Private Redemption

[Kyra Perl]

Listen. It was really best not to ask questions. No amount of reasoning was ever gonna satisfy why Kyra broke rules, stole a ship, and ended back up in Hutt space. And no amount of back tracking was gonna clarify just how the padawan ended up strung up in an alleyway with a bunch of cartel thugs. But she had. And they were pissed.

"I'm only gonna ask you one last time-- Where's your master?"

Kyra cried out, the man's brute force keeping her wrists outstretched and pinched to the canteen wall behind her. The two thugs behind him watched tensely on, a saber hilt in one hand, taken from Kyra's own possession.

Crap! She really was suppose to be better than this!

"No-no where, it's just me." She tilted her head to the side, a gasp catching on her lips as his seedy breath washed over her. She strained, ignoring the screaming from her wrists as she tried to uncurl her fingers. If she could just- White heat flashed over her vision, her head rocking into the rough concert. Her legs went loose as the blow sent her world spinning. The man's freed hand caught her by the throat instead, holding her there.

"Why you lyin', Jedi?"

His grip tightened. Clarity returned to Kyra in an instant, adrenaline sparking through her as the air cut off. She made a noise, clawing at his hands.

Loske Treicolt

 

[Loske Treicolt]

You're honestly spending time figuring this out?

"I feel like this is the time. There'd be no other time to say it. Corine La'Toya would totally say it."

You do what you've got to do, but hurry up and do it.

Loske and Frank had overheard some ruckus in an ally of all places, and she was peeking from behind a corner to figure out how to best approach this. Whipping out a lightsaber in Hutt Space was like activating a target on herself -- what with the call for bounty on Jedi and all that.

"Right." Uncurling her hands, she gave herself a shake of reassurance before stepping into the space between buildings.

"Hey!" This was it. This was the holofilm moment where she could use that line. The ultimate line. "Why don't you guys pick on someone your own size?" Comparatively, it didn't work in application. On inspection, the pink girl and the blonde one were relatively similar in stature-- but when the thugs' attention drew to the silhouette in the ally they'd find more than one of that same size. She wasn't skilled enough to make them do anything, but it granted her the temporary shock she needed to slip into the situation and assess it. It looked like five people were coming contest them instead of a single, lithe Padawan.

The first person she went for was the one that...also went for her. While Kyra Perl was still pinned against the wall, one of the burly henchmen came at Loske - aiming for mid-torso. Another did the same to one of her visual counterparts, and another to..well, another Loske. The real, physical Padawan ducked the initial wrestle, twisting out of the way while the two others quickly found their way through the apparitions of the girl. One clunked his head on a large dumpster, and the other stopped just short of colliding with the brick. In the meantime, Loske was after the guy with his hand on the throat of the Zeltron. She delivered a kick behind his knees to make him buckle, and hopefully give enough space for the other girl -- a jedi, she could sense it -- get free.

Lightsaber was one thing...any flashy Force techniques would have to be kept at a minimum too. Which meant Teräs Käsi took the floor once more. Once she was sure the Zeltron wasn't going to be choked out, she was able to maneuver in a flurry within the confines of the ally to the number of foes.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's vision swam, noises catching in her throat as she struggled for breath. Noises to the left drew her attention, her head straining towards the blurry scene of one girl, fighting in quadruplets. Look! Sisters! She wanted to call out to warn the girl. They had gun! But it all hardly seemed to matter. Loske moved quickly, a feat Kyra stopped witnessing as her eyes squeezed closed.

Her body screamed for air, pain burning through her lungs as she clawed and kicked at the solid mass before her. She. Needed. Air. The Force obeyed, the man being ripped off her throat at that exact moment. She took in heaping breaths, the man falling to his knees before her. There was no time for relief. She kneed him hard in the face, a guttural noise of pain ripping through her as a tooth jammed into her knee cap.

Didn't matter! She was free!

She shoved the sputtering man onto his back, her movements hasty as she followed up with a heel to his temple. She winced at his pain, turning away as he dropped still. The scene around around her was chaotic. Of the two remaining thugs, one sat dazed, his forehead smashed and torn open from the brick wall he had kissed. The other found himself faced off with the ferocious blonde that had saved her. ...Just one this time, Kyra half wondered where the rest went.

The question never left her lips, her hand outstretched as she croaked. "Wait! I need him talking!"

 

[Loske Treicolt]

With one and a half down, Loske heeded the beckon from Kyra Perl . She'd never kill this person..she didn't have enough history to get involved at that level -- but unconsciousness had been an option until the desperate croak was evidenced.

That sort of made sense. When she'd intruded on the scene, the pink girl had been interrogated. Now it was turning into an exchange of information. The blonde evidenced a curt nod of comprehension and squared up against the remaining thug.

"You've got something to say then, guy?"

"Not to you pinkie. Or blondie."

The kiffar rolled her shoulders in a superficial shrug and squared up, preparing as if she were to box the fellow. She feinted a jab, and he did similarly with a hook that came around her left side. She slid to the right, dodging beneath his fist and locking her heel against his, ramming her knee into the back of his leg to bring him down to a crouch and loop her arm around his neck while the other grabbed at the hand that was supposed to be protecting his face and wrenched it down to his lower back in a hold.

For good measure, Frank rolled up in front of him and stuck something electric into his thigh to prompt a surprised yelp.

"hnng," Loske murmured, tightening her looped arm with no small amount of effort. "He's all yours.."

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Wow, good one," Kyra commented, to Loske, the battered girl scattering over to them. While roughed up, Kyra looked no worse for wear, her spirits unfazed by her brush with death as she pulled her shirt straight and approached. For someone so small, Loske had gotten him pinned rather nicely! Kyra gave the girl an appreciative glance, her envy fleeting as Frank rolled up.

Kyra took a step back, then visibly startled at the sudden pain the device brought to the air. She shook out her head, stepping forward at the invite.

"Ohi! Thanks." She commented to them both. She reached into the man's belt line, yanking out his blaster and fiddling with it.

"My turn~ Funny how that works, huh? Now I have the friends." Something clicked along the weapon in her hand. She perked, looking up at him and pointing the barrel right between his brows.

"Best get talkin, this isn't stun mode."

The man glowered, scoffing at the padawan dismissively. "Jedi don't-"

Kyra pointed down and pulled the trigger, nailing him right in the foot. "The children, Skidmark. Where did you move them?" Her eyes watered as he screamed at the shot, but if he thought that was gonna make her soften to him.... his friends had made her watch much worse.

Her thoughts flickered towards Acaadi for a moment, betraying her self-control. She swallowed hard and dismissed the concern for her friend. He would pull through. He always did.

She pointed the gun back to his temple, fingers shaking and knuckles white.

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Eyes widened at the brashness of Kyra Perl 's approach. Uh oh, what had she gotten into? Surely she was on the right side here. The second question came out, something about children being relocated and it was the affirmation the would-be kiffar required. Children were a sensitive subject for anyone. The idea of innocence being taken advantage pulled at all the right heartstrings to prime action. The zeltron also seemed to be overly sensitive to the results of her actions. Nevertheless, Loske tried not to flinch and kept her hold as the man convulsed in pain.

His first response was a groan when the barrel of the blaster pressed against the tender part of his head, unable to conceal the agony he felt from his toes upward. Blood pooled in his shoe, gurgling a bit on the leather.

"Ya dumb schutta. Ya shoot me, and ya never be getting what or ... heh heh ... who you're lookin' for." The man grimaced, managing a cruel chuckle. Desperation and self preservation were usually good motivators, but scum like this fellow weren't able to use those to override the fear of whoever was paying him.

Loske moved to kick her knees into the back of the guys', forcing him down to the ground and away from the barrel of Kyra's gun. "Hold on, I need him to be less stressed." The Padawan explained, adjusting her stance to force the guy down further while he made sounds that reflected the pain from the pressure of his foot scraping on the ground with the new position. Honestly, she also needed to be less stressed. The youth seemed volatile, and if the guy moved wrong she could easily pull the trigger and reading the memories of the dead was uh....a pretty dire move. Loske'd never read a corpse and didn't really care to. She tightened her arms around the guy's neck, grunting as he twitched and fought it. Frank came in with another helpful jolt of electricity until he lulled into a state of loose consciousness.

"Please put that away...or at least..point it down." The blonde gestured, freeing a hand to point at the blaster before moving her pointer finger to the temple of the guy. Right where the blaster had been. Her other hand still kept him upright, twisting his arm while he sunk backward with some gasps to struggle back to full awareness. In the brink of a dreamlike state, and reality, Loske pressed her fingertips to his flesh to intercept the vulnerability.

She wasn't totally sure if this would work, extrasensory projection usually worked best on inanimate objects. She knit her brows in concentration, doing her best to focus on what his subconscious could feed back to her. At first, it was broken fractals of half-hazard images. After a few seconds, relevant associations started to materialize. When this happened, the girl expanded her focus to project some of what she was seeing for Kyra to benefit from. The ally around them ebbed and twisted, stones started to become painted with countertops, seedy cave-like spaces, and the faces of scared children. The locations were staccato-like in their recollection and visualization, impart due to the fact Loske had never met this man before and had no connection she could delve into. Usually when she did this it was with Cedric, or Ryv, not a stranger. The usefulness translated though, and hopefully Kyra'd be able to make some sense of the images.

Or maybe Frank, if he could see them. She'd never asked if he could see her Force stuff.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"What are you-ooooooooooooh, that's handy," Kyra breathed, her gaze falling to the air as the images flickered to life. The gun lowered, Kyra giving them some blind trust as turned her back and walked toward the images. "Psychometry!" She chirped, delighted by the discovery.

It was one of the few skills Kyra showed a growing talent for, but she had never seen it used like this.

Her delight passed quickly, her doey-eyed gaze pinching tightly as she snapped her head towards small faces she recognized. She stumbled towards them, this way, then that, the girl seeming to forget for a moment that they were just images.

Or maybe she just didn't care.

There was a fair bit of emotion playing across her. Anger, pain, remorse. She stood like an open book with no explanation in front of them, struggling to absorb one detail before the next one popped. The volatile assessment was fair, though unfortunate. She recognized the cave-like walls that projected across the brick. And the shackles, bloodstained, hanging down from them. Her jaw clenched, the girl looking sharply back over to Loske. "That's enough," she whispered, voice rough.

She wavered in place, her arms wrapping around her midsection. Of course the thugs would reoccupy the space. Her people had cleared out one threat, but they couldn't stop their associates from returning.

This was Hutt Space after all.

How could she go back there, alone this time, and do it all over again? She hadn't thought this through, and for a moment she felt particularly small. She cleared at her throat, blinking back a wash of moisture. "...Thank you," she told them, heat hitting her cheeks as she glanced bashfully up at them.

"You can, um, knock him out now."

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Too busy trying to keep the fellow's mind from slipping, Loske didn't notice Kyra Perl 's reactions to the projections.

Because she was already in the man's mind, she made a slight adjustment to the pressure and he eased forward into a sagging collapse, becoming a heap at the girls' feet.

"Are you alright?" Now that she too had regained more consciousness and snapped back to reality, it was clear the other girl was in some sort of discomfort. "Did they hurt you?

What are you trying to do here? What did we just see? Who are you?

Sorry, that's a lot of questions. I'm Loske and this," she gestured behind her to the astromech that was hip-height "is Frank."

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra gave the Astromech a weak wave, her attention anywhere but on them. “I- no. I mean yeah. But I’m fine,” she croaked, her voice giving a crack that betrayed the very meaning of the word. She knew she needed to give an explanation, but she stood at a loss where to start.

She wiped at her face, erasing tears of frustration as thing felt overwhelming. She glanced once over at the girl, finally seeming to look at her again. Kyra softened at the familiarness of the blonde’s presence. Young. Jedi. She could feel the comrodery that time Could grow between them. She reminded her so much of Kat. Kyra’s arms fell from her stomach, her words coming a little easier.

“There were these sith, they were taking children. And I- I’m jedi you see- and we came to help, but-... I failed,” she croaked. “And they’re still out there- the kids. And they’re not the good kind- they can’t do stuff with the force, so they don’t want them. Which means we don’t have time cause they gonna sell em, and-“ she rattled, almost nonsensical as she jumped between sentences. The words tumbled out of her, desperate to be understood. “- I’m talking way too fast again aren’t I? Sooooorry, it’s just, and they-“

“I need to fix this.”

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Oh. Oh no. This girl was very sad, and feeling very responsible. Loske stepped over the body that was collapsed between them in a way that could have been comedic if she wasn't so focused on the zeltron's tragedy. The way Kyra Perl babbled out the information was like a brook, hurried and racing over stones; none of it smooth.

"Hey, hey," she cooed, as if she were some sort of person qualified to calm the red-headed teen. In a brash move, she reached out to touch the girl's arm with as much reassuring strength as she could; just short of drawing the stranger into a bear hug. "You're gonna fix this.

That sounds really, truly awful, and like a lot of work.

Can I help you? I have a ship, but I..I don't know any of those places we just saw. Do you?"

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra’s quaking cut short. She hadn’t realized she had become so undone. It had started out so small, just a sense of fluster, and slowly crept through her muscles until she was composed of viscous jolts and shakes. But it all went away as Loske embraced her. Bare hand to pink skin, the girl couldn’t know how profound her attempts to steel Kyra would be.

Kyra’s empathy was strong, but it came with a massive hitch. What she could do to others, they could do right on back. This was all the more reason for her to work towards control, and yet she still lacked it. Loske’s kindness drove Kyra’s posture to straighten, the panic leaving her eyes for a sense of ... confidence.

Surety.

All was not lost. She had this, Loske assured her. Even moreso when she offered to come along! Kyra wavered in place for a spare moment, then surged forward and gave Loske and equally brash hug. A sense of weight lifted off Kyra’s chest, permitting through the Force around her. Loske might not be able to help the light feeling of relief that rippled through her, like a bubbling creak. Or the light of dawn and kiss of morning dew.

Whether or not it remained responsible for Kyra to risk another’s life and push forward, she did so anyway. She withdrew, still groping at Loske’s forearms in An appreciative connection. “I do. The kids, they’ll be there. I know the place, they-... It’s just hutts now. If we leave immediately, we can get there before they—“ Kill them?

Kyra pulled away, already ready to move. “It’s north of here! Two-two clicks out of town.” She scattered over to a dropped body, gingerly peeling her saber out of the hands of the man with the smashed up face.

Kyra straightened, a thought hitting her. It wasn’t often you met a non silver jedi out in a mission unless something was up. “Did they take one of you too?” Even calm, she chucked a million things at Loske at once.

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Emotion suffused through her, centring itself in her mind's eye and permeating from top to bottom. That level of gung-ho gust and reassurance she'd just said out loud being returned back to her. Her teeth clicked shut with surprise and she blinked with the bolstering. As unnatural as it felt, it also felt very right and like it belonged. What?

"Good." She affirmed when Kyra Perl said she indeed knew the places they'd just seen. "Maybe we should find something bigger and faster than our feet.." Loske thought aloud, peeking her nose out from the allyway.

"Especially if we're looking to leave with more than just us." Running away with a gaggle of children would make them an easy target -- it was always better to have a getaway vehicle. She could maneuver S.S. Bruno in that tight of constraints, but perhaps something more subtle was useful. "I mean...we could take my ship. It's just half a mile from here. We'd just have to...park it a bit out of Hutt's eyes. I can't imagine they like unannounced visitors and getting shot out of the sky before we get close isn't a good plan."

She kept stationed at the opening of the ally, and picked up the pace in whichever direction Kyra would suggest. "Did they take one of me too? What do you mean?" She asked back, not able to answer the curious question. "Also, you never told me your name."

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra crept up from behind her, moving on her tip toes. "Oh, I didn't? Kyra. I'mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Kyra. We should go that way," she murmured, hovering over the girl's shoulder as they scoped out the street. "Ship yard, could ...find something. You know how to fly?" She scurried after Loske as she took off in their intended direction.

By find, she of course meant steal, a sentiment she felt no remorse over. Loske had been right about something. People get finicky when it came to protecting children.

"Why are you here?" Kyra chirped, sticking to the girl's side like glue. Her gaze was jerky, her movements just as sharp. If they were trying to blend in, Kyra's nerves would stand out in crowd. Nonchalant was not a vibe she encompassed today. She needed Romi Jade 's bomber jacket for that... Think big. Think blonde. Think Romi Jade! Coolest big sister in the galaxy, but that was a story for another time.

"They stealing force sensitives, so if you're not here for one of your own, like-- it's a big galaxy. Where you from?"

 

[Loske Treicolt]

"Nice to meet you then, Kyra."

A fleeting glance left-to-right covered their immediate bases, and she set out in the noted trajectory. "I know how to fly, and I have a ship that's small enough for us."

The question was meant to understand serendipity. "Good question." She remarked, keeping speed to her step while they trailblazed their way to the shipyard. The exact direction Loske had been heading before this incident. "Hutt Space is known for cheap parts, I needed some upgrades. Also wanted to make sure there weren't any displaced...refugees.

Your plight? Didn't know about it until a few minutes ago -- that's how big the galaxy is." She confirmed. Where was she from? Maybe that was more an allegiance question than anything. As much as Loske liked to think of herself as untethered to a cause, she'd been representing the Galactic Alliance a lot. "The Jedi Order and The Alliance -- unfortunately around the core way too much."

After a few minutes of an intense pace that might have made an average joe's lungs strain, she pointed forward to a reconfigured starfighter. With a twist of her forearm, the bracers she wore served to unlock the thing. "That's my ship -- we can take this." She announced. "Are you..uh..any good at navigating?"

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Unfortunately," Kyra confirmed. All three of her best friends had taken a fancy to becoming pilots, a fact which sent her head for a spin. Kyra hated piloting. It was horribly overwhelming-- all those knobs and flashing gadgets and-- She took a deep breath, giving a careful glance over her shoulder as they stepped in.

Navigation was about the only thing she was good at in one of them. Flying with Acaadi had made sure of that. Her stomach flopped at the reminder of him, a sharp spike of adrenaline burning through her as the doors hissed closed.

"There's no refugees here," Kyra finally confirmed, her voice tighter. "We checked. Before." Following Loske's cue, she helped herself to a seat. She took a deep breath, then dared to ask.

"Bryn stuff, right?" She looked at Loske then. Lights of the control panels reflected off her eyes-- wide set and full of swirling emotion.

Everywhere her thoughts went, she was reminded of more strife. Flying... Acaadi. Refugees... genocide. It was feeling a lot like the galaxy was on fire. Her rose-colored lenses were striped off that day in Kintan. When she looked at Loske, she saw her dead in the streets.

Her expression crumbled slightly, her lips parting. "...You don't have to do this, you know."

 

[Loske Treicolt]

"Good." Loske countered to Kyra Perl 's seeming reluctance to adopting the navigator position. The silver tongue of S.S Bruno belched out for the pair to scurry up, straight into the cockpit.

The blonde wasted no time with orientation of the ship, it was pretty standard. The empty seat would be for the zeltron. There was a tightness to the words of the girl adjacent to her that put pause in the pilot's well-practiced machinations of getting her ship started. She glanced over at the fretted visage of the girl, and nodded solemnly. The term Bryn Stuff was almost an understatement. The Bryn'adûl were about to push Loske to the edge of her virtuous decision making for something equally dark, a weapon purposed for the sole destruction of the creatures. "Yes." She said simply, taking solace that there weren't refugees here getting bested.

"No, no, nope. Nuh uh, we're not doing this." Loske interjected. "We're not going to negotiate whether or not I'm doing this, because I'll prattle off so many reasons why I want aaand kind of have to do this, that you won't get a word in edgewise. You dig?" All the while Loske prevented the negotiations, the ship shuddered to life and the repulsors came to life to levitate above the landing platform.

"Also, who's we?"

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra grinned a little, her protest dropping off as she decided at once that she liked this girl. "Aye, I dig," she uttered, her voice soft. Ok. Right. There was more to be concerned about than Loske getting caught up in the cross wires. The jedi had clearly proven herself capable, and there were vulnerable children out there needing them to hurry their butts up! There wasn't time for her to second guess, or to find anymore way. She flicked on the navigation panel, biting her lip. Her concern didn't leave her, but her thoughts did direct to more relevant things.

Were they going to steal a ship or just arrive and wing it? Her mouth parted to ask, before Loske's question derailed her. She grimaced, making an active effort to not reflect on her green friend broken in the hospital wing. Relevant thoughts only!

" Acaadi ," she finally answered. She crossed her arms over her chest, then uncrossed them and fussed pointlessly with the navigation do-dads. "S'nothing to think over, s'just me now. -- Hey we're doing that shipyard, right? How attached are you to yours? Could crash into something big. Create a distraction...."

 

[Loske Treicolt]

The name didn't mean anything to Loske, but it obviously meant a lot to Kyra Perl - so she nodded solemnly while the zeltron sorted through her thoughts. It sounded somewhat sad, but she didn't seek to pry for once - more focused on the untimely departure of S.S. Bruno. The ship hovered above the landing pad, rotating to match the trajectory the other Padawan indicated.

Her lips curled at the suggestion of crashing S.S. Bruno -- she'd heard the "no attachments" rule of The Jedi, and it wasn't that she was particularly attached as she was sane. "There are other ways to make a distraction.." Loske murmured, arching her brows to express her judgemental tone, and reached over to tap the controls for the canons with a nail. "We just need another target.

Okay - remind me where we're going again?"

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra only grinned wider in the face of Loske's judgement, no shame spared for the suggestion that they blow up Loske's things. Well it would have worked! "North," she reminded the girl, giving a punctuating jab on navigation console.

"Okay, fine! We don't blow up your things. But we can blow up other things. Like a gas tank! Or... A bomb. ....You don't happen to carry explosives on you, do you?" As she spoke her hands reached for the only other part of the console she knew well-- her fingers wrapping around the joy stick of the ship’s guns. She gave it an experimental twist, then perked and strained to catch their arrival towards the ship yard.

"There, land behind hill." She directed, the comment off-handed as her easy prattle continued. Her mood rebounded quickly given the conditions she had been found in, the girl unbuckling and facing Loske in full as they touched down. "Or we can just jump over the wall and hack into the system when they aren't looking? They teach you how to do sneaky stuff in the core, right? The hide-out’snot far, we just need somethin to get the kids all out with- and safely. Cause they have guns. Lots of em."

Loske Treicolt

 

[Loske Treicolt]

S.S. Bruno marked headway North, Frank doing his best to modify the coordinates to triangulate on something that would be large enough to house a Hutt and it's degenerate company. Flying off intuition and visions wasn't his favourite, and as much as he could - his little droid disposition grumbled about it.

The two-passenger ship covered the distance swiftly, well above the blowing sand dunes that stretched between the city and the palisade Kyra Perl had identified from the psychometic projections.

It had been a long time since Loske had dealt with gangsters, and part of her thought it might be wise to call in a friend. Outrider had a closer tab on these sorts of things. Nevertheless - they were en route to someone who made a living by having their fingers in smuggling, slave-trading and murder; with minions scattered across the stars.

"I can have Frank cover our flight, so we don't have as far to run once we have everyone." Loske's optimism never failed -- as foreboding as this plan was, the idea of getting out alive never faltered. Getting out, and with the children they were looking to liberate. She lifted herself from her seat and thumbed through the closet in the back.

"Here. You're probably going to have to go in closer to the kids and I'll do my best to cover you. You be a little stealthier.." while she spoke, she withdrew a navy suit, and hung it between them. Loske was a few inches taller than Kyra, but she suit's nano technology would likely adapt to the other Padawan's petiteness.

"There's a cloaking device in this. It'll make you invisible on the approach. Put it on."

She handed the suit over, and maneuvered to activate the ship's cloaking shields while the other got dressed - giving her due privacy. It was strange to be affiliated with The Core exclusively, and she ruminated on that for a moment. She preferred the wildness of space -- but the action of The Alliance required her dutiful attention. Frank exchanged a program on a small chip that inserted into Loske's datapad, and she pocketed it into her jacket. One that could disable some of the systems temporarily for them to access the space. Anything else would have to be improvised.

Without much further ado, the blonde disembarked from the ship onto the sprawling barren planet. Checking once - twice - that Kyra was following while she slunk in the direction of the hide-away. Her pace not set to outmatch the red-head, given she seemed to have better bearings on the location than Loske could hope to.