Public A Meeting On Jerrilek

[Jacen Nimdok]

​

Graleca, Jerrilek
NPC Companion: Miri
Equipment: Unarmed

Jerrilek was known for being a tropical resort world where the galaxy’s most wealthy citizens vacationed on warm, clean beaches. But Nimdok was interested in the planet for other reasons.

An ancient civilization had once thrived there, disappearing suddenly a little over a million years ago and leaving the landscape dotted with ruins. Archaeologists were attempting to excavate one particularly promising site, and Nimdok had managed to weasel his way into the project. He welcomed the change in pace. He was no longer as free as he once was, being tied down by other responsibilities, but he still needed to work. Jerrilek was a beautiful place, calm and serene despite the rampant tourism in most of the planet's cities. More importantly, his daughter liked it there.

But as had become the norm for him, Nimdok’s peace and quiet was swiftly interrupted by an anonymous Holonet message requesting his help.

The message was brief and seemed hastily written, containing several grammatical errors. Despite this, he was able to get the gist: the writer had recently received an inheritance, including a "magic crystal" which had drawn the attention of certain unpleasant people. He suspected the crystal had come from a lightsaber, and feared the ones harassing him were affiliated with the Sith.

With a sigh, Nimdok cracked his knuckles and composed a response, asking them to come to Jerrilek. A public meeting place seemed best, so he picked a local seafood restaurant and tourist trap. Its popularity ensured the place would be crowded, hopefully deterring any potential attackers...

Just as he was getting ready to leave, he sensed the presence of his daughter lightly probing his thoughts. He tried to hide the information, but it was too late. As soon as she learned he was going to one of her favorite places, he heard the sound of small feet racing out of her bedroom.

"Can I go? Please? I'll be good!"

There was no point in arguing with her. So Nimdok went, accompanied by Miri, to meet with the mysterious stranger.

 

[Ladybug]

Throughout the entirety of the known galaxy, the Sith Empire employed several hundred spies whose sole purpose was to observe and report topics important to the Empire's flourishing existence. Some information was weak, not entirely useful while some information was concrete and Lords were dispatched; and then there was some information that fell into the valley of in between, spurring the Dark Council to dispatch an agent of the Saaraishash to investigate. With the content's nature surrounding the collected information, the Council felt best to send an Inquisitor who was familiar with ruins, ancient civilizations, and ancient history. If the information proved unavailing, perhaps the prehistoric sites could blossom interest for the Empire.

Stepping out of the shuttle, the young Inquisitor was rapidly approached by one of the docking bay security officers; promptly being requested of her identification card and docking fees. Handing the employee a fake card for visual purposes for both the security cameras and others mucking about, Mikilanna slowly and cautiously crept into the mind of the employee; brushing the ideas of waving the fees and accepting the fake card as authentic. Successfully achieved, Mikilanna put distance behind her and the docking bay. Her datapad was filled with statistics pertaining to the open case, but there was no real line pointing her in any direction; she needed a starting point to decipher fact from fiction regarding the data.

Mikilanna's first inclination was to investigate the archeological sites, manufacturing inquiries regarding the truth of this crystal, if the item existed, but quickly squashed that idea. Most that worked on such sites, where simple hired hands who knew little of the dig. It was those that led them whom she needed to contact, but they would not be willing to openly discuss business with a stranger that simply walked on their dig site. And per the Council's orders, she needed to be discreet. What she needed, truthfully, was a way to get involved into the operation legally and with little to no questions asked.

But first, it appeared by the small rumbles of her stomach, she needed food first. Settling on a seafood establishment, she took a table and a menu; scanning the proffered materials meticulously.



Jacen Nimdok

 

[|The Wayfarer|]

Cisco had been stationed with a smuggling crew as a deck hand for sometime now. They had just finished a run and with pockets loaded were looking for some rest and relaxation. They had taken on a few wealthy passengers who were looking for a discount trip to the island paradise, which wasn't out of the norm.

But, what was a little strange was that a child traveling all on his lonesome had purchased a small cot right besides The Gunslingers own.

He entered the room after his shift and found the child peeking into a bag. Cisco wasn't one to intrude so he knocked on the door. The kid jumped nearly out of his britches and quickly shut the burlap sack. The Wayfarer got a strange feeling about the child or maybe it was something in the bag...

"Didn' mean to startle y'u hoss. Just comin in for some shut eye!" Cisco said reassuringly.

The boy shook his head in assent and Cisco caught a peak at his eyes. Sparkling amber pots. They reminded him so much of his sons...

"What are you doing out here by yourself boy?" Cisco asked carefully.

The boys face seemed to harden up but their was fear in his eyes plain as day.

"Im going to see relatives..." He spoke hurriedly.

Cisco opened his mouth to speak again after he took a seat on the cot and stretched. But as The Wayfarer popped his back in a delightful twist, the boy had dissapeared while he was turned... Cisco shrugged it off as nothing important, but he got one of those weird feelings about the whole thing. Like something wasn't right...

He tilted his hat so as to shade his eyes from the lights rays and quickly fell asleep...

He was awoken by the gentle landing of the ships hydraulic gears. His first thought as he awoke was of the boy. He got out of the cot as he rubbed the grains of sleep from his eyes. After rubbing some water on his face he headed towards the exit ramp.

He had already collected his share so he decided he would wait with the rest at the ramp. The ships plank descended with a hydraulic snap and a venomous hiss of steam. Then Cisco spied the boy.

He was clutching the bag to his chest like a baby. Looking around constantly like a lost rabbit, eyes darting left to right, and walking at a brisk pace. Cisco followed the boy for some curious reason. It's almost like he was drawn to whatever was in that bag...

It was easy to avoid the untrained eyes of a child and the pair soon arrived at a sea food restaurant. The Wayfarer carefully followed him in and picked a booth behind a pointy eared alien

Jacen Nimdok
Ladybug

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

Nimdok checked his chrono. The contact was already ten minutes late. In that time, he had already ordered their food and observed the arrival of a Felacatian woman sitting a few tables away.

After another five minutes went by, someone new entered the restaurant—a skinny teenager carrying a bag. He stopped short, his eyes darting around, until his gaze landed on Nimdok. He carefully slid into the booth across from the archaeologist and his daughter.

“Professor Nimdok, right?” the boy whispered.

Nimdok nodded, looking him over. The boy’s clothes were rumpled and dirty, and he wore a gray cap over his wild curly hair. “And you are…?”

“Starlin Rand. Don’t call me Star, that’s a girl’s name.” The boy’s eyes darted again, then he adjusted the placement of his bag so that it wouldn’t be visible to the people passing by. “I’m the one who contacted you about the family heirloom. It’s been generating a lot of buzz in Coruscant’s underworld, so it must be worth something to somebody.”

“I gathered that much from your message.” Nimdok folded his hands on the table and leaned forward. “But if I’m going to help you, I’m going to need more than just the basics. What is it and where did it come from?”

“It’s… well, it’s some kind of magic crystal. I inherited it…” Starlin scratched his head. “Okay, look—the story of how I wound up with it is a little complicated, so bear with me...”

“Kid, how old are you?” Nimdok interrupted.

Starlin gulped, then averted his eyes. “I’ll be fourteen in a couple months...”

Nimdok blinked. He had thought the boy looked young, but not that young. Clearly he must have thought he could fool the archaeologist into thinking he was much older, hence his cool, impassive, “grown-up” behavior. It was all a front, a disguise to hide his youth and fear.

“I’m seven,” Miri announced cheerfully, holding up the appropriate amount of fingers.

Starlin’s face had turned bright red. “What’s the deal with her, huh? She your daughter? You bring her to secret meetings all the time, or just when you’re dealing with dangerous situations?”

“Only when they happen to involve her favorite restaurant,” Nimdok replied with a smirk. He raised an eyebrow. “I suggest you keep your voice down. You’re drawing attention to yourself, and we don’t want that, do we?”

Specifically, there was a man sitting at a nearby table. Nimdok had noticed him come in shortly after Starlin, and every so often his gaze would drift from his menu toward their table.

“Yeah, well, I don’t appreciate you telling me what to do, elf-ears,” Starlin muttered. “You’re not my dad.”

Force knows you could probably use a father figure, Nimdok thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “For the time being, perhaps you should pretend I am your father, if only for the sake of appearances. Did you travel alone? Do you have a place to stay?”

“I hitchhiked,” Starlin admitted miserably. “I don’t have any credits. I left Coruscant on my own because I figured if I went away, they would leave my momma alone...”

Nimdok took a deep breath. He sympathized with the boy’s plight, but the fact remained that it was his job to obtain and study artifacts. If Starlin was indeed being followed by unsavory forces, things could quickly get out of hand.

“Who are ‘they’?” Nimdok asked in a whisper.

“I dunno.” Starlin shrugged, gnawing on his lip. “Scary, rough-looking guys. Criminal types.”

Just then, their food arrived, earning a cheer from Miri. Starlin looked longingly at the plates, prompting Nimdok to stop the server.

“Would you like to order something?” he asked the boy, obviously implying that he would pay for it.

Starlin picked up the menu, glanced through it, and picked a dish. The server departed to fulfill the additional order. Nimdok weighed the merits of patience versus expediency, and decided it would be best if they didn’t wait.

“Now, tell me more about this heirloom of yours…”

Ladybug |The Wayfarer|

 

[Ladybug]

Ripping her eyes from the stained menu, they followed the arrival of a young boy. Through the Force she could smell the stench of his nervousness, the enticing aroma of his fear. The way he protected the bag and whatever contents locked inside was suspicious. Observing the kid with a keen eye, the young fellow slid into a booth across two other patrons, a man and a young daughter. Waving the serving droid away, the Inquisitor focused her attention on the trio, not missing the arrival of another man. The whole event was evolving quickly, perhaps this was the lead she needed.

Under the rigorous mandates, set by the Lord Inquisitor himself, for the training of those most loyal to the Emperor to hold the mantle of Inquisitor themselves, many unrelated Force techniques were taught; and cruelly forced to succeed. Failure was met with a harsh judgment, death. So it was no surprise the Saaraishash Branch of the Empire harbored the fewer members of any other branch. So as the young boy began to speak, and the older man spoke back in hushed tones; she could read their lips as if she was an invited participant in the conversation.

Magic crystal? Was this kid referring to a Kyber Crystal? Most crystals installed into lightsabers required the Force to be imbued into it, awakening the crystal and discovering whatever, if any, applications attached to it. Without the Force, the crystal was just a rock or gem. There was, however, legends and myths surrounding specific crystals naturally infused with Force energy, but if the legends and myths where to be accepted as fact; essentially these mythical crystals could hide themselves from Force sensitives. If that was the case, it would explain why she couldn't detect even an infinitesimal vibration emitting from the bag.

Regardless if it was a magical, mythical, mythological, or legendary crystal, the kid was clearly spooked and fearful of his life; and that alone was enough evidence to investigate the matter in more detail. Especially now, since she recognized the kid's facial features from the information gathered from the spy who set this all in motion; marking him, the young girl, and the older man as persons of extreme interest. Now, she needed a way to integrate herself with the trio.



Jacen Nimdok / |The Wayfarer|

 

[|The Wayfarer|]

The Wayfarer quietly took a seat at the booth and picked up a menu. He studied the contents while attempting to eavesdrop on the kid and the alien's conversation. A serving droid approached and Cisco smiled, but inwardly cursed himself at the distraction.

He pointed to the biscuits and gravy and as he did so he stole a glance towards the pair once more. The boy seemed to be talking about a crystal within the bag and the fear in his eyes was apparent. Cisco decided to take a roll of the dice.

Before his food arrived he got up and approached the duo. As he did so he spied a third little one hiding in the booth. Her head barely cleared the table. She was daintly playing with her food attempting to make what appeared to be a pasta smiley face.

Cisco started to have second thoughts, but, knew their might not be a better moment. He steadied his resolve and briskly walked over.

"Excuse me sir, I seem to be short on credits and was wondering if you could cover my meal?" Cisco answered innocently, then added in "I can work for the cost. I've got a speeder at my ship to play taxi and I make one helluva pack tauntaun!"

Jacen Nimdok
Ladybug

 

[Vera Mina]

Wearing: Lawyer Suit

Armed with: Fists, Legal Briefcase

Objective: Secure final settlement proceedings aboard abandoned ocean fuel rig

It had taken weeks to arrange this meeting.

Rolind Hathor, a long time swindler in the fuel industry, had finally had one of his schemes backfire when he had cut one corner too many on the safety regulations of the fueling rig she was now standing on, having arrived by shuttle which had just departed, resulting in a tragic fire that had cost over a hundred workers their lives.

Her ruthlessness was well known, and she had initially been approached by Hathor with an offer of millions to lead his defense team. Instead, wanting to impress her beloved Karlie, she had instead come to the side of the prosecuting families for what she considered an insulting pittance to her greatness, and honestly didn't give a damn about their problems or what they had suffered. She had to impress Karlie, had to let her know she was capable of doing something more than killing, though she was not yet sure how.

It had been delicious, admittedly, watching the previously smug CEO become desperate and neurotic as she laid damning evidence against him time and again, savoring his breakdown in public. When she was done, he was done 'for'.

So it was that he was forced to sell off all his assets, luxuries he had accumulated through years of shady deals and grift...somewhat like her ironically. And now she was coming here to make him finish signing the papers to pay off the last of his assets, effectively leaving him mostly penniless. She had been nice, from her point of view--she had left him 'just' enough to live comfortably on a budget, and let him keep one of his small summer cottages. But his CEO days were over.

She was in her Lawyer Configuration, that of a middle aged but curvy woman with pale skin and black hair, wearing a white leather dress, holding a briefcase that would allow her to finish legally slitting his throat. She was going to enjoy this.

She walked past the evidence of the fire that had swept over the rig, her enhanced sense of smell picking up what to her was the delightful odors of roasted viscera and cooked human flesh. The ruined rig and that cottage were all that was left to him and soon the Rig would be hers as well. (She planned to turn it into a Private Luxury Mansion!)

Vera's heels clicked on the ground, a cold smile already playing out on her gorgeous features as she walked across the ruined deck to the damaged control tower where his office resided. She had broken him in court, decimated him.

He had been so smug, so confidant at the start. He was sure at worst he would lose maybe a hundred million if it actually came to it. He figured Vera was only doing it for publicity, to make herself look like some sort of hero to environmentalists. (He was right about the publicity bit, but it was for the attention of only one. He was quite wrong about her caring for the approval of environmentalists. She would have slaughtered them like any of her other prey, and with relish.) But then she had begun to lay into him, both in the court and in public, spending weeks building the most damaging case she could, even surreptitiously poisoning his two best lawyers, breaking into his mansion to non-fatally stab his wife twice in the knees in her spy configuration...he had been in no condition to be of fully sound mind in prepping his legal defense.

She heard his heartbeat and the whir of his remaining body-guard droids before she actually entered his large, spacious office, once filled with a priceless collection of paintings and statues, now bare and sold off. It was just him, in a ratty, secondhand used business suit behind a makeshift desk and two B2 Droids. A large window to display the ocean was behind him. He looked like he had been drinking.

"Ah, Miss Mina. Come to finish driving the knife in?"

"Oh, the knife was driven in a week ago. I'm just here to start the embalming process." Vera said in a pleasant voice, pleased at his disheveled looking state. She took a seat in his secondhand chair, watching him pour a drink.

"Well...you did it. Turned me into a pauper in less than a month and a half. And for a pittance at that. Hope it was worth it. I'd have made your time and effort worthwhile."

"Don't care." She said, brushing past his passive-aggressive comments. She held up the briefcase. "I'm here to finish acquiring this rig and then kicking you the feth off it."

"I've known actual highwaymen who were more considerate robbing my sorry ass than you were in that court."

"That's why they are highwaymen and not lawyers." Vera said, infuriating him with her pleasant polite tone. He swallowed what looked to be strong whiskey.

"I was one of the first people to start fueling in these parts you know. My Rig at its peak produced a hundred gallons of crude fuel a day. I envied no one. And now...because of you...I shall die a pauper. Was it worth it? I had powerful friends. I could have introduced you to a whole new field of clients."

"All of whom will pay for my services just as eagerly regardless of your continued presence in their lives. They might even pay me more given how thoroughly I destroyed you...if only so I will not destroy them."

Rolind glowered.

"Logical." He said quietly. "Flawlessly Logical."

Vera's own unnatural nature allowed her to break the Fourth Wall for a second and cast an aside glance at whoever was reading this, hoping they got the reference. Especially Jacen Nimdok .

She then turned back to the once powerful CEO she had fleeced, opening the case.

"Its not so bad. I left you a cottage." She gloated, watching him take another swig as she slid him the papers to sign over his rights to the platform they were doing business on. "At least you aren't in prison."

The man frowned, took one more swing, pulled out a rusty pen and signed it.

"I'm surprised you want this place, given every thing that happened here. Of course, given how you own it now, I suppose my surprise counts for very little."

"You're wrong. It counts for nothing." the sociopathic Android Vampire sneered. "Now call a shuttle and leave this place. You're Trespassing. Droids, show this man off the Premesis."

"You didn't get everything Miss Mina." Rolind muttered grimly, drunk. "My father owned these droids. They were ruled by the court to be priceless heirlooms that couldn't be taken to pay off the debt.

"They're perfectly useless to you now, as you are no longer important. Tell me, did you just bring them to taunt me about the few things I could not take?" She inquired dismissively. "Tell me, what other pathetic trinkets did The Judge allow you to keep?"

Rolind grimaced.

"Fine...I'll show it to you. This alone could get me a hundred thousand credits...people are very afraid of spies..." He trailed, drunkenly stumbling over to a suitcase full of his clothes, retrieving a medium sized black box.

"Pretty much the only thing besides the droids and the house I have and soon it'll be gone just to keep me fed and clothed..." he muttered, clearly miserable. "Thanks by the way."

"You shouldn't have cut so many corners with the safety valves." She mocked.

Rolind, to be fair, didn't know what Vera really was, had not planned for this in any way. He could not have known what would happen by opening the Box.

The box contained one hell of an heirloom alright. A Vong UnMasquer, grown pocket sized.

When Vera caught site of the creature, she turned pale from shock before the reaction started.

The flesh on her face started stretching and tugging every which way on her face as she shook, flesh violently tugging everywhere in different directions under her dress.


White Blood oozed out of overstretched eyelids. She tried to stand, but the shock of an unexpected encounter with an UnMasquer had caught her totally off guard. Her Flesh was an Ooglith Masquer. Rolind was too stunned to do anything as the Android continued to shake, its flesh pulling violently in two different directions, until finally, the Biot let out an unholy shriek as her flesh completely tore itself off the slimy, chalk white artificial humanoid, dress and all. It howled unnaturally in pain as electrical sparks erupted across its artificial muscles, cooking some of them.

Rolind saw the fangs though, and the fangs are what compelled him to order his droids to open fire.

The biots torso was blasted open by multiple cannon bolts, shredding an arm. Meanwhile, her masquer had caught fire and was already burning up, along with the dress.

The biot collapsed nearly torn in two , one of its limbs blasted off a skinless milky white body, seemingly dead with a final shriek.

Four hours later.

He had put the remains in the nearby industrial freezer, and then sat in a corner in total shock, trying to figure out what to do.

He had panicked, and shot her dead. Or it dead, whatever the hell it was. No one would believe it hadn't been on purpose. Hell...to some extent it had been on purpose.

Killing the feared Lawyer Vera Mina would get him a death sentence.

But as soon as his shock wore off, just as he was trying to think about covering up the crime, a light bulb went on.

Vera's skin had reacted to that Unmasquer, and her whole flesh had erupted in sparks as she was shot to pieces.

With a start, Rolind realized she was some sort of illegal Android.

If she was an illegally made Android...then her whole case against him was null and void...and you couldn't go to jail for killing an illegal droid...

Excitement and Hope, the first he had experienced in weeks, swelled in him. He could get his old life back, and he could countersue the familes of all the miserable worthless feths who'd died due to his laziness into oblivion. It was a win! A total reversal of fortune!

He stood up, all he had to do was contact the authorities! That was literally all he had to do to end this.

He needed to get to the comm station. It was on the other side of the incredibly large platform, and had been chained off, most of the high end electronics taken already, but it still had an emergency distress beacon...

By the Gods, he'd chew through the chains if he had too!

Rolind began laughing madly as he sprinted out of his office...


Meanwhile...


Unfortunately for Rolind, his own corner cutting on the rig, from everything from the safety valves to the very electronics he now desperately needed was again about to bite him in the ass.

See, not fifteen minutes after sticking her skinless body in the freezer, the power had failed.

Slowly, everything had stitched back together once it dethawed. The heart came back first, and with it, consciousness.

Its processors were still malfunctioning however at the moment, so it could not regrow its skin, and thus was unable to fight.

But that didn't mean it could not kill him.

When Rolind commanded his droids to shoot the chains off the lock, madly climbing the tower to the comm room, all he found, to his horror, was the smashed up emergency comm equipment and a message written in white blood:


I tried to do this nicely.

NOW I FETH WITH YOU.

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

“I inherited it from my great-uncle, uh, Irrylath?” Starlin started to explain. “Yeah, pretty sure it was Irrylath Rand. I never met the guy, but he was apparently some kind of rich old hermit living in a big mansion…”

Nimdok put up a hand to silence the boy as the man who had been eyeing the trio abruptly got up and walked over to their table. The archaeologist frowned at the stranger’s request… at first. There were ways of telling what this man’s true intentions were, and if he was as simple as he appeared to be he might be of some use to them. Though the backstory behind how the crystal had come into Starlin's hands was equally necessary, Nimdok wanted to examine the crystal itself as soon as possible. They would need to take it back to his quarters, where he had all his equipment, notes, and tools of the trade. Not to mention privacy...

“You shouldn’t have walked in here knowing you couldn’t pay for a meal, man,” Starlin grumbled, surreptitiously resting his hand on his precious bag. The kid didn’t seem to realize that the stranger had probably overheard Nimdok offering to pay for his food and decided to take advantage.

“Now Star, that’s no way to behave,” Nimdok scolded, deriving some amusement from the indignant glare the boy shot his way. Turning to the newcomer, he added, “You’ll have to forgive my son’s rudeness. My ex-wife clearly failed to teach him proper manners.”

While Starlin gaped at him, Nimdok continued, “I would be happy to lend you some money, provided you could give us a ride...”

His gaze was drawn toward the female Felacatian sitting further away, watching them with feline eyes. Best not to look like they were in a hurry to leave.

“...To the ruins outside the city,” he finished, glancing back at the wayfarer. “I’m an archaeologist working at the site. Despite all that we do to contribute to the field of history, we are woefully underpaid, you see. I can't afford to purchase a personal vehicle of my own, so I’ve had no choice but to rely on the kindness of strangers. It certainly beats public transportation. I sincerely hope you're never subjected to the indignity of riding in a filthy, outdated, rickety taxi on some backwater planet with minimal facilities as it is, let alone with two children to worry about. Awful.”

Shuddering at the memory, he took out his wallet and produced a generous amount of credits. Holding them out to the man, he asked, “Will this be enough to cover it?”

Ladybug |The Wayfarer| Vera Mina

 

[Minna Balin]

LOCATION: GRALECA, JERRILEK
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
CURRENT GOAL: FIND THE CRYSTAL

Whoever was selling the "magic crystal" had been a little sloppy.

Telling as many people as they did ensured that everyone and their mother who had an ear to the ground would hear that the item was being sold. Anyone with a half-decent slicer on their payroll would be able to find the messages and track them back to their source; a sleepy little resort world called Jerrilek. Someone with a few credits could hire a ship to get there. One person had.

That person was Minna Balin, a bounty hunter and explorer of exactly zero renown. Nobody knew who she was yet. To anyone not paying attention to her in the underground, she came off as incredibly new, a rookie, not worth the clothes on her back. Maybe some of that was true. But, hopefully, this score would change that.

The ship she hired had left the system an hour ago, there was no turning back for the young hunter. Her armor fit snugly around her, although the helmet was clipped securely to her belt for now. Weapons littered her body across every which way, blaster pistols on her hips, jetpak on her back, and assuredly more tucked away and hidden from view. Her face, bare for the world to see, hid a hint of nervousness.

Up until she hit the planet, she had felt confident. She didn't like stealing, but where a potential lightsaber crystal was concerned, she could suspend her morality. Besides, if she didn't steal it, someone more unsavory than her would probably take it. At least she would put it to good use. But the moment her durasteel-plated boots touched the ground, a sudden chill went up her spine. She recognized the warning, and didn't like it one bit. But Minna ignored the cold feeling for now.

"Now," Minna mumbled to herself, taking out an expensive-looking datapad and tapping on it. "Where are you?"

- Jacen Nimdok - Vera Mina - Ladybug - |The Wayfarer| -​

 

[Vera Mina]

Vera had a problem.

Her flesh was only slowly growing back, but it was barely a thin white membrane around her body, torn and destroyed too easily.

Rolind had turned on all the remaining security features, and using her telescopic vision she could see he had placed some old depth charges on the engineering shed so she could not use it and had barricaded himself in his office with one B2 and a Disruptor. Vera had not sensed any initial intent to murder her but she had to wonder if the thought hadn't at least crossed his mind, bringing what he had brought. It was certainly the perfect place to kill her...isolated, out on an abandoned rig in the middle of nowhere, heavily damaged, advantage of numbers. He literally could not have planned it better if he had actually planned it at all.

But that was not her most pressing concern.

Not able to fight due to how slowly the flesh was regrowing, the trauma of having her skin torn off had left her thirsty. Very thirsty.

She needed blood within the next two hours. No doubt Rolind would eventually get desperate and cannibalize one of his fathers droids for the parts necessary to fix the transmitter.

But if she went feral, she would be easy prey. She wouldn't think straight. Every exertion sped up the thirst deterioration. She had to end this soon. Within the next half hour if possible.

One B2 was systematically searching the whole rig. Even an advanced killing machine like Vera knew and feared the B2. Even centuries after its introduction the heavy armor and firepower made it still a formidable opponent. A squad of them could kill Jedi even today. Two had ripped her apart so thoroughly they would have killed her completely had they thought to aim at her head. But as with many of these droids, they were programmed to aim center mass primarily.

Vera watched the droid from behind a wrecked fuel tanker, and considered the parts she had stolen from the transmitter.

Ion was out of the question...she was vulnerable in this state to it. Without her dress, she had no protection against its effects.

Which left a really, REALLY tricky plan to execute...

The skinless monstrosity needed to gather the necessary parts. But she couldn't run. The processors were still doing error checks and had shut down her ability to run as a safety precaution. And she was unarmed. If it caught her, Vera had a feeling it wouldn't make the same mistake of not getting her in the head.

The thirst getting worse, Vera decided to make the dangerous journey into the more damaged parts of the rig. Most of it had been sold but she knew there had to be a spare repair kit somewhere. They couldn't have cleaned it all out to pay off the money she had forced him to give those families.

Walking was very nerve wracking. She wasn't used to being this vulnerable. Only Gerul Megalo, The Amalgam and Howard The Pirate had caused this sensation within her before.

The pump and flow stations still worked, only there was nothing to regulate. Vera spotted a tool box and immediately begin to search it for something to pry open the panels.

Rolind's voice echoed over the Rig P.A. system.

"I should have known no normal lawyer could put together such a flawless prosecution of a Billion Credit Corporation. You used loopholes even my best people were not aware of in the lawbooks. Who built you anyway? I gotta presume you're the spawn of the Recluse you work for. Who the feth would think to build an illegal Lawyer Android out of Vong Tech? That's what you gotta be, right? Vong-Made?"

Vera's barely functional body clenched her fists.

"Y'know, I'm lookin' at this like a sign. Maybe, maybe gettin' a run-in with you was a way of humbling me. And now that I have been humbled, Fate's chosen to stop punishing me. All you've done in ripping out the transmitter is delay the inevitable. In truth, I don't even have to send the Droid after you: I can just sit tight in my office, wait for them to send a rescue team, and show them that Masquer you were using as skin and you're done: Your entire prosecution falls apart. I'm not just gonna get my money back. All those fools that hired you 'cause they can't stop whining about their burned up spouses or parents? I'm gonna leave 'em homeless. And then, I'm gonna fine whoever made you and make sure they spend the rest of their lives breaking rocks on some chithole prison colony. I'm not just gonna make all my money back...It'll be with interest."

Vera was busily ripping out the electronics of the pump and flow stations, desperately jury-rigging together certain parts with a laser cutter.

That was when she heard the faint clank of The B-2 approaching.

Vera worked like mad, repurposing the parts...She soon removed the battery of the laser cutter, and pulled open its innards to restructure and modify them.

The Droid grew closer, its audio sensors hearing the sounds of work where there should not be.

He closed the distance, spotting heat tracks with its thermal imaging, moving around wreckage yet to be cleared from the disaster.

Its onboard Blaster Cannons extended as it followed the tracks into a a pumping station. But there was no sign of the Biot.

"You got no chance you skinless freak! Here, I'll even offer you a deal..." he sneered over the intercom, watching his droid search for Vera with the aid of a portable datapad that viewed the search through its photoreceptors... "Surrender. Living proof will be even better for me. I'll even ask the court to preserve your existence...downgraded of course, but you'll be preserved...as my butler. What do you say? It's preferable to scrap."

The Droid searched every crevice of the pumpstation. But her tracks.

Its visual sensors filled with static partly, the weak signal jammer she had crafted only partly interfering. It opened fire in a three-sixty radius nonstop on full automatic but Vera was already moving in with her make shift scrap grenade, sticking it to the chassis of the droid from behind as she dropped from above awkwardly, breaking one of her ankles but not feeling it due to her design except that she detected the damage. The Timer, primitive, set off for four seconds.Vera only somewhat managed to clear the blast, multiple bits of shrapnel going into her back and legs. If she were human she would be screaming in agony.

Fortunately in this case, she wasn't.

Uncomfortably Vera noticed a growing disdain for the man, beyond him being an organic who was not her beloved Karlie. It was the way he casually dismissed his underlings. Even Vera had more regard for her underlings and servants. More regard for her technical brothers and sisters amongst the Morpheus Knights. It had gotten to the point that even without the programming safeguards Vera would never have dismissed her losses or mistreated her assets the way Rolind had...

She saw the Droid was still partly moving. Its eyes and audio were intact, her X-Ray mode detected.

"You can't bargain..." she said to her prey, via the droid, producing a makeshift laser pistol.

"...with what you don't have..." she finished, shooting it.

She winced, feeling the thirst build. Maybe forty minutes due to the injuries. Then she would go feral...

She began walking, skin regrown a little more, bleeding white blood as she moved through burned passages...closer to her prey. One down. One to go.

Jacen Nimdok .

 

[Ladybug]

Patience, it is told, a virtue. If one could simply weather the storm until the promising rainbow with that legendary tales of the pot 'o gold at the end presents itself, one must act swiftly. And acting swiftly was her forte. Through the lips, she now found a way to present herself to the archeologist. Removing herself from the table, Mikilanna strode over to ever growing group. "Forgive me, I am truly sorry for disrupting such a lovely meal," she said looking at each individual, but refraining from resting to long on the kid with the precious cargo.

"I heard you say you are an archeologist," addressing the gentleman with the young girl, "Or rather read your lips. Rude I know, but it's a skill I learned and a bad habit to intrude on other's conversations. But I too have a vaulted interest into visiting those ruins. I'm kind of, how do you say it, a history buff."

Retrieving her personal datapad, Whistler XIII, she unlocked it scrolling her collected list of ancient dig sites. "My parents told me to see the world, despite my age, but they didn't mean skulking through ancient structures. But, hey, a calling is a calling am I right? I can pay my way, splitting the cost of that one's vehicle if you allow me to join you on the expedition? I'll stay out of your way, promise! And...and I can be quite useful. This datapad houses a ton of information and," she paused tapping her head, "So does my head. I have an eidetic memory, and I can decipher over two styles of ancient hieroglyphics."

Blushing for theatrical appearances, and bowing her head as if she was slightly embarrassed, she added, "I know what you're thinking, why would a kid spend time playing in ruins instead of enjoying their teen years? Well, I'm kind of awkward like that. So, can I come along? Please! Please! Please!"


Jacen Nimdok

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

Just as Nimdok was about to hand over the credits, the female Felacatian got up and approached their table. As she began speaking, he saw that despite her erudite speech and self-assuredness, she too was much younger than she appeared, no older than a teenager by her own admission.

He was reluctant to accept her request and let her join them, but on the other hand how much damage could a teenage girl possibly do?... Don’t answer that.

“You certainly are resourceful,” he replied, giving her a friendly (if a little reserved) smile. “And very eager as well. I don’t have a problem with you tagging along. You needn’t worry about paying for transport, either.”

Perhaps he seemed overly generous, but as long as he could placate these strangers, lulling them into a false sense of security in the belief that he was either a pushover or hopelessly gullible, the better.

He glanced at the others at the table, particularly Starlin. The boy’s food had just arrived, and despite the urgency of the situation he had begun eating with relish. Sensing Nimdok’s eyes upon him, he swallowed and inclined his head, pushing his chin against his chest with a look of uncertainty. This was a situation in which he was totally at a disadvantage; he had no choice but to place his life and livelihood in Nimdok’s hands.

And they still had no idea what the crystal was or why so many people were intent on getting it.

Signalling to a server droid, Nimdok asked for a box to take home what was left of his meal (no use letting it go to waste). While they were waiting for the check to arrive, he reached under Miri’s arm at his side. She yelped, followed by shrieking laughter; though he had only meant to get her attention, she was extremely ticklish.

He hushed her, then made a slight gesture with his open hand. A moment later, he felt her presence like a ray of sunshine in his mind.

<Hi Daddy!>

Nimdok was not Force sensitive, but his daughter was very strong in the Force. At such a young age she was slowly learning how to keep her thoughts to herself and shut out the thoughts of others, but he had already begun to find ways of using her unusually pronounced abilities to his advantage. The signal he had given her meant let’s talk without words.

Silently, he asked her to find out how much Starlin really knew about the crystal.

Ladybug |The Wayfarer| Vera Mina Minna Balin

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin was stress-eating.

The boy hadn’t realized he was being followed until the man who had approached him on the ship walked over to their table. There was no way he could tell Nimdok who the guy was or the connection between the two, so he was left sitting there helplessly as Nimdok handed him a wad of credits and asked him to take them to some ruins. Then the cat girl came over and started begging to come along. She gave off a disturbing aura, though Starlin couldn’t pinpoint what exactly it was.

So he was being led to a remote location with a bunch of strangers, two of which were potentially dangerous and had been following him around. Just great.

With his mouth full of food, Starlin flinched as though he had bitten his tongue. He was struck by a sudden headache. It felt like his brain was being squeezed like a lemon.

The sensation wasn’t new to him, unfortunately. During his frantic escape from Coruscant, one of his pursuers had raked their fingers across his mind, digging for information. Not only had his attacker been able to seize his knowledge of the crystal, they had confronted Starlin with the fact that he was like them. Force sensitive. A potential Jedi or Sith...

His eyes darted toward the source of the invasion, and he was surprised to find it was the little girl. He mentally shoved her away. She shrank back, frightened. Beside her, he heard Nimdok exhaling through his nose in anger and annoyance.

A lightbulb went off in Starlin’s head. Miri was acting on orders from her father, contacting him mentally so that they could continue their conversation without the risk of being overheard. Well chit, why couldn’t they just wait until they could… oh, that’s right. The cat girl said she could read lips, didn’t she? Huh.

Reluctantly, the boy relaxed, and even tried to project his own thoughts.

<What do you want? Can’t you see I’m eating here?>

<Daddy wants to know about the crystal.>

Starlin sighed, surreptitiously glancing down at his bag. The crystal had arrived in the mail, a mysterious unsolicited package delivered to his doorstep. His mother had collected it and left it in his room, leading him to hope it might be a surprise gift for good behavior, maybe a new hologame or something.

Instead, he had opened the package to find a tiny white crystal. It was small enough to fit into the palm of his hand and almost opaque. When he touched it, it seemed to give off a weird energy, though it was so faint that it went away completely as soon as physical contact was lost.

There was a typed legal note included in the box that had explained it was his inheritance from his recently deceased great-uncle. He’d heard of Irrylath Rand from the various stories his mother told about her wealthier relatives. Most of them had disowned her long before Starlin was born—like him, she’d gotten involved with a bad crowd. Even after she left all that behind, they still wouldn’t accept her… bunch of rich fuddy-duddies.

Anyway, Irrylath was an eccentric old guy who lived on Naboo, a former Jedi Master who had long since retired. He had an intense interest—some might say an obsession—with genealogy. Supposedly he’d been able to trace their family tree back almost five thousand years, and whatever he found in their lineage had prompted him to scour the galaxy looking for relics that had allegedly belonged to his ancestors.

Starlin assumed the crystal was one such relic, though he had no clue why the old man had decided to leave it to him in his will. Possibly it was an attempt at keeping the crystal safe in obscurity, but if so it hadn’t worked out the way he’d planned.

As Miri excitedly relayed all this information back to Nimdok, the archaeologist raised an eyebrow. In the meantime, the server droid returned with the check. The archaeologist paid for their meal and stood up.

“Well, as long as you two are ready, I believe we should get going. I’d like to reach the ruins before dark.”

Taking one last bite of his food, Starlin got up. Miri scooted out of the booth, her face smeared with the remains of her pasta. Remembering that he was supposed to be her big brother, Starlin stooped to wipe the girl’s face with a napkin.

Straightening, Starlin reached back to grab his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He couldn’t help noticing how the eyes of both their driver and the Felacatian followed it. They must have known—there’s no way they were telling the truth about their motives.

So why was Nimdok letting them come along?

<Hey.> He tried awkwardly to get the little girl’s attention. She craned her neck to look at him as her father led her by the hand toward the exit.

<Tell your dad these people have been following me around. Tell him they’re after the crystal.>

Nimdok stiffened. Turning to Starlin, he spoke.

“Oh, don’t worry about your bike,” he said. “We’ll call someone to take care of it once we get there.”

Ladybug |The Wayfarer| Vera Mina Minna Balin

 

[Minna Balin]

Minna frowned severely, the kind of frown that worms it's way into every aspect of one's face. Her eyes seemed to darken, the creases between her eyebrows scrunching and folding on themselves. The slicer she hired was still combing the city's security tapes, looking for the buyer and/or the seller, but they had come up with absolutely nothing so far. It was frustrating, to say the least.

The young hunter decided to busy herself by walking the streets of Graleca, for the time being. Under any other circumstances, she would have marveled at the atmosphere of the sleepy town, maybe fantasized about spending a vacation here, but currently, she was preoccupied with sulking. She needed a big score to get on the bounty leaderboards. If she kept missing her opportunities, the opportunities would stop coming.

Luckily for Minna, the 'Will of the Force' works in mysterious ways. Not that she believed the Force had a will at all.

As she was walking, she felt a pulling. It was subtle, and if she were distracted more than she already was, Minna would have missed it entirely. This time, it wasn't the cold premonition she had felt when she hit the planet. It was warm, playful. It reminded her of her youth, when her father would help her train her abilities. Almost subconsciously, she began to walk towards it. winding lazily through the streets until she stopped suddenly, in an alley.

Minna pressed herself against a wall, and fastened her helmet to her head, taking stock of what she saw. Suddenly, a voice came in through her comms. The slicer.

"Got a couple'uh hits for yuh, Miss Fish. Those folks yuh lookin' for. Security cams put 'em at a..."

"Seafood restaurant," Minna breathed, watching a strange, conglomerated group exiting into the street.

"Yeah, 'xactly. How'd'yuh know?"

Minna crouched low in the alley, turning up the audioreceptors in her helm to hear the group talk.

"Hunch, I guess."

- Ladybug - |The Wayfarer| - Vera Mina - Jacen Nimdok - Starlin Rand -​

 

[Vera Mina]

The Android had grown perplexed as she ventured through the ruined rig, trying to come up with a more effective strategy to breach Rolind's office. Her flesh was quivering, having stopped regeneration due to the injuries, which had barely clotted. She was still locked in walk mode.

She saw strange symbols that didn't make sense. They almost looked like runes. She had begun to follow them. Since Rolind was cutting so many corners on safety it would not have surprised her if he was cutting corners on employee ethics.

There were always things about this case that had never made sense to her. When the fires had initially started in the eastern section, almost a quarter of the workers, despite the alarm at the very least clearly being heard throughout the entire facility, had not evacuated along with everyone else until it was too late, staying near the powerplant section until the very last moment. No one could figure out why during the investigation. But now Vera was here.

In spite of the pressing threat Rolind represented to not just her future, but the future of her family, Vera found herself investigating on a hunch.

It took her all the way to the powerplant section. Here was where the worst damage had occured. Twisted girders and shattered computers with circuits half melted. Vera could still make out the organic traces of those who had died thanks to her more sensitive vision, even though it was now occasionally becoming static filled every few minutes. There was a reason for this. If she could find any incriminating dirt on him...more than what the investigation had turned up, she might be able to force him to a stalemate. It genuinely unsettled The Android how close one person, ordinary at that, was to destroying her life. Rolind was just an ordinary man, yet had her over a precipice and she genuinely was not sure if she would be able to reach him before she lost control.

Panic at the thought of not seeing Karlie ever again made her quicken her step, the disgusting looking creature's movements stiff and awkward. It was why she had not quite escaped the initial explosion.

The generators were shattered, blasted apart. Power overload due to faulty wiring. A hundred people were dead because one man didn't like anything but the bare minimum quality. Mother paid for the best and got the best.

She reached the mostly destroyed tool shed, starting to scavenge in desperation for anything, anything at all that might have survived the blast. She found a hydrospanner and a few miraculously undamaged spare parts in a mostly destroyed box. Nothing that would buy her more time.

Vera then spotted a small handle hidden underneath a wheeled tool cart. She kicked it out of the way and wrenched it up, revealing a concealed staircase. Vera had seen the blue prints of this place...She knew for a fact it wasn't supposed to be here.

Vera descended the staircase, and was immediately surprised.

Smuggling. She saw disruptor parts, rare electronic parts, all carefully arranged and packaged. She saw something else, however, that caught her eye.

Healing Implants. Low grade. Designs like this had been around since the Jedi Civil war. They had been designed for normal organics however, and would not provide the nutrient she required. It was however, one item in particular that caught her attention.

It appeared to be a glossy, robins egg blue with an asterism. A gemstone next to what appeared to be a small payment of electrum ingots. Mother had told her of these. They were Ankarres Sapphires. Supposedly they possessed immense healing properties.

Could they heal Androids--?

Feral blood lust was starting to build in her. It was getting harder to think of what she wanted to do.

The fear of being ripped away from Karlie prompted Vera to push through ravenous hunger and start thinking about how to at least delay the feral mutation state for a while longer.

The Android began to pull apart the electronics, taking tools as she repurposed a few powercells by prying open the housing, fusing a few wires to them and connecting them to needle-like connecting jacks that she jammed into the base of her neck. She took one of the spare energy chambers on a disruptor barrel, and carefully inserted the Ankarres in to the chamber, in the area where a thick focusing lens would have gone. It barely fit in the chamber housing, but it fit. She then connected the chamber electrodes to those of the battery, while prying open the small casing of the implant and jury rigging a battery wire to its main power feed. She cut open her arm and with some creative work with a laser cutter, fused the jury rigged implant to her muscles, taping down the connecting wires to her arm and side, along with the devices before stapling her arm shut. Sighing, the thirst nearly maddening, she turned her haphazard device on.

A sickly feeling washed over. It was a feeling of exhaustion and nausea. But she felt the maddening thirst subside, but not entirely disappear. It had been weakened greatly, but she could already feel it slowly building back up. Another brief delay. She had bought herself another half hour. Maybe. It wasn't healing her. But it had slowed down her degredation.

That left one major problem...Rolind and the droid.

She looked around. There did not seem to be any actual ammo. Just parts.

Fortunately, she knew her way around illegal weapon parts...

Vera began to work quickly...

 

[Gray Venasir]

Around a year ago, Gray had "temporarily retired" himself. After many fights, wars and jobs gone wrong, he had had enough. More than once had he seen allies fall in Battle, or betrayed him to a higher bidder. And then there was the force users. The Jedi and the Sith, With their constant Battle over beliefs. And there was no indication that both Groups would stop existing or merge into one anytime soon. So Gray had done one last, high paying job, and retired to Jerrilek, hoping for a peaceful life. For a time, at least.

The tropical heat wasn't to his liking, but it was a small price to pay. Up until now, he had done quiet and peaceful Things, like Fishing, taking strolls around the city of Graleca, and eaten at various restaurants. He was also doing small jobs, to be able to pay for his stay there.

Today, he had been eating at a Seafood restaurant, which he was a frequent visitor of. The waitresses knew him well there. Some of them a little too well. And when he entered, they often told the chef before Gray had even sat Down, because he always ate the same. Which was the case today too. But in the middle of the meal, Things started happening. The first indication was that a Young teenage boy, carrying what seemed to be a baby, came in and sat Down by an older man. Nothing seriously strange. But shortly after, other guests there rose to their feet, and walked over to them. Two very differnt looking People. But they were too far away for Gray to be able to hear them. And he had promised himself to stay away from trouble while there. And this seemed like trouble.

He signaled for a waitress to come over to him. "Thanks for the Food. This should be enough, I think," he said, and the waitress took the Money. "You still wanna join me at the Beach tomorrow?" After getting his answer, he got to his feet, and left the building.

He started heading home, not thinking much about what he saw at the restaurant. It wasn't any of his business. The alleys were often quicker than the streets, so Gray entered one of them. Thugs weren't usually sneaking about there, but it did happen, which is why the common People didn't use them. Still, Gray kept his blaster-hand ready. Walking around a corner, Gray suddenly stopped. There, several meters in front of him, crouched someone he knew before he came here. This was the first person he knew, whom he had encountered on this world. "Hello Minna. What the force are you doing here?" he asked, keeping his voice Down so as not to attract other People nearby.

Minna Balin | Starlin Rand | Jacen Nimdok | |The Wayfarer| | Ladybug | Vera Mina

 

[Minna Balin]

Minna's gaze was focused on the group leaving the restaurant, her eyes behind her visor categorizing and assessing each one, figuring out what approach she should take. She didn't like the idea of threatening the group, and there were far too many of them for that. They might think they could actually take her. She had to wait, patiently, for the right moment.

Don't. Make. A sound.

So, of course, Minna jumped a little when she heard her name to her side. Her head jerked quickly, and she saw...

"Just-Gray?" Minna could hardly believe her eyes. What where the odds that she would see a friend in the middle of nowhere like this? She stood up straight, forgetting her stealth from a moment before, not quite sure whether to walk up and give his hand a hearty shake, or tell him to get lost.

"Wow, it's been a while," she finally settled on. "I'm on the job. Kinda. For myself." Minna fumbled her words for a few sentences, before stopping, and taking a long breath. "I heard about something valuable. Something that might help me."

"I'm going to... ah... steal it." She didn't seem entirely proud of that.

"What are you doing here?"

- Gray Venasir - Starlin Rand - Jacen Nimdok - |The Wayfarer| - Ladybug - Vera Mina -​

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

The group made their way to the helpful Wayfarer’s vehicle, not noticing the man and woman observing them from the alleyway. Nimdok sat in the front passenger seat so that he could offer directions to their driver, while the kids all sat in the back. It was a tight fit, but manageable.

They headed south, moving deeper into the more residential areas near the beach. It wasn’t long before the ruins came into view—or rather, the pieces of it that had been hauled onto the shore from the depths of the ocean.

Nimdok couldn’t resist blabbering about it to his companions. “All the remains of the unknown civilization that once existed on Jerrilek are submerged underwater. To properly study them, one either has to be a very good swimmer, or able to dismantle the large constructs and move them to higher ground. The workers have made good progress so far—we’ve discovered a few pieces of what looks to be unusually advanced technology.”

He waved his hand. “If you’ve heard rumors about this ancient intelligent aquatic race being not totally extinct, I can assure you right now, we’ve found absolutely no trace of any living specimens down there. We already have some idea of what they looked like, based on a few art pieces, and there’s nothing remotely resembling them still living on the ocean floor.”

They pulled up in a parking space reserved for those working on the dig. As Nimdok got out, he came face to face with a worried looking Starlin.

“Look, I don’t want to have to say it out loud…” the boy began, hissing through his teeth. “If they want it that badly, why don’t we just—”

“Not yet,” Nimdok said gently, putting his hands on the teen’s shoulders. Turning to the female Felacatian, he said, “I have to go back to my quarters to make a call—my son’s bike was stolen earlier today, you see, and I haven’t had a chance to report it to the police. You’re welcome to have a look at the ruins in the meantime.” He pointed toward the structures on the beach. “I’m sure there will be plenty of hieroglyphics to look at. I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

His “quarters” consisted of a nice tent on the beach, surrounded by the tents of other archaeologists and scientists. Starlin followed Nimdok up the flat pathway to the clustered tents, while Miri took off her shoes and socks and ran barefoot across the shifting white sands alongside them.

“You’d think they’d let you stay in a hotel or something…” Starlin muttered as Nimdok pulled back the tent flap.

For once, Nimdok resisted the urge to lecture the boy about how underpaid he was. It wasn’t exactly true, anyway—plenty of archaeologists got rich from selling the artifacts they found to museums and wealthy private collectors. His problem was, he spent all his time chasing after holocrons, crystals, and alchemized items, and he didn’t part with them. He was gathering all this ancient junk together for a purpose that only he knew.

Once they were inside the tent, Starlin was finally able to speak freely. “The cat girl read our lips! She can see right through your bullshit. She’s probably right behind us, waiting to stick a knife in our ribs and take the crystal…”

Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the object in question and thrust it under the archaeologist’s nose.

“Take it,” Starlin said. “I don’t want any part of this anymore. You want it, you can have it—just as long as you don’t let these Sith schutta get a hold of it.”

“Watch you language,” Nimdok scolded, gesturing toward Miri. But his eyes were drawn at once to the crystal. Gingerly, he picked it up, holding it between two fingers. Small, white, and glowing faintly, he too felt the odd warmth emanating from it. A very human, very Jedi-like warmth.

“What would the Sith want with a Jedi’s lightsaber crystal?” he murmured, letting the crystal settle in his palm. “And only a fragment of a crystal, from the looks of it…”

Turning, he fumbled around in his luggage, eventually finding what he was looking for: a single-bladed lightsaber of an unusual and ancient-looking design. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell a soul that I have this,” he said, glancing back at Starlin and holding up the saber.

Wide-eyed, the boy nodded. Nimdok proceeded to open the hilt, removing the crystals inside and carefully inserting the white one. Holding it up facing the tent flap, he tried to turn it on.

“It won’t ignite,” he said, brow furrowing. Gesturing for Starlin to come closer, he clasped the boy’s hands around the hilt and pointed to the switch. Starlin flicked it, on and off, but nothing happened. Nimdok even pulled Miri into his lap and supervised her attempt, but it still wouldn’t turn on.

“The crystal was bonded,” he concluded. “Or else it will only function for a perfect Jedi who is absolutely immersed in the Light.” He glanced down at Miri, who smiled up at him. “...I sorely doubt that, though. It’s much more likely the crystal was bonded to someone, a Jedi, perhaps one who lived long ago…”

Starlin scratched his head. “But it is a lightsaber crystal, right? As in, it’s supposed to go in a lightsaber. If it won’t work, then wouldn’t that make it totally useless?”

“To anyone who isn’t bonded with the crystal, yes,” Nimdok agreed. “Either the people following you are mistaken and believe this is something else, or they think the crystal can still be of use to them regardless. Are you absolutely certain you have no idea what it is? Didn’t your great-uncle keep his relics labeled?”

“Well, there was this note that came with it…” Starlin reached back inside his bag, retrieving the legal letter from his great-uncle’s lawyer. Nimdok took it from him, his eyes scanning the page.

“‘Meetra Sur—Meetra Surik’s lightsaber crystal?! You’ve got to be fething kidding me!”

“Watch your language,” Starlin snickered. “And who the hell is Meetra Surik?”

Nimdok didn’t have a chance to answer, for at that moment a black-gloved hand pulled aside the tent flap.

Minna Balin Gray Venasir Vera Mina Ladybug |The Wayfarer|

 

[Gray Venasir]

Gray had to smile when Minna called him Just-Gray. She still remembered the time they first met, when they were helping Lori Arenais. He had introduced himself like that, Just-Gray, back then, because he didn't want People he didn't know to know his Family name. Many years ago, it had meant something to certain People, so he didn't og around dropping it to everyone.

"Yes, it certainly has been some time," he said. "Guess that is my fault, for retireing to this planet. I just needed some Peace and quiet, after everything that happened in the Galaxy, you know? So I came here, to live peacefully as long as needed. But it seems that is coming to an end."

From the corner of his eye, Gray could see the Group that had gathered in the restaurant leave. Sadly, he couldn't see where. "A job, you say? Something valuable here? I can assure you that the only Things of value you will find here are what the archeologists dig up, and the necklaces and rings of Rich People vacationing here. But I doubt that is what you came all the way here for."

He scratched his chin. "Steal it, you say? You wouldn't happen to know who has it, would you? Someone that was in the restaurant you were spying on? More specifically, a boy in his teens, or an older man With a little girl With him?" Those particular individuals had drawn attention in the restaurant, and even though Gray had promised himself he wouldn't be dragged into anything, it now seemed he was about to.

Minna Balin | Jacen Nimdok | Vera Mina | Ladybug | |The Wayfarer|

 

[Minna Balin]

"Retired? Really? Didn't take you for the type." Minna hadn't known Gray for long, but in that time, she wouldn't have guessed that he would lie low for any amount of time. But, she remembered when he told her about his past, and the dangerous people that had looked for him. It made sense.

"I'm not stealing an artifact, or a necklace." Minna feigned insult, hiding a little discomfort. Technically, she was probably stealing an artifact. "It's something more dangerous than that. A weapon, I guess. But it could really help me, if it is what I think it is."

She wasn't quite ready to say what exactly she thought this thing was. If she remembered correctly, Gray wasn't the biggest fan of the Force, and her saying she had it would be a whole conversation.

Minna frowned a little, watching on as the group got in a speeder, including the kids. That would complicate things. "They're on the move." The bounty hunter activated her jetpak as they began to drive away, landing on the roof of the building she was under, and smiling to Gray below. She tracked the speeder as it began to drive, decidedly, towards the beach. Following the speeder's trajectory, she saw a bunch of tents pitched beachside, a likely end point for the crew.

Minna the Fish leapt off the building, only engaging her jetpak to cushion the landing. "They're going to the beach. Probably gonna make the swap there." Minna smiled again to Gray, rolling her shoulders, and preparing for a long jog.

"You up for a job, smuggler?"

- Gray Venasir - Starlin Rand - Jacen Nimdok - |The Wayfarer| - Ladybug - Vera Mina -​