Private Just Sightseeing

[Alina Tremiru]

Gyndine was just another world in her travels around the galaxy to learn. Silver Jedi space. Another stop in her quest to learn just what her place was in the galaxy. She had no doubt in her heart that she was Sith, but what did that mean? What kind of Sith did she want to be and what were her beliefs? She couldn't say what either was. Alina stepped out of the spaceport dressed as a tourist there for some sort of vacation. The forests and lakes of this world were at least decent enough for it to be believable someone would come here for such a reason. The young woman stretched her arms overhead and took in a deep breath.

The air smelt good. Definitely summer here on this world. Alina smiled faintly as she walked through the streets. Thankfully there was no reason for anyone to recognize her. She was just a young blonde woman in shorts and a tanktop enjoying a walk from the spaceport to a hotel, probably. She wasn't actually going to such a place, but it was easy enough to assume. With the Taozin Amulet she'd picked up no one should be any the wiser of her alignment. And the thick sunglasses she wore kept her Sith colored eyes from standing out. But that was the extent of it. All it'd take is someone she actually met before to recognize her.

Not that there was anyone around that could. The only one she could think of was a Jedi she'd lost a battle to some week or so ago. Her grip tightened on the strap of her purse that carried her weapons as she remembered Takui . Not only did he beat her, but he went so far as to try and tell her it wasn't too late to be saved. Like she needed saving. No, she didn't have to think about that. That's not why she was here. Alina fixed the strap before resuming her walk. "Just need to find the library.. Jedi usually hang around there." She spoke to no one in particular, just musing aloud to keep her thoughts straight.

 

[Takui]

"Knight Mihzu-"

"I'm just a Padawan," he corrected with a kind smile. "You can call me Taku, though. How can I help?"

There's been a dispute in city sector 33257, I was wondering if you could help the guards sort things out?" the woman was a local Marshall, one of the Concord's many security measures against criminal activity. The Jedi normally didn't get called in for things, but he'd taken the liberty of coming to Gyndine on orders from the Alliance. The Concord were still a valuable political ally, and regardless of how the New Jedi Order felt about them, the Alliance were the ones that they deferred to.

He didn't harbor any malcontent toward the Jedi of the Concord, but his feelings toward the government weren't exactly full of enthusiasm and happiness. Still, he took what he'd learned about being objective and detaching himself from those feelings and did his duty. That duty just so happened to be patrol today.

"What's the situation?" he asked.

"Brawl outside the Library," she twisted her face and read the report a second time. "Odd venue, but it looks like a domestic disagreement. Two men and a woman, younger."

"I'm not sure I'm the best fit for this job," he began to protest. Jedi usually didn't have much to contribute in the way of relationship advice, and he'd never even had a girlfriend. "Maybe we should-"

"You are a Jedi in training, right?" she quirked a brow quizzically. "Your job is to keep the peace. Whether you're great at it or not; besides, isn't the point of your being here to gain experience?"

He sighed. "Alright, alright," Taku relented. "I'll make my way over."

"Better hurry," she called after him. A beeping sound chirped from her data pad. "Looks like one of them just pulled a blaster."

"Echuta!" he cursed loudly in Huttese as he broke into a run.

"I hope he doesn't kiss his mother with that mouth," the Marshall muttered as he got far enough away.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Look, guys, we really. Really. Don't need this. I don't even know you guys. If you wanna fight, at least leave me out of it." How exactly did she end up in a situation like this. Seriously. This wasn't at all what she wanted to be dealing with, especially now. Especially here in Silver space. She'd been taken hostage by one of them, who now had a blaster pressed to the side of her head. She kept her hands up, trying to be calm. She easily could have taken both of them out, but then she'd have to run off. Leave the planet before she got her answers.

Heh. Maybe a Jedi would come by to deal with this.

The irony wasn't lost on her as she kept looking between the two. Bounty hunter. That made way more sense. Whomever it was that had her in his grip had quite the sizable bounty on his head. And the other gentleman was there to collect. Well, that'd definitely get the local law involved. Ah, crap, wait. Now she was a witness. If she could get away, she'd have to do it quickly. Before any do gooder showed up. But for now, well, she listened to the men argue over her life.

Takui

 

[Takui]

"Easy," one of the first responders held out a hand, palm facing toward them. "No one has to get hurt. We can all walk away from this if you just put the gun down and let the girl go."

"Shut the kark up, pig!" the man pressed his blaster muzzle to the woman's jaw and his finger threatened near the trigger. "You and your posse better clear out and have the nearest port made ready or I'll rearrange this girl's molecules."

"You kill her and we won't stop shooting til you're slagged," the officer retorted. "You and I both know it."

"Not exactly winning me over here, officer," the man quipped as he backed away slowly with Alina in tow. "Look lady, I just need to get off this damn world before they cart me off to Kiffex," he whispered, "no hard feelings. I just wanna see my family again."

Taku hurried onto the scene and looked around, his lightsaber prevailing against his hip. Everyone needs to see it. The threat is the point, not the force. That's what it's all about. You want to do your best to never have to use it.

He remembered the explanation he'd gotten about it from several weeks prior. Form Zero. The best form of ligbtsaber combat: never having to use it. The ideal Jedi approach to conflict.

Takui wasn't sure it would pan out this time, though. The second man leveled his blaster on him. "No one said anything about Jedi," he called over his shoulder to the first man.

"Concord space, dingus. Should have seen this one coming. Look, saber jockey, you come any closer and the lady gets it."

Taku held up his hands. "Woah, woah," he retorted. "No need for that. Let's just talk this out, okay?"

"Too late for that," the leader shook his head. "Starport. Five minutes. We fly out of here and never look back, and I'll let the girl go."

The Padawan's eyes moved toward the woman with a glimmer of faint recognition. If she was the same person, she could have handled herself. Why didn't she?

Well, if she hadn't... then she fell under his protection, just like anyone else. He wouldn't out her. Not this time. "Look, all I'm saying is," he kept his eyes on the girl for a moment, the made them dart quickly toward the man twice. Knock him out.

Taku would take care of the other one.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Well, she got a Jedi alright. Just the literal one she didn't want to see. Takui . She didn't know his name, but she'd never forget his face. How could she? Quite the grimace was left on her face as she locked eyes with the padawan. Her sunglasses had been knocked off at some point. No hiding. There was momentary confusion though as he made some kind of motion. What did he want? The guy?

Knock him out?

She shook her head, which to the gun on her jaw just made it seem like she she was scared. At least to the guy who was holding the gun. This would out her entirely! Alina was here to not start a fight. But he was right. After a moment of listening to the guy demanding a hanger in the space port and talking about her like some bargaining chip. That annoyed her. In a quick movement she brought her head back into the man's nose with a loud crack, snatched the gun away from her, then twisted his arm more than enough to break it and send him to the ground.

Alina took a breath as she tossed the gun to the ground and looked back to the Jedi.

"Alright. Now what?"

 

[Takui]

In the confusion that followed, several things happened quickly. The girl defended herself against her aggressor, who thought that he was dealing with a defenseless girl. Never assume. In that same breath, his friend turned his gun on her. Taku intervened.

Alright. Now what?

A familiar green blade twisted through air and cleaved the barrel off of the weapon, leaving the man unarmed and in disbelief. The local authorities moved in quickly to contain the situation. "Are you alright, miss?" the head officer asked.

Taku's weapon slipped away and returned to his belt as he retrieved her glasses and hastily placed them into her hands before the security officer could get a good look at her. "I think she's fine officer, but just in case, I'd like to escort her wherever she's going. Do you need a statement?"

"No, we saw everything," he declined. Thank the Force.

"Alright, then we'll be on our way," he said as he gestured for the Sith to follow him away from the scene. With his voice much lower, he asked, "what are you doing here?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Crap. Alina momentarily forgot that her eyes were still exposed as the officers moved in. She quickly covered her face, as if overwhelmed by what just transpired. She didn't even want to talk to these men, just in case they might catch something from her accent. This really couldn't get any worse. She opened her mouth to say something when Takui intervened. Much to her relief. The young Sith quickly put on the sunglasses, letting the Jedi handle this. For whatever reason he seemed to be just as keen at keeping her hidden as she was.

The young woman hurried along with Takui, still half covering her face as they walked away from the officers. "I'm here to learn. It would have been fine if there wasn't literal criminals running around. Aren't you supposed to be the keepers of the peace or something?" Alina hissed out her words, though not venomously. As much as she'd hate to admit it, it was his intervention that kept her from having to panic run off world. When they were far enough away she let out a breath, visibly relaxing. She rubbed at the back of her neck, glancing around the street.

"Thank you, for your help. But why help me?"

 

[Takui]

"You could have killed those men," he observed. A statement, not a question. "You chose a peaceful option. The way I see it, you've done nothing criminal." He didn't mention Jedha, since technically she only inflamed an old wound and no collateral damage incurred.

"That makes you a citizen of this Galaxy like anyone else," he said, "a Jedi's duty is to protect all life."

It was still an anomaly to Taku that the woman opted to enter Jedi space after things went awry the last time they met. He figured she had her reasons, more so than what she'd given him, and that she wouldn't be forthcoming. It wasn't his business to pry.

"If they'd figured it out," he gestured vaguely. She'd get the picture, "they probably would have held you until someone could make their way out to process you. After the attack on Commenor where an entire city was reduced to cinders, they're pretty careful about..." he paused and glanced around. Once he was certain no one was around, he continued. "...Sith."

He didn't trust her entirely, but until she gave him a reason to act, he wasn't about to place her under arrest. This technically wasn't his jurisdiction anyway- he was just a loaner. That was just asking for paperwork.

"What exactly are you trying to learn?" he asked, shifting gears.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Don't get me wrong, I would have. But it would of meant far more trouble for me if I had." She spared Takui the lecture about how peace was a lie, if only because she did appreciate the fact he'd spared her from being arrested. Though, it was the last bit. About how Jedi protect all life. That soured her expression as she slowly tightened a fist. Why was that so easy for him to say, after everything the Jedi had done? Her mind still went back to the fires of Korriban when a Silver Jedi decided to bomb the city and claimed countless innocent lives.

And the life of her older sister.

"I'm not too surprised. The Sith have done.. A lot of needless cruelty." Violence begets violence. It wasn't a surprise to Alina that the Sith were responsible for the destruction of Commenor. The switch of gears was a welcome one. Such a subject would prove only to anger her, and it wasn't what she was here to discuss. Sort of.

"I want to learn how the galaxy sees the Sith. We're not all those.. Monsters." She paused, immediately thinking back to the Graug Lord and his hoard. "It's the duty of the Empire to protect their citizens, not callously sacrifice them. But if I want to change things, I need to learn everything."

 

[Takui]

....annoyance?

It felt like that, at first. There was a quick flash of it before something else entirely washed over. Deep sadness. Emotions that caught him entirely off guard, coming from someone he thought incapable of them. But, she had surprised him once already within the past half ten minutes. Nothing was off the table.

Taku began to think that maybe, even Sith began as human. She was still young yet, and when she spoke again, his expression faded. It was replaced with deep contemplation. "I admittedly know what I've been taught about the Sith. A quest for power that casts aside even humanity in the pursuit," he replied. "At the core, that's what the Jedi teach. It's because they believe the Force flows in everything, and it's a gift."

He slowed his pace a bit and his eyes swept across the ground. "They say that to act from a place of hate is wrong," Taku exhaled sharply. "But I think that's an ideal more than anything. Jedi are still human. Someone can strive toward peace and never reach it."

His thoughts were on his father, and the death of his mother. Turbulent emotions always flowed close around those two things. One tied to deep sorrow, the other to extreme animosity. They were the hardest things to let go of- and the Jedi expected exactly that.

"People aren't born evil," he said, certain that what he said was true. "And I don't think every person in the Sith Empire is necessarily evil, either. There are innocent people everywhere. I do think the people pulling the strings are bad."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"True Sith do not act out of emotion. We're supposed to be above it. Control it. Use it as a tool, not be used by it. At least, that's what my master teaches me." There were plenty of Sith who did act out their base emotions. The one she wanted to overthrow was one such type of Sith. There were too many that were in positions of power with such base desires of destruction and self greed. It was interesting though, to hear Takui speak of the Jedi with such uncertainty. Already he was showing there were many different kinds of Jedi.

Just as there was of Sith.

"I cannot disagree with that. I have faced this evil and barely made it out alive, on more than one occasion. It's.. Frustrating."

An exhausted sigh escaped Alina as her shoulders slumped. Ironically the padawan was a better source of information than the library would be, but now she was too emotionally exhausted to try and continue speaking about it. "Do you know a good place to eat? I'm hungry."

 

[Takui]

"We can stop by a Caf," he told her. "Big administrative world, lots of commerce, plenty of choices." Indeed, as they walked along the way, there were many options. In particular, a place with Thyrsian inspired cuisine caught his eye. "If you don't mind a bit of spice, we can try that?" he gestured. Another Padawan named Aelys had turned him on to his homeworld's cultural cuisine, and Taku actually enjoyed it more than he expected to.

He felt hungry too, though probably less than someone who just got held at blasterpoint. "If you're aware of the bad inside your own system, why don't you work to change it?" he asked as the Droid came to take their orders. He got a hot plate with Solar Seasoning over skewered Bantha meat. "I don't know anything about Sith politics, or even really politics in general," he admitted, "but you get the right to reject things and make positive change, don't you?"

Maybe it wasn't quite the same. He was so used to Democracy that Imperialistic ideals were lost on him; but bureaucracy in totality had always given him a headache. Then... his father, who claimed to dislike the government and everything it stood for... went and joined a different one.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"A caf doesn't sound too bad actu-" Alina paused at the mention of spice, staring at Takui with a rather judgmental gaze. "You're offering to get high? What kind of planet is this?" She huffed, almost annoyed. Though, as she looked to the Thyrsian restaurant she nearly froze with her embarrassment. Her cheeks turned quite a shade of red before she quickly looked away to clear her throat. ".. Yes. That sounds nice." That was the most she could do to try and save face.

Which, really, wasn't at all.

She ordered the same as him, relaxing into her seat. Her expression turned rather somber as he brought up changing how the Sith were. "It's not that easy. I'm trying, but to do so I need to be strong enough to challenge them. We can't fight among ourselves if we want to defend ourselves too. It's.. Very precarious."

 

[Takui]

He glanced at her as he realized the mistake she had made. With a smirk, he glanced back toward the bar where people were drinking and laughing. There were many feelings flying around, positive, negative, and everything in between. With a wistful expression, he sighed quietly.

"It sounds exhausting, honestly," he said in a quiet voice. "When I was younger, I never even thought about life as a Jedi. I trained to be a Merchant with my father, who was very strict and set in his way. He always said governments are full of people who have power and people who want it, so you can never trust anyone."

He took the cup of water from in front of him and sipped it. Once he placed it back down, he glanced up toward the woman in sunglasses... even though they were inside. People learned not to ask questions, even if they were suspicious. This was a world many people passed through, constantly.

"I can't imagine a government that places that much emphasis on power. It would be utter chaos. One idea versus another, everyone wanting their way." He smiled sadly. "The strong take everything they want, and they give nothing back. The weak get eaten."

In the next breath, he backpedaled a bit. "Not that democracy is perfect, either," he held up a hand. "I'm certainly not saying one way is better than the other."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I certainly do feel exhausted." Especially with her family. The young woman laid on the table, her head resting on her arms. Probably made her stand out that much more, but there was a Jedi here with her. Should keep her from being approached at least. Her gaze, still hidden by the sunglasses, glanced about this little caf. People were just people. In Sith space or here, this sort of shop was the same. They didn't have to worry about some crazed Sith deciding it was time for them to perish.

Alina's hands tightened into fists for a moment. "It's not that bad. The Empress is a good woman. Much better than her father. Or uncle. It was her orders to protect our people that put me in conflict with a Sith Lord on Dantooine. We.. Lost a lot of people. Acolytes, like me. Some younger. If we weren't dealing with the Bryn threat on top of the traitors and the Jedi, we'd be able to focus inward and fix this." She blinked once she realized she went on a rant. She cleared her throat, pushing herself up a bit to look back at Takui .

"I can't say who's right. But that's why I want to learn."

 

[Takui]

He wasn't sure what to say.

It was a Galaxy full of troubles, and while he could empathize with the turbulence and anxieties that came with it Taku couldn't say that he felt any pity for the Sith Empire. He doubted that if the Empress were a good person, she was actually the one pulling the strings. There were too many holes in what he knew and what he was hearing now. It seemed like the people in the darkness liked to keep the ones closest to them in the dark.

That was how they kept their claws sunken deep. It was why the wounds fostered, unhealing. Taku could not simply say that to someone who "just wanted to learn." If she were receptive to the message, he had a responsibility to make sure she heard it. Even if she didn't it. That meant not driving her away with his own obsessions.

"There's bad people everywhere," he said reassuringly. "Corrupt politicians, officers of the law... even things we can't see. It's a moral responsibility to object, and you have to choose to do that. Being strong, being weak, neither of those things matter. Doing the right thing comes from the heart. And the Force... the Force can answer a lot of questions, if you listen."

He scratched his head and smiled up at the server as their food arrived. When he took a bite, the spice blend hit his tongue and he let out an emphatic "mmmmmmm!"

"The Sith, the Jedi, the Empire, the Alliance- none of them determine what's good or evil. It's a personal decision. Not every law is good. Not every person who's committed a crime is evil."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"The Force is too chaotic for it to speak to me. A curse of how I was born and how I am connected to it." Alina mused lightly about that. It was an easier target than the heaviness of politics. She really didn't like politics. Too easy for people with selfish agendas to take advantage and twist law to their favor. And too hard to counter it. At least with the Sith, the absolute rule of the Empress and Dark Lord was just that. No politics to try and undermine their rulings.

The food smelled amazing. Her gaze turned to the server, then to the plates as her mouth practically watered. She'd become quite a foody since being freed from her Mother and having the chance to try new cuisine. The first bite was one she was excited for. Though the burn quickly changed that. Panic sent in as she snatched up her cup to try and wash away the burn on her tongue, only for it to get worse. There was a slight whimper as she looked around for something to handle the burn for her.

"I.. Yeah. Agreed. Sure. Um. Hot. How do I..? Oh it hurts. Haa."