards Venom and there was no time to think about the Jedi's abilities. Venom simply ignited his saber and the thug got impaled in the process. With a swift move, he threw the body to the side and moved forward.

Venom was more brutal in his attacks than Joshua, he was more agile and fast, at least it seemed so, and Venom was more of a tank style. There were some more heavy armored thugs but Venom would use his hands to "slam" his saber on to the armor. He would walk forward, deflecting the saber, two heavies moved toward him for a fist fight. Bad idea. Venom punched one in the face and threw the other with the force towards the bar, smashing against the glasses. Back to the first one he moved his saber with both hands and the armor did not resist the heat and the impact, an arm on the floor and the screams filled the cantina. One less.

Some came with vibroswords and Venom dueled them, how he missed duels... He then saw the other heavy annoyed with him, but he saw that Joshua was closer. So he charged towards the Jedi. "Jedi on the right and behind you!"

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Heeding Venom's warning, the Jedi Knight waited until the very last second, letting the heavy think he hadn't noticed him. When the heavy slashed at him with the vibroblade, all Josh had to do was stab behind him, getting past the heavy's defenses. Venom could hear an earcurling scream as the heavy was stabbed dead between the eyes, before they fell.

Josh didn't know where he would hit, and winced at the screams, but the job was done. Nothing he could do about it now. It was after slashing the side of another pirate who had charged him that Josh noticed one trying to sneak behind Venom.

"Venom, behind you!" the Weaponmaster called out, before sensing a presence behind him, reacting quickly enough to pull off a Force aided backflip over the head of another enemy, slashing them through the back.

@[member="VenomTartarus"]

 

[VenomTartarus]

Screams of the enemy... it never gets old does it? Venom could only laugh at the Jedi's reaction. It truly was a gruesome way to kill, but nonetheless efficient. As he would do to others aroun him. Broken necks, arms on the floor, maybe a few heads. Venom was pretty sure one even rolled to the Jedi's feet...

As he kept fighting, Venom heard Joshua's warning and turned to face the unlucky merc. Fighting with one hand and extending his other arm to lift the enemy above the ground. Venom, by simply closing his hand, crushed his throat. A snap could be heard on the whole room. Then throwing the body at the enemies that run towards him.

"I'm tired of this Jedi... And I'm going to end this." Venom was loosing his patience and would not waste anymore of his time. Venom threw the saber to the ceiling and with the force made it run across the ceiling, slashing everything. Then with the help of the force he was commited on bringing down the ceiling by forcing the supports to collapse. "Watch out from above Jedi... Or stay there, suits me"

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh noticed the ceiling beginning to collapse. Not wanting to get squashed by anymore rubble in his lifetime, the Jedi hit a pirate with a hard roundhouse kick, sending them across the room.

Once that was out of the way, the Jedi quietly sidled out of the room.

@[member="VenomTartarus"]