Private Judgement, an unexpected lesson

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Coruscant
Objective: Help the man
Tag: Ivory Stroud

The sun was slowly calling it a day over the horizon as Silas slowly jogged through the bustling streets of the urban jungle known as coruscant. It wasn't safe to be out at night, but by the time he had finished his exercise, he'd be safely back inside the safe confines of his room. Silas took in the atmosphere around him as he came to a halt near a market stall, two hands on his hips to regain some of his breath. At this point, he had been running for almost an hour nonstop. His breath was deep, but he still had loads of energy in reserve. That was good news, considering he didn't want to be unfit during a mission.

He took a few minutes to curiously glare blankly into the crowd in interest, allowing his mind to wonder as aliens of all kinds went past his vision. However, one seemed to stand out momentarily. Briefly, a body forcefully pushed through the crowd to his right with urgency, desperate and eager to get away from whatever was chasing him. Silas stood up straight and caught sight of him again making his way out of the horde of people, kicking his feet to run as fast as he could. Close behind were three thugs, ones that looked nasty and no nonsense. They had the same urgency as him, other than they were the hunters.

Silas monitored the situation and seemed to be torn on what he was going to do. His main urge was to help him considering it was a three vs one situation, but considering there could be more of them and the fact he didn't know the background regarding their chase it could be very risky. Although, the victim looked weak and harmless just from the sight of him. Whatever they were doing, it certainly wasn't good.

The padawan sighed before following after them, using his nimble approach to weave in and out of the crowd without trouble. Not too far away were the three men, their efforts getting them closer and closer to the victim who was starting to get exhausted from the chase.

Eventually, he chose to break away into a quiet side alley that ultimately led to a dead end, leaving him trapped between a cold concrete wall and the three unforgiving chasers. Turning around, he glared at all three of them in complete horror as he fell back to the floor. From where Silas was standing he seemed to be begging the thugs to let him go in return for some credit. But as expected, they weren't having any of it. Like a pack of dogs, they surrounded the poor man and began stomping on his body. Partly out of revenge and to soften him up for when they brought him back to the boss.

"Hey, get away from him!" Silas voice shouted from behind them as he stood before them, a lightsaber being tightly gripped in his hand "Step away and we won't have any more problems..."

 

[Ivory Stroud]

Their pounding feet carried them after their quarry - chasing him through a throng of people, ignoring the stares & concerned looks from the locals. The Goons cared little; they were more focused on apprehending the target of their ire.

The side alley was a poor choice; leaving the man hopelessly surrounded on three sides by cold, unfeeling walls, and boxed in by three angry men dressed in comfortable Coruscanti business attire. All three of the men looked angry, but none of them looked winded. "Big mistake, sleemo. Looks like you ran yourself into a cage." One of them, a human, said. "Now, we're gonna tax you, so you don't make the same mistake twice." Another, an orange-skinned Zabrak, snarled, bearing razor-sharp teeth.

"Hey, get away from him!" Silas voice shouted from behind them as he stood before them, a lightsaber being tightly gripped in his hand "Step away and we won't have any more problems..."

The voice rose from behind them at the mouth of the alley. All four turned to look, witnessing a clean-shaven young man in work-out clothes staring at them in turn. The Zabrak turned to face the young man and pointed with a clawed finger. "Get lost, kid, or problems're exactly what you're gonna have."

"This here's a family matter, kid. You don't want any part of this." The third, a blue-skinned Chiss with red gleaming eyes, used his left hand to lift the tail of his coat - revealing the tell-tale butt of a blaster pistol tucked in his waistband.

Their target, now backed up against the wall at the far end of the alleyway, looked equal parts terrified & hopeful. If he'd have been able to, he'd already have started climbing the wall to escape the trap.

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Coruscant
Objective: Help the man
Tag: Ivory Stroud

The reactions of the men were typical. Not only did they treat him like a normal kid but stupidly threatened him if he didn't choose to go away. Silas could only tilt his head when one of the thugs showed a blaster, doing his best to intimidate the padawan who wasn't amused at all. The grip on his saber only tightened from the remarks, one that only overconfident criminals could ever achieve.

"Fine... I'll go"

Silas said as he began to walk backward under the stare of the gangsters. Eventually, all three of them snarled at each other and began to approach the retreating man, not bothering to care about the kid who rudely interrupted them. Although, that would be their last mistake. A sound of a blue lightsaber echoed through the alley before running followed, forcing them to stare around in shock as the boy came right at them. The thug who showed off his blaster reached for the weapon, only for him to be hit in the chest by a bin bag that exploded upon impact, knocking him to the floor covered in muck.

On the other hand, his two friends also tried to do the same thing, only for them both to be force pushed into the wall. Hard enough to injure them but not kill them. Looking down at his handywork with a slight smirk he heard the thug behind him covered in rubbish struggled to get his bearings. His shaky hand reached down to the holster once more, only to be stopped in his tracks by a slash of the boy's saber. The blaster itself got sliced in two, as well as his trigger finger that joined the rest of the parts on the floor.

Yelling in pure agony the thug rolled around the messy floor holding his hand, surely alerting anyone close by that seemed to recognise the thugs screaming cries. After feeling confident the threat had been dealt with, he carefully walked over to the scared man and knelt down in front of him

"Come on, let's get out of here..."

 

[Ivory Stroud]

At his potential savior's agreement to leave, the victim of the gang's ire seemed to melt into paralyzed horror as the trio of armed thugs turned their attention back to him. He slid down the wall, trying to make himself as small a target as possible.

Out of nowhere, the snap-hiss of the lightsaber and its brilliant blue glow lit the alleyway completely, and he watched and listened as the young man cut down his attackers with speed and precision. The entire engagement lasted only seconds. Their screams of pain filled the alleyway; the blue-skinned Chiss had attempted to draw his blaster had either his hand or his finger removed, and lay rolling on the ground screaming and clutching his disabled hand.

"Come on, let's get out of here..."

Silas could now see the man clearly. He was short, slim, and had short black hair with a streak of silver running through it; either natural, or artificial, the Jedi couldn't be sure. He wore baggy pants with a thin metal chain, and a black shirt with a dark green coat over it. The coat appeared stained with a black liquid on the front left side; if the Jedi's senses were clear enough, he might pick up the telltale coppery scent of spilled blood - but the man appeared uninjured.

Brown eyes, the color of honey, blinked in sudden surprise at his turn of good luck and a grin crept shakily over his lips - revealing a few broken teeth from street fights long ago. "Th-thank you.. Master Jedi.." He reached out, grasping Silas Westgard 's offered hand and heaving himself to his feet. "I can't... Can't believe you saved me."

The man stood, glimpsing around the alleyway; seemingly undisturbed by the sudden explosion of violence on his behalf. The Jedi seemed forgotten for a moment as the man approached one of his downed attackers who'd been struck by a refuse bin and rendered unconcious. In retribution, the man aimed a savage kick into the ribs of the human who'd first spoken a threat, causing the body to slump to the side; then, he knelt down, reaching into the well-dressed thug's internal coat pocket and fishing out a wallet. "That'll teach you pieces of chit to mess with Fourth Street. We even got Jedi on our side. Hope your boy grew wings enough to fly." He spat, then pocketed the wallet in his own coat.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Coruscant
Objective: Help the man
Tag: Ivory Stroud

Silas examined the man for any injuries that seemed clear, but only a few bruises from the previous beatdown were present across the man's face. His appearance looked strange to say the least, the noticeable black liquid that had a faint smell of blood. Even so, the padawan shrugged it off for now "Don't mention it" he said with a slight smile, his hand reaching out to pull the almost toothless man to his feet.

Letting the man wonder to one of the bodies Silas slowly dusted himself off, now and then looking back to the suspicious alien with a raise of his brow. For a person who was seconds away from being beaten to a pulp he seemed awfully confident and calm now, and as soon as he reached one of the groaning gangsters he decided to show some of that overconfidence in its true colors. Planting a kick into the man's guts, the injured criminal gasped loudly and slumped to the side.

The padawan tilted his head from his sudden change and began walking over, his hand extended out to grab him by the shoulder and forcefully pull him to his feet. For a young kid, he was surprisingly strong, mainly from the benefits of his training and well balanced lifestyle. Below him, the short man yelped in surprise when he was pulled up and pushed against the wall, his eyes inches away from the guardian angel looked unimpressed to say the least, "What do you think you're playing at?! kicking a man while he's down and stealing his wallet isn't the most heroic act is it? now why don't you give me that wallet back and jog on" he grunted in a stern voice, not taking any more messing around from the cowardly victim.

At the same time, Silas hadn't bothered to check his surroundings, especially the entrance of the alleyway where a multitude of footsteps was starting to come his way.

 

[Ivory Stroud]

"What do you think you're playing at?! kicking a man while he's down and stealing his wallet isn't the most heroic act is it? now why don't you give me that wallet back and jog on" he grunted in a stern voice, not taking any more messing around from the cowardly victim.

The man narrowed his eyes, back against the wall, as the young man pinned him firmly in place. "I ain't givin' back chit." He spit. "'Sides, you helped me. You gonna beat me worse than they-"

Suddenly, the light from the entrance to the alleyway dimmed. The sound of movement reached the ears of the two men, and the criminal paused mid-sentence to turn his head to look. Silas Westgard could see the man's eyes grow wide and his mouth drop open in surprise.

At the mouth of the alley stood a group of twelve men; all dressed similarly to the three Silas had disabled only minutes before. There was a Gammorean, a few human men and one woman, a Gotal, a Rodian, and a large red-furred Wookiee among the group - and they all looked very angry. Most of them appeared unarmed but some possessed simple weapons: the Wookiee held a long chain in one great fist, and the Gammorean appeared to be holding an axe of some kind. They spread out equally; filling the mouth of the alleyway enough to block any entrance or exit.

One of the human men stepped forward - he appeared to be older than the other humans, wearing a head of black hair which was graying in spots and a goatee which seemed finely trimmed. At the distance they stood, Silas couldn't be sure, but the man looked like his face had been scarred many years before. This older man took a moment to assess the three wounded individuals, pausing to stare a heartbeat longer at the Chiss who was still clutching his injured hand. With a pointed finger, he indicated the blue-skinned gunner who'd been maimed, and two of the group moved to hoist him to his feet. The other two members of their group whom Silas had rendered unconcious were too far away; closer to Silas and his erstwhile rescue.

"I don't know who you are, kid... but you really don't want to get involved in this." The older man spoke. The group behind him seemed poised to charge, but he held them back by his presence alone.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Coruscant
Objective: Survive
Tag: Ivory Stroud

"Oh yes, you are. I will not let a petty th-" was the only thing he could say back before multiple figures over shadowed the pair, interrupting their little dispute entirely.

Silas snapped his head to the ragtag group, calm and collected considering the odds he was up against. Twelve thugs stood before him, as well as a large Wookie that looked menacing even to the padawan. Most of them looked unarmed other than a few who held standard weapons, their faces fuming from the sight of their buddies on the floor. One man stood in front of them, an individual who looked older and wiser than the rest. He warned him not to get involved as they pulled up the fingerless foe, who seemingly glared a hole through the boy with furious intent.

"H-he's already got involved! the b-boy is the one who did all this!" the injured man yelled with a shaking hand pointing straight at Silas, who cautiously looked back to the group cautiously. Suddenly letting go of the thief against the wall, he gripped his lightsaber tightly and stood only a few feet from all of them. Now that the truth was out they probably wanted to rip him apart limb by limb, but when three people were about to injure a defenseless man he had to step in and help any way he could. Although, the reason for their hunt was still relatively unknown.

"Your boys over here were ganging up on this man like a pack of dogs, I couldn't just walk by and leave him here," he stated, taking his time to have a quick glance at each one of their faces. There was the possibility of fighting his way out, but their numbers were sure to overwhelm him even with his lightsaber and the force. Silas also didn't want to get himself into trouble by creating an all out war between him and a criminal empire, even if he despised their very existence.

Looking back to the two unconscious thugs on the floor he motioned his head as a way to give them permission to drag them over "Take them, I do not wish to inflict further harm." he said sternly, glaring straight at the man in charge now.

"I do not wish to fight any more of you, but I did what I thought was right. Tell me criminal, what do you hope to gain from harming this innocent man?" he said, his blue lightsaber still visible in the tightly clutched right hand.

 

[Ivory Stroud]

Silas Westgard

The leader of the group narrowed his eyes, holding up a palm - then creating a circle of his thumb & fore-finger, before lowering his palm toward the ground. The hand-signal was quickly delivered and elicited an immediate response in the group behind them. Every one of them seemed to relax slightly... Weapons lowering, shoulders and faces relaxing, and the feeling of imminent violence abating. Somewhat.

The leader of the group pointed at the two unconscious men dressed similarly to them, then clenching a fist & pulling it toward his chest. As two of the group began walking forward to gather their comrades, the leader spoke again - holding the young protector's gaze. "Son, I'm gonna guess you're not with him, if you think he's innocent." His tone of voice was firm but respectful.

As the two unconscious bodies were dragged toward the mouth of the alleyway, the leader of the group kept one eye on the lightsaber and another on the angry face of the street-punk with his back against the wall. "Tell you what.." He said, pausing for a moment as the group behind him parted to allow their comrades to pass, "Extinguish the lightsaber, and we can talk. You can call me Marek; This is my crew - they'll do what I say. What's your name?"

Rather than resorting to intimidation, "Marek", was attempting diplomacy - a relatively unheard-of tactic amongst Street Gangs. While it didn't look like the gang of angry faces behind him were going to allow the pair to leave, they weren't overtly hostile... Yet. Nor did it seem like their leader was stalling for time. They had the upper hand in numbers but were clearly not willing to lose people against someone armed with such a weapon as a lightsaber.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Coruscant
Objective: Survive
Tag: Ivory Stroud

Silas narrowed his eyes as the man in charge raised a hand, half expecting him to shoot him right there and then. However, the thugs behind him lowered their weapons and relaxed instead. That didn't mean he was going to lower his guard just yet though, gangsters were not to be trusted, especially from past experience.

Two of his goons came forward cautiously and went past him, slowly dragging away the unconscious yet stable henchmen back to them. The padawans gaze never left the main man, that was going to be the case until they could get this incident resolved. Soon, he spoke, stating that he didn't think he was with the man if he thought he was innocent. Silas tilted his head slightly from the comment, almost as if he was saying there was more to this than he thought.

"No... I've never met this man before. And, I'll be the judge of that before you even pin anything" he said respectfully back, but with a hint of authority to keep himself in control of the situation. Shooting a quick gaze to the side to watch the injured man being dragged away, all of their injured buddies had now been saved. That in turn meant he had nothing as collateral, other than the man he saved behind him.

The padawan clenched his jaw when he suggested extinguishing the lightsaber and telling him his name, something of which he thought was ridiculous "No can do, Marek. Who says as soon as I let my guard down you and your boys lift those guns back up? and you can forget my name. I don't think its right to say it, especially for a kid like myself" he said calmly, trying not to sound overly confident or arrogant considering his big disadvantage.

He hated the thought but the only way out was possibly doing what they said. Even so, he needed the reassurance they weren't going to shoot him down. Criminals never stuck to their word, but as long as being shot wasn't on the cards he was hesitantly willing to play along.

"You have your boys now. Tell the rest of your crew to wait at the entrance of the alley, then we can speak" he said, even though he wasn't really in the position to make demands. It wasn't like he was going to escape or try anything, because that would be suicide even by his standards.

 

[Ivory Stroud]

"No can do, Marek. Who says as soon as I let my guard down you and your boys lift those guns back up? and you can forget my name. I don't think its right to say it, especially for a kid like myself"

Marek grunted, a scowl tugging at the corner of his mouth. He kept one eye on the lightsaber-wielding teen & another on the group behind him. "Nobody's gonna do that." His tone would indicate that he was both reassuring the lone defender & issuing an order to his own companions. Marek's left hand rose, and flexed into a quick succession of three gestures - the meaning unclear, but it seemed to elicit a response from the group.

Immediately, the small collective began to shuffle & move backward. A few glanced at one-another, but most of them gave ground... all but the Wookiee, who seemed to remain closer than the rest. Marek didn't bother looking to check if his group had listened; clearly, he trusted the group to follow his instructions. Marek directed his attention again on the kid, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Alright. It's just us. I'm unarmed, and I'll keep my hands where you can see them while we talk like gentlemen. Deal?"

The final word carried weight to it. The man's demeanor, gestures, and manner of speaking implied he was a man of his word - while the group was obviously a gang, they didn't act like typical street criminals.

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Coruscant
Objective: Survive
Tag: Ivory Stroud

"Right, we'll see..." he replied back cautiously, still not taking his eyes off the man and his men. He seemed reassuring, but you never knew what if that was being used to mask his true intentions. After a few moments silence the man lifted his hand up and gave his men three gestures, indications that Silas didn't know at all. Slowly, his men behind him hesitantly began to fall back, other than the wookie who stayed closer compared to the rest. It would do for now, but that wookie looked incredibly dangerous if you got on his bad side.

"I'm a person of my word criminal, and so will you. Deal"

Almost instantly the boy shut off his lightsaber and placed it in his pocket, a place where he could easily take it out if he had any funny ideas. For now, they were acting honourably, but for how long? eventually criminals always had the knack of playing unfair, he had the experience first hand. Placing his arms loosely either side of him he glared at the gangster with an unsure expression, confused as to what they could possibly want with the man.

"We have terms, now tell me. Why do you want this man so badly, and what will you do to him if I decide to hand him over?"

 

[Ivory Stroud]

"I'm a person of my word criminal, and so will you. Deal"

Marek nodded, gray eyebrows furrowing at the young man's disrespectful tone. A criminal he may have been, but the young lad was pushing his luck - taking a moral high road while consistently showing a lack of respect. Had they not been standing upon the razor's edge of a disagreement, the soldier may have simply slapped the teenager across the mouth & attempted to teach him a lesson in manners - lightsaber be damned.

However, their quarry had shown a greater level of disrespect, and he was likely mere moments away from bypassing this particular obstacle to achieve their goal. Marek stepped forward, lowering his hands but keeping them visible & clasped in-front of himself; a tactic he'd learned from those higher up in the organization than he.

As Silas Westgard & he came face to face, Marek flicked his gaze to cover the scowling, nervous punk who'd been boxed into the alleyway with no hope of escape. The young man was fidgeting, chest heaving in excited & anxious breaths, and continually glanced about as-if he were searching a new form of rescue. In answer to Silas' question, Marek pointed his index finger at the punk behind him - mimicking the accusatory finger of an avenging angel.

"That sleemo ambushed three of my people - dumped one over a barrier into empty air then stabbed another in the neck before sprinting into a crowd." Marek snarled. "We're going to send him back to his friends with a message to stay out of Uscru."

From the mouth of the alleyway, a low growl reverberated through the air - the Wookiee member of their group reminding everyone in attendance that he was still very much present. The mention of the Uscru District, Coruscant's most popular Entertainment Centre, would have been interesting to anyone familiar with Coruscant's night-life culture; it was famously considered relatively gang-free other than minor petty crimes. The presence of C-Sec tended to remain heavy, especially at night.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Coruscant
Objective: Survive
Tag: Ivory Stroud

The gangster didn't seem pleased with his attitude by any means. Silas hated gangsters like nothing else, and every second of their conversation seemed like he was staring into his soul with an ice-cold stare. That only seemed to get worse when he started to get closer to him, trying to prove further he didn't mean harm.

Silas kept cool for now, knowing if he tried anything he'd be more than ready to defend himself. Considering the weight and height difference Silas didn't seem intimidated by the slightest when he stood only inches away. The padawan glared up at the man and stayed quiet when he explained his reasoning. A feeling inside of him knew the criminal was telling the truth, but the very admittance of that was burning him up inside. If the man behind him killed a few of their boys then all this time he had been defending a murderer.

What the victim said, the way he stole their wallets... it was all adding up to a lack of judgment.

"And what condition will you send him back to his friends?" he said rhetorically as he turned his head to the worried man with a sigh. There was a fine line between being smart and stupid, choosing to refuse his demands was sending him over that line. It was either be hurt for a useless cause or let them take him and unfortunately for the shaking man it was the latter.

Lowering his head, he slowly shook it with disdain "Take him, all I demand is safe passage without hassle from you or your lackies" he grumbled, barely able to look the man in the eye.

Silas just didn't want any part of this anymore...

 

[Ivory Stroud]

Marek paid close attention to the young man's body language, knowing full-well the weight of the moment had settled on his shoulders. As Silas Westgard asked what the group would do with their soon-to-be prisoner, the grey haired gangster with the cold blue eyes shifted to look at the ganger who's fate they'd been discussing... as-if he didn't exist.

The man behind Silas was attempting to make himself as small as possible, and avoided the eyes of the gangsters.

"And what condition will you send him back to his friends?" he said rhetorically as he turned his head to the worried man with a sigh.

Marek didn't answer.

Lowering his head, he slowly shook it with disdain "Take him, all I demand is safe passage without hassle from you or your lackies" he grumbled, barely able to look the man in the eye.

His eyes averted, Silas didn't see the instant hardening in Marek's gray eyes. The gangster leader lifted his hand and gave a wordless signal to the group standing at the mouth of the alley. Immediately, the Wookie (who'd been paying close attention to the exchange) and another of the group broke away and began to approach. They avoided Silas Westgard completely, closing on the ganger whom the young man had attempted to protect.

"No!" the ganger screamed, attempting to break free... but the two members of Marek's gang grabbed him roughly, locking his arms behind his back and hefting him onto his tip-toes. With their prisoner weakly struggling against the force of his captors, Marek took a step back - without taking his eyes off of the young man in front of him.

"Best of luck, son. The Family appreciates your cooperation."

And with that, Marek turned on his heel, joining the group at the mouth of the alleyway. They took a left, turning away from the crowded streets & platforms - likely heading toward the maze-like winding walkways deeper into Coruscant's underbelly.