Private One Man's Trash

[Kuzo]

Archais
Hirkenburg

Normally, Kuzo slept very well. The sleep of a creature with no cares in the world, completely content with life and everything around him. He had enough to eat, a safe little nook in an alley to sleep in. The planet, and even its capital city were not overly populated, which was something the little Nezumi was starting to realize has a very real impact on his experiences somewhere. Whether he was likely to have his tail trampled upon seemed to be directly corollary to a planet having.... oh, how many people? At least a hundred, he'd decided. He had arrived on Archais during its dry season, so had no expectation of waking up with anything plopping wetly on him.

So instead, of course, something dry plopped on him, rather suddenly, and ruined what had otherwise been a very nice night's sleep under a bit of flimsy.

"Hey!"

Kuzo blurted out without meaning to, his arms going around the weirdly shaped object that had been dropped on his chest.

A robed figure, who had already been about to scuttle away, froze. Kuzo couldn't see the creature's face- but he could see just how nervous it was as it whirled around, eyes a little too wide, and hand going down to its hip to grasp at.... something. Kuzo wasn't sure what. Some long metallic cylinder. The figure looked around wildly for a moment and then-

"Hey, I'm down here," Kuzo grumped, sounding very put upon. "You dropped this on me!"

Kuzo had to use both hands to lift up the- weirdly vaguely glowing- cube thing, to the being.

"Is.... something wrong with your face?"

The nezumi cocked his head, leaning in a little. "It looks like its-"

Kuzo had been about to say something VERY rude without intending to, so fortunately, he was saved a likely squishing when he was interrupted.

"You... you are.... a nezumi...." the creature wheezed.

What followed was a rambling discussion- not truly a conversation, as Kuzo didn't really get to participate- about things he really didn't understand. Kuzo didn't know who Tai Fa or Darth Carnifex were. He didn't know what the Sith Empire was... or had been? The being kept going back and forth between past and present tense in a way that was too confusing to follow. And he CERTAINLY didn't know what by the maker the Saarash-a-something were.

All Kuzo knew what that this strange, ugly, funny smelling sentient seemed to trust him- so Kuzo just went along with it. What he did understand by the end was that the thing he was holding was very important, and that he should bring it to someone- the other nezumi to get it to this Tai Fa person, or the Emperor himself (who was no longer Emperor? Kuzo was starting to think the being might not be totally sane by the end of everything).

So Kuzo nodded along, promised him he'd do exactly that, in as soothing a voice as possible. It seemed to placate the other being. At least until Kuzo suddenly had a thought and it came out without any particular kind of consideration whatsoever-

"How did you know I was here?"

"The Force....." the being wheezed, sounding as though he were in awe himself.

"How did the Force know I was here?" Kuzo wheedled a little. He only had the vaguest sense of what the Force was, let alone how it worked.

What neither of them seemed willing to admit in that moment, was that the being had simply wanted to be RID of the strange glowing cube- that someone was looking for it, and by default him. That he was pawning it off on Kuzo was never discussed, and the being left without answering the question because maybe.... maybe it HAD been the Force, to get the holocron, and its contents, back to where it belonged.

Or maybe Kuzo had just been sleeping next to the garbage tin.

It was hard to say.

"Hey- hey wait!"

It was no surprise that the being vanished, and did NOT wait, but by then, Kuzo was already looking over the weird thing (the being had called it something, started with an H, a handy-dome? No that wasn't it, and it wasn't a dome anyway) and trying to decide how best to carry it- a sack, obviously. And who he would try to sell it to and what he'd say it was. But, that was a problem for future Kuzo wasn't it? And Kuzo didn't often consider him in anything. For now, the Nezumi wrapped the item in some scraps of flimsy, twisted the top, slung it over his back and started heading toward market he'd noticed right before dusk. Felt close to dawn now and you know what?

Kuzo was feeling wildly lucky.

Like.... the Force was on his side or something. Yeah.

Ishida Ashina

 

[Ishida Ashina]

DARKNESS IS WAITING FOR IT
ARCHAIS | HIRKENBURG | STARPORT
NO MATTER HOW FAST LIGHT TRAVELS,
IT FINDS DARKNESS HAS ALWAYS GOT THERE FIRST
AND IS WAITING FOR IT

​

Right on the edge of Alliance space, something was amiss. Whether it had been murmurs of The Force with provocation of agitated onlookers, or something more visionary, Ishida didn’t challenge it. She just listened, and dutifully acted.

The more she listened, the more focused her sights became. She lost herself, unaware of her body while her consciousness drifted. The more relaxed she allowed herself to become, freed her mind, and began to control the images. At last there was something, not clear at first, but something red, amorphous, and eventually it took a harsher shape. More constrictive. More familiar. Around it was unfamiliar, golden, green. Her concentration intensified.

It was something that needed to be dealt with. Something dangerous. Something evil. Something Sith.

Dealing with it was a largely undefined outcome. In the little warrior of Light’s eyes, it should be destroyed, or, at the very least, confined away from Sith’s hands. And there was nowhere safer, nowhere more impenetrable than Hall of The Sun.

The New Jedi Order’s artificers may have words otherwise, but Ishida oft’ operated outside the words and inaction of The Order. Especially since she'd been gifted a fleet of automated ships. Useful things, because her piloting — and by extension, her navigational prowess — were pretty chit.

As her ship neared the planet, Ishida was able to glimpse a portion of its curved surface through the clouds that readily parted to reveal spartan skies. A contributor to the arid atmosphere of the planet, no doubt.

A small chime dinged, and she leaned over to read the viewscreen interpreter. It told her the planet’s name was Archais, and she dove back into her senses. A trickle of black dread seeped through her body, and she knew she was close. She approved the landing sequence.

Automated and precise, the ship sailed through the twilight halo separating pitch black space from the planet’s surface, and descended toward the capital.

Nestled betwixt two major rock formations, Hirkenburg looked to make the valley appear taller by building scrapers that looked like emaciated hives. The architecture was intriguing, but hardly rivalled the mountain ranges on either side. Ishida watched the buildings get larger as the ship landed, and furrowed her brows. Why was something so ancient-feeling in a place like this?

The forests, or sprawling golden grasses she’d seen from above, that would make more sense. Those spans could house tombs, or other evil locations — but a city? A well-inhabited city?

Just as she descended the ramp, Ishida realised she’d forgotten to look up anything about this planet beyond the general atmosphere information. Who were its major populace?

An answer came quickly, after walking tens of meters deeper into the city’s streets and outside the starport.

“Arkanians.” Ishida muttered, and subconsciously drew her kimono tighter around her shoulders. Everywhere she looked, there were façades that shared the distinct features of her ex. Her scowl was sharp enough to carve katanas on. “Had to be Arkanians.”

She shoved her negative feelings aside, and opened herself back up to the original dangerous sensation that had drawn her to this too-warm planet.

---

Kuzo​

 

[Kuzo]

Tup tup tup tup

Small feet tupped on the duracrete to an internal beat only the Nezumi could really hear. Kuzo was feeling rather jaunty, really. Okay, so he'd been woken up- rudely, he might add- but he'd gotten this great.....

Thing.

Whosiwhatsit.

Whatchamacallit.

Anyway, it was a weird polyhedral shape and glowed and was warm to the touch, even through the flimsy he'd wrapped it in. Really, Kuzo was a little tempted to bring it back to the Shokunin nest ship. Would be worth the trip and time out of his way, no? Buuuuuuuut. He was pretty sure he could get a whole STACK of credits for it. Someone was bound to want it. Frick, HE wanted it.

But even as he was sitting at the corner of a stall in the market a bit later, feet splayed out and tongue between his teeth as he considered what to write on his sign, the story the strange being had told him was slowly percolating through his mind. Sith Empire. The Force. Something about Car-Fax? Kuzo really wasn't sure, the thing had used a lot of big words, but the Nezumi was starting to think that maybe it had to do with being so big, there was room for bigger words or something in their lives.

Slowly and carefully, Kuzo wrote his sign:

Yooneek Artefakt! One of a Kind! Limited Time Ofer.

He considered it, then added several more exclamation points. Kuzo stood up and stuck it into a board at the base of the stand- he couldn't see what was being sold up there, but that was okay. Leaving the hover-tron (perhaps in truth, a holocron, not that he remembered that word whatsoever at this point) wrapping paper, he stood next to it, leaning casually and pretending to inspect his fingernails, a trick he'd seen on Cybros. He thought it made him look very relaxed. The problem of course being that his constantly pivoting ears gave away how very not relaxed the little creature was.

Ishida Ashina

 

[Ishida Ashina]

​

If Ishida thought there were many Arkanians at the star port, there were easily double in the marketplace. She could see them snootily reviewing the goods. Or maybe she was projecting. If anything, she looked snobbier than the locals. Her face was pinched up from all the feelings that she’d been ignoring for months and months and —

— she felt prickly.

And not just because of the locale. That darkness that beckoned surged, and like black lines weaving through the crowds, it became nigh tangible. She picked up her pace, right up until the feeling nearly burgeoned, but resorted down to a dull pulse. Following her senses entirely resulted in her hand on the hilt of the sabre at her hip, ready to draw, ready to smite down the lord of ——

— where was the Sith?

She blinked, and saw nothing at eye level.

But her senses were sharp, how could she be mislead?

She scowled, and cocked her head. She saw nothing at hip-level either.

The merchant was occupied with other guests, but held up a four fingered hand of acknowledgement to Ishida. She didn’t wait for him though, and took a step forward to inspect the stall, thinking perhaps perhaps it what she sought was behind the stall altogether, since it didn’t appear to be on display.

Then the tip of her boot struck something that didn’t feel like the base of the stand.

---

Kuzo​