Light and Dark, Severed from Hatred. (Holocron Hunt)

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Alkor Centaris"]

Balmorra​

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"Yes, i need directions for the world of Ambria. My starcharts are pretty old so its kind of hard for me to get to the planet... what i mean is its not a frequent destination for me and im looking to get there without running into unneeded trouble." Alexandra had come to the planet in her travels looking for a certain Holocron, one that presented her with the oppotunity to finish her training in an ability she was all too fond with truly mastering. The problem came though when she had found herself increasingly frustrated with its final resting place and now of all times she was leaning her head against her hand waiting for help from the man.​

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Ok so, there was a few things about Alexandra when it came to asking people for help, especially on her history runs. She firstly never used her real name, hiding who she was behind glasses, far more civilian like clothing than her robes. And she made triple sure that her aura and sabers did not show on her person at all. To anyone that she talked to, she was Maria Pellaeon, a decendant of the Imperial admiral and currently travelling Archaelogist searching to recover as much of the past as she could so that the Universe could have it once more.​

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Officially she was looking this time for a memory device which a collector wanted. Problem was, this made her look like she was an inexperienced and thrill seeking girl, something the Rodian infront of her was about to try and take advantage of. "Follow me... i think i have the information you want..." The Rodian spoke in the language that it was familiar with, immediately leading her and it to a door that would lead outside into the alley.​

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Problem was, she had assumed it would be him alone when she now found herself with three more dance partners and she sighed.​

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"Come on guys, i just wanted directions to Ambria... please don't do this..." She pleaded in a soft, kind tone, trying to get them to buy the innocent act but she had a feeling that they liked that more which made her sigh. Little did she know, she wouldn't have to act and her hand was now on the holdout blaster she carried around for nothing.​

 

[Alkor Centaris]

Phaygus glanced sidelong at Alkor as they strode through the streets of Bin Prime. The towering spires and massive factories dwarfed the two men as their heated debate turned a corner and headed down a bustling lane. "I don't think that we have the resources to fund such an excursion at this time, young Master," the Technarch informed his friend gently, "we have been suffering under the control of the Sith for so long now that all of our funds not invested in research are exhausted in repelling them from full occupation. Unless you can get more investors, we will have to operate within our current restraints until further notice."

Alkor shrugged slightly. "I understand the limitations of the company at this time," he held up a finger, "but what I'm asking is for further research into the preexisting programs, specifically-"

"I can't promise any measure of success, is what I'm trying to say," the smaller man stopped and turned to speak frankly. "I can make the necessary allocations and I can oversee them personally, but to spread our resources that thin is ill-advised. Once we get the personal rail arms onto the market, we can use that money to stimulate our research projects and move toward something on par with the Verpine gravity technology, but the electromagnetic research we have has already been applied for civilian use. Take for example Muunilinst and its train system..."

"I know all about Muunilinst, Phaygus, what I want is something to hand the Mandalorians as a token of good faith. They like weapons. Weapons are what we do. Do you understand?" Alkor folded his arms as the Technarch smiled broadly. "I thought that you might understand," the Dark Jedi chuckled.

"I'll be going now," Phaygus held up a hand, "I will send you a report detailing our efforts the moment we have something worthwhile to document."

Alkor watched the dwarf hobble down the street as a neuron fired off in his brain and the Force howled in his ear. "What the...?" he turned to glance down the alley to his right as a woman backed out the door and fiddled with something tucked away in her clothes. The Corellian frowned as he turned and stalked toward her. His hand whipped up and caught her wrist before she could draw the illegal weapon. "Careful," he said as his head swiveled to regard the men, "assault is a class three felony on Balmorra. The local government has never been very forgiving about it."

"Who are you?" one of the men asked as Alkor pushed the woman behind him.

"Nevermind that. Slag them both. There's no need to fight over all this."

Alkor snorted. "This was going to be a fight whether I noticed or not," he muttered. No one seemed to hear him.

He reached beneath his robes and gripped the Rail Pistol at his hip. "I wanted to give this thing a dry run anyway," he said with a shrug as he leveled the weapon toward one man's throat. The four men stopped for a moment and glanced among themselves.

"What are you going to do with that?" the leader laughed. "You hit one of us, then what? The other three pile on you and you're dead anyway. Get him."

Alkor pulled the trigger, and the round seared through its target faster than sound. Surprised, the victim rasped for several seconds before he noticed the gaping hole in his esophagus. He tried to scream, but air flowed out of entry and exit wounds instead. Blood gushed from the wound as he crumbled to the duracrete. "Force," one of the other men hissed.

"Run!" the leader screamed. Alkor glanced down toward his sidearm as the three men retreated.

"So uncivilized," he huffed.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra's eyes drew down to the specks of blood that had landed on her person, her own distaste strong as she sighed and knew rubbing away the specks would just make it worse. "Uncivilized is one word, dirty would have been the one i'd have used. What happened to a good old fashioned blaster..." Her eyes found the man for a few seconds, long enough to easily determine the kind of man that this was and staring at his aura more so than him. Even though she was in her civilian clothing, she stared at him as if he were just another gun totting muscle head.

"Well thanks for the help i guess but i need to get going and im pretty sure your murder here is not something i want to be involved with. I need to find someone who can get me to Ambria or atleast get me the directions to there so i can get on with my dig." She started to move without any real indication that she already new from his aura he was a force user. Her own aura had been suppressed the moment she had left Alderaan, seeing no reason to draw the attention of the Sith considering how close to their borders she was right now and how if she wasn't careful that she could be caught by one of their inquistors or recruiters.

"What do i owe you for the hellp?" She looked at the man, staring at his eyes for a second as she stood next to him. It was easy to do that, he was as tall as her and as such she had little worry about all of this. Her natural black hair, dark as ebony was what colored her hair now, avoiding to use any of her normal illusions in order to further the ruse of of appearance as Maria Pellaeon. She would not let someone ruin her search for Nomi's Holocron, this man included.

 

[Alkor Centaris]

"Self-defense," Alkor drawled in response to her assessment. He tucked the weapon away and sighed without much enthusiasm. People were so quick to say something other than "thank you" when someone blasted their assailant to kingdom come these days that he was hardly surprised by it. Her reaction did denote that she was used to that level of violence, however, even if she dressed the part of plainclothes civilian.

As she watched his gaze, it never left the corpse. He seemed transfixed, as though he were watching as the soul departed the body. Death was so familiar to Alkor that whenever he did encounter it, he viewed it with a certain reverence. Not out of respect, but for sentiment's sake, perhaps. He was uncertain.

He was every inch the textbook Corellian, bedraggled but oddly at home with the look. His eyes were a calm blue color, but he did not smile the way most of his people did. No, Alkor never offered anyone that sort of genuine emotion. He brushed a fleck of blood from his brown hair and flicked it to the ground callously. He plucked the datapad from his cloak and snapped a quick photograph of the murder scene, which he relayed immediately to the company with the tag: "efficient."

Several seconds passed and he received the obvious reply. "Alkor, did you just murder someone within five minutes of me leaving your side?"

He offered no response. Instead, he turned his gaze to regard the woman. "It's taken care of," he said almost too casually. "You said you needed to go to Ambria? Walk with me a moment," he turned his back on the corpse and left it where it lay. Several steps around the corner, and the telltale sound of sirens blared up in the distance. "It should provide a suitable distraction from this," he paused for only a fraction of a second before he decided on the word. "complication."

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra looked at the correllian for a few seconds before sighing, grabbing at her ebony hair and pulling it back as she let it fall back behind her shoulders. She wanted it out of her face as she thought about things progressing the way they had and she didn't need her fake ID checked out today. Then she heard his voice and turned her head again to face him, eyes looking him over with interest over what he had just told her. Did he really know how to get to Ambria she wondered, and if he did, why was it that he wanted to go there? Her hands tightened behind her into slight fists before looking past him in the direction of the sirens.

She sighed as her hands relaxed now, staring at the man as he started to walk away before shaking her head again. She knew this could only end badly, something about this day told her it was all going to be strange anddd that everything was already starting badly. Atleast he might actually know how to get to the planet so her feet followed him.

She said to nothing as she followed him cautiously a hand resting on the blaster pistol she hid in her clothing. It was curious to see if he would spark some kind of inquiry into who she was, due to how little she had asked about this man who had come to her saving. Well... thought he had come to her saving, smiling as the tail hidden by her clothing twitched and itched for her to have fought. That was something that she couldn't quite get over yet and it was that mental need for fighting and battle, something she had recently tried to solve by joining up with the Mandalorians but hadn't yet found herself sure.

Maybe this hunt would bring her to find a bit more adventure than she had first thought might occur. After all the item she was looking for was not a simple memento of the past and she was sure something would still reside by it as a guardian.

[member="Alkor Centaris"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

She talks less than I do, he observed silently. It was a precious quality in others, Alkor found, that they could keep their opinions to themselves. Too often, people spoke out simply to be heard, or to express some useless opinion that they placed stock in. He did not bother to glance back at her or express interest in who she was, or even what she wanted. As the authorities arrived on scene behind them, the best thing for them to do was continue on their course away from the crime. Phaygus had already done most of the heavy lifting when it came to making the problem disappear. The good thing about having friends in high places was that they weren't above political corruption.

Alkor turned another corner and the sound of squad bikes slowly softened. "Ambria," he repeated. "Or am I talking to myself, now?" He finally faced her with a hand comfortably rested on his saberstaff. It took literally no effort to react in danger, and well, he did not need surprise if she decided to play heroine. The Dark Jedi was not interested in back and forths or games. He did not care if she saw that he did not trust her. There was no part of Alkor that showed the situation affected him at all.

"If you want to get there, I know people who can help with that. I'm not interested in going myself, but I can at least get you off Balmorra after that incident. Local scum are wont to come back after they've been slighted. It would be healthier for you if you were off world before that happened, because I'm not going to walk around the corner every time they're about to take turns on you." Alkor sounded like he cared more than he actually did, but the reality was that the more violence that occurred on Balmorra, the more bad press his company got. They were arms dealers at heart, so when arms were misused on their watch it reflected badly on the brand.

"What do you say?" he asked.

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Alkor Centaris"]

She listened to the words and with her eyes just narrowing she sighed and shook her head. The man was as irritating as they came when they tried to play the hero, her hand on her blaster as he rested his on the saber staff, making her glance at the weapon for a few seconds before just nodding and looking off to the side as she listened to other talk around her and made sure her appearance wasn't coming across the gossip of the area. If she was blamed for that, it would make the other holocron hunts harder in the future which was no good.

"Yes, it was ambria but i must ask you something. Do you think that this whole act makes you a hero, not that im not grateful but i must ask with a bit of curiosity why you are rescuing people just to send them off packing."

She was curious about the man and why he was more concerned with just helping people and then leaving. It was made more curious to her as she could sense the darkside off him considering he made no attempt to hide it unlike what she was attempting to do. It was hard know if the man was trying to set her up for some trap, or if he had that same little annoyance of a identity crisis that Solan did when he came to ask her for healing after all the damage he takes during his use of the darkside. That was another thing she could feel though and it was the wounds that Alkor had, a certain gift of her own to figure out when someone was wounded, even if that pain was not obvious to the people in question. His wounds seemed different though and she was curious about it.

 

[Alkor Centaris]

Alkor watched quietly as she asked about heroism, and his impetus for saving her. It was a matter of time and place, if the truth be told. The opportunity to field test one of his company's newest creations did not come around often for someone who disliked ranged weapons, so when the three assailants came at the woman so eagerly right in front of him he could hardly pass it up. With one dead and two soiling their pants, the situation had the added bonus of quieting down some of the local troublemakers for the time being. Ultimately, aside from bad press surrounding a mysterious homocide the situation only stood to profit his company in the long term. "No," he answered. "I'm no hero."

Honestly, the conversation would have been much different between normal people. Alkor would never have thrown a bunch of useless words at the woman if he had expected her to respond thoughtfully. It was irritating, the way she answered in no uncertain terms almost exactly like he would have in her place. "I'm not in the business of saving lives," he added. "Things on Balmorra have been heated ever since the Sith took power. It's not uncommon for unsavory types to frequent the market or drive small business owners out. It wouldn't be a problem, but they're putting a strain on sales for my company-" he waved a hand back toward the large establishment built into the mountain face. "And I can't allow it to go without addressing when I'm in the area."

He folded his arms and heaved a sigh. "The problem arises that you were the reason the attack happened to begin with. Whether or not we were acquainted beforehand, you'd be targeted in response. I don't doubt you can take care of yourself, but I'd rather the situation not substantiate to begin with." Alkor hated all of the red tape that surrounded being a business owner. Anywhere else in the Galaxy, he had none of the restrictions that Phaygus and his friends placed over his head. There was no "act like a humanitarian" clause in the Dark Jedi playbook, nor did anyone expect him to do things that constituted "heroism."

Balmorran Arms just liked appearances. Alkor Centaris had always hated them. "I'd rather not be acting like Han Solo or Luke Skywalker," he said, "this whole damsel in distress businesss makes me sick. I can tell you're not nearly as frail as you put on, and that just makes it even worse," he admitted.

"Honestly, I'd rather get off world myself. I've been stuck here for weeks since the investors decided to vote on expansion. I have a multitude of things I would rather be doing."

[member="Alexandra Feanor"]

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Alkor Centaris"]

She grinned as the last line was spoken and with a smile her hands crossed behind her head while she started to pace before finally speaking, her body pushing past him and grabbing him by the shoulder. Her grip would be surprisingly strong considering she looked no more than just over a hundred pounds which made it probably a bit surprising when this girl who moments ago was questioning him was now trying to drag him along. Of course her voice would sound but probably not speaking the words that Alkor would have expected to come from her considering that she was a moment ago asking him why he was even around.

"Good, because i need a partner in a little hunt of mine and you are coming along. Keeps you from assuming i will simply fall into the Damsel role again, and keeps those investors off your back if they learned you were kidnapped by an Archaeologist that needed to see your new weapon in the field. After all, who is to argue with some actual field tests on worlds with creatures much less frail than humans?"

Even if he tried to deny the rather forced options... well not really options considering it was come with her, or be dragge with her. Either way she would be bringing him with her and her other hand reached up to rub at her forehead as she continued speaking, her eyes being turned over her shoulder with an almost wolf like grin showing on her lips.

"After all, im just a poor little scientist that needs protection and someone who knows how to get to Ambria... mind walking instead of having me drag you with me, my arm isn't in the most comfortable position."