Private Huttbusting

[Alexa Keel]

“I intend to go as far as can be gone.
If I were to have my way me and mine would utterly destroy the remembrance of their filth from the galaxy.” She told him earnestly. She knew that what she strove for was unattainable, but she would strive for it all the same. “If I had my way, their ilk would be put to the torch. No trials. No hearings. No chance for them to escape their judgement. And that is what I intend to do. I intend to hunt them down like the animals they are.”

She took a breath, stopping herself before her emotions got the better of her. Something had happened when she was young and it stuck with her. This was about vengeance as much as it was about justice and protecting the people. She wanted to keep the average citizen safe. But deep down she also wanted to hurt these people, these criminals for what she thought they’d done to her.

If she wasn’t careful she would unwittingly begin walking the path of the dark side. Without even intending to.

 

[Sen Kai]

Sen felt her rage, he understood it and he wanted to reach out and give her some sense of peace. Though that would be violation, and she had to find her own pax. All he could do was respond,
"Your sense of justice is noble.. though in the prusuit thereof.. one must be careful not to become tyrants thinking we know better."
What he was about to say next was probably going to not go over well,
"As a Jedi I believe redemption is possible.. so there is opportunities I believe to convince people in this horrific trade to step away and make penance."
He could hear her words about hunting them down like animals. So full of venom, which he understood, the trade and traffic of souls deserved such ire, however, often the darkness would take what you willed for good and turned it to evil, a lesson he was trying to learn from Master Aric Siasides who was teaching him how to take control of his shadows, his pain, and not let it transform him into an agent of evil, a false savior. This line of work it was hard not to develop a savior complex, we were freeing souls, the problem is we had to remember our souls needed freeing too, that we had just as many invisible chains as they had ones of metal.

 

[Alexa Keel]

She felt something vicious flare up in her chest when he suggested that these people could be “redeemed”. The mere thought that these… creatures could be forgiven made her blood boil. After all the lasting, irreparable harm they had done to so many innocent people, and they can be redeemed?!

No… no, they couldn’t.

“Maybe those pushed to it through desperation. Pretty theft. Some Bounty Hunters. Some pirates. Maybe. But the rest? Absolutely not. They made their decisions out of greed and vanity. Believing that they were more important than the average hardworking citizen. No, they cannot be forgiven, redeemed or given amnesty. No matter how hard they try they cannot rectify the damage they have caused. It is naive and foolish to think otherwise.”

 

[Sen Kai]

He could feel her anger, it was pulsating, the darkness was flooding in around her though she could not see it.
"I mean not only them, if one does not forgive.. the poision of bitterness will fester and then you become them.. that is the nature of the monster."
His visor was reflecting her face, which was riven with the hatred she had for the criminals.
"We Jedi are taught to hate the Darkness, the choices, not the person. Some people indeed deserve the fire, their darkness is too great to be left alive, on that we can agree, though is it for you or I to decide? Will be be final arbiters? I fear to caste judgement too hastily, for I am subject to judgements all the time because I am a Tuskan. There are many that would caste me in flames for what I am.. and yet you see that I am here, endeavoring to do good."
He realizing Bogan was flowing so strong, decided he best not go further, he did not want her, a sensitive to fall. She barely knew the power that was in her, and already the Darkness was knocking at the door of her heart. He had to steer this carefully, leave breadcrumbs to think on and not induce her to more feelings of rage.
"I want to say.. I understand your feelings.. they I am why I am here.. I merely wish.."
He felt he had to say it,
"Do you know The Force? Of it?"

 

[Alexa Keel]

“It is the choices that I hate. You cannot compare being persecuted as a Tuskan to my hatred for the scum of the galaxy. The choices are despised as are the people who consciously made those choices. And you may argue that we cannot be the ones to pass judgement, but if not us then who? Who will pass judgement on them? The courts will simply be bought or coerced into proclaiming them innocent. All the while they keep hurting innocent people. They do this harm with no oversight, and no one with the power to stop them does anything. Not even your Jedi order. You remain in your temple and ponder. Only a scarce few individuals make it their mission to go out and do what is needed. Just look at you! You had the power to stop this already and all you did with your temperance is enable them to do more!”

The vitriol in her system was growing rapidly. Her hatred for those career criminals was blind and unreasoning. It would take a lot of effort to get her away from that mindset.

“I know of it. Why?”

 

[Sen Kai]

He let her rant, and then paused a moment,
"You are right.. my persecution is not the same as hating evil. Though.. I suppose I have seen enough people in my life hate evil and become they very thing they loathed.. so my caution is always up. You are right, I did not end the Hutt's life, and I cannot explain to you why. Not till this mission is complete will you understand. Even then perhaps not.. I must walk in my integrity, only then can I enter the holy hill of Ashla."
Her remarks about the Jedi he did not even contend with, for much of what she said was true, he was part of an outlier group, that was trying to make a difference, but actions not him pleading with her would speak.
"The reason I ask.. is the dark side.. it flows around feelings of fear, anger, and hatred. The Sith.. they give into it and become monsters. So all I will say is beware.. it is easy to slip into it, even for a non-Jedi, especially for a non-Jedi. For I believe what we are fighting is that darkness in its primordial form, not mystics, but the scum you so eloquently describe. Few recognize its influence.. I am not saying blame the darkness, we have free will, we make choices, but there is something at work in the galaxy that helps people teeter over the edge. Often by noble intentions.."

 

[Alexa Keel]

“I don’t give a damn about this dark side light side nonsense. All it does is add additional layers of mysticism and convolution that shouldn’t be there. Wickedness must be destroyed, utterly and without mercy. Because if it isn’t destroyed it will continue its vile work.” She told him. “Hatred can be justified. Easily. And oftentimes should be. There is nothing wrong in hating evil. There is nothing evil about bringing judgement to the wicked. The only thing that contemplation, understanding and peace has ever done is give that same evil it opposes the time and the space that it needs to succeed. We could be ripping apart this whole thing if the Hutt was dead. His subordinates fighting over who gets to be in power would have told us where the rest of his operations were and we could have destroyed them by now.”

“Do not lecture me on what is right, when you with your “good intentions” allowed this very problem to get worse. You stopped us from dealing with the issue, you prevented us from doing the right thing. Don’t tell me that that was in and of itself right.”

 

[Sen Kai]

The Jedi Tuskan could see it now, the Cobra of Bogan rearing in her words, as she declared it was nonsense.
"I have said my peace.. I will minimize my words from hence forward."
She was a lost cause.. at least for him, she did not respect him, and without respect there was no way to build fortifications against the Dark.

The Ship at last came out of hyperspace, Corellia in its deep cobalt blues and whites swirling.The Jedi made his way to the area with the ramp. He decided to give up. Not very Jedi like, but he was being trained by unique Master, the goal was not to “control someone to the light as but to guide them,” ( Aric Siasides ); ultimately each person had to make their choice, and Alexa Keel was choosing hate and justifying it. So he let her, he had to let go. He turned all his attention now to the mission as he rode in this vessel, sitting in his sacred robes, he steeled himself, becoming The Rock, and focused on finding the Informat and helping topple a big fish of criminality.

 

[Alexa Keel]

Alexa let him go without another word, taking the time as he left to take a few deep breaths and calm herself down. She was getting worked up and she knew she shouldn’t be. She did hate criminals, and she often used that as motivation, but ultimately she knew better. She felt incredibly strongly about this, and she was letting it get the better of her.

She was no Jedi, and she loathed their detachment from the suffering of the galaxy around them. That they did nothing to alleviate people’s pain, that they did nothing to protect the everyday people, even those directly beneath their temple…

She didn’t think on that any further. She wasn’t about to relive that again. She had a job to do. So she called herself down and prepared to arrive on Corellia. They had an informant to meet with and she couldn’t allow herself to explode the way she just had.

The ship would fall out of hyperspace an hour or so later, and they would approach Corellia’s surface.

“Hey Jedi. Where on Corellia were you supposed to meet this informant of yours?” She asked him over the intercom.

 

[Sen Kai]

Sitting there as he tried to regain his pax, his peace after her basically calling his Calling "nonsense," took a moment. The truth is she got underneath his skin, and not because of her words. It was.. he had to be honest, since they were among the Hutts he noticed her, his heart had not beat like that since Tatooine. Her fire was... breathtaking, and yet.. it seemed that his very existence offended her. He as many Jedi had to carry the weight of disappointment and ire from those who thought they were not contributing very well to peace making. It came with the post, with the job so to speak, and he tried to use Aric's training, to be a stone. As he began to meditate, her voice came on the comms, wanting more intel, yes.. that was what he was valuable for.

Responding he said,
"The Marketplace.. near City Center."

Having relayed the information to her, he crossed his legs and began to focus, what came next was important. A chance to really change things, to catch one of the upper rings of the crime lords, and perhaps put an end to some of the evils in the galaxy. In Alexa's voice, he heard the voice wanting justice, and he he understood. That was one of most attractive features about her, her heart, that she wanted to make a difference, like him. He only hoped that her hate would not make her prey to the Darkness, and she find her good intentions its gateway to suffering. He wanted to help her, but she did not want his help, so he had to be a content to be candle in her presence, and let her make her own choices. That lesson he had learned from his Master well.

TAG: Alexa Keel

 

[Alexa Keel]

“Alright. We’re landing soon, get ready to go as soon as we land.” She told him as she pulled the ship into the spaceport. A few minutes would pass and they would land.

Alexa would emerge from the cockpit, having changed from her uniform to civilian clothes in the form of tight pants, a tee shirt and a bomber jacket, preparing for the chilly Corellian winter. She approached him, her boots clacking against the metal floor of the ship.

“You ready to go Jedi?”

---

Sen Kai

 

[Sen Kai]

TAG: Alexa Keel

The Jedi Sentinel got her message and broke meditation when she stepped into the room with the ramp. Looking at her with his mirror mask, it reflecting the contours of herbidy, her gilded hair catching him as always off gaurd, like rays of a sun. He was glad his helm was obscuring his face, lest he be disgraced by starring.

With a clearing of his throat he gave reply,
“I am ready. Keep close.. the Informant is not far.”
He began to descend the beveled ramp and out into the cold, there the City of Corellia chimed with life. Great Ship gung suspended in the air at the shipyards, and below the towers of white was the marketplace.

There the freshest goods werw on display, pyramids of yellow and oranges on carts as the affluent of Corellia in their finest robes and Jewlery. The Jedi scanned the area and saw someone in gray robes with a mask. The Mask has a peridot green visor. Sen walking towards them held the ring to visible and the Informat pointed to ally nearby. The Jedi Shadow followed them there and once outside the noise, The Informat spoke, his voice going through his mouth piece, it had a voice changer that sounded gruff.
“I have the intel you seek..”
taking out of his grey cloak, he handed it to The Jedi.
“What is in there exposes part of the Ring.. but be wary.. what is reveals will mark you and anyone who sees for death. The web of this villiany leads to places you eill not want to go..”

Sen held the data chip and looking at the Informat said,
“It is my duty to go where other Jedi dare not.. peace be upon you.”
The Informat replied,
“There is no peace Jedi.. not until death.”
With that he feld down the ally, disappearing into shadow. Pocketing the chip, The Jedi Shadow came back out into the market and approaching Alexa said,
“I have it.. we need somewhere discreet to examine it. A hotel room perhaps?”

 

[Alexa Keel]

Alexa let the Jedi go and speak with the informant. Waiting for him to come back with the intel they were looking for. She hoped she wasn’t being stupid in trusting him to do this on his own. If this turned out to be a good lead, he’d earn her trust again.

The golden haired woman watched Sen go to a back alley with the strange masked figure, and he came back out a short while later, the figure had disappeared and was not seen. She hoped that the short meeting didn’t mean their informant was bad.

Apparently not, and they were provided a chip to look into. And she nodded.

“I’ll get us a room.” She said, standing up from her leaning position against the corner of a building. And she began to walk with him down the streets of Corellia. Soon she would bring them to a hotel building, and she would get them a two bed room.

Once inside she would lock the door and pull the curtains closed to block anyone from seeing inside. Any security cameras she found in the room were blocked, and then when that was done she finally sighed.

“Alright. That’s done. Now let’s see what sort of intel this contact of yours gave us.”

 

[Sen Kai]

Alexa Keel was swift and had them relocate to a fine hotel, and taken up into a room, where they had two beds. She then insisted they learn from the intel, and so Sen setting up a datapad, put the chip in and it began to project a hologram of a Man, his bearing almost regal and his clothing unmistakble for being Senator attire. He began to speak,
"The Trade has been met with some complications Master Jedi.."
Sen felt himself stirred, the Villain was speaking to a Jedi Master?! How could this be? What Jedi would be in the trafficing of souls.
"You have done well to a point Senator Varook, though my patience wears thin on this matter.. the slave trade is necessary to The Alliance, The Council remains blind to this because they choose to be. To build their grand temples takes workers.. and Ryloth has ever been plentiful.. and of course their fermales placate those who would oppose us."
The Senator with short black hair and graying side burns said,
"Indeed, slavery is necessary.. all those citizens who enjoy their shopping on Coruscant or who seek a new tower to lodge in need our slave labor to keep costs low.. this is the reality that they cannot accept on face value, but they ignore it to our benefit."

The Master Jedi was cloaked, his hood obscuring his face, so that holorecording was not able to reveal who it was.
"We must be careful.. word has come to me of the problems in the Hutt Ring of our operations.. rumors of those who sensibilities that could destroy us is rising, We must cut the head of these rumors. Do not fail me Senator.. I know Corellia is your home, and though I swore an oath to be Keeper of the Peace, peace can take many forms.. including you to cease breathing."

The transmission ended and Sen was speechless, a Jedi Master was involved in this trafficking of souls and working with the Hutts and a Sentator to ensure it keep flowing. He taking off his mask dropped it on a couch cushion and sat down, his glowing blue eyes dancing as he covered his face with his gloves.
"This is.. impossible.. The Jedi Council must be warned.." He stopped himself, "No.. that would make Him go underground.. Alexa.. I am so sorry.. I cannot believe.."
Sen had not ever been so expressive, his Tuskan life had taught him to hide himself, even when his mask and clothes were off. But that had changed since he met her, and was in middle of this affair. He half expected her to be irate and take out this betrayal on him, since he was a Jedi. He hoped she understood that he, like most of his Jedi Brethren were in the dark. and that she would realize they only knew this terrible news because of him and the Informat he had found. This was why he had not killed The Hutt, he sensed that there was more happening.. though he never suspected this.

 

[Alexa Keel]

Alexa watched the recording with some interest. She had suspected that things would go pretty deep. And she wasn’t altogether surprised that a senator was involved in this.

The Jedi was a surprise though. She didn’t have much faith in the Jedi as peacekeepers or agents of justice. But she hadn’t suspected that they would be involved in such a thing. Though she doubted it was the Jedi order as a whole, and given the amount of Jedi who had fallen historically to darker urges, she couldn’t say it was unbelievable.

Though she was still very much unconvinced that leaving the hutt alive would make this information unattainable. They could have found this information some other way with the Hutt dead. But that was not the issue at hand.

“Alright. I’ll bring this to the attention of Command. They’ll run the identity of the individual through the databanks, see if they can figure out which senator this is.” Alexa said calmly. “If you have any Jedi you trust in the Council, then speak with them, see if they can identify the Jedi he’s speaking to.”

Things had just gotten much more complicated.

 

[Sen Kai]

TAG: Alexa Keel

The Jedi Shadow at this revelation felt a heaviness in his soul, that one of their own would conspire to cause such suffering for ill gotten gains.. it was was tragic. Though this did not make him doubt the Order, he knew that in history some Masters lost their way, like the Lost Twelve, and that even a great master of the Force could be seduced by the dark side of the Force. Though this was the form of that darkness that was unlike the mystics that called themselves Sith.. this was slavery and in name of good.. which was far worse.

"Very well, you speak to your Command. I shall contact the Jedi and tell them of this Traitor. Though.. when we are done, I think we should find the Senator's home. The Corrupt Master mentioned it was on Corellia. Though I will wait to hear what your orders are and we can confer when I get mine."
The truth is Sen was doing a formality, he did not need to contact any authority in this undercover mission. And he wondered if it was wise to tell them about this Rogue Master, they might go underground. So heading into the refresher, he made a call on his comlink, to an old radio on Tatooine, and said the following,
"Noble Masters.. I have disturbing news.."
He then said all that they had learned from this holorecording, and between his statements would say, "Yes Master Van, and that might work indeed Master Zula." None of these were actual Jedi, but they sound like they could be. He was deceiving her again, but he was doing it for the greater good. Just as he had sparred The Hutt, he was not sparring The Master, well really keeping him from going underground. It was likely that if they found The Senator, they could identify them, and Alexa and He could find this Master on their own, or at least plan an op, clandestine like, and take him out with back up from Command and the Jedi Order in a joint attack, The worse thing to do was alert an enemy that you know what they are up to. And so Sen came out of the refresher and said to Alexa,
"I contacted The Council, they think we should seek out The Senator, if he is on planet at his quarters, we could then use him to identify thise Rogue Master."

 

[Alexa Keel]

If Alexa knew of his deception, she would be very cross with him. But she didn’t, and assumed that he was true to his word. In a sense she trusted him to do as he said he would. She herself contacted her commander with the holocommunicator she had with her and told him what had been discovered. A senator and his description, as well as the fact that a Jedi was in on the conspiracy were all debriefed. Alexa’s superiors were in the loop, and they gave Alexa the order to investigate and learn all she could about this. And to bring a copy of the recording to base so that it could be used as evidence.

Alexa would hang up the call after she received her orders. And she would wait for him to return so they could discuss next steps.

“Is the Senator someone we can get to?” Alexa questioned. “We would need to identify the senator first. Then we would need to dig into his private life and communications. Not an easy thing to do.”

 

[Sen Kai]

Sen having returned to Alexa Keel said,
"Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. The Jedi Path is not easy. If we can discover who this Senator is, where he is, and bring him in, we then would have done some serious damage to this crime ring."

The Mando Tuskan looking at her, he had lied to her again, and this was because his intent was to find The Corrupt Jedi Master himself. He knew that if he spoke to the Council, they would talk endlessly about what to do, and even suspect it was another lie trying to erode good faith in the Order. Now he had to discover who this Jedi was, and bring them to justice. Alexa could help, but in all likelihood, she would be quite vexed he had lied to her again.

Growing bolder he said,
"I shall search for this Senator irrespective of what is decided. They are key to finding out who this Rogue Jedi is.. this Jedi who brings a taint to the Order when we are in middle of a war with the Sith. I sense the work of.." He recalled how she responded the last time they discussed the dark side, and the Force, and he said, "never mind.. forget it." He turned away from her and went over to a window, and began to watch as ships began to rise in the night sky, he began to think where a Senator might be on Corellia. The easier way to identify him, would be to go to Government District, in Cornet City. Already The Mando was calculating, and he turned back to her,
"I know where to look.. if you intend to see this through, let me find out who the Jedi is.. you can beat the Senator to a pulp after, I need to know who this Tainted One is, by orders of the Council." Another lie, and yet that was his role, a Shadow had to sometimes do things that other Jedi could not fathom doing.

 

[Alexa Keel]

"I'm just as interested in seeing this through to the end as you are." Alexa told him, "This senator is not going to be left alone, not by me. If you have an idea on where to find them then lead the way. I will need more information to give to command when I finally return to them."

She was now very much interested in finding out who this senator was. She didn't like sending people like them through the courts, they effectively had immunity from the law with the amount of money and influence they had. But her people could always remove him after the fact. It would make it a little more suspicious. But that was beside the point.

"Where do you think we can find this senator? I don't recognize him, nor what system he represents." Alexa told him, crossing her arms in thought. "And since we know neither we really don't know what actions we can safely take."