An Unintended Introduction

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

​

Coruscant - Undercity - Late Evening​

​

Of all the bad ideas an Ex-Jedi could have, traveling to the capital of the One Sith was somewhere near the top. Still, she'd had worse ideas in the past, and it hadn't stopped her yet. The Twi'lek had become talented in blending into crowds, remaining unseen, and keeping under the radar over the years, all traits that would be critical if she wished to remain hidden while on world. The eyes of the darkside were everywhere, and where they weren't, bounty hunters were. The price of a Jedi, whether a member of the Order or not, both alive and dead were still worth quite a few credits, enough to make any poor soul in the slums rich beyond their dreams, and enough to make any rat squeal.

It had been a few months since Sera's last visit, involving her brother, Tzameron. The reason for her return this time was an attempt to sabotage a critical One Sith government building which housed records of flight paths, trade routes, and starship IDs. This would substantially cripple their ability to track incoming and outgoing vessels, allowing contacts she had acquired over the years to slip easily in and out of the system undetected to smuggle goods, weapons, and people through. Though as the pink-skinned Twi'lek wandered through the city streets, her visage and under-armor covered by a long flowing black robe, she noticed an unusual number of holovids that depicted a 'wanted' advertisement for an accused fugitive. It must have been particularly notable, as the ad ran on nearly every board in the undercity every few minutes, reminding citizens of a rather hefty reward for information that led to the arrest of the man suspected of arson, destruction of government property, as well as a laundry list of other criminal offenses.

The average citizen likely wouldn't have picked up on the subtleties of the holovid, but Sera paused, staring for a few moments as she read the information over and over. The accusations and charges seemed particularly deliberate, calculated, and focused. Whomever this person was seemed to have a particular grudge against the Sith, as there was no mention of citizen casualties or other non-government crimes. Perhaps she was just over-analyzing things, but her gut was usually right when it came to this type of thing.

"Interesting." She said quietly to herself as she turned from the holovid and began to meander down the street, her mind now focused entirely on the motives of this so called fugitive.

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh sat on the grimy steps of one of the numerous and indistinguishable tenements that lined that block. If he wasn't out and about across town, lighting up the scenery, he was typically found resting around the slums, smoking or partying. Aodh watched the numerous passerby stroll along the sidewalks, shoving and pushing their way to get into the large square. Around once a week, a low-ranking Imperial official would swoop into the area, announcing that the Emperor himself had an official decree of the highest importance, only to announce some lowlife vandal was wanted for flipping off one of the guards that patrolled down there. Huge chunks of the crowd would line up across the block, trying to provide bogus information or claim to have seen the criminal to swindle the officer out of his credits, usually to no avail.

However, today's announcement caught his attention, as it was crimes that sounded all too familiar to him be listed off. Arson, Vandalism, Destruction of Imperial Property and Spice Possession to name a few. Burning buildings and pictures of a maske man surrounded by flames flashed on the numerous billboards surrounding the buildings, and Holovids of the man seemed to appear out of thin air. Denizens of the slums begin screaming about how they saw the "Firefly" next to their apartment, or how they saw his true identity. Aodh hung back from the crowd, hoping he wouldn't draw attention, but seeing how he was the only man not in the group, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

'Don't notice me, don't notice me, don't notice me you karks!' Aodh thought to himself.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

As the Twi'lek walked, head beneath the hooded cowl of her robe, she began hearing the rising clamor of a large gathering beyond the next block. After having viewed the video footage herself this peaked her interest and she so quickly increased her pace to round the corner and see for herself what the fuss was about. As she came about she noted the crowd that she had been hearing, but also the unmistakable insignia of the Imperials. Immediately the girl halted her advance toward the crowd and instead leaned against a wall of a building a few meters away, choosing instead to look on from a distance for the time being.

The crowd had begun shouting towards the official, claims of some sort, as if they were hustling information. A momentary break in the swarming crowd revealed the same holoterminals she had encountered just before, also playing the same recording she had just watched moments ago. With eyes scanning the crowd, she could hardly pick out each individual, and even less so their facial features and markings, but most didn't seem to fit the profile of the man that was sought after. What she did happen to notice, however, was a man that had appeared off to the side, a man that appeared much less interested in shouting information off to the official in hopes of whatever reward was awaiting after the arrest of the perpetrator, and much more interested in remaining unnoticed, like herself.

Sera's eyes narrowed as she focused her sights on the man, he was still a ways away from her, and she didn't want to scare him into fleeing, alerting not only the man that she was watching him, but also the official who would then turn his own interests on the two of them, as well as the crowd that would very likely start a riot to capture them both if they believed it would earn them a credit or two. Still, Sera wasn't entirely convinced this was the man they were looking for, so rather than chance being incorrect she simply wandered into the crowd, pretending to view the video once more before turning and heading away from them, straight towards where Aodh stood for a closer look.

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh nervously glanced at the crowd, trying to appear inconspicuous, anxiously inhaling and exhaling smoke from his ZP Cigarette. He waved his hand to clear the air, but once he was able to look clearly, he saw a few more people enter the crowd. "Fethin' tourists, tryin' to get up close to the slums like we're some karkin' animals..." Aodh angrily rambled to himself. Anything to keep his mind off the huge number of people discussing how to kill him, capture him, or sell him, he tried thinking of it. However, one of the figures he saw move into the crown begin making their way towards him. They were smart by moving indirectly, stopping to look at Holovids and entering the crowd to blend in, but years of stealing and hiding had made him weary and receptive to those signs.

Aodh gripped the pistol strapped to his belt, wearily glaring at the person, who kept moving closer. He even moved nearer towards the figure, just so if it came down to a shootoit, he would at least be taking down the mysterious stranger. Aodh yanked his own cigarette out from his mouth, crumpled it up, and tossed aside onto the pavement.

Aodh was preparing for a fight.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

The man she'd been eyeing seemed awfully jittery the closer she got, whether that was due to a spice high, loose nerves, or something worth hiding she wasn't entirely sure. One thing was certain though, and that was that he was the only one attempting to appear disinterested in the credits being offered and the large crowd attempting to satisfy that bounty. That made him a person of interest to the woman. Unexpectedly though, when he caught wind that she was advancing towards him, she noticed the all-too-telling signs of a man reaching for a weapon while making a step or two towards her. At least he had the decency to toss away the filthy cigarette he had been sucking on.

Sera lifted her head from beneath the obscurity of her cowl, her bright green eyes glaring towards the man as she slowly shook her head and raised her left hand in a non-aggressive manner. She half expected him to run, but that may very well raise the alarm of everyone else nearby. Would he still do it if he believed she was attempting to capture him? Perhaps...But she had to take that risk if she were to speak with him at all. She was hardly afraid of the blaster if he drew it, she'd been in thousands of scraps before and a blaster was the least of her concern here.

She whispered under her breath as she continued her slow march towards Aodh, even though he likely wouldn't hear her muffled breaths. "Don't do it. Everyone will see you and we'll both be arrested."

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh was about to swing his gun out and motion for her to get the hell away, but he was caught off-guard when she lifted her head up. It was just so...Pink. H​e put his gun back against his belt and began to slowly move away, as her glaring at him didn't give Aodh the most friendly vibe. However, he fully stopped in his tracks when he heard her talk. "​Don't do it. Everybody will see you, and we'll both be arrested." T​he woman whispered, still moving closer. '​Why is she talkin' so quietly?' H​e thought to himself, only to snap his attention to the woman, ready to shoot. "​Yeah? If you don't tell me what the feth you're doin' 'round here, we both go down, and I don't think we want that happen." A​odh coldly told her with a sneer.

He wasn't all that comfortable with the woman, and despite a nagging feeling in the back of his brain that she was a decent person who meant no harm, Aodh wasn't going to take any chances down here in the streets. "​Stop right there, or I shoot!" He told her angrily. Aodh was still on edge, and wasn't exactly open to having a polite conversation at that moment.
​
[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

The woman was surprised that Aodh heard her speak over the bustling crowd and the distance between the two. Her words were spoken quietly, moreso to herself than to him, but yet he had heard her. That raised her interest in him even moreso. Yet when he spoke in return he was clearly nervous or afraid of her. That was likely a good sign for her. It meant this might be the guy on those holovids, and that would make her search astronomically easier, all the while the imperial took no notice that the man he was after was right under his nose.

The Twi'lek stopped as she was directed. Her eyes glanced back towards the official, then back to Aodh, "You're the one he's looking for, are you not? Your body language, nerves, and the effort made to appear nonchalant by distancing yourself from the crowd only reinforces my belief that you are that man in the holovids."

She took a few more steps slowly towards him her eyes focused on his blaster. "You can pull that trigger, if you must. It will do you little service, but we'll both be in for a rough evening once they find out who we both are. So the choice is yours. Put the gun away and follow me, or shoot." Her voice remained soft and quiet so that the others would not hear. This man was still just a gamble to her, and if he decided to fire, she wouldn't risk her own life on the off chance that he was not the man from the holovids. After all, that was the only reason she'd veered off from her own agenda this evening.

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh nervously stared at her, only to discover his admittedly lackluster act had fallen short of...actually working. "​...Kark! Just...Sh-Shut up, okay! Look, what the hell are you fethin' doin' here? Whadda' ya' want from me for feths sake?!? I don't need any vigilante comin' after me with those Imperial narcs breathin' down my neck." H​e sputtered in a mixture of anger, anxiety and fear. Aodh was praying to whatever god existed, hoping that this mysterious stranger wasn't out to kill him, or worse. He certainly didn't want to end up dead, but Aodh for sure didn't want to become a Sith prisoner, where he'd most likely be tortured, starved and abused for the rest of his life, only to die cold and alone in a dirty cell.

Aodh rattled his gun at her, edging closer to the nearby alleyway. He knew the Underworld like the back of his hand, so if he got away, the Twi'lek was going to have one hell of a time trying to catch up.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Seraphina offered a half-smile to the man. Her suspicions were validated immediately once the man spoke again. "Relax. I'm not here to turn you in." The Twi'lek stopped, leaning against a small cement barrier that blocked access to the sidewalk just a few meters away from Aodh. "If I were, I wouldn't have paused to chat. That being said, if you don't put that blaster away you're going to draw a lot of attention to us in a moment." Sera could have told him she was a Jedi, but most folks in the galaxy could rarely tell the difference between Sith and Jedi, save for the name they called themselves, of which a name is just a name.

"Come with me. We should talk somewhere more discreet. I can explain more when we're away from the eyes and ears of the Sith."

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh kept the blaster trained on her, as he moved ever so slightly, slowly inching across the pavement towards her. He tried to assure his mind that the only reason he was going with her was because he didn't have any other choice or the Imperials would get their hands on him, but deep down inside Aodh had an aching feeling that she wasn't trying to do him any harm. "...Just, what do ya'...What do ya' want from me? Why are you here?" He awkwardly stuttered, trying to keep his composure. Aodh was normally cool and collected, a charismatic smooth talker, but the woman was both freaking him out and intriguing him, as that same gut feeling told him that she was immensely powerful.

Aodh slowly put his pistol down , still keeping his hand on it, just in case. "What's your name?" He asked, managing to gain back some of the nerve he lost earlier.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Folding her hands into the loose fitted sleeves of the robe she wore, Sera began walking slowly away from the crowd, careful to keep her head directed down towards the street in order to avoid making unnecessary eye contact with any locals with a bit of curiosity. Her head tilted to the side so that she could direct her words quietly to Aodh. "Seraphina." The girl stepped past a pair of Rodians arguing on the sidewalk, crossing over to the opposite side of the street towards an alleyway that connected to the other side of the residential district. "My name's Seraphina. I don't want anything from you. I wasn't here looking for you, but the galaxy extended an opportunity, and I would be remiss if I did not act upon it."

The Twi'lek removed her hand from one of the sleeves of the robe and pointed towards the alley. "I've got a place just a ways away where we can talk more privately. It should be safe there."

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh carefully and cautiously got up and followed this...Seraphina woman. "So if ya' weren't lookin' for me, what opportunity did the galaxy...'er...Whatever." He muttered, shaking his head disdainfully. To him, Seraphina sounded like some crazy, "spiritual" nutcase. Aodh kept trusting his gut feeling and followed her lead, moving and bending through the alleyways, nooks, crannies, crevices and streets he had come to know his entire life. However, as they kept moving, Aodh began to recognize less and less of the area, with no famous landmarks, and no noticeable buildings.

"Uh, where are we goin' exactly?" Aodh asked, walking through the dirty puddles on the pavement beneath him.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Sera laughed quietly as Aodh tried to make sense of what she had said. She wasn't typically cryptic in her words, preferring to just say what she had to say, but the middle of the street on the Sith capital was hardly the time or place to do that. As they rounded another corner the woman pointed to a rather shoddy looking building - then again, comparatively speaking, it looked much like the rest of the buildings in the area.

"There. I've got a small room there for now. It will be safe inside. I can answer your questions then, and hopefully you can relax your trigger finger just a little bit."

She took a few more steps up the small walkway and reached for the door handle before turning back towards Aodh, "As for your confusion as to the opportunity?" She snickered, "Now there's two of us."

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh gave a dry smirk in response to her comment at the end. "Yeah, ha ha! Let's move on onto some of my more pressing questions, m'kay?" He told her with a sarcastic tone that could've only been ascribed to someone like a know-it-all. He turned to the building and began to enter, only to see a nearly identical tenement to the one he was in earlier. A Durosian man who sat behind the front desk looked up from the holovid he was watching, and gave a small nod to Seraphina, only to turn and glare at Aodh. As the pair began to move away, Aodh looked one last time over his shoulder and flipped the man off.

"So, now can you answer my karkin' questions? Let's start with, oh, I dunno'...WHY AM I HERE!?!" He asked her intensely. Aodh wanted answers, and he wanted them fast.
[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Once inside the relative safety of what she could call temporary living quarters Aodh immediately began pouring out the questions and demands. The girl simply smiled, pulling back the dark cowl of the hood atop the robes she wore, revealing her face underneath the light of the room. Dark tattoos adorned her cheeks and forehead, but her face still appeared rather youthful. Her lekku draped back behind her shoulders as she sat lazily on the mattress at the end of the room. There wasn't much here, a tiny kitchenette with just enough amenities to make basic foods, the living area was also the bedroom, and a small bathroom with a standing shower towards the right of the entryway. It was cheap, and she hadn't planned on staying long, so this was suitable and subtle enough for her.

"Yes, I can answer your questions now." The Twi'lek lowered her hands to her lap and looked Aodh over a couple of times. "You're here because of that wanted ad. You did those things, no? They really want to get their hands on you." She smiled, stifling a bit of sarcastic laughter. "I came here with my own plans, but I've temporarily placed them on hold after I caught wind that there was someone else who hated the Sith's vice grip on Coruscant as much as I, enough to take action rather than simply talk about taking action. And you made an impressive display."

Crossing one leg over the other the girl motioned to the empty chair just beside the bed, the one she used as a dining chair. There wasn't much to offer, she hadn't anticipated company.

"The reason for the secrecy? And why I couldn't simply answer your questions in the open? Well, the Sith tend to take issue with Jedi wandering around openly on Coruscant, and in general, anywhere."

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh gave a quick one-over of Seraphina, before moving on to his questions and demands. While her appearance certainly was...u​nique,​ he had more important things to focus on. "​So, wasn't that subtle? Chit, they'll be bangin' down my door any fethin sec - Wait, say that again." A​odh said with an intrigued tone, wagging his finger at the Twi'lek. He kept his eyes on her as he sat on the old, creaking chair, filling his hand full of splinters. Aodh began absentmindedly rapping his fingers on the aged wood of the chair as Seraphina talked about his questions. "​So....Y'say you're a Jedi? Now, oblige me for a second: Jedi comes to Coruscant, heads to underworld, walks by Imperial Officers with no issue, comes after me, a lowlife crook, takes me to a "secure location", and tells me that she's a Jedi. Now, I hope you don't mind if I doubt that a little bit, m'kay?" A​odh suspiciously stated, narrowing his eyes.

The rhythmic noise of him rapping his knuckles slowed, then stopped, as he awaited Seraphina's response.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"Well..." Leaning back against the wall she lifted and lowered her hands as if they were a scale. "Perhaps I'm not a Jedi in the sense that most would assume. I'm no longer associated with the Jedi Order of the Republic, that much is true, but that was my own decision. I am however still very much a Jedi in terms of which side of the fence I stand on." She lowered her hands again to her lap and looked towards the small hazy window that overlooked the street below. "Of course, these are just words, and anyone could claim to be a Jedi, so you're justified in your doubt."

Sera leaned forward closer to Aodh, her left hand extending ever so slightly. "It would be easier to simply demonstrate." Her hand curled, twisting so that her palm was then facing her as the man's blaster was lifted from his side, floating lazily through the air until it laid flat on her lap. "A rather basic manipulation of the Force that can be used for far more than simplistic tasks such as this, but all the same."

The Twi'lek placed the weapon to the side and lifted her pair of lightsabers from the inside belt beneath her cloak through the sleeves, extending her hand that held the pair of elegant hilts for the man to inspect. "Some Jedi -" She paused for a moment, "And some Sith wield a single lightsaber, others a pair, some even use a staff. Personal preference and combat style mostly."

The girl smiled to Aodh. "I wouldn't be much of a Jedi if I couldn't fool a single lowly Imperial though, would I? And to come to Coruscant and remain relatively unnoticed would require a certain level of finesse. The undercity makes for good concealment for what you call lowlife crooks, but it also disguises so much more." She snapped her fingers after realizing she never officially got his name. "You never did introduce yourself though."

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh watched in wonder and awe as Seraphina moved the small object over towards to her. While to the experienced Jedi it might've been a rather simple trick, to someone like Aodh, he was amazed. For some reason as he watched this, he felt some aura around him seem to strengthen and intensify, although he just chalked it up to his shock. "​H-Holy chit! That was...I mean, for the love of Sith, that was fethin' spectacular! I mean, wow, that's a feat to behold - Are those lightasabers!?! Sweet Skywalker you really are a Jedi! Jedi's...What have I gotten myself into!?!" H​e wondered aloud. Aodh drifted off and daydreamed as she continued answering his inquiries. 'A Jedi! This is...Just, wow.' He thought to himself.​

Aodh was snapped out of his awed reverie when he heard Seraphina mention that she never got his name. "​Uh, Aodh. Pronounced ODD, m'kay? There, you got my name." H​e frankly stated.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Seraphina laughed aloud at Aodh's bewilderment of her. She hated to admit it but she did always enjoy getting to see the reaction from people when they discovered what she was. That is, so long as those people didn't then try and murder or capture her. "It's not what you've gotten into, but what you're getting out of that truly matters." To her own surprise as the man's excitement rose, so too did her own senses, the same sense that alerted her to the presence of another Force Sensitive being. She stared for a moment in silence at Aodh before quietly whispering a rhetorical question of moderate confusion to herself. "You?" Her head cocked sideways as her eyes trained on him closer, the sensation becoming ever more present.

"You can feel that, can't you? Like some unseen energy that courses through your veins. Like some itch in the back of your mind you simply can't let go of at times? You have the gift, just as I, and many others."

This was becoming quite the day, though as the saying goes; The Force works in mysterious ways. "Change of plans I'm afraid. We need to get you out of here, off of Coruscant, and out of Sith controlled space. It just became light years more dangerous for you here, and if I leave you now and they find you? Death will be a luxury you'll wish you had the opportunity to accept." Sera stood quickly from the bed, leaning over towards the side of the mattress and began to collect the few personal affects she had brought with her to the planet. "We need to get to my ship, quickly. We're in more danger here now than I thought before. It's a sincere pleasure to meet you Aodh, but if you want to enjoy your freedom longer than this evening we've got to go, right now."

[member="Aodh Razmath"]

 

[Aodh Razmath]

Aodh snorted as Seraphina said he had the "gift". "​The gift? Yeah, funny, really entertaining, but don't feth with me okay? Sure your trick was pretty cool, but I ain't no Forcie'." H​e denied with an icy sense of cynicism. However, he shut up and began pondering the thought as she accurately described what he felt at times, that constant nagging force in the back of his skull that somehow made him adept at certain skills, more than his fellow bums and criminals. "​Uh, so you said we had to go? Trust me, I'm takin' this offer just to get outta' this dirty hellhole." H​e dryly told her. But Aodh knew that he was going because in some sense that he figured was admittedly naïve, he trusted in her observations, and was willing to follow her. And...He wanted to get off his Coruscant too.

"​If we gotta' go, can I head back to my little slice of chit I got in the tenements? I got some old memento's I would wanna' take before we head out on our way." Aodh told her, scratching the back of his neck.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]