Common People

[GhostOfProtocol]

Kei looked up.

He was still, in many ways surprised that he had survived on Commenor as long as he had, however it made sense that there wouldn't be a butchery of the Commenori people. They were too valuable alive. Kei had learned to simply just had to blend in and go about his business, learning what he could from catninas and drunk homeless men and whatever illegal radio streams he could get a signal on.

He knew it was almost impossible to get off the planet, the very large fleet in orbit would put an end to those plans before those plans even got into motion. Instead, Kei had just gone about life like a normal Commenori civilian, eating and working. The former big bad Sith had gotten a job just to blend in, that disgusted him but it was a neccessity.

Kei had also done some digging. He'd learned the name of the former occupant of the body he was now living in. He'd dug up the man's past, learned more about his life. The man was hardly a warrior, although the abs that he was quite content to have would have made most people disagree. Instead he was but a tinkerer, interested in the molecular level and how to manipulate said level.

Nanobots?

It would explain why his (his being Kei) head was now full of silly ideas that he wanted to try. He had no ideas on where to even start with most of them, except maybe [member="John Locke"]. He wondered how the old Shipwright was doing, the man who had designed the Imperial Star Destroyer that Kei tended to travel the galaxy with because rich men travel in style.

On warships.

Kei hadn't heard from the crew since the battle, he assumed that they had fled and survived. He hoped that they had fled and survived, he didn't want to have to buy a new ship because they were slightly expensive and worth slightly more than he was. Only slightly, he was getting there. Money was still trickling into his accounts slowly, Balmorra obviously having been a good investment.

Weapons in a time of war, who would have known there was money to be made? Lots of money by the look of Kei's bank account, growing slowly. It shouldn't have been growing like it was, in a perfect world Kei would have been out spending but he couldn't. He was stuck on a planet and he'd visited pretty much every decent place since he'd been stuck there.

Dining with the locals? Check.
Gambling? Check.
Drinking till you couldn't drink anymore? Check
Drinking some more anyway? Check.

Kei almost paced around his penthouse. That was his biggest flaw, one he hadn't realised. He hated being still. Kei hated being kept to one place, being stuck on one planet because it was boring. Kei prefered the life of coming and going and he hadn't realised it until he was stuck in a stupid penthouse on a stupid planet in the stupid galaxy all because of the stupid Sith!

He was chill, he was chill.

He pushed the door open with the force, not even bothering to use his hands. He was getting used to the new body, it was beginning to feel like the one he had grown up in, only this time with triple the abs and double the height. It felt nice to be able to reach the top shelf again. Kei grinned to himself, stepping into the elevator. He needed fresh air.

He needed something. He was bored.

 

[Asajj Novar]

Commenor was a bigger city planet then Iridonia ever was. Asajj had lived most of her life in the sprawling desert world of the Zabrak, so needless to say the city was overwhelming. The sheer number of people, the number of vehicles and stores and buildings. It all made her feel rather claustrophobic. Yet there was also beauty. The dazzling lights everywhere were what kept the Dathomir calm among the crowd. All she had to do was look up and it was as if the crowd around her simply melted away.

Not that they did. In fact, a lot of the crowd gave her a wide berth. On her free days not being with Lady Kay as a handmaiden the Dathomir wore the leather and fur outfits of Iridonia with the bright red and blue of nobility accented along it. Not that anyone knew what those colors meant offworld. What really had people avoiding her was her lack of footwear. She looked like a savage in a new world.

In reality the cybernetic limbs just felt too weird in boots and given they were metal, shoes would wear down before her feet did.

And so the small town girl wandered through the city with only the goal to sitesee her way across the Commenor capital, standing out like a sore thumb.

[member="Kei Raxis"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Ding.

Kei stepped from the elevator slowly. He adjusted his jacket, pulling it around him. The planet of Commenor wasn't really all that cold so Kei didn't know why he pulled the jacket around him. He reached down to his side, feeling for the lightsaber. There was nothing. He had forgotten for a moment his lack of a weapon, the temporary one he'd used during Commenor had been destroyed and the one that he built with Noriko was still with his old body.

Wherever the old body was.

Kei wasn't sure, he almost didn't want to know. He could bury the past, there was only two things he wanted to not bury. He wanted his crew and his soldiers, the army that he had formed back in the day. They were loyal to him, surprisingly even in the new body. Both of those were extremely useful to keep around. Weapons and armour could be rebuilt but the loyal crews couldn't be retrained, not easily. The Star Destroyer was also really nice.

Maybe three things.

Kei had a small blaster, that was the only weapon he carried. He could replenish his stocks when he got back to Balmorra, raided the stocks of the company that he had paid for. Fully Automatic Blasters wouldn't go amiss, they were weapons that he had designed and that he had built. They were weapons that he knew worked because they were his design, also the modules that they produced were extremely useful to make the weapons better.

He still missed a lightsaber.

The lightsaber was the weapon of a Jedi, of a Sith. It was the weapon of a force user, a weapon that made battling against other force users extremely easy. It was quite a useful weapon in a galaxy where half of the galaxy appeared to be force using wisards. Everyone seemed to use a lightsaber and so it was extremely useful to carry one if you wanted to survive in the galaxy, survive the fighting and the wars.

He saw someone from the corner of his eye. Someone bad, someone he hadn't seen in far too long.

He ran. He ran in the opposite direction. He just hoped she wouldn't sense his force presence.

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

Asajj continued to wander the streets, ignoring the crowd around her as much as she could. No one seemed to bother her thankfully, but that might only be because of the Sith presence in the sky. Did they assume her odd appearance made her Sith? That was a possibility. Not one that she particularly enjoyed. Glancing up to the sky above she could still see the Sith fleet looming above, waiting for an excuse to wipe the planet from the galaxy.

While she was looking up though she felt something she hadn't in a good long time. Since she herself was actually Sith. She turned her head towards the source just in time to see [member="Kei Raxis"] turn tail and run. "Hey-! Wait!" She called out before taking off after him. "Hold up!" She was rather quick, though not just because of her powers with the Force. Her feet's cybernetics included some tricks. One of which allowed her to propel from the ground.

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

She felt him.

He heard her shout, trying and get his attention. Kei didn't want her to do that, he almost hoped that she wouldn't feel him. She didn't recognise him, his face was new and different as was his body. He could have blended in if not for the force. Asajj Novar was a face that he hadn't seen since the Voss situation, since he had gotten himself and a Padawan kidnapped by the Dark Lady of the Sith just because he wanted to explore the past of The Silver Jedi.

Kei didn't know if she was still a slave to the Dark Lady. He had to assume she was, he had to assume that she was a slave to the very large Sith Blockade fleet above them. She felt different in the force though, she felt as if the anger inside of her had subsided. Perhaps Kei had assumed too soon, but he would argue against anyone who called him out. The large Sith Fleet above them was enough of a reason to assume.

She was right behind him.

He stopped. He couldn't outrun her. Could he hear metal behind him? If she was now made of metal she would easily catch him. He needed a plan B, a secondary plan. He turned, flicking his wrist out. He felt the force within him, different to what he was used to because of the new body. He felt the force within every vein in his body and he focused it on his hand, focused on pushing the force from his palm to push Asajj back.

"Why are you HERE!"

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

The blast caught the girl off guard, sending her tumbling back into a stack of grain that was currently being delivered to a local restaurant. She groaned slightly as she pushed herself up from the pile, glancing back around to see where [member="Kei Raxis"] was. Given that he was now standing his ground the girl frowned at him, slowly flexing her hands. Ithurt to be thrown like that.

"I'm here on my own business. Why do you feel like Kei? What did you do to him?" An odd mix of anger and worry filled her voice. She knew the power of the Sith, on how they could switch bodies. Or take what belonged to another. There were two options with the man before her. Either he was Kei, the man she tried to help while her master kept him in captivity, or he wasn't and had done something to the man.

And she wanted an answer.

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Wait, what now?

She assumed that he was someone who had killed the real Kei? He actually chuckled out loud, eyes locked onto the force using Sith. It was unlikely in his mind that she was actually here for personal business, in his mind the more likely answer was that she was a spy for a Sith, one of the presumed many floating above the planet. She wasn't fighting back however, which was at least semi positive. If he could avoid a fight, he would do so.

Kei couldn't be bothered to fight.

"You assume I killed him? What if I did, Sith?"

He spat the word Sith as if it disgusted him. It felt wrong in many ways seems as he used to be a member of the Dark Side culture and it was the Dark Side of the force that allowed him access to his new body. He kept on the defensive, eyes locked on Asajj. He didn't trust her, but he figured that since she wasn't fighting back she wasn't a major threat. It also made sense that she wasn't fighting back, she didn't feel as dark as she once did.

"Or perhaps I am him. Perhaps I remember everything you and your little friend did to him!"

And now people were stopping and watching, staring at the confrontation in the street. It was like a really bad holodrama that the middle aged tended to watch, fighting in the streets with insults being traded. Kei just hoped that it was only insults, he was unlikely to be able to hold his own should a full on fight break out in the streets of Commenor. He didn't want the embarrasment of the loss.

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

"Then.." She paused mid sentence, stepping up to [member="Kei Raxis"] slowly and as non threateningly as possible. Her violet eyes peered into his, searching for some sense of familiarity. "Kei?" Asajj whispered. Then, without warning, she threw herself at him and pulled him into a hug. "You did get free. I.. I was so worried when you weren't there anymore. Worried that the Sith had decided to kill you. There was nothing, no news. No information." Her voice remained hushed still before she realized there was a growing crowd. With a blush she let Raxis go and stepped away, clearing her throat.

"It's uh, good to see you. Why are you here?"

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Well then.

Kei stood there awkardly for a few moments when she hugged him. He felt for a few moments the force within her, no longer corrupted by the dark. Whatever happened after he got free from the Dark Lady of the Sith had freed the girl from whatever connected her to the Darkside. Perhaps he had unfairly judged her, however he still argued with himself that he could justify it and that he had made the right choice to judge her as a follower of the Sith.

He looked between the people, the growing crowd as he was hugged. There were a few traders, no-one who looked or felt suspicious in any way. It was almost a good thing, none of them looked likely to report him for an assault. Even if they did, he could just use his connections to the Arenais family to free himself from whatever prison they chose to throw him in and lock him in. If they didn't free him he could at least pull and bribe a trial.

He smiled as Asajj let him go. All of the annoyance and anger from behind his eyes faded, replaced with the warm, relaxed, carefree eyes that Asajj would remember. Even when he was being brutalised by the Sith he still tried to keep himself in good spirts somehow, especially when Asajj was giving him some pretty decent food. Sometimes food and jokes kept one's morale decently high, high enough to withstand torture anyway.

Or, no. Not withstand torture, that still broke him. High enough to not go completely mad.

He looked around as the crowd began to clear. They had seen enough violence, most of them looked glad that they weren't about to witness anymore violence. The sunlight reflected from a window across the road, casting a shadow behind both Kei and Asajj. It was almost metaphoric in a way, both of them had left the darkness behind them and the shadow was completely behind them, casting the path into darkness.

"It's a long story, best told over Caf. I know a good cafe a few blocks away where we can talk"

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

Asajj continued to glance among the crowd, her embarrassment clear on her face. [member="Kei Raxis"] hadn't returned the hug, which only made her believe she might have crossed a line. She might have been relieved to see him in one piece, but how much pain did her appearance bring up? She adverted her gaze from him to the ground, idly shuffling her feet. At least, until he asked about caf.

She glanced back up to him and nodded quickly, smiling. "Yeah, Caf sounds good."

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He walked.

He assumed he was being followed, he hardly looked back to check. He had gotten used to Commenor, he had mapped out the planet in his head and had located some of the best caf stores on the planet. There were a few, but none were as good as the place he was taking them to. They served some of the best caf in the city and their pastries were also top class. Also the owners could be trusted to keep quiet if a few credits were slid their way.

Kei had carried out more than one deal in the corner booth.

He led Assaj in slowly. He hoped Asajj would find a table while he ordered two cups of caf. He covered the cost of both, sliding over his usual addition to make sure that the owners didn't repeat anything they heard. Kei trusted them, mostly. They hadn't alerted anyone about the dodgy deals going on in the corner and so Kei trusted that they were unlikely to do it if he kept them paid up and happy.

He sat down, sipping his drink slowly. He talked quietly, sure that only Assaj could hear what he was saying.

"It's been a year and a half since the cage. We were held for a while until the Jedi managed to get us free during the night. We smuggled ourselves from the planet and back to Voss. Whatever your old friend did to me changed me though. I was seeing things, hearing things in my head. Meeting my father only made it worse until eventually I snapped. I nearly murdered a Zabrak padawan before I fought my way out of The Jedi Temple on Voss.

It was a long few months, manipulation and self hatred driving me to the darkside. Finding the armour of Darth Krayt and liberating that didn't help, that left my head full of the voices and memories of everyone who had ever donned that armour, including Krayt himself. It made me stupidly powerful, allowed me to access any of the powers that the former wearers could master. That included essence transfer, a skill that came in useful.

Eventually I took up refuge with The Mandalorians before I died, was killed in my sleep by someone I called a friend because I became too powerful. I don't blame him for assassinating me, if I were him I would have done it as well. I attempted to essence transfer out however only managed to lock myself in my own lightsaber crystal. I eventually had to feed off of Adron's energy to free myself from the crystal, free myself into this body and the netherworld.

Kay rescued me. Rescued by the Queen of Commenor, I won't ever live that down. We arrived back on Commenor just as The Sith armada arrived and tore through the planet like butter. I've been trapped here ever since, attempting to get any communication with anyone off planet to try and figure out any information I can. So far I've got nothing, none of my original ship crews, my soldiers or my factories on Balmorra. Every communication channel I have with them is silent.

I can't access Kay either. I don't know where the Queen or any of the family is, not that I've really looked. If anything I've just tried to blend in and live my life while I've been stranded here. I'm still making money from my weapons factories on Balmorra so I know they're not dead. I have money to live with and an apartment a few blocks away. I'm just living my life and doing my thing without being killed.

So why are you here?"

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

Asajj found the pair a seat away from any others, knowing that privacy would be important to the subject they were about to discuss. Her own fate ended up being similar to [member="Kei Raxis"] not long after he had escaped. The Dathomir sat at the table idly staring at her hands, comparing the fake flesh to the real. Slowly she curled her fingers inward, shivering at a memory best left forgotten for now.

Once the man returned she accepted her drink and set about sipping it while Kei spun his story of what happened to him. She blinked in surprise when he mentioned dying and coming back in a new body. That would be the second time she's heard of someone doing that, though the first time she's seen someone who was once a lightsaber crystal.

"Well, I'm Kay's handmaiden. Sent by my father to assist her in a hopes to," She paused, glancing around the room. She then leaned in, sipping her cup of Caf to hide her lips. "Resist." Right to the point without an attempt to know if Kei was on her side or not. Was she really that trusting of the man after all these years? Oddly enough, she felt like she could trust him.

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

She worked for Kay.

Of course she did. Kei couldn't shake his shadows, his past no matter how hard he tried. However, she didn't seem like a dangerous part of his past anymore, especially since she spoke about resisting. The rational part of his brain told him to turn her in for wanting to cause a situation, earn some favour with The Sith but the part of his brain that was bored of being stuck told him otherwise. The even bigger part of his brain that swore loyalty to Kay told him to help her.

He looked towards her, eyes locked on her.

"And how do you plan to resist when The Sith can have thousands of soldiers at a situation in a second?"

He spoke to her like a wise old man, completely opposite to what his apperence suggested. However, he had to admit he was curious, he had to admit that he wanted to know more about her plan. If it was a good plan, he didn't have many issues with helping her, however he wouldn't do it unless her plan was sound and made sense. Unless they could rally more people to the cause and they could force the Sith from the planet.

He sipped from his caf again, watching her and waiting to judge her reaction, her answer.

"Death isn't as fun as you may think"

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

"There are fates worse than death." She stated grimly, subconsciously touching her left cheek. Her gaze traveled to the window close by, looking out to the street. Commenors people all walked with their heads down, seemingly bowing before the Imperial troops and Sith that stepped about them. "My job is only small things. I help known conspirators either disappear from the Sith's databanks or if they're too well known to get off world and meet up with Veiere or my Father." She continued to whisper, but for the moment the room seemed safe enough to not hide her face in her Caf.

Asajj took another sip of it, turning her gaze back to [member="Kei Raxis"] . "And finding Imperial sympathizers. The Sith are brutal, but not all their men are the same. If a kind soul of theirs can help, I ask them to. Nothing of course against the Empire. Little things, like helping someone get food legally and such. Foster good relationships and hopefully get them to help the rebellion more.. Directly." She was a firm believer in this plan. Her father and the King would handle the army to challenge the Sith. In the mean time.

"I'll inspire hope."

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Hope?

He stopped himself from shaking his head. A rebellion needed hope, but hope wouldn't win the war. Kei knew that, he'd once believed in hope and hope had failed him with Veiere Arenais had tried to kill him. A rebellion needed soldiers, needed pawns who would sacrifice themselves. Needed men who would charge headfirst into the armies of the Sith and probably not come out the other side breathing or feeling.

That wasn't Kei. Not anymore. He didn't want to die, not again.

He looked at Asajj for a few moments, silently judging her. He couldn't figure her out and it scared him. She was a Sith once, now she seemed to hold a dislike of them. It wasn't like Kei however, Kei didn't hate the Sith like she seemed to. Kei chose loyalty over the Sith, loyalty to the monarchy of Commenor, to his friends. That was his downfall, he was afraid of dying but when loyalty made death a likely option what did he do?

"I can name a number of people who are against the Sith Empire. I can put you in contact with them"

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

Asajj's face visibly brightened when [member="Kei Raxis"] spoke. "Truly? I've been just a stranger here on this world, so actually knowing people who would stand against the oppressors.. Well, I wouldn't be dodging shadows anymore huh." She smiled wide, gently squeezing her cup of Caf before taking another drink of the warm bean juice. Truly this was how she was finally going to get ahead in what she wanted to do. Going at it blind, trying to find the people to trust. It was a dangerous game. "Thank you Kei, truly." She paused, glancing up to him then down to the table again. "I.. I can't think of a way to pay you back. Is there anything you need?" She felt rather embarrassed not being able to come up with something she could offer the man who was going out of his way to help. What ever he might ask though, she was sure she would help in any way she could.

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Home.

He wanted to be free. He almost started to ask if she could get him from the world, from the planet, but he stopped himself. While running away would keep himself safe, it would mean there was one less body to fight the Sith occupation that was likely to occur. He could run and hide and leave Kay and Commenor to suffer, or he could fight and at least provide Kay and Commenor with an extra number, an extra fighter for the planet.

He grabbed a napkin, starting to write down names and addresses that Asajj could use, people she could talk to and recruit, people who wanted to fight against the Sith. He scribbed a few more names, looking up at Asajj slowly, running his hand through his hair.

"I want to be free, away from all this fighting. But I know I can't be, I owe it to the Queen to fight for her planet. So instead you can help me in other ways, you can help me locate my ship and my private soldiers. Both fled the system after the battle, I haven't been able to locate them since. Track them down, get me in contact with them and they're yours to use, or your fathers. Same with my weapons factories on Balmorra, anything they produce is available for use. Just find my men and my ship"

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

As the Dathomir listened to [member="Kei Raxis"] she fell oddly silent and still, simply taking in his words with a neutral expression. Once he was finished, Asajj couldn't help but smile. A pure, happy smile. "You haven't changed a bit. I'm so glad that what happened hadn't ruined who you were. The scars are there, but you. Your heart is still kind." She gently reached across the table with her fleshed hand, gently setting her palm atop his. To her, he was proof that what happened because of the Sith wasn't going to ruin who she was if Asajj was strong enough.

"If you don't want to stay on world we can smuggle you off. There, you can find your men and bring them to my father for the growing off world resistance. I don't want to ask you to risk your life again."

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

He wished.

He wished he could be smuggled from the planet, hide away on Corellia in his estates with his men and private guards, butlers to do his every command. He wished he could simply walk down the bridge of the Flying Dutchman again, grin to the crew that had fled the Mandalorian's when he had died. He wished the biggest worry in his life was how he was going to smuggle spice past a few dodgy downworld dealers who were off their face.

He hated the force.

Since Dromund-Kaas, since he had learned of the force and his true family heratige, since he had met the Queen everything he had gone wrong. He'd made a friend in Kay but otherwise he had been dragged into a game of galactic politics that had quite quickly become galactic war that had caused friendly Silver Jedi Order bombs to explode in front of him, all but killing him. He had met and fought Sith Lords, been tortured by the bad guys.

He had served the bad guys.

He wished he could run away. He wanted to run away but he could not run away. The Queen had been the person to drag him from the Netherworld, she had been the person who had endured Thraxis for him. He and Kay had nearly been killed more than once together. Amellia Soren-Syrush, Kei had witnessed her apparent suicide and then slaughtered her guards when they tried to help the Queen. Amelia had blown up the office using external ships, made it look like an assassination. Of course Kei was going to protect the Queen, she had just been blown up.

Amelia wasn't desd, of course. She was manipulative like that.

The Hutt Cartel. Kei hadn't been there, he'd only heard stories of what the Queen had done. She had been a Senator then, it was just before she had met Kei. Way before she had ever even thought about becoming Queen. The Sith influenced her once. Kei reached to his side, nothing there but a memory. He had left his lightsaber with her once, vowed to return to collect it when she embraced the light again. He was a few years late in returning but he did return.

Even Veiere, Kei owed it to him. The man had tried to butcher Kei in the Battle of The Jedi Order and Kei still respected him, still owed it to him to help free Commenor from the grasp of The Sith. Veiere had at one time been his closest friend turned bitter enemy. Kei hadn't seen the man since his trial, didn't know where they stood. It was possible Veiere would just murder him on sight, or maybe that had been buried in the past.

"I don't want to risk my life but I know I have to risk my life, I owe it to Kay and the rest of the royal family. Contact those names and then come to the address at the bottom, my address. We will liberate this planet"

He wished.

[member="Asajj Novar"]

 

[Asajj Novar]

"Okay, I can do that." She nodded in agreement to what [member="Kei Raxis"] said, knowing full well what it was to owe someone everything. Even her presence here now was due to a promise made between Commenor and Iridonia to protect one another. A promise that the Zabrak king hesitated on during the Sith Siege. Now they were doing everything in their power to make amends to the failed promise.

And for Asajj to prove to herself she wasn't as weak as she felt.

Her gaze faltered for a moment, glancing down to the table. She had to stop thinking that way. Forcing a smile she lifted her chin to look Kei in the eyes again. "So, what's there to do for fun on Commenor these days?"