Old Memories

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei's tresses curled and uncurled. "Droids be easier to reprogram than people," she said. "Easier for someone to knock you off." She didn't like his smile, the one that said he knew she wasn't sharing the whole reason, but she ignored it.

His question, though, did elicit a snort. "Kid, there be no such thing as 'safe' in my line of work. Only lucky." She jerked her chin at the other patrons. "Ask any of them. They'll tell you." Nei hesitated, absently fiddling with her injured tress, before continuing, "But I try to only bite what I can handle."

Uncomfortable with the touchy-feely moment coming on, the Nautolan shifted gears again. "Enough about me. How be life as a Jedi? Gloomy? Boring? Uppity?" She smirked. "Practice fancy-talk?"

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham shrugged his shoulders.

"If there is no such thing as safe, then employ a lot more cunning than you already do into your jobs." He chuckled. "And for you and your other... 'colleagues' in here, I would say that in several cases it was skill that saved them, rather than luck. You shouldn't be praising some non-existent thing when you're the one at the wheel." He paused for a moment. "So to speak of course." There was another shrug from him.

"The Jedi Order is fine. I haven't met anyone who is... One of those stingy Jedi from those holofilms." At the point of her 'fancy-talk' he tilted his head ever so slightly and shook his head. "No, I do not know how to fancy talk. Not yet anyway." It wasn't an interesting ability. The chances of someone using it in the battlefield was small, and the chances of it working were probably smaller. There had to be a state of calmness, right? He didn't know, and he wasn't really interested in finding out anyway.

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei's tresses curled slightly as she listened to Haytham. She wasn't sure if his statement was a compliment or an insult, so she just let it fly.

She did, however, smirk when the kid admitted he hadn't learned the fancy talk yet. "You will. You will." Nei leaned forward, taking a swig from her drink. "Be on any mission yet?"

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Haytham nodded.

Of course he would eventually learn the Jedi Mind Trick, but he didn't think it was as important as figuring out how to use the Force to defend yourself and to fight. Of course using the Jedi Mind Trick would be able to help you upon stealth missions, but he didn't think that was something that he'd be doing a lot of.

"A few. Around the Outer and Inner Rim. Nothing too exciting or dangerous."

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei smirked. "What, they not trust you with big mission?" The question was meant as a jest, though Nei's usually gruff manner begged otherwise. She was just trying to attempt what they called "teasing." Unfortunately, it never really worked.

"When you get on big mission, and you need ship," she continued, "I be happy to help, if I be free." The Nautolan twirled one of her tresses in her hand again. "Won't be free, girl's gotta live, but won't cost too much, neither." She suddenly looked slightly embarrassed, a rare moment for Nei. "If you need it. Don't make offer to everyone, 'specially Jedi."

 

[Haytham Kaze]

The Jedi Padawan shrugged his shoulders.

"Perhaps one day they will."

At the moment he was content with simply learning the basics of the Force and Lightsaber combat, but he would certainly enjoy faster and harder lessons. And definitely... A lot more missions. But he'd wait until his Master, who happened to be the Jedi Grandmaster happened to send him upon missions.

All he'd have to do was wait until they came around... And then he would prove his quality to the Jedi Order. Sooner or later, it would happen.

"If my mission requires me to take more than one Jedi... I hope you'll still come along." He paused for a moment.

"Why do you dislike Jedi so much? Besides me of course?"

He said the second part with a jesting tone.

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

"My word be my bond with friends," she said gruffly. "And since friends be few and far between..." The woman offered up the Nautolan version of a shrug. "They mean a lot."

When Haytham asked why she disliked Force Users, Nei opened her mouth, and then closed it. How should she phrase it? No one had really asked her that before.

So, slouching, the Nautolan shrugged. "Had bad run-ins with some. Not go well." She sighed, fiddling with her cup. "Not just Jedi, though. It be all saber-wielding Force Users. Not all good; not all fair."

Nei stopped talking. She doubted Haytham wanted to hear her rant, and anyway, she knew some of the incidents were her fault. "But, not all bad, either," she added quietly. "Just not enough of those kind."

 

[Haytham Kaze]

At her first words, he nodded his head in agreement. Friends did mean a lot when you lived a life like [member="Nei Laa"] and there weren't many to come by.

Even when you tried...

"I can understand your dislike, but you shouldn't put all of your prejudice into a group simply because of a handful of bad run-ins. Not every Jedi or Sith is like the last one you had trouble with." But he still shrugged.

"I'm certain you'll come to like Force users." He looked away from her for a moment and had one of his joking smiles. "Besides me of course."

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei raised an eyebrow. "Nearly every Jedi I've come across has either acted like they were superior or got into a fight with me. Nearly every Sith I've encountered has tried to kill me. Nearly every other generic Force User has either tried to bed me or fight me." She tactfully left out the part about most of the fights being her fault. "I think I be entitled to judge with prejudice, kid." The Nautolan drained her Core and gestured at one of the servers to bring her another.

"A few I met have not been so bad, truth be told." She leaned back in her chair, her black eyes studying him as he smiled. "Can I offer you some advice?"

 

[Haytham Kaze]

Whilst she spoke Haytham didn't say a word. Maybe she was over exaggerating, maybe she was lying, maybe she just didn't like people who waved around plasma swords swords and used Space Magic. Or maybe she was telling the truth. He didn't know at this point, and he wasn't sure if he particularly cared anymore.

"Offer away." He said, leaning back into the chair.

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Nei gave a nod at the server as she set down the new Reactor Core. Reaching for the glass, the Nautolan took a long swig before saying what was on her mind.

"Haytham, if you are assigned to a mission that involves the Red Ravens, refuse it. Don't matter if it's helping the Ravens, don't matter if it's hurting the Ravens. Don't do it."

Her reasons for this were quite simple: she didn't want to seem him killed. Oh, she was loyal to the Red Ravens, and she would fight with them so long as she could count on them, but Nei also knew that their relations with the Jedi Order was tentative at best. The last thing the spacer needed was to be on a squad with the kid and fail to keep him from being killed. Or worse -- being at odds with him and forced to do something she'd regret later.

Nei wasn't Haytham's mother figure; kark, she wasn't even a role model. But she was his friend, and while she was powerless with the other affairs in his life, the Nautolan could at least make sure he didn't die while she was around.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

There was a moment when the Jedi Padawan was going to open his mouth and ask why. There were so many questions to what she had told him. Never go on a mission regarding the Red Ravens? She most definitely works for them then, or she knows how dangerous they are.

Wait...

What is a Red Raven?

He remembered at that point, it was more or less a criminal organization from his point of view... But he didn't know much about it, he just knew of them and had never had any dealings with them. Knowingly anyway.

The Jedi Padawan was so close to opening his mouth, there was still the vision of surprise in his face and eyes for a moment longer before his jaw set, and his eyes swept across the room and landed upon her again and at that point, Haytham wondered why he was even thinking about his answer.

"No."

He let that sink in for one moment longer before pressing on with it.

"If there is a mission that requires my attention, I will take it. No matter where it will take me, or who it involves. I would say that I'm sorry about that... But I'm not."

[member="Nei Laa"]

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

She glared at him icily. Did he really just deny her advice? Didn't the kid know that Nei giving out advice was as rare as the Republic Senate of old making a unanimous decision on a good idea?

"Si'hklesi vrima," she growled. "I be trying to help you. Don't care what other quests you go on, just don't be involved with the Ravens! Don't you know I don't want to kriffin' shoot you?!" Why did Jedi always have to think that they knew what was best? Why did they always have to think that they didn't need help? It was enough to drive her up a wall.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Nei muttered, "Qato nie Do os anmian?" Sighing, she took a sip from her drink and slouched in her seat.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

And this was where they were going to differ when it came to opinions and duties?

Very well then.

Gray eyes stared back at her, seemingly to almost glaze over as if he was looking straight through her, as if he were day dreaming and wasn't even paying attention to what she was saying anymore. Of course he did know what she was saying though. Unfortunately, he didn't want to listen, but he did so anyway.

"If I were to be assigned a mission, I couldn't simply just decline it. And if there were missions that were up for claiming, I would be upon them as soon as I could. This isn't something that you can just not do. It's a Jedi's duty to do things. "

There was a pause. Haytham imagined a time in the future when he was a Jedi and the Ravens and the Republic would be on opposite sides of a battle and he encountered [member="Nei Laa"]. What would he do?

Kill her? Let her run to kill my comrades? Warn her?

There were so many options, and then his gaze hardened upon her pure black eyes and with a sternness that would've been never before seen from the both of them, the Jedi Padawan said, "if we came across each other on the opposites sides of a battle, I'd give you one chance to cut your ties to whoever you're fighting for at the time before I'd arrest you."

Probably not the safest thing to say in a place like this, but the Jedi Padawan wasn't up for lightening the mood, or denying a possible reality. Not right now anyway.

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

Black eyes met grey eyes as Nei absorbed what he was saying. That was another thing she didn't like about Jedi: no sense of self-preservation. Of course, his offer did nothing but make her blood boil.

"Whoever I be fighting for at the time? I only fight for Ravens, and you be asking me to betray them! Do you think so little of me? Do I really seem like I not be someone with a code of honour?" Nei spat out. She tossed her tresses over her shoulder angrily before continuing. "Listen to me, boy. I don't want to shoot you, and I plan to do everything to avoid that, but I not be a traitor!" The Nautolan's voice began to rise, and a quick glance confirmed that the other patrons were starting to look at her, so she forced herself to speak quieter. "And arrest be the last thing I need. I not be the worst criminal out there, but courts may think otherwise."

She crossed her arms, scowling; however angry she might be at Haytham, some of it was at herself, too. Angry because she'd managed to ruin a fairly pleasant conversation. But then, it seemed like Nei nearly always had to ruin good moments.

After a moment, she added, "If we meet in battle, we not shoot at each other. We try to avoid confrontations as much as possible. Seems that be all we can do."

 

[Haytham Kaze]

"Yes, whoever you be fighting at the time." As wrong as he was, his justification was that she was a smuggler, and therefore a criminal so she wouldn't save her loyalty for one faction at a time. Or if the Ravens's allies, if they had any, were in conflict with someone and she were there to protect interests, he wouldn't have to fight her. There were two paths he could've gone, but instead of pressing forward with his first few words, he stopped.

A coldness washed over the Jedi Padawan and he stood up from the chair. Now, Haytham had determined that he was amongst criminals and the lowlifes of the Galaxy long enough.

"Better arrest you than have you harming other Jedi and Republic units."

He walked around the table and looked across the room as if he were a king looking over a court.

"Remember that I gave you this chance, [member="Nei Laa"]. My strength in the Force grows, while your 'luck' keeps you alive." Then he walked past her and to the exit. One the way, he wondered as to why he had said that, but there was no justification, not this time.

 

[Nei Laa]

[member="Haytham Kaze"]

As Haytham stood up, she did too. She couldn't believe it. She had thought he was different from the other Jedi, but he looked down on her, on all of the other little people the Order were supposed to protect. A surge of fiery rage grew inside her, but vanished just as quickly.

To his back, she called out, "Remember, Haytham, not all things be black and white. Every man has a story, even if you believe the Jedi be the only righteous."

And that, in her mind, was why the Jedi and the Republic had lost their capital to the One Sith. They didn't want to consider that the so-called criminals chose their paths for a noble reason, the lesser evil of two choices. It was what caused legacies to be forgotten, what caused kingdoms to fall. The Sith, however, recognized this and used it to manipulate people.

And she didn't want to see this kid get killed because of it.

But he had already made his opinion on the subject quite clear, so all Nei could hope was that he didn't do anything big that he'd live to regret.

With a sigh, the Nautolan smuggler turned back, tossing a couple of cred chips onto the table. She'd lost her appetite for a drink, and just wanted to go home, to go back to her ship.