Campaign Misplaced

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

He pulled his hood from the side, closer to his face, as they were crossing a small intersection where the sandstorm's winds picked up again. Eyes squinting against the grain of sands whirling about, Dag listened intently to Aeris while remaining vigilant. Whatever was bothering her, she was dealing with it, enduring - that was, after all, their calling. They could take it--

“Alex came back from the dead.”

“... Then they returned to the dead.”

The Jedi blinks, once, twice, then halts in place, "Huh?" tilting around towards her, he mumbles in stupor, "Alex-- he-- ...what?" the man she had loved, a secret Aeris had held for a long time before divulging it to the Knight during their confessional spar some time ago.

Felt like a lifetime ago.

Oh, Aeris.​

Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Viers Connory Creuat Valery Noble Arlo Renard Mercy

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Dagon Kaze

The brown leather of her jacket held the patterned white shawl firm against her cheeks to dampen the impact of the sands that were thrown at them. Even with her vision impaired she could feel the way that Dagon's eyes burned a hole through her skulls, the way he judged her every word and weighed them against what it meant to be a Jedi, what it meant to be a friend.

Why hadn't she said anything earlier?

This was what she got for getting attached to someone.

"He came back, or rather, he wasn't ever dead to begin with." Aeris hissed over her shoulder before she swept Dagon away to speak only to him, no prying eyes or ears. "He survived being dismembered and stabbed through the heart, and somehow Danika had managed to track him down and brought him before me on Jedha."

"We argued, I got blindsided and I panicked. When he calmed down enough to let me speak to him, he killed himself before I could stop him."

She glanced out into the street from their little alley. "Now are we here for a mission or are we here to gossip over my failures?"

 

[Creuat]

P A R A G O N

Diverging paths from the others the Nautolan made haste as he followed the Padawan’s instructions. He believed every instinct from Zaka of something sinister plotting within this community kidnapping hapless people. People don’t simply just disappear on a whim, especially one developing such as this. Though he was surprised to how efficient these people were in their operations. Typically a small community like this would have some rumors spreading around of their suspicions to whom could be responsible for these acts.

The gusts of the sandstorm began to lighten as the dust and sand were not as a nuisance when they first arrived here. A relief to not be barraged by the harsh elements, though he could be easily spotted by anyone lingering about.

Goggles were placed over his eyes before the Jedi Knight dashed away on the speeder, every second furthering himself from the settlement. The desert was no different than other planets with a similar terrain except for the electromagnetic storms. Barren and little life to be found save for whatever fauna and flora that adapted to their harsh environment.

A simple clue or hint was all he needed to find. A sign of travel around these parts.

Zaka | Dagon Kaze | Aeris Lashiec | Jem Fossk | Valery Noble | Arlo Renard | Viers Connory | Mercy | Pyrrah Tae​

 

[Mercy]

Viers Connory

This was going to be great.

Long walk, have some food at the stalls, grab the slaves, back to her ship. Transport them. Earn a paycheck. Grab more food and maybe this time pay for it.

It was the easiest job in the world.

Mercy wondered why everybody didn't do it. It didn't occur to Mercy that some people might have moral constraints when it came to the slavery of sentient beings. No, this was just an easy job with an even easier paycheck. Get in, get out, maybe get a set of headphones so she wouldn't get a headache from all the whining.

What could go wron-

One moment Mercy was walking, the next she was falling.

There is a whole essay's worth of what happens if a big object in motion gets karked with, but nobody had time for that. Suffice to say that she landed on her face rather unceremoniously. Eating dirt wasn't a stranger to her however. Instinctively she rolled herself up and rolled to the side, away from the follow-up kick that... never seemed to come. All confused Mercy looked up and around. The scattered sentients around just kept walking, not curious (or perhaps not interested in being seen as the culprit of Mercy's coming ire), and nobody in sight that was about to attack her again.

She spit out some dirt mixed with a flodder of blood.

Blinking and looking around again. This was one of the moments Mercy wished she had paid more attention to sense classes. Nobody in sight... maybe... maybe she had tripped?

"What the kark." She grunted before starting to rise up to her feet again. "Shouldn't have had that second beer on the ship, I guess..."

And yet something wasn't right.

The rolling hill felt it deep in her gutter.

 

[Jem Fossk]

It was becoming painfully clear that Jem was bad at making friends. If she had been more conscious of this she might have felt a pang of self-doubt. Weren't jedi suppose to be more.... amicable, than this?

Instead Jem scowled, realizing at once just who she had been assigned to work with.

The others set off with brisk steps, leaving the two padawans behind. Jem stared her partner down and refused to answer the intrusion in her mind. Why was it so hard for Arlo Renard to just respect that telepathy made her uncomfortable? Was it really so hard to just use his voice? She really did think he was being intentionally foul, even if Dagon had told him to keep up the link to begin with.

"I don't care what you do this time, I don't need you." A not so subtle nudge. Jem was clearly still upset at being abandoned at the arc, and how he had then gloated over her fall. Her lips pulled up, revealing the subtle point of Ferraro fangs, before she turned on her heels and started away.

They clearly had problems to work through.

 

[Arlo Renard]

"I don't care what you do this time, I don't need you."

Well, couldn't say he hadn't tried.

<Alright, have fun without me, then.>

As Jem breezed past him, flashing her fangs, Kai watched her go, hands on his hips again. This time the gesture was more an expression of exasperation than indignation.

Despite what he'd said, he still followed her out into the desert, staying several steps behind and with plenty of space between them. He had already considered what might happen if they truly split up. The trouble she or he might get into on their own, the anger and disappointment of their superiors if something bad were to happen, all because they couldn't get along, wasn't worth the satisfaction of not having to deal with her.

Eyeing the Refugee Relief tents, his gaze slid over to Jem up ahead, about to tell her that he was going inside. But she had said she didn't care what he did, and he wasn't in the mood for another tongue lashing from the harpy.

Disappearing into the tent, he found rows of makeshift beds holding sick and injured people. They were being tended to by medical droids, but there were no relief workers or medics overseeing matters. Kai approached one of the droids hovering at a woman's bedside, and quickly realized it was idling because it had run out of supplies. Evidently the refill stands had run dry, and nobody was around to replace them. Just what was going on here?

It was all very suspicious, but Kai's job wasn't to investigate. He was supposed to help people.

Turning to the droid, he spoke to it in Binary, asking what was wrong with the woman. If Jem were there to hear him whistle and beep, she'd probably hate him even more. But he got the information he needed: the woman's leg had been injured during her flight from Jedha, and now it was infected.

The doppelganger leaned forward so that he held his head over the woman's leg at a slight angle. As his eyes began to water, he blinked rapidly, the overflow of his chemically-altered tears dripping into the wound. It wasn't as good as bacta, but it would suffice until they could get the real stuff.

Zaka Dagon Kaze Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Creuat Viers Connory Valery Noble Mercy Pyrrah Tae​

 

[Zaka]

BLACKFANG - THE (NEW) JEDI vol. II
Issue #2 - Ponemah Forgotten

Stormy orbs stared at the retreating backs of the Jedi as they disembarked from the ship. With each pairing that left, he felt an added weight drop squarely down onto his shoulders. It was different doing things on your own versus leading a team, let alone being apart of one. If he was wrong, or if something happened...

Still, he forced out a false smile, and to his credit, a good one, in the direction of Valery Noble once it was just the two of them. The briefing had gone well at least, if one were to ignore the initial outbursts. Everything was going well if he focused on the little things.

"Indeed," he answered, nodding them along. "Difficult to say how many in total." Didn't help that he wasn't keen on killing to complete the mission. Not yet, anyway. The administrator was still a government appointed official. He could only be confident in forcibly removing them if he had the proof stacked up nicely for the Alliance. Love the Jedi or Hate 'Em, Zaka wasn't about to let a Senate of all things stop him from doing what what he needed.

As they walked, the Settlement came back to life on the dying currents of the dissipating sandstorm. He spotted some familiar faces from around the camp, but with his hood up after disembarking from the cargo ship, no one spared so much as a second look in the direction of another hooded figure.

"I'm thinking we walk right up to where the Administrator stays. Maybe he takes walk-in guests?" Hopeful, maybe even stupid, but without having been inside the compound before, there was no saying what things looked like in there.

Closer to the centre of the Settlement, the frequency of passing mercs gradually increased. Refugees that they passed were quick to look away when one of the guards were nearby, preferring to act oblivious than become the ire of someone higher up on the proverbial food chain. It felt as if there was a quiet acceptance of their fate. They had escaped the worse, so if the next life was better - but still bad - they'd take it. It ensured morale was low, stopped the fight for survival from growing in the people that lived here.

"How'd you become a 'New' Jedi?"

She was different from the other New Jedi that he had met. She seemed... Put together. With fresh interactions to pull from, Zaka was confident in his deduction skills in determining that the Jedi he had chosen to join him was the most experienced. If not the calmest. Rhis Fisto seemed calm, but Zaka suspected one wrong look and the image of the Jedi would be permanently tarnished on Ponemah.

"You're a Master, aren't you?"

Valery Noble Creuat Arlo Renard Jem Fossk Dagon Kaze Aeris Lashiec Viers Connory
Pyrrah Tae Mercy

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

That was a lot to process. To see the one you love alive again, reunited, only for them to kill themselves would've ripped him apart. But it did make Dag wonder how far he would go to see Ayana again. The name of Danika Leventis thrown in the mix made his jaw clench; he had to deal with her sooner rather than later, it seemed.

The tension on his shoulders eased with a sullen sigh escaping his pursed lips, "I'm sorry," a step forward and he embraced her as the gusts of wind swept by, "I'm really sorry, Aeris." he reluctantly pulled back, eyes softly fixated on his friend, "The mission can wait for a second-- I know no words can help... fill the void left behind but--" no words could absolve her from the weight of guilt, he'd learned that. Only time and in the company of friends could. Sights set on the present and the future, "--look, when this is over, come with me to Denon. Stay with us for a while." a thin smile tugged his lips, "We might drive you crazy but it's a good crazy, I promise."

As if on cue, at the corner of his vision he caught two hired guns dragging a raggedy man from one alley to another. Turning back to Aeris, "You can follow without screaming Jedi, right?"

Maybe these two could give them some answers.

Even if he had to punch them out.
​

Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Viers Connory Creuat Valery Noble Arlo Renard Mercy
Pyrrah Tae

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Dagon Kaze

For a moment, one solitary moment she wanted to punch the man for having the audacity to hug her, to kick him in the sensitive spot for daring to hide behind 'friendship' to make her feel better as if having others had been a strength and not a solution. Her strength had been the solitude, the fact that she had been able to focus on her job and mastering it. She was…

She was…

Pain spread under her eyes as the dams were opened again. Her lips parted with an ugly grimace as she plunged her face into Dagon's shoulder and pulled him in close. Everything hurt, it took every single fibre of her being to hold the floods back. Torrents of regret and guilt, all put upon her shoulders — knowingly — by the figure she had loved. It might not have been Danika's intention to cause this, but it was Danika's fault that it had. Or so she told herself to make it hurt less, to make sense of how or why it had to happen.

"I don't know." She whimpered to Dagon's request. "All these emotions crawling beneath the skin, irritating my every thought and distracting me from my work."

"I wouldn't be very good company." Aeris moved to dry her tears with a snot-filled snivel. "But, maybe. I don't know."

And then, for a moment she paused. Could she follow without screaming Jedi?

"Shut up." She muttered and gently shoved Dagon by the shoulder she had just cried on. "I spent years on the run. Of course I can."

 

[Jem Fossk]

Left alone by her partner, who possessed the manners of bantha, Jem set out.

There were more efficient ways to help people than hold their hands and feed them water. It was insulting that that was all Dagon wanted her to do. He said he trusted her abilities, but if that was true why did he take off to do the hard stuff without her?

A small voice in Jem's head reasoned that that wasn't what this was. He was probably just trying to protect her, but Jem didn't want to be protected anymore. She wanted to do something.

So Jem did the predictable Jem thing and broke rank. The padawan dispersed into the streets, trailing behind the others jedi investigators that had already blended into the crowd. Her lithe form clamored on top of the thin metal roofs and moved like leaf in the wind over the alleys. It wasn't exactly blending in, but Jem stuck to the middle of the buildings and give the street below very little reason to look up. Just like Dagon taught her.

It was safer than the skyscrapers on Denon. Less windy too. The howl of a creature caught her attention. Jem scattered towards the alley to her right, and before she knew it she witnessed a collared wookie being shot.

She jolted in shock, her whole body pressing flat against the roof. Oh.

Oh.

Logic would say to alert the others, but alone and without her partner, Jem was cut off from the group. She gingerly pulled herself up and followed as the ... slavers --yes, that was becoming undeniable as they loaded a small group of terrified refugees into their truck-- to their next location.


~

A light thump echoed from the cab above.

A beam of molten plasma jutted through metal and began to carve a hole.

Pyrrah Tae

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Ponemah​

Valery: Appearance​

Lightsabers (Concealed): Link!​

Tag: Zaka ​

​

​

With a slight tilt of her head, and her lips pursed forward, Valery looked between Zaka and the departing pairs of Jedi. She knew the difficulty in feeling responsible for teams and objectives as a leader - she had been in his situation many times before. But he was holding up fairly well despite it, and she wasn't one to prod too much. But she would make sure that he was aware in her confidence in him as a leader.​

​

"It shouldn't be a problem. I plan to go unnoticed." Valery said as she followed him into the now dissipating storm. She sadly had no hood, so her long hair was left to wave along the currents of the sand-filled winds while her orange eyes took note of the environment around them. They possibly stood out to people nearby but she kept close to Zaka, and as long as they kept walking, they wouldn't draw too much attention.​

​

Her own attention was drawn to something, however, and it wasn't anything pleasant. The people that began to wander around in the aftermath of the storm carried fear and concern with them. She could see it in the way they walked, the way they avoided eye contact with the mercenaries, and the way their energy echoed through the Force.​

​

"Direct approach then, hm?" she smirked in response to the idea of walking right up to the man's office. "It may just work. All I need is some distraction, and I'll go in cloaked. Judging by the way these people behave, the mercenaries and guards aren't used to people being direct or confrontational. I'm sure you just walking in is going to draw their attention." Valery said as her eyes began to shift away from the people and building ahead and back towards Zaka for a moment as he asked about how she became one of the NJO's Jedi.​

​

"I am, yes. Master Valery Noble," she said with a soft smile. "My story as to how I got here is quite lengthy, so I'll keep it brief - a long time ago I fell into stasis, and this is the time I found myself in. After a meditative retreat, I came back just in time to help in the aftermath of the Battle of Coruscant." Valery frowned lightly and turned her gaze back to some mercenaries. Without saying it out loud, she had been monitoring patterns in patrols and guards, so her eyes were shifting back-and-forth constantly.​

​

"After seeing all that, and a conversation with Dagon, I felt it was time for me to get back to action again." she looked back at Zaka with strength and determination in her expression. ​

​

"Helping these people is part of that. So you can count on me, Padawan Zaka."​

​

 

[Zaka]

BLACKFANG - THE (NEW) JEDI vol. II
Issue #2 - Ponemah Forgotten

N'Jazaka was rather prone to staying away from government structures. They didn't like the Jedi, the Senate had basically said as much. Their actions leading up to Coruscant justified lesser officials disrespecting their ancient Order. He hated them for it. It was those actions that brought them here, he thought. Jedha refugees, a planet, and a people that still believed in the Jedi brought low. Forced to help them, they had practically acquired legal precedent for abuse of Jedi and those faithful.

Suppressing the urge to suck his teeth as they passed a pair of guards lazing out of the sun, Zaka bobbed his head up and down in the direction of Valery in a nod. "Good, good," he quietly mutters, his attention shifting. Maybe it had been the sandstorm that had just passed, but the lively chatter that was common on the fringes of the Settlement, typically where work teams were situated, had all but gone.

...the mercenaries and guards aren't used to people being direct or confrontational. I'm sure you just walking in is going to draw their attention."

"Exactly." Though he was not yet sure how to draw attention to himself. Something reckless or Jedi-like could trigger an oddball merc into action. Ruminating thoughtfully, it was cut short when she confirmed his suspicions. She was a Jedi Master!

Noble? Now that's a Jedi's name.

What was even more curious was hearing her invoke Dagon's name as her introduction to the Order. A confused smirk arose to his face and he gently shook his head. "He seems to be a collector of wayward Jedi," he adds thoughtfully, though didn't go into details of how he had recommended N'Jazaka's joining the New Jedi Order. Despite that, the Padawan was overly careful to name himself as anything 'New.' If this mission was anything to go by, they all seemed like Jedi to him.

If not possessing some attitude problems.

Compartmentalization didn't seem like a common skill in the Core.

"We'll have to talk about it sometime," Zaka said, head bobbing from beneath his hood. "And..." He paused, brows furrowing. There'd been a reason he didn't go directly to the Core Jedi's Order when he broke away from his Master's tutelage early. He didn't want to take orders, didn't want to give them. Working alone was preferable. If he failed, he didn't have to be gentle, or worry about being backstabbed. Of all the Orders he'd learned about, the thing that bonded them together was betrayal. Whether of the government, or from within the Order itself.

And now here he was, in the loosest sense possible, leading a team made up of more experienced Jedi.

He supposed a good leader played to the strengths of their troops.

"...Thanks for putting your faith in me, Master Noble."

Jerking a thumb up and around the bend, he came to a stop. "Down this street," he said. "I'll uh, distract."

Trudging through the sandy street, he left the Jedi Master to her own devices. The buildings on this street were tightly packed together, built to be a structural barricade against the sandstorm, he thought. But with all the eyes he felt on him as he walked down that street to the Administrator's building, he inferred that it was instead to keep friends close. And enemies, further.

The building had a wall around it, about a story high. Tall, for most sentients.

Tugging back his hood and making to amble through the gateway, he felt a gloved hand land on his shoulder stop him.

He could've walked through them, but he stopped in his tracks instead.

"I'm from Section-0318, I've got an appointment with the guy up top."

Without bothering to pull the datapad mounted on his waist, "Not on the list."

"Pretty sure I am-- Look, I put a request in a week ago. Look, I can see him in the window, he's waiting for me!"

From his peripheries, he could see other guards closing in. He wasn't actively looking into the Force, but he could tell he was being boxed in from behind too. He didn't actively look for Valery, didn't trust himself to not look. He just hoped that she was paying attention.

"If I can't go in, get him out here! Else my crew's gonna stop working." Whatever businesses these guys pressed for money in the shadows, if the workers didn't work, they didn't get pay. If they didn't get pay, then they'd have no money to spend at these totally legit storefronts.

Valery Noble Pyrrah Tae
Dagon Kaze Aeris Lashiec Jem Fossk Arlo Renard Viers Connory Creuat
Mercy

 

[Pyrrah Tae]

Ponemah Terminal
Lets Transport Some Slaves
The “Heroes”: Zaka | Dagon Kaze | Jem Fossk | Arlo Renard | Valery Noble | Viers Connory | Creuat | Aeris Lashiec
The Saviors: Mercy
​

His eyes followed the transport as it left the warehouse.

It was just one of many that would be coming and going here today. The refugees were being shipped off to a nearby starship. From there, they were transported offworld, half for him, half for the Maw. Hard workers, such as Wookiees and Ithorians were key targets for the Maw. For a pirate like himself, Twi’leks and Zeltrons did just fine.

Suddenly, one of his hired mercs appeared at his side. He seemed to be off put by something.

“What is it.”

“There is a man down by the entrance saying he has an ‘appointment’ with you. Plus there has been some strange activity happenin around here.”

“Make sure the operation does not cease progress here. I’ll go meet with our humble guest.”

Annoyed, the crime lord grabbed his cane and began to walk towards the main office. Making his way though the large facility, he eventually made it to the front. There he could already find some guards surrounding the person. Walking out of the door, he addressed his men first.

“Guards, stand down. That is no way to treat guests. My apologies sir, I must’ve missed your appointment on my schedule. If you wouldn’t mind, remind me of your name.”

This was all just a disguise. From the second he stepped out of the door, he could feel the man’s ( Zaka ) presence in the force. Whether a Jedi, Sith, or neither at all, there was no way that he was going to stop their operation here.

Same for any that may come his way.

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai continued to work on the injured people in the tent. He hoped that a relief worker would show up, or someone else that he could question as to why no one was manning their stations here. But nobody arrived.

The shifting, varied, and complex emotions of the Jedi threatened to overwhelm him through the meld. Aeris’ grief, barely restrained, and Dag’s sullenness stood in dissonant contrast to the mutual respect and understanding growing between Zaka and Val. And then there was Jem. He could not hear her thoughts through the link, but he could feel flashes of annoyance and reckless determination from her like blips on his radar.

Then shock, white hot and metallic in flavor. Kai froze on instinct, then the resulting rush of too-human adrenaline sharpened his senses and made him tremble. Wherever she was, Jem was doing something very stupid right now.

Finishing up with the last patient, he left the tent and grappled up to the rooftops. The meld allowed him to roughly trace her position; she hadn't gotten very far. He found her just in time to hear a lightsaber activate below.

He dropped down onto the roof of the transport, looked briefly unimpressed at Jem cutting a hole in the roof, then moved to the driver’s side and forced open the door. The driver came tumbling out, rolling across the sands, while the side passenger pulled out a blaster and started shooting. Kai shoved him out with a blast of telekinesis, then swung down into the driver's seat.

Did he know how to drive? Yes and no. He might've eaten a few driving lessons here and there, but he'd never actually operated a vehicle like this before. Ah well—there's a first for everything.

Zaka Dagon Kaze Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Creuat Viers Connory Valery Noble Mercy Pyrrah Tae​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

Aeris would come around.

Or he'd literally drag her to Denon out of whatever hovel of books she's barricaded herself behind. Dagon was well aware of her preference to remain in solitude, alone - it was common among the New Jedi as their scarcity often necessitated they be split up individually over the mass of responsibilities they had. That was further exacerbated in her case due to her position as a librarian. As solitary as a grave keeper.

The Jedi's smile widened into a grin when she shoved his shoulder over his quip, they all needed a little bit more of that energy, of some optimism to carry them through tomorrow.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Dag takes her by the forearm, knees clench and he springs into the sky with her by the arm as if soaring with an invisible trapeze towards the nearest rooftop. He'd taught both Yula Perl and Jem Fossk the same way, held by the hand or by the waist, skipping over the skyscrapers in the night. Sure, the two, three-story, over-glorified huts that assembled the Settlement had nothing on Denon's vertigo and while Aeris was well-versed in the Art of Movement to get herself up unaided, it was the subconscious, emotional connection between close friends that lifted her up by the hand. Make her feel safe, make her know there's always someone to hold onto against the turbulent currents of life.

With the sandstorm dissipating they hardly had much of a cover from anyone surprisingly looking up but the denizens weren't still up and about as much. And he, correctly, assumed one of the hired guns would stand watch at the corner of the alley. Flanking the overwatch, they stood above the one guard who remained to interrogate the victim. Crouching, making himself small, he listened:

"Where's your other son, old man?!? The boss needs fresh, strong assets, huh, it's all business 101, you get? And if he ain't got 'em, he ain't happy, and if he ain't happy - I ain't, and you can bet your sorry ass you wouldn't be either--"

The victim's answer was merely a gasp as the Jedi lunged down upon the merc. A nice kick at the back brings the goon down flat on his chest with a loud oof. Hoping Aeris would've force yanked the other merc in, Dagon focused on the interrogator, switching their roles. The Knight lifted the man up by his shirt, kicked away the gun and slammed his back against the wall, feet off the ground.

"Talk!" he growls against the stale breath of ale and whatever the heck animal roamed the dunes. The merc muttered something incomprehensible and Dagon slammed him up against the wall harder. The sacking of Coruscant had made rough justice a little rougher than before. "Basic, moron!"

​

Valery Noble Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Arlo Renard Viers Connory Mercy Creuat Pyrrah Tae

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

She was more than capable of using 'Art of Movement' to get herself out of there, but for someone that told her not to 'scream Jedi' he sure seemed to do so almost immediately himself. As they skipped, as they reached their destination, she let her dismay known by shaking her head as she let go of Dagon's hand.

They listened to the thug interrogate someone below, and as Dagon skipped down, so did Aeris. So far it had all been in accordance with what she would expect. Divide and conquer, he took one and she took one. She was no fighter, of course, but there were alternatives. She extended a hand towards the one on lookout duty with a simple command: leave.

The man on lookout promptly complied, his focus set on just walking away without a fuss. A frustrated scowl set on Dagon, not the thug — although the distinction was difficult to ascertain — as he interrogated his victim. Had the man held by his favorite shirt acted with malice? Yep. Did that make him worth the blood? Nope.

She put her hand to the thug's — which was to say, not Dagon's — temple and shut her eyes. The force flowed from her fingertips and out into the person's mind to dig into his consciousness for the information they needed. After that, a small push began to separate Dagon from his victim, enough to slide him along the ground if he resisted.

If he relented, he would find that the man stood still, dormant and perfectly calm.

"Now what do we need?" She asked Dagon in particular, her puppet's eyes snapping open to look at Dagon. "Ask him kindly or you will break the spell."

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Ponemah​

Valery: Appearance​

Lightsabers (Concealed): Link!​

Tag: Zaka Pyrrah Tae ​

​

​

"I'd love to talk more sometime," Valery said with a faint smirk. She had answered a question about herself, but she didn't know much about the man leading the group. She had gathered that he was a Padawan, but she was curious to hear more about his story. For now, though, they had a mission to focus on. ​

​

"And no need to thank me - you've earned the trust." She didn't explain what she meant by that, as they separated to begin the plan, but it was all in his briefing and cooperation with the Jedi. The way he seemed to genuinely care to help these people gain a better future, and how he wanted to handle it properly; like a true Jedi. She respected that a great deal.​

​

Valery then watched him step towards the Administrator's building but she remained hidden a moment longer - she needed to prepare for her infiltration. Her eyes closed and her mind quickly began to filter out the environment, causing the sound of the wind and people around her to fade away. She then took a deep breath and drew on the currents of the Force to distort the paths of light and sound waves, causing her to vanish completely. As if she had been filtered out of the environment. ​

​

With her Cloak ready and her presence in the Force concealed, Valery then moved for the outer walls of the complex she needed to get into. She heard some kind of commotion near the gate, so it seems Zaka was pulling their attention away. Because of this, Valery decided to briefly augment herself and launched herself up onto the wall.​

​

Looking down, she saw Zaka surrounded by guards, with more approaching around him. But most importantly, she spotted a figure walking towards him. Judging by his confidence and the way he told the guards to stand down, she knew it was the guy they were after. ​

​

Great work, Zaka​

​

Valery then hopped down and made an elegant landing within the walls but the sound it produced would never reach anybody, nor was she visible to them. All Zaka had to do now was keep them busy long enough for her to find something. Then she'd be out, quick and simple. Or so she hoped. ​

​

Quickly, the brunette began to trace the path she watched Pyrrah Tae take earlier, but as she drew closer to what she believed to be his office, she spotted trouble.​

​

Crap​

​

There was another guard inside. Either Zaka had to draw every single man in this facility down towards him, or she'd have to step out of her Cloak to put this man to sleep. That would be easy enough but it could possibly alert others around them. So for now, she observed and slowly approached from the Shadows.​

​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

MISPLACED
THE GREAT ERROR vol. II
Issue #10

So fixated was Dag on the thug, his lapse of awareness zoned Aeris out of the picture completely. An invisible force dragged him away from the goon, he gritted his teeth and instinct pulled his arm back for a jab straight to the face. The fist halted an inch away from the mercenary's face when Aeris' voice broke through.

"Huh?" he blinked, eyebrow arched up, "...oh." hands went down level with his hips. This was going to be a very peacefully compliant interrogation.

"Who's behind the disappearances?"

"The Administrator." the goon's voice was so plain, you'd mistake it for a corpse's.

"Anyone else?"

"I don't know."

He threw a doubtful glance at Aeris, but figured the goon was compelled enough to be telling the truth. It wasn't rare for simple enforcers to know nothing about the bigger picture. Just give 'em a face to shake down or drag into an alley and it's done.

"What's he doing with 'em?"

"Ships come every other day and take the folks we round up. Heard they were shipped off to work elsewhere. Don't know more than that - we just bag folks. Something like a tithe for living in the Settlement."

So far nothing concrete except confirming the obvious assumptions - the Administrator running a bagging operation. His guts told him it was far bigger than it looked and than the thug knew. Hopefully, Zaka and Valery Noble 's endeavor to the Administrator would shed more light on the mystery. Perhaps where the kidnapped people were spaced to.

Seeing this was going nowhere, he socked the sleazeball, knocking him out cold, "Shouldn't have left the other scram. He's gonna ring the bell on us."

Turning to the victim who still lay on the ground, watching the interrogation, Dag offered him a hand and pulled him up on his feet, "You okay? We're here to help."

A shaky nod, "... it-- it started as a job opportunity programme..." the ragged man who'd been captured by the hired guns finally shook off the shock but his voice still trembled. "... but when the Settlement grew in number... people settled, found their own jobs here... these thugs were brought from off-world, started forcefully taking people in the night right from their beds--"

"--my firstborn... they took him away--" tears piled up in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away with his sleeve, "--we pleaded to the Administrator and he said he'd look into it... but months went by and nothing changed... I didn't-- I didn't know he was behind it all," he swallowed hard, then continued, "we.. we decided to hide our kids in the desert, hoping the goons would be dissuaded but... oh my, what they did to Jafan-- he, he told them where they were."

Dagon looked at Aeris, his guts tightening into a knot, then back to the man, "Where??"

"...the cove at the dried lake... mile west of here-- please hurry, they -- the mercenaries -- they're already on the way to the cove."

"Go. Hide somewhere. I promise we'll bring your kids back safe."

Jem, Kai, his thoughts burst through, a painful grimace crossing his face at the mess of a mind link, head towards a cove a mile west of here... double time - Settlement's kids are hiding there but the goons are out to get them now. Aeris and I will meet you there.

As far as Dagon could tell, the two padawans were already on the move.

"but... but who are you, people?" the man asked.

Aeris was quicker to the mark.​

Valery Noble Zaka Jem Fossk Aeris Lashiec Arlo Renard Viers Connory Mercy Creuat Pyrrah Tae

 

[Jem Fossk]

What the feth.

She glared down at Kai as he hijacked her work-- and then the cab. Did he really always have to outdo her? She was about to curse him right out of her spot when the painful lance of thoughts echoes through their minds.

Well there goes freeing the people in the back. She dropped through the roof and buckled in.

"Go!" She ordered urgently, their squabble inconsequential as he powered through the streets.

Hopefully.

I mean who the flup gets in the drivers seat if they don't know how to drive, right?

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

"And to sleep, we go." Aeris whispered as Dagon finished off his interrogation. Her hand brushed against the back of the man's mind before she caught him and lowered him into a cozied up position on the ground. Did he deserve it? Probably not. "He thinks his friend went into the alley to take a whiz. We're fine as long as we get out of here."

The man on the ground began to snore and snooze, his back shifting ever so slightly to get more comfortable. The two Jedi approached the victim who told them about the sinister plan that preyed on hope in a place that was otherwise starved of it. She waded through the emotional turmoil with a calm and understanding grimace.

"We're the wrong people who happened to have found you at the right time." Aeris assured him and reached out to pat him on the shoulder. "You are safe now, that is what matters. For both of our sakes we should get out of here and make like we don't know each other."

Her hand fell by her side as she motioned for Dagon to follow.

"Is this a bad time to mention I forgot my lightsaber?" She asked her friend as they left. For a moment the victim paused in his step to look over his shoulders at the two in wonder before he snuck out of the alley away from the thugs.