Private Spice up your life!

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant - Lower Levels
Equipment: Lightsaber
Attire: Padawan Garb
Tag: Briana Sal-Soren

Dreidi snapped awake, she was sleeping on a crappy bed in some motel in the lower levels. It was all she could afford since she arrived a day early to prepare for the job that she had in the morning. The nightmare that woke her up was already fading in the background but she knew it was about the near death experiences she had, sweat was coating her body as she panted slightly like she had been holding her breath before she woke up. Shifting from the lumpy bed, she headed over to the sink and splashed water over her face and looked at her features in the dirty mirror in front of her. She felt her face was aging fast than normal, stress and anxiety making her feel ten years older. Wiping the tears away, she moved to the other side of the room and put on a pot of caf, it wasn't going to be a pleasant brew but it should help keep her awake for when she was meeting whoever was willing to help her. Dreidi had been able to post a help notice at the Coruscant before she travelled down the lower levels. It was good thing that the spice ring was meant to be operating around these areas, it would be close by instead of spending all day travelling down.

When the morning lights flickered on in the streets, Dreidi mused on how sun never reached these parts. There was a closeness and crushing fear that came with those thoughts, it was so simple to forget that sunlight doesn't reach every level of Coruscant, that only the surface gained those benefits. Donning her Padawan outfit, Dreidi figured since this was kinda Jedi business and she was working with another Jedi that she might as well look the part herself. Tying her hair into a high ponytail with the Padawan braid falling tucked behind her ear, Dreidi stopped and made sure that she looked good and that everything was adjusted properly. Whoever she was meeting, she didn't want to look sloppy or a mess in comparison. Dreidi knew she might be a mess but at least this new Jedi wouldn't know that.

Checking out of the motel, Dreidi handed over the creds to pay for her stay. Looking out at the streets, she sniffed the air and let the scents guide her to where she might find some food. Street food was always either a hit or miss, depended on the vendor and the quality of ingredients they were happy to use. Some days, Dreidi had some of the best food of her life, other times she nearly died on the toilet it had been so toxic. The negatives never stopped her looking for new places to check out, it was probably the one thing she had in common with her father, a love of food. Wandering around, she found a small vendor selling some breakfast styled meals, the food smelt great and she couldn't sense anything dodgy with the food which was always a good warning sign. "I'll have some, not too much since I gotta be working soon unfortunately." Dreidi smiled warmly as she handed over the credits and took the offered food.

"Hmmm... So, so good!" Dreidi garbled through her food as she tasted the spice, tangy flavours that hit her tastebuds so perfectly.

Once breakfast was finished, the young Padawan headed to the meeting point she had agreed to. Wiping the remaining crumbs of the food from her mouth and clothes, she was curious who agree to help in hunting a spice ring, especially since she wasn't exactly skilled herself in these matters. Dreidi only found out about the ring because someone thought that since she was a Jedi that she must be skilled in tackling such issues when the truth was far from it. Breathing in deeply, Dreidi just thought about her training and how she knew she could handle it, just gotta stay calm and hope someone joins that knows a bit more and can help.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

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Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Lightsaber
Location: Lower Levels, Coruscant
Tag: Dreidi Xeraic


Jedi stick together. They trust each other, reach for the impossible... and when one needs help, someone is there to lend a hand.

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Valery had handed Briana the assignment a few days prior, having seen fit to increase her level of responsibilities as she inched closer and closer to Knighthood. The thought of taking down a spice ring was daunting, but she knew Val wouldn't have given her more than what she thought her capable of. While it wasn't an easy task—it certainly wasn't impossible. She could do this.

As she made her way to the meeting location, Briana pulled up a list of names on her datapad and frowned. There were thirty-four different individuals on the list, all of whom had been involved in some way with the smuggling operation. It wasn't long before she realized that most, if not all of them, had connections with a single place: Cloud Landing.

A notorious shadow port owned by the Hutt kingpin, Fallo. Briana didn't know much about him except that he was one of the bigger criminal bosses in the galaxy. If he was involved in this operation on Coruscant, then his presence could only mean they were dealing with a higher level of the underworld. In which case, this op would be even harder than she anticipated.

Briana shuddered at the thought of facing the likes of a slimy Hutt.

"You must be Dreidi?" Briana said, approaching the only woman who actually looked like a Jedi, making her stick out like a sore thumb among the dredges of Coruscants lower levels. "I'm Briana Sal-Soren," she said, tipping her head in greeting "I'll be your partner on this mission."

​

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant - Lower Levels
Equipment: Lightsaber
Attire: Padawan Garb
Tag: Briana Sal-Soren

Dreidi spun around when someone called out to her, smiling warmly. She took in the new person, they seemed very formally dressed, everything looking well ironed and crisp whereas Dreidi tended to be just glad clothes were clean and go from there. The nod of head in greeting seemed super formal and stiff, Dreidi just hoped whoever she was with was not going to be another Jax. She could do without the stiff, uppity types that seem to be everywhere when it came to Jedi. Giving a smirk and a wave, Dreidi greeted back, "yup, I do be Dreidi. Dreidi Xeraic. Nice to meet you Briana, did you have to travel far? Urm, did you want breakfast? I just found a great street vendor, a little spicy and big punchy flavours but sure you can handle that." Dreidi fidgeted a little on the spot, unsure what to do and how to act around someone seemingly so formal.

"I... I urm.... So, yeah, the mission for today. Well, best to discuss it somewhere a bit more private I guess... Not sure where though..." Dreidi looked around, she didn't know Coruscant all too well really, just select spots and best ways to travel around. No, this was tricky since openly talking about the smuggling ring was not a good idea at all but she did think discussing it a little would be helpful. Just so they were on the same page in how to approach the situation. "Yeah, if you know a place where we can talk about it that be great. Anyways, I'm a Jedi Padawan and training to be a Nightsister as well, so most of my skills are combat based, a healthy mix of Force, Magick and Lightsaber combat. Just so you know where I stand in skills, I figure that is always helpful for people to know their limitations and strengths, especially when working in a group."

Padding around, trying to spot an empty alleyway or somewhere that they couldn't be overheard, "I was also thinking, head on attack. Surprise them with a full on attack, overwhelm them quickly too since these guys are just smugglers and shouldn't be any threat to two Jedi." Dreidi shrugged as she walked backwards, observing Briana, curious about the other Jedi and interested in how she moved. Simple movements could reveal a fair amount when it came to fighting and Dreidi was interested in where Briana's strengths laid.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

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Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Lightsaber
Location: Lower Levels - Coruscant
Tag: Dreidi Xeraic

“That’s alright, I grabbed something to eat on the way.” Briana told her with a slight smile, letting her posture relax after noticing that her mannerisms were putting the other on edge for some reason. Did she really come off that strongly? “Thanks though.”

The other Padawan proceeded to jolt her with questions, or rather, statements, that were neigh on rambling. Briana dropped her hands into her pockets, keeping an eye on the surroundings of the pedestrian roadway that changed appearance, surface texture, and lighting every few hundred meters before intersecting other walkways. Most of those passing them, men, women, and who-knew-what, were too-self absorbed with their own happenings that they barely paid the pair of Jedi any attention at all.

“All kinds of people go slumming around down here, so we’re not that unusual. Most probably aren’t going to be paying attention to us, let’s talk on the way.”

She gestured to the left, where the walkway rose in a series of a few short steps and began walking that direction.

“I already read the flimsy file on this assignment,” Briana told her casually, nodding to acknowledge Dreidi as she told her what kind of skills she possessed. It was reassuring to know that the person who’d be watching her six wasn’t completely green, though she still had the unsettling feeling that this was the first time Dreidi had been on an assignment of this caliber. “Unless there’s something that wasn’t included and there is something else I need to be brought up to speed on?”

Briana took a deep breath, listening to the other’s plan. The only time the plan to go in with ‘blasters blazing’ worked, was in the holofilms. It sounded like the same kind of hair-brained scheme that Brandyn would cook up. Briana tried not to outright frown.

"No," she said after a few quiet moments of thoughtful consideration, actually trying to devise a way in which that would work for them, "that would leave us vulnerable if they have any sort of defenses in place inside their base. We need to make sure there aren't any security systems in place before we risk getting caught up in a firefight. We don't want to put ourselves, or any one else at unnecessary risk, until we know exactly what we're facing."

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant - Lower Levels
Equipment: Lightsaber
Attire: Padawan Garb
Tag: Briana Sal-Soren

It seemed that Briana tried to relax her posture to help Dreidi but she was already a bit flustered by the other Padawan and didn't have a chance to recover. But she couldn't remain feeling that way, she needed to focus on the mission and talking things over with Briana. It was curious that the other Padawan didn't think finding somewhere more private to talk was necessary, plenty of people pretend to be busy but listening in on conversations to sell information. "Slumming it? A lot of these people don't have a choice in where they can live. They make do with the best they have, a lot of these people would love to live on the upper levels but can't afford it or don't want to deal with the prejudices they face up there. And people around here will do a lot for creds, so should always be careful what you say. Word spreads whether you like it or not." Dreidi pointed out, she didn't enjoy the term slumming it and while she was also trying to make friends with other Jedi, she was call out people if she thought they were looking down on others.

Dreidi shrugged, she had given all the information about the mission that she had. It was a bit weird that she mentioned her strengths and abilities but Briana didn't seem willing to share. It was a bit awkward and meant that Briana had more information on her than she did on Briana, which was not a comfortable position. It meant that whether she wanted to or not, she had less trust in Briana because she didn't know her skills. But she couldn't force Briana to share that information and decided to leave it.

Rolling her eyes, she walked and sighed in a big huff. "Come on, what is with all the Jedi here and making plans!" Dreidi grumbled, it wasn't the first time someone on a mission with her wanted to think things through, scout, and forge a plan. "We're Jedi, we handle it. Improvise, surprise the enemy, use our Lightsabers. You know, be badass Jedi and show everyone that we are capable and ready to be Knights. Plotting, planning and all that is just going to take time, meaning they could escape, discover us or end up doing more harm to others." Dreidi felt certain that the two of them could take down anyone in front of them if she could get this other Padawan to agree with her.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

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Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Lightsaber
Location: Lower Levels, Coruscant
Tag: Dreidi Xeraic


Briana studied Dreidi as she administered her lecture with a maturity that seemed at odds with everything else she’d gathered about the girl so far. “I didn’t mean to offend,” Briana told her, trying to establish some feeling of solidarity between them, especially since it seemed they were off to a bad start. A younger Briana may not have been so deferential. “I simply meant that most people down here have bigger fish to fry than worrying about two nobodies, unless you give them a reason to care.”

With a frustrated huff over Dreidi’s dramatic theatrics, Briana came to a stop and turned to look at the younger girl. She was about her age when she and Brandyn Sal-Soren ran away to become Jedi, and in many ways reminded her of that younger version of herself, the version that almost got Justice killed in their early days on Ossus.

“Everything you said just now is exactly the reason why I am worried about this and makes me question if you are ready for a mission of this caliber," Briana stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. "You want to be a Knight someday? Then you need to start acting like one. Being a Jedi isn't about showing off and having fun, but rather being prepared so your companions and the innocents you want to protect don't get hurt, or worse." Ugh, I sound exactly like Valery... or worse... my mother. "Planning ensures success, not failure, and I can tell you right now that we will fail if we do not have a plan in place."

​

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Location: Coruscant - Lower Levels
Equipment: Lightsaber
Attire: Padawan Garb
Tag: Briana Sal-Soren

Inhaling deeply, Dreidi could accept what Briana was trying to say and it wasn't meant to be offensive. Dreidi was just on edge since she knew a life of luxury that many around here did not have and she felt guilty for that. She had no amount of credits on her or ways to compensate the people around here, but she knew that people didn't always choose this life and she felt sympathetic for that reason. "Well, I am sorry I went off on you for it then. Just the term you used, it didn't sit well with me personally." Dreidi offered the small apology to bring them closer together over this error.

But as soon as that thought, that wish, came into Dreidi's mind, Briana stopped and started to look down at her. Glaring back at the older girl, Dreidi eyes were burning bright with defiance and hurt with insult. "You know nothing of my skills, my abilities or what I can or cannot do. If I was truly unready for this, then I would not be here!" Dreidi growled, "I have no idea what your skills are but you don't see me going around and claiming that you are unready for this mission and demanding someone else join me. I accepted you and was willing to work with you!" Clenching her fist, Dreidi was keeping her anger in check but she was hurt and offended by Briana's rude dismissal of her idea.

"I can't believe how arrogant, patronising and incredibly rude all the Jedi around here have been. Don't like my idea, fine, but don't go around making assumptions about my abilities and worthiness for missions!" Dreidi growled as she stormed off ahead. "I'll do this myself if you are just gunna lecture me and patronising me like you are my mother. Might be older than me but you aren't my mother and I will prove that I will become a Knight before you!" Dreidi shouted out as she stormed off to the location of the mission.

Dreidi was devastated and she couldn't believe that she was dealing with another Jedi who just decided to criticise and look down at Dreidi, she was frustrated that no one wanted to just enjoy their time with her. No, they had to find a way to make her look bad and that she was always in the wrong when they were all so high and mighty. She was going to show them all, show them that she would be the most effective, skilled Jedi and do it her way. She just had to get to this spice dealer location.