Private Nightfall on Nubia

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

Ko listened to Valery’s response carefully. He couldn’t imagine someone more capable of infiltrating the complex the Highwaymen were using as base for themselves. She also made some good points he hadn’t considered. They likely wouldn’t expect someone to come in from foot.

“Phase through the wall?” Ko questioned, repeating Valery’s own words back to her. He’d personally never heard of such an ability. Did she turn into a ghost or something like that? To him it really highlighted the difference in knowledge and skill she had over someone like him. Most powerful ability he himself could muster up was some mild mind tricks on already pretty tame animals. Which helped a great deal when some livestock was being stubborn or problematic. The padawan was also just barely starting to get a grasp on telekinesis. “Well, that sounds pretty cool, and I doubt they’ll have any way to anticipate such a way to overcome their defenses.”

The Kel Dor imagined they could make their way to one of the side entrances where Valery could use her phase ability to get through and open the path for them to enter the place proper. They can then get to work bringing this operation down and bring the highwaymen to justice before things can get any worse.

 

[Valery Noble]

Nubia

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Ko Vuto

"That's right," Valery confirmed with a soft smile when he asked about her phasing through the wall. Even among experienced Jedi, it was a highly uncommon ability - one practiced almost exclusively by Jedi Shadows. But she knew that it could help them make this mission a little easier, so she had no reason to hold back her use of it.

"I don't think they'll expect it either but we'll still have to move quickly once we're inside." She then turned and looked at the building for a longer moment. More specifically, she eyed some of its side entrances and chose the one where she felt no people on the other side. There was still a chance she'd run into droids, but that was a risk she was willing to take.

"Alright, this will take only a moment." She smirked and with a series of quick and quiet steps, made her way over to the entrance. She looked at it for a moment, stepped forward and fades through the wall, almost like a ghost. On the other side, she spotted no guards, so she wasted no time and rushed to the control panel of the door to let Ko inside, before closing it again.

"We should be undetected," she said softly.

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

Once Ko was with Valery at the side entrance he watched, his hidden eyes widened with awe at the sight of the Jedi master vanishing past the entrance. “Woah…” He explained softly to himself in astonishment. The Kel Dor even brough one of his large clawed hands up to press against the wall some just in case it wasn’t some holographic illusion. But it was as solid as it looked.

Soon enough however, the door was unlocked allowing Ko to follow Valery into the building. The pair were being far more sneaky than he had anticipated. Which was good, as he imagined they would just slice their way past one of the doors with their lightsabers as they could make for excellent breaching tools. The padawan thought for a moment before quietly speaking up. “We’re in a good spot, the only thing I’m worried about now is that the criminals here could make a hasty escape once they know we’re here. I’m certain they have swoops and airspeeders here. Hmm…” Ko paused for a moment. “It’s a bit of a risk, but what if we split up some. One of us goes to sabotage their vehicles so they can’t escape, the other collects evidence against them.” They would need some for when they go to trial so they didn’t get off easy. Might even help the highwaymen to prevent Prall the Hutt from creating a kangaroo court against them and punishing them too severely to make an example out of them. Also prevent them from destroying any evidence.

“What do you think of Master Noble? If you agree I might recommend going after their vehicles. I’m confident you’d be able to handle it better than I could.” Ko imagined it would be more dangerous, and he wasn’t trying to put her in harm's way but she was the more capable of the two by a long shot.

 

[Valery Noble]

Nubia

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Ko Vuto

Once Ko entered the building with her, Valery locked the door again just to leave things as they were supposed to be. It would give them extra time, should a patrol or guard come down here for some reason. But with the two Jedi settled and ready to go, it was time to discuss the next step of the plan. Ko already seemed to have an idea, but Valery seemed hesitant about splitting up inside a building full of potential threats.

Not because she didn't trust Ko, but because she didn't know how well he'd be able to handle himself if he were caught and confronted by armed guards.

Still, he seemed sure about it and even offered her the more dangerous of the two objectives. "Very well, but keep your comms open and let me know if you need any help, alright?" Valery asked with a smile. "Unless their vehicles are heavily protected, I don't think it'll take me much time. So once I'm done, I'll catch back up with you." Gathering evidence required a more thorough approach because it was easy to miss something. Valery, on the other hand, was planning to just cripple the vehicles with quick damages to vital components.

"Let's get moving." With that, Valery turned to where the garages would be, and right before she disappeared down the hallway, Ko would possibly be able to see her vanishing completely. If she worked alone, she preferred to slip into Force Cloak and ensure that nothing or nobody could either see or hear her.

<Approaching the garage now.>

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

“Understood, let’s keep each other posted. Once we take care of these two things the rest should be pretty straight forward I think.” Ko expressed before parting ways with the Jedi Master. He even noticed that she seemed to disappear sooner than he would’ve thought. But that assured him that he didn’t think Valery would have much problem.

The path to the garage was rather simple, not hard to get to. Sneaking their way there would be rather trivial for the Jedi Shadow. However, once there it seemed as though there was a decent number of The Highwaymen. Although none of whom really seemed to be on guard. There weren't many that were outside even looking out, likely not wanting to be stuck in the weather, and confident nobody would bother them during the storm outside.

A few were gathered in a corner sitting around drinking from cans and listening to music from a radio. The noise of which is regularly being drowned out by the loud noise of rain hitting the metal roof or the occasional crash of thunder outside. A few more were scattered around between the various models of swoops, working on the bikes with maintenance or modifications. The general atmosphere here was pretty casual and relaxed. Unaware of the fact that a highly skilled infiltrator is among them.

Meanwhile…

Ko was not as adept at stealth as Valery was. But he was managing to sneak around. Even having the foresight to ditch and hide his cloak outside before coming in. Not wanting to accidentally leave a trail of water everywhere he went. He wasn’t familiar with the complex, but on the wall was able to find an old small map with the layout of the building meant to show off where the nearest fire escapes were in the case of an emergency.

With that he was able to get a decent idea where to go. Occasionally stopping every now and then to listen and sense though the Force to the best of his ability. Once even coming across a camera in a hallway. Unsure if it was even on he didn’t wanna chance it. And with quite a bit of focus managed to telekinetically adjust it only enough to create a blind spot for him to split past. Eventually he got to where he was planning to go, The main storage room. Ko knew The Highwaymen had been stealing a great deal of stuff and deduced it would be the best place for him to check out first.

Making his way inside the large room was empty of people but filled with various large crates and boxes. Walking around a bit he looked over them, he felt it was odd as he didn’t see anything that seemed related to food or agricultural equipment like he’d imagined. Reading over some of the labels from PharmCorp, it seemed like it was all lab gear and equipment. It gave Ko a bad feeling, like there was something more going on that he wasn’t sure of yet.

 

[Valery Noble]

Nubia

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Ko Vuto

There were more of them than she thought.

It wouldn't be that difficult to engage and overwhelm them — they had no idea she was there, and she could hit them hard and fast without a problem — but she didn't want this to escalate more than was absolutely necessary. So rather than getting aggressive, Valery moved back and stood just behind the open door. She raised a hand and all at once, their vehicles were subjected to immense pressure through the Force.

Engines were crushed, exhaust pipes deformed and very little remained of their bikes.

All of it happened so fast that it scared the chit out of them, but before they had a chance to really react, the door closed and the lock deformed to keep them all locked up inside. They weren't going anywhere, and Valery was already circling back around to find Ko.

<They're going to know someone is inside,> Valery commed to him, as she moved back. <What's your status?>

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

The thugs in the garage had little time to understand what was going on. Even by the time their vehicles were ruined it was too late as Valery had already locked them in. Leaving them as sitting ducks for later.

As this was going on Ko was still investigating the storage room. Quickly piecing together why it was full of packaged lab equipment. Fearing that the highwaymen were stealing from PharmCorp but not to use for themselves. Perhaps they sold it off to other nefarious groups or were sourcing the stolen equipment for another organization in particular.

Suddenly the Kel Dor flinched as Valery’s voice spoke through his comms as it startled him a bit. “I’m in a storage room, it’s filled with some high end gear for making pharmaceuticals. I think they might-” Ko cut himself off as two thugs entered the room behind him. Being rather surprised to see the padawan standing there among all their ill gotten gains.

His comms were still on when they shouted out to Ko, drawing their weapons as well. “You! You’re that alien punk that’s been giving us so much trouble.” It made some sense they recognized him, Kel Dors weren’t super common off their homeworld. Before they even let Ko give a reply they shot their blaster pistols at him. Valery could still hear it over the comms before it cut out with static

Ko managed to dodge the first shot at him just barely. The blaster bolt burns a hole through the side of his robes. Drawing his lightsaber and washing the dim room with an emerald glow. The padawan’s weapon gave the pair of Highwaymen some more cause for concern before they took some more shots. Knocking their bolts away, some scorching the floor beneath them before Ko redirected one back at one of the thugs. Knocking the red plasma bolt back into their leg and they fell over. The padawan wasn’t that accurate yet with his blaster reflections.

 

[Valery Noble]

Nubia

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Ko Vuto

There was trouble.

After Ko had replied to her message, Valery heard the voices of thugs calling out to him, and even opening fire before there was a chance to negotiate. It made it clear that they weren't the types to talk at all, and had Valery pick up the pace immediately. She sprinted down hallways, the hilt of her double-bladed weapon already resting in the palm of her hand, and skipped by one patrol until she noticed another.

This one had overheard the shots, and they were on their way to provide backup and apply even more pressure on the Padawan. But what they didn't know was that a Jedi Master was cloaked behind them. So as soon as they approached the storage room, Valery stepped out of her invisibility and raised a hand to tap into her telekinetic powers. The three guards were sent flying up against the ceiling, causing them to drop their weapons, before she tossed them down the hallway.

"Ko!" she called out, as more shots rang out from within the room.

"Are you okay?!" She kicked open the door with a single high kick, and stormed inside to help out if he needed it.

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

Ko didn’t even really have time to think, his broad movements sweeped his lightsaber back and forth as if swatting away any of the incoming blaster bolts coming his way. Knocking them aside before raising his hand up to them. Giving off a mild invisible push through The Force. It wasn’t very strong at all, only causing the guard to stumble back a few steps. But that was as much of an opening as Ko needed before he rushed in.

Recalling his early saber training with Form I the padawan kept in mind the primary purpose of the discipline. With a swift and dedicated strike of his own now, his jade blade was flicked up and cut in half the guard's weapon. Destroying it. As they squeezed the trigger of their broken balster, only a few hot sparks idly shot out the front of the weapon. Realizing they were defenseless they stepped back and rose their hands.

Hearing a commotion outside the room Ko made out Valery’s voice. “I’m good! Master Noble, just got snuck up on is all-” A small tremor in the force preceded another attack causing Ko to cut himself off.. The thug Ko had reflected their blaster bolt early into their leg wasn’t out of the fight yet apparently. With their weapon and at their prone position they attempted to take a shot at the padawan. His saber was still pointed at the guard he just defeated so he instead deftly avoided the incoming blaster bolt by millimeters before finally turning his free hand to the prone adversary.

Holding his hand out he telekinetically yanked the blaster from their grip and into his own hand. Pointing the weapon back at its owner. On other hand Ko had one of his opponents defeated now either at the end of his lightsaber, or at the end of a blaster barrel. If the young Kel Dor wasn’t now in such a good position between them he would take no issue in striking them down where they stood. Even now, it was a tempting idea.

In that moment the door was finally kicked open where Ko looked up to see the Jedi Master. Where he stood in the middle of two of the guards with a weapon in both hands trained on either one. Despite the ambush the padawan didn’t really look all that worse for wear, aside from the bolt size hole burnt into his robes. “I take it the vehicles have been dealt with?” He rhetorically asked, knowing full well Valery was more than capable. With their means of escape now thwarted the rest of their enemies here were little more than sitting ducks. It meant that the next stage of this whole operation could begin.

 

[Valery Noble]

Nubia

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Ko Vuto

Bang.

The door flung open and Valery, much to her relief, found the Padawan with two incapacitated thugs. One had been hit in the leg but none of them had been seriously injured. They were, however, still a threat so with a flick of her hand, she tossed the two thugs against the walls to knock them out. Not the swiftest way perhaps, but she didn't want to take any risks.

"Well done, Ko," Valery complimented with a gentle smile, but her eyes were also looking him over. She wanted to make sure that he wasn't injured and perhaps trying to hide that from her. She knew too many Jedi who neglected their injuries because they didn't want to hold the group back.

"Did you find anything useful already? Or should we head elsewhere and continue the search?" If so, at least this time they would be together to fight off thugs and keep each other covered.

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

The Padawan watched as Valery quickly knocked out the two thugs. Now that that was taken care of he tossed the blaster in his hand away. With a quick flick of his lightsaber he cut the weapon in two before it fell to the ground. Destroying the weapon since he didn’t have a blaster holster on him now to keep it with him, and didn’t wanna leave it behind in case the guards here might’ve woken back up and could arm themselves again.

“I don’t know if it is useful to write words to describe what I’ve found here. It’s all a bunch of high-end lab equipment from PharmCorp, meant for making drugs. Probably pretty expensive too. My best guess is they’re selling it to someone else.” Ko thought for a moment. “Maybe this is what’s got PharmCorp and by extension Prall the Hutt so upset. The Highwaymen were stealing what they needed to make their products. Something that hurt their bottom line far more than a few missing crops.” He tried to explain to Valery. Believing this helped shine some light onto the situation they were dealing with. The young Kel Dor was even starting to think that it could be key to solving the problem here.

“If we can get this place secured I can notify Xade and his friends to come along and help manage the stolen goods. Perhaps if we can get them back to PharmCorp it could quell Prall’s wrath and avert things getting worse here, at least I hope it will…” Ko seemed a bit worried that it might be too little too late. But he’d try not to dwell on it and doubt himself and what he was doing. No plan was perfect and this one gave him some hope which he could use.

Eyeing Valery he continued a little bit more. “I think we’re in a good spot here, and ready to clear out the rest of this place of any more guards. Together I’m sure we can make quick work of it.” Ko finished, ready to finish their raid here on the weather station.

 

[Valery Noble]

Nubia

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Ko Vuto

"That sounds plausible," Valery agreed with a dip of her head. Ko was a little more aware about the nuances of what was happening on the planet, so she trusted that his theories about the situation were made with a lot of that history in mind. It resulted in a possible solution as well, and one that got Valery to think a little. "We should definitely return the stolen equipment, whether it'll change Prall's view or not," Valery said before she looked around a moment.

"Hutts do tend to hold grudges, and I fear that he's going to want justice his own way." Which likely meant that things could still escalate even if they returned the stolen goods. That wouldn't stop her from doing the right thing, however, and they could only focus on one thing at a time right now. Making too many assumptions about the future wouldn't help anybody.

"But I agree, let's clear out this place and call in your friends." She offered a smile, turned to the door and began to walk out with her weapon at the ready. "I spotted a patrol earlier on this floor, so let's deal with them first. If possible, without causing serious harm to them." They were criminals and wouldn't hesitate to shoot and kill the two Jedi, but Valery didn't really view them as a big threat at all.

Capture and time in prison would be more than enough for them.

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

The padawan felt rather thankful that Valery seemed to agree with his plan. It wasn’t perfect, but then again they weren’t in a very ideal situation to begin with. After all, Ko's primary goal here was damage control and preventing things from getting out of hand. The Jedi master seemed to be more mindful of the present whereas he was concerned a lot about the future.

Perhaps Ko needed to just accept the fact that they had to make the best of a bad situation. Hutts held grudges, this was true, and their longevity afforded them the ability for their vengeance to play out over many years. Even for a Hutt as ancient as Prall himself.

“Right, let’s secure the facility. I’ll follow your lead Master Noble.” Ko affirmed to her. She was the more skilled of the two. The Kel Dor might be able to conjure up a good plan here or there but he was still rather mediocre as a combatant. Even just two guards here getting the drop on him gave him some trouble and nearly landed him a blaster bolt to his gut. More so getting by via luck and a bit of quick thinking more than any honed skill.

“We can take out the patrols like you said. I imagine that if we keep up our momentum we’ll have this done in no time.” Ko was ready and willing to complete the mission now and hopefully make Nubia a safer place. Firmly gripping the hilt of his lightsaber. Together he'd wanna keep an eye on the master to observe how to combated the thugs to see if he could learn of thing or two off of her. The phase thing she did earlier already just about blew his mind.

 

[Valery Noble]

Nubia

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Ko Vuto

"We won't have to take out all of them," Valery said as she began to circle back through the hallways to find the most troubling group of thugs. "If we take out one or two, and they realize that they can't defeat us, they'll surrender. These aren't trained soldiers with an abundance in confidence." Most of them were street rats or simple thugs who did what they did for money. But none of them really wanted to be up against Jedi.

At least, Valery assumed that to be the case — it wouldn't make any sense for them.

"Up ahead, I sense a group of five. I'll throw them off balance," Valery said, and as she turned into the hallway, she made it clear that she wasn't exaggerating. With a flick of her hand, she sent all 5 thugs flying up against the ceiling, before letting them fall onto the ground. It wouldn't break any bones or cause major injuries, but getting up wasn't so easy either. Another pull from her hand followed, and she pulled the blasters from her hands.

"Ko, to our right!" She then called out, as another smaller patrol of three was approaching quickly at the sound of screams and bodies hitting the ceiling and floor.

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

Master Valery was likely right, the two of them likely didn’t need to forcefully subdue each and every Highwaymen here. Especially once they come to realize the relative futility of resisting against the Jedi duo. A sort of peace through superior firepower, which was the maxim of one of the lightsaber forms Ko recalled. But he couldn’t remember which one it specifically referred to.

Following Valery he watched with wide eyes as she launched the five thugs into the ceiling and back down again. She seemed to do it with such ease, could Ko hope to be capable of such feats in his future as a Jedi? The Kel Dor became more attentive as Valery called out more were coming from their flanks. Turning his attention to them the three thugs shot their weapons at the Jedi. Where Ko deflected them away back into the walls and floor away from him.

Ko wanted to follow Valery’s lead and not kill or mortally wound them. Although he himself didn’t feel as inclined to protect the lives of these evil doers. With his free hand Ko reached out with The Force and summoned one of the Blaster Pistols that Valery had previously pulled away from the group she subdued. His grip on the weapon was somewhat awkward given his large clawed fingers but he got his finger around the trigger and activated the stun setting.

Instead of reflecting the blaster bolts back at his opponents Ko instead aimed the blaster in his off hand and sent three blue rings of incapacitating energy at the thugs. Using his heightened reflexes as Kel Dor and The Force to fire from the hip. Each of his shots landed on its target and knocked them to the ground.

Taking care of the thugs flanking them he looked back to Valery before looking back at the blaster in his hand before dropping it. “Sorry, I always heard Jedi aren’t supposed to use firearms.” Ko said, feeling a little ashamed as though he did something wrong, and this was the second time he held one during their mission.

 

[Valery Noble]

Nubia

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Ko Vuto

While Valery took care of her targets, she felt that Ko was handling himself as well. The three Highwaymen had opened fire, but he deflected the shots without hitting any of them. A good sign, because he never wanted to take lives when it wasn't necessary. It was not the Jedi way, and from a very practical viewpoint, they were also worth far more alive. They'd be able to question the thugs if they wanted, after all.

By the time Valery turned around, she noticed the three were already on the floor, stunned by the pistol he dropped to the ground after using it. She was quite impressed, but the Padawan seemed to not be certain about using the weapon, and even apologized for it. Valery just chuckled and shook her head.

"Traditional Jedi were not fond of them, but I know many these days who use them all the time. If it's a weapon you want to use as well, you can. I just always suggest getting one with a stun setting." Valery offered a reassuring smile and turned back to look down the hallway.

"I think it worked. I'm sensing a lot more fear and uncertainty from them. We should be able to finish this without having to take more of them out."

 

[Ko Vuto]

Location: Nubia
Tag: Valery Noble

Ko was almost a little surprised by Valery’s kind words. The Kel Dor somewhat assumed that as a member of a much older Jedi Order that she might have ridiculed him for using the firearm. She said traditional jedi weren’t fond of them, and how much more traditional could one get other than her?

The padawan began to worry he might have misjudged the Jedi Master. “Well, if I wanted to, I wouldn’t use that kind of blaster model. It's uncomfortable.” Ko said with a smile under his mask and holding up his hand. He would likely prefer something wasn’t too small for his large clawed digits.

“Yeah I can’t imagine there’s not much more than a handful of stragglers whom we haven’t run into yet. Then we’ll have this place secured for sure.” As he finished his statement another loud crash of lightning rang out from outside the building. A not so subtle reminder of the storm raging outside.

. . .​

After a bit of time the two Jedi cleared through the weather station. Checking every corner and even dealing with the sizable group still locked in the garage because of Valery's clever handling of them. Now that they were the clear victors of their raid on the facility Ko grabbed a datapad from his utility belt. “Alright, I’m letting Xade and his buddies know this place is clear for their arrival. They can help us transport the suspects here and even help with the lab equipment I found.” The Kel Dor padawan said as he sent a message out to Xade before storing the datapad back on his belt. “It’ll be a bit before they arrive, the Storm outside is certainly going to slow them down a bit. But they got repulsor trucks for some of the heavy equipment. And uh…”

Ko paused for a moment. This was sort of his first serious mission in his eyes, and he was glad it seemed to go pretty well. “Thank you Master Noble for really coming to my aid here. I guess I’ve sorta grown a little attached to Nubia now. It really means a lot that you answered my call for help here.” Ko tried to express his gratitude. Having had doubts that the NJO would’ve lended any aid to this agriworld on the edge of Alliance space. The New Jedi Order wasn’t a particularly expansive organization and thought the problems and his requests as a padawan would’ve been overlooked for seemingly more important matters.