Orthodox meet unorthodox

[Spark Finn]

Zeltros
Black Market - Shop 36 and 3/4

[member="Carn Dista"]

Gray-blue eyes darted behind glass lenses from the girl who weaved through the back alleyways of Zeltros. Most folks saw the planet as a never ending party and few knew it as an excellent resource for the latest and greatest in technology. Fewer still knew it as a black-market slicer's paradise.

One hand clutched the datapad while another clutched the shoulder-strap to her bag. Her chin swiveled slightly as she rounded the corner, careful to avoid the public holo-cams. Footage-wise, the most they would get would be a flash of dirty-blond hair.

It was mostly research due to her own paranoia to map out her walking routes but sometimes she just followed her instincts to avoid authorities: the suits. That feeling hadn't let her down yet.

Feet stopped at the end of the alley in front of an unmarked door between doors 36 and 37. She glanced discreetly over her shoulder one time before plugging her comm into the door key. With a resounding click, the door hissed open.

 

[Carn Dista]

[member="Spark Finn"]


Zeltros. The planet was synonymous with spice, sex and more spice. It was a veritable clubbers haven, with just about everything designed for one thing and one thing only: Having a good time. However amid the chaos of the neon lit walkways, eternally blaring music and ever present pheromones, there were always places of a more discreet nature. A black market had arose on the planet, allowing those who knew to look in between the obvious distractions access to technology, drugs, and other items that were otherwise prohibited by the few laws that existed on the planet. It was one of these places that Carn had heard rumors of for the past few weeks - Store 36 and 3/4. It was a slicers haven, according to the whispers he'd heard. Ordinarily, Carn would have simply let the place be - however something about the place had caught his attention. He felt compelled to investigate, and investigate he did. It had taken the Jedi Master days to track the location down properly, however with a great deal of patience and a little faith in the Force, Carn's attempts at discovering the store had been fruitful.

Sat just opposite the store, Carn sipped on a blue milk. He had been waiting here for the past hour, figuring out how best to proceed. Brute force was not an option - he had no idea what was going on inside, and cutting his way in would likely cause a much more violent reaction than he particularly wanted. It was during his surveillance of the entrance that he saw something, or more someone enter. Nothing more than a streak of dirty blonde hair, hurriedly entering the doorway. He ran his fingers through his beard slightly - He felt a slight tremor through the Force. Not quite a disturbance, or anything particularly sinister, but none the less it was something. Finishing his blue milk off, and wiping the remnants of it that had lodged itself within his mustache, Carn got up and made his way to the entrance...

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Carn Dista"]

Pink hued lights lit up a small, but bustling room. The natural glow from the alley-way quickly disappeared as the door behind her began to close. She stashed the comm in her pocket. She wove through the huddled groups of Zeltrons and humans, giving two wookies a wide berth. A zeltron man grinned at her from the shadows of a back, corner table, teeth gleaming pink from the overhead lights.

Something made her pause. A tickle - a warning. Freckled nose scrunched up.

She pushed her feelings aside and slid into an opposite chair to the flashy-smiling Zeltron. His grin widened. "Black Knight seventeen. In the flesh. Do you have the information I requested?"

She felt her emotions shifting with her proximity to the man. Her cool-gaze betrayed nothing. "I got it. You got the part?"

"You don't disappoint and neither do I. You-,"

The man was cut off as a cry erupted from the table next to them. She followed his gaze, eyes falling on a raven-haired boy not much older than herself. A blaster was pressed against his temple. The noise in the room tapered but the feelings of remaining calm stuck to the air like a thick fog.

"Excuse me, dear. I need to take care of this." The Zeltron man stood. Even though he tried to whisper, she heard their exchange. "The kid didn't get what we asked him for, huh? Take care of him out back." Despite the fog of false calm, the raven-haired boy was trembling and pleading as he was hauled to his feet.

Spark's digits flew over her datapad as she hacked into the room's systems going for the lighting system. In about one second the lights would go nova before blacking out completely.

 

[Carn Dista]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Carn stepped forwards to the door, taking but a brief moment to survey it. There was no obvious handle, no locks visible. Nothing outside of a camera and a port designed to interface with standard commslinks. He quickly linked his in and waited for the inevitable response...

"Whadda' ya want?" came the voice. It was rough. The kind of voice you'd get from a lifetime of deathstick and stimulant abuse. Without hesitation, Carn informed the voice on the other side that he was here for store 36 and 3/4. However, as he did he reached out into the Force. He didn't have to be able to see the person he was talking to if they could see him, just so long as he could feel them. And feel them he could, alongside dozens of other lifeforms in the room beyond. His hand shifted ever so slightly as he used the Force, subtly convincing the guard on the other side of the door that he was allowed to enter.

The door slid open.

Unhooking his commslink, Carn slipped into the building. The pink hue of the hallway beyond took a moment to get used to, but he strode forwards like he had done this many times before in order to avoid suspicion. However, as he did, a commotion kicked off on the far side of the room. Some red haired youth had been pulled up for something by the illegitimate businessfolk that ran the establishment - most likely breaking some unwritten rule, or failing to be useful. Carn made a mental note of where his lightsaber was, just in case everything went to hell in a handbasket around him. Yet again, he felt the pull of the Force, drawing him further inwards... Yet this time it screamed a warning. His precognition kicked in and the Jedi felt compelled to move himself into cover, just moments before the lights went supernova, blinding anyone who wasn't lucky enough to have their eyes concealed. The mere fact that this just happened to be at the exact time the Jedi walked through the doors could only spell trouble for Carn, and as the panic of the sudden flare and removal of the lights in the room set in, he prepared himself to receive an unfair portion of the blame.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Carn Dista"]

Before squeezing her eyes closed, a flash of movement caught her attention from a bearded newcomer from across the room. He moved almost as if he knew...

Eyes squeezed closed and she stood. She moved on instinct.

Grumbles and growls of surprise echoed in the room. Her bony shoulder knocked into the one holding the raven-haired boy. He scrambled clumsily away in the darkness. Datapad and comm lights acted as mechanical stars in the room's blackout. Whether it was the force, horrible luck, or from eating too many razzles Spark ran smack into the chest of one Carn Dista in the middle of her hasty retreat.

"Hey. Watch..." Gray-blue eyes caught the glint of a lightsaber hilt on the bearded man, "....chit."

 

[Carn Dista]

[member="Spark Finn"]

The Force was a powerful ally indeed. And in this case, it had saved him from the vast majority of the sudden surge in light. When he shifted back round, his vision was still a little blurry, however he had still managed to avoid the worst of it - retaining his ability to see in the process. However before he had time to react, a small blonde streak of movement plowed straight into his chest. It was clear she was in a hurry to leave and he didn't have to be a Jedi to figure out that she likely had something to do with all of this. "Hey. Watch... It." Her voice started out strong, full of well deserved annoyance from having someone get in her way. Yet the pause gave him pause - She had lost her confidence, like the wind had been suddenly knocked out of her sails. Did she know he was a Jedi? Possibly.

There it was again. That familiar nudge in the Force, intensifying when he was stood near her. He had been drawn to this place. Compelled to enter. And now this. It all seemed to revolve around the girl stood in front of him. It was not the right time to investigate - instead, ensuring her survival was a much more appropriate course of action.

"Perhaps I should watch it. Or perhaps now would be a good time to leave, before your friends figure out what just happened, hrm?" His tone was gentle, but full of implications. In one calm swooping motion, Carn began to usher the girl towards the exit. They would be infinitely safer in the open, where the crowds would allow them to slip away to somewhere a little less volatile.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Carn Dista"]

She gulped back her trepidation. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"The part's missing!" The enraged Zeltron man snarled from a few tables back and flashed his datapad light in Spark and Carn's direction. He squinted in the dark and saw a flash of dirty-blond hair moving toward the door followed by a bearded man. "Bring me that girl!"

A wookie growled in the flickering darkness.

Spark grumbled next to the shepherding bearded-man next to her. "Great, my options are a forcie who is the ultimate suit of suits or an emotionally unstable Zeltron and his lackeys." They made it to the door which remained stubbornly sealed. "Leaving is never easy. They re-programmed the locks." She jerked her gaze away from his bearded face and began digging in her pack.

"I can unlock it but it'll take more time than we have. Got any ideas?"

 

[Carn Dista]

[member="Spark Finn"]
[sorry about the late reply!]

Carn looked around the door, for any obvious signs of hydrolics, hinges, or anything else he could simply cut his way through to get them out. He saw nothing - These Zeltrosian criminals were apparently very good at hiding their hardware. He turned, looking down the now dimply lit corridor, his ears listening to the oncoming footsteps. He could practically taste the violence that was about to ensue. She was right. They had little time unless he could think of something. Without the time to assess where the door was weakest, Carn turned to face the shouts of anger that had followed them. A smirk crossed his face.

"Oh I have an idea."

As he spoke, his Lightsaber moved from his belt and into ignition. The familiar snap-hiss of the blades ignition acted as a herald for the deep green glow that flooded the hallway and illuminated the Jedi. A cry came from the end of the hallway - someone panicked. Fear set in. A Jedi on Zeltros was an uncommon thing at best, and none of the residents of store 36 and 3/4 had thought to expect one in their midst. Let alone one brandishing a lightsaber. As the first volley of inaccurately placed blaster rounds zipped down the hallway, Carn's left foot slid backwards, allowing him to place himself between the blonde haired slicer and the danger from the other end of the hallway. His lightsaber shimmered in short, sudden movements, allowing him to intercept all but the least accurate bolts which impacted with the door behind him, showering sparks across the floor.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Carn Dista"]

(no worries - I've got a busy couple of days coming up myself )

Sparks showered around Spark and it was hard to ignore her gut instinct to hunch up in a protective ball or flee. Blue-gray eyes widened as big as nuna eggs as she looked up from her crouched position to the jedi in action with his fire-sword. The following thoughts ran concurrently through her head: that is so cool, I'm going to die, the holonet fails to capture how intense these situations really are.

She could ask why he was helping her later.

Bzztblat.

A stray bolt hit just above her head, the ion smell fresh on the tip of her nose. She tore her gaze away from Beard Man and plugged her comm system into the door. Nimble-digits flew over the screen as she worked on cracking the new locks.

After a few coded screens there was a resounding click and a patch of Zeltros sunlight lit up their dim corridor as the door slowly ground open. She yanked her comm free and yelped as another bolt hit the door frame. "Time to go Beard Man!"

She pushed back to her feet and moved surprisingly fast for a slicer.

 

[Carn Dista]

[Well, now the Christmas madness is over, I've finally found enough downtime to give you the post you've been waiting for! I'll be posting much more regularly from now on, so I can only apologize about the crazy delays on my end. Hope you've had a good festive season! [member="Spark Finn"]]


Beard man. Why was it always the beard and not the formal titles? He almost paused for thought before returning another blaster bolt back down the corridor, like a lethal game of tennis. There was a yell, and a brief pause - the sunlight had momentarily blinded their assailants, giving Carn enough time to run and follow the blonde streak of hair that had just vanished through the door. As he went through, his lightsaber descended onto the console outside, causing the door to slam shut behind them. He took a moment to disignite his blade and straighten his robes out before checking his surroundings. Just as he'd left it. Neon filled and obnoxious. Perfect.

Taking a more relaxed posture, Carn began to walk away from the door. He didn't beckon with a gesture, or verbally ask the girl to come with him. Instead he... "nudged" her mind with the Force. The kind of nudge that implied that he had answers for the questions he presumed were floating about in her mind. After all, he had just aided her escape for what could be seen as no reason. This nudge also acted as a test - if she picked up on it, then Carn would know that she was the source of the disturbance he had felt through the Force. If not... Well. It never hurt to know a slicer. After all, they came in handy for opening doors. Carn kept his steady and relaxed pace up while he meandered nonchalantly through the groups of locals towards a nearby cantina where they could lay low for a while.

 

[Spark Finn]

(I totally understand. I've had a little pre and post-Christmas madness )

[member="Carn Dista"]

She huffed and wiped the back of her hand across her brow. To the slicer's credit she did pause and glance back in time to see the mysterious stranger escape successfully and put away that glowing weapon of his. She wasn't all selfish.

Looking into the surrounding crowds, Spark already began to calculate where to slip in to disappear. But something made her hesitate mid-step. It wasn't something as much as a feeling. Grey-blue eyes panned to the disappearing back of the bearded-stranger. And, instead of walking away, she found her feet moving toward him. It didn't take her long to fall in-step at his side, even with his longer strides.

The glow of the Tedd's Cantina sign reflected off her glasses.

Hands jammed inside the pockets of her hoodie. "Thanks. Back there. What was someone like you doing in a place like that, anyway?" Eyes glanced warily to the hilt of his weapon.