Dominion The Dark Crystal (OPA Dominion of Isis)

[Cei Kyros]

Remember the Colichemarde! Unrest grows in the Anoat Sector when the Alliance's message of resistance reaches those still living under Imperial rule. An organized Partisan movement launches their first expedition into the Ivax Nebula. There is an old rebel base on the crystal world Isis. Despite its communications blackout this system would make an effective staging point for guerilla operations throughout the Ison Corridor.

But that's not the only reason the Alliance is interested in Isis. Recently local miners discovered kyber deposits in a remote region of the planet. Already rich in valuable gems and minerals, force crystals has sparked an interest both within the Alliance and among independent prospectors. However the crystals are not easy to harvest. Not only are conditions unforgiving, but the native Gutretee are extremely hostile to outsiders and immune to conventional blasters.

​

// ACCESSING ALLIANCE UNDERVINE //
// ERROR - CONNECTION TIMEOUT //
// BOOSTING SIGNAL //
// UPLINK ESTABLISHED //
REBEL SIEGE - A pilot under orders from General Cole Merrill is broadcasting a distress signal. The newly reoccupied rebel base is under attack by a horde of angry Gutretee natives. Rally to defend our outpost. Interference from the planet's crystal valleys makes communications technology useless even in orbit.
THE DARK CRYSTAL - Follow rumors of untapped kyber deposits to aid the Alliance war effort or line your own pockets. Beware the nasty locals and competition from fellow scoundrels. Maybe there is a reason the Gutretee are so violent. Only the crystal may tell.
BYOO - Bring Your Own Objective!

 

[Griet van Vliet]

Objective 2: Dark Crystal
Allies: OPA

On Pantora, additional leads from fallen Children of the New Order personnel led to Isis. Potential schemes included fraudulent borrowing: in fact, some people used as straw buyers for the purpose of committing mortgage fraud were killed in action, causing the properties in whose name the CotNE took out mortgages to get foreclosed. On Faldos, on Isis and, of course, on Pantora. She could feel the need to check against their families' property tax records, so as to ascertain if the suspected properties really warrant additional forensic action. Big red flags would include a spike in value with no real improvements in the property or its area, however, she needs to tread lightly especially when the suspects' families are mourning the fallen on Pantora or, less commonly, Svivren or Faldos. Why can't I just do regular assurance or tax engagements, like the guy that claimed I ruined everything for the firm on Pantora by taking on some Aing-Tii entity as a client? she thought, before going to a small mining town, as per the address of one of the defunct straw buyers.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Isis' surface was covered with large translucent crystalline mountains and spires. The crystals refracted the incoming sunlight and filled the skies with countless rainbows. The canyons had an average width of 750m and a height of 12,500m. The crystal were rich in minerals and ores, but also disrupted all communications and sensors, even from orbit.

Objective One: The Base
...sort of.

See, Quill had issues with humanity's history of cavalier colonial resource extraction on this planet. As his tired old Y-Wing emerged from a crystal canyon and saw the base under siege, he honestly couldn't say he blamed the attacking locals. This was, after all, their homeworld and no-one else's.

That didn't mean he was going to let them kill the OPA, of course. It just meant he'd far rather find a peaceful resolution that the locals deemed acceptable. Like an evacuation.

Spears rattled off the ship's hull as he circled in for a landing. OPA Partisans waved him into a hangar behind old walls. He touched down, shut down, and climbed out to see the defenders.

"Who's in charge here?"

 

[Eldin Daine]

THE DARK CRYSTAL
BYOO



There would have been no way Eldin could have found this place alone, he had followed the squadron of ships through the Nebula to Isis. Once they neared the crystalline planet, all communications went down and the instruments on his control panel acted up. He was flying manually, as he descended toward a space in the plains large enough to touch down. He had let the squadron go on ahead, they didn’t need him to patrol or report back with recon.

There has been a disquiet in Eldin for a few weeks now, something in the young man had awoke and needed to be addressed. For the life of him, he did not know how to begin, what it was even about, but coming here seemed to be the right thing to do. This time it was personal.

The marvel of the place was not lost on him either, he had never seen such a beautiful place, so clean and fresh, and he did not think such places existed in the galaxy. All his life spent in dirty urban sprawls or towering towers that hid any form of beauty those planets might have once possessed. Not to mention the races that lived on them, very few people had kind heart and even more had nothing but ill intent in them.

Eldin might have been a scoundrel, but he was not cruel or evil.

The boarding ramp lowered, and the scent of organic matter entered his ship, the rainbows that seemed to float out of nothing, everywhere, at this low altitude, it was like being in a psychedelic trippy dream. Force knows he had had plenty of those in this life, especially after a night out. An avian cut the silence with a loud shrill causing Eldin to lift his gaze to the rainbowed sky, there was something about this place that felt right to him and he had a strange sense of calm.

Why this spot?

He had to wonder. Some thing was here for him and he would not be able to leave until this mystery was uncovered.

 

[Cei Kyros]

"-no dank ferrik the quarkdriver!" a greasy hand pointed angrily from underneath the malfunctioning ground sensor, "This is a demagnitizer!"

Cole wanted to be out there with his men not playing tech support but they couldn't fight an enemy they couldn't see. Nothing about their reports on the Gutretee had suggested they would respond this violently to an outside presence. The ancient Rebel Alliance after all had supposedly maintained a base on Isis for years. What had changed?

"Who's in charge here?"

"Who's wants to know?!" his shouts were muffled underneath the heavy contraption.

General Merill crawled out into what passed for an OPA command center. Half of their equipment wasn't even set up and a tattered old starbird banner hung from one wall. Not exactly an auspicious start. He took one look at the monk standing in the middle of his base and comprehension dawned. He grinned.

"Oh, Master Jedi. Glad you could make it," the general wiped some grease off his overalls and held out a filthy hand to Jend-Ro Quill , "We could use your on the frontline."

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Cole Merrill

Quill shook the offered hand without hesitation.

"I'll do what I can to stop the attack. Considering all their shared memories of offworlders probably involve strip mining and military bases, though - Rebels, First Order and so forth - I think we need to consider evacuation. They may prefer a different site, or they just may not want us on their planet. Is that an option you've considered? More importantly, if I can talk them down and get them to the table, is it something I can put on the table?"

 

[Cei Kyros]

Cole blinked at the Jedi.

"You want to...negotiate," he said the word like he was speaking a foreign language, "with the crystal monsters?"

General Merill started to laugh. He stopped when he saw Jend-Ro Quill remained stoic and disapproving.

"You're serious?" he gazed into the Jedi's eyes, "You are serious."

He glanced around the operations center. His first instinct was to call this man a fool and order him off his base. Cole resisted that impulse. Maybe he was a fool and maybe he wasn't. But their current strategy wasn't working and the monk had just offered him a potential alternative.

"What the hell," Merrill laughed again, but this time his voice wasn't mocking, "What do I got to lose besides one idealistic old mad man? I'll order my crew to fall back for now."

And that was that, or so Quill believed.

"One condition."

Cole hefted his salvaged quarterstaff.

"I'm coming with you," the look on his face was now equally serious, "Imperials aren't just gonna take what we're doing here lying down. We need this base and we need that crystal. If there's a chance in hell of a third option its my job to find it."

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Cole Merrill

Real anger sparked up, and not because Merrill had invited himself along. "Fine, but if I hear you say 'monster' again, we're going to have words. I'd bet good money your racist shavvit played a role in getting you where you are. Drop an army in someone's backyard-"

Quill bit his tongue and stalked out of the hangar. The inner walls were just ahead. From there, he could get a view of the front lines.

 

[Griet van Vliet]

Objective 2: Dark Crystal
Allies: OPA

"We are forensic auditors hired by the estate's administrators: we just received a tip from them that a deceased loved one was a co-signer in a fraudulent mortgage!" Griet announced.

"When and where did my late husband die? Why didn't he notify us that he co-signed a mortgage?"

"Your husband was killed in battle on Pantora"

Often radicals of that nature didn't even make a will before going into the fray, some of them believed, rightly or wrongly, that estate rules would compromise their cause in death. However, if someone made a will long before the cause even exists, cases like these can still occur. Straw buyer schemes require more than just a dishonest appraiser and a fraudulent borrower: it also requires, well, a straw buyer, usually a co-signer. With property tax bills on hand, she could always inquire about whether renovation permits were issued. Usually lenders needed to make sure all borrowers to a personal mortgage be made aware of proposed modifications to a mortgaged property, especially if refinancing was required for the work to be done. It's not uncommon for perpetrators of straw buying schemes to get mortgages based on the value of a fully renovated property when the actual value excludes any future renovations.

"When my husband lived, there was some guy in black robes that promised him a cut of the rent of a property on Pantora but we never saw a single credit, or talon, of it: maybe the estate administrator is referring to that person"

 

[Eldin Daine]

THE DARK CRYSTAL
BYOO




He had set off through the crystal forest, it was remarkable that so much of this place was made up of the stuff, even the people, plants and animals. There was a strange humming about the place, he could feel it through his whole body, a resonance in tune with everything. Eldin wasn’t carrying much, just some food in a pack and his guns. They were more for a sense of security, if he came across the Gutretee, they would be completely useless.

But what worried more was why was he here in the first place?

Where he was, the ground was hard and the dirt sparkled with flecks of crystal, and he suspected that solid rock or crystal was only inches away. But everything leaves a mark of some kind and his eyes scanned the ground looking for any sign of life, especially that of the Gutretee. He did not fancy stumbling into their territory by accident.

In the far distance, Eldin could hear the sound of water running. A small waterfall or rush of a river, he decided to head that way. It was curious, there was not what one would consider, a tree, in sight. Anything that resembled a tree was completely crystalline, they were magnificent like something out of a fairy tale. He had to wonder how this place was hospitable to breathing but there are more strange mysteries in the galaxy, more perplexing than this. It was only a fleeting thought.

Simply because, something was tracking him.

It was more a sensation then any outward sign that told Eldin he had company. It was like there was a change in the resonance of the place, a warning maybe? But an awareness that alerted his mind. He did not give any indication that he was aware of them, even though his heart pounded and his hand went to his blasters, and as he turned a corner hidden by a large formation of a crystalline bank, he ducked behind it and doubled back, found a advantage point and waited.

It as only a second, he heard the crack and then everything went black.

 

[Cei Kyros]

"Careful, Master Jedi," the general chided Jend-Ro Quill , "Your passions are showing."

Cole made no apologies for his coarse upbringing and did not seem overly bothered by the older man's scathing remarks. The ex-swoop gangster's entire life had been spent surrounded by wretched industry and the squalor of sentient life at its most desperate. He followed Quill to the inner walls not simply out of morbid curiosity but because the monk's ideas never even occurred to him. They'd made no hostile moves against the natives or so he'd believed and yet here was a Jedi Master convinced that it was the Alliance in the wrong.

"General!" one of his officers waved them both over to a spot of cover, "About time we got some reinforcements. Stun rounds are only gonna keep them back for so long, we're still waiting on the slugthrowers-"

"Belay that, captain," Cole grunted, coughing uncomfortably as he glanced sidelong at Jend-Ro, "Pull your men back for now."

"Sir?"

"You heard me," a fierce glint in his eyes left no room for further discussion, "Scram."

He hunkered down and dug out a pair of macrobinoculars which he offered to the Jedi. Cole had already seen enough of Isis to last a lifetime. Instead he gripped his quarterstaff tightly and began mumbling soft words of prayer. It was obscure folk animism, no doubt known to a scholar like Quill but nevertheless foreign to his Jedi philosophy. He called upon the spirits of his ancestors to guide his destiny.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Cole Merrill's dig got no response because, of course, he was right about Quill not appropriately watching his mouth and accompanying emotional state. And Merrill seemed willing to move forward in a way that could lead to peace, so - benefit of the doubt. Quill neither interrupted nor commented on the murmured invocation (it was none of his business) but in some small way it put him at ease.

By the time Merrill finished praying, Quill had the next move in mind. He stripped off his outer robe, then his shirt, a square of which made a decent white flag. Shirtless under the long gray-brown robe, he waved said flag on the nearest long object, a broken spear.

"They had offworld contact for years and they can share memories," he explained. "Here's hoping an off-white flag translates."

Then he walked out of cover. It seemed like the right thing to do.

 

[Cei Kyros]

"Here's hoping?" Cole's eyes snapped open, "I thought you had a plan."

By the time he looked up from his prayers however Jend-Ro Quill was already out in the open.

"Jedi!" he shouted, peaking out from behind the walls, "Jedi!"

He mumbled a steady stream of curses before gritting his teeth and following Quill to their likely death. Merill braced himself for a hail of crude javelins to permanently sever his mortal coil. The blow never came. Crystal infused hills were now seemingly devoid of Gutretee presence where minutes before they had been prepared to launch wave after wave of warriors against the OPA defenses. Now the surface seemed completely abandoned, but the general knew they were out there somewhere. Watching. Waiting.

"So you make contact, mind meld with the...with the natives," Cole used his staff as a walking aid to keep pace with the other man, "Then what? We make amends? Okay fine. Pack up and leave? Empire's still out there, Master Jedi. If we don't push them out of this sector for good..."

He broke off. Cole knew he wasn't about to convert a Jedi to their uprising.

"We don't see eye to eye," the general conceded, "Probably never well. But what we're doing here has value to these people. There has to be a middle path."

 

[Eldin Daine]

THE DARK CRYSTAL
BYOO

By the time Eldin woke, his hands and feet were tethered and he was tied to a crystalline tree. His head ached, and the skin of his face pulled as he moved, dried blood the cause of it. As he opened his eyes, and although his vision was blurred, he was met with a face made of stone. Or his mind computed that way. The face was only inches away from his own, and it's breath enough to render him unconscious again. It smelt like rotting organic matter. Slowly, his mind came back to him, and the realisation set in. This was Gutretee, and by what he knew of them, unfriendly. Well, the history supposed so and at this point, there was little for Eldin to doubt it. He was still alive, but why was he still alive, and what was their purpose with him. He supposed he might have trespassed on tribal grounds or something that was important to them. Or they just simply did not like him or his kind.

"Hey", he decided to speak and the only response as a head but hard to the forehead. The pain of it rattled his teeth and brain which was still paining from the hit over the head in first place. "Feth, ya godamn fether". The laugh of the others was ear splitting, driving a high pitch through the core of his brain and he could feel a fresh stream of blood running between his eyes. One of them wasn't laughing though, that was the one that moved forward and point a weapon at him pressing it to his chest. "Alliance", he stated, "What are they doing here?".

Eldin tried to clear his vision as blood clouded one eye, he felt the weapon press hard to his chest. "Look the high ups don't tell me nothin', just somethin' about Imps". He had to tell them something, else that weapon would run right through him, he had no doubt. "Ya seen 'em about right?". There was only a slight relax on the weapon. He sure as hell wasn't going to say anything about the kyber crystals, that would mean his death for certain.

"The Alliance don't like Imps, .. and ya'll don't like Imps. Their helpin' ta get rid of 'em", he kept talking hoping that might find him a away out of these ropes. The point of the weapon dropped, and the big guy said something in their language Eldin could not understand. Although as two of the other approached, their faces stoic they man handled him, untied him from the tree but kept the bounds on his hands. The shove in the middle of back enough to indicated what they wanted and Eldin started to walk. They were taking him somewhere, probably to go dig his own grave.

He could see why he had to clocked them before, as they moved they blended into the back ground, they were there watching him all along. They walked for about half an hour before entering into a compound and by the look of the set up, they were miners. The idea of running had crossed him mind, but Eldin concluded that he would not get far before death would catch up with him. He had to wait and be patient, to come up with a plan of escape, if that was even possible. He was led to a tent, and shoved inside and for now he was alone.

 

[Griet van Vliet]

Objective 2: Dark Crystal
Allies: OPA

"I would like more documentation about the property your late husband co-signed a mortgage for, specifically the property tax bills so that we can track down the old owners"

She could feel that the widower does not care about the use the perpetrator of the mortgage fraud made of the funds, just the restitution, if any. Dirty campaign funding, black operations, to name the uses of the mortgage fraud money that were suspected to form the bulk of the expenditures. The widower could only supply the late husband's copy of the mortgage agreement as well as the mortgage statements issued before his death, in hopes of these documents giving hints on any identity assumed by the co-signer as well as the property used as collateral, and property respectively. However, these Sith are not the easiest to track down either.

"With your permission, may I request a copy of these documents?"

"Please do"

 

[Will Westender]

Attn: Karma Jayne || Open
Objective: BYOO - Smuggle chemical weapons to the natives​

• The Firebird | Exiting hyperspace above Isis

A small, unassuming ship materialized close to the remote planet, reverting from hyperspace and pausing to get its bearings for a moment. Triangular in shape and fitted with three large engines, it was a KS-5700 freighter, a fairly common sight throughout the Unknown Regions, less so in the Outer Rim, but still not unheard of. It was the kind of ship preferred by couriers and captains operating in the more lawless parts of the galaxy, outfitted as it was with heavy armor, military-grade shielding and six laser cannons. This particular one had been modified further, with the addition of a rocket pod and several missile tubes, as well as a much more noticeable docking port on its underside, from which an X-Wing hung suspended, using some kind of specially designed rack to hold it in place.

Such modifications, although not very common, were not unheard of enough to attract signifficant attention and even if they did, the freighter's engines had also been replaced with much more powerful ones, allowing it to make a quick getaway, should it need to. Which it would, if any OPA pilots decided to perform an inspection, as the freighter's cargo was... unorthodox and would probably not be appreciated by the OPA.

Its cargo holds were packed to the brim with crates of weapons and munitions, more specifically with KC-MT9 mortars and shells containing a deadly chemical compound known as Silent Night, a horrible neurotoxic gas designed to inflict massive and indiscriminate casualties. The ship's employers had been monitoring the movements of the Outer Planets Alliance for some time and, deciding to throw a few wrenches in its plans, have opted to complicate the OPA's takeover of Isis by providing the already hostile natives with chemical weapons.

"Alright," said Will, the ship's captain and pilot, to his companion, a mysterious woman he had rescued off of Kuat and whom he allowed to stay on the ship. Despite his many doubts about her, the smuggler found himself growing fond of her and he found himself stealing glances at her rather provocatively-dressed form more and more often. "This should be an easy job. We land, unload the cargo and then get out," he said. "Just... be careful around these natives, I heard they're quite hostile to outsiders."

​

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

"So you make contact, mind meld with the...with the natives," Cole used his staff as a walking aid to keep pace with the other man, "Then what? We make amends? Okay fine. Pack up and leave? Empire's still out there, Master Jedi. If we don't push them out of this sector for good..." He broke off. Cole knew he wasn't about to convert a Jedi to their uprising. "We don't see eye to eye," the general conceded, "Probably never well. But what we're doing here has value to these people. There has to be a middle path."

"I'm not unsympathetic, General," said Quill, scanning the fractured crystalline landscape. The silicon-based Gutretee blended right in. "I'm all for pushing empires out. I've helped your people fight and I'll do it again. But what, if anything, separates what you just said from 'we're occupying their land for their own good,' eh?" He planted the off-white flag in a fracture and sat down on a lump of scorched quartz, facing an area where several Gutretee could gather without exposing themselves to sniper fire. And in fact several were already there, watching him. He took a sharp breath. "I can hear them, and they know it. I think an elder is here-"

He went rigid on his seat as memories downloaded themselves into his mind, recent ones. He found his breath and heart quickening with the emotion of it. His gut roiled with nausea.

"Slavery, General. Until not many years ago, a human royal family called the Temi kept them enslaved as miners. This whole region...it was bad. It was - I was there now, I mean-"

The torrent of memory capped off. Quill looked down at his shaking hands.

"They suspect you're here to mine as well, steal from the ground, shove your way in, relocate, lure or coerce their young adults off to foreign wars like the...Force, that was heavy. That was..."

 

[Eldin Daine]

THE DARK CRYSTAL
BYOO - Negotiate With Hydrospanner



His forehead started to throb, but at least the blood had stopped trickling down his face and his vision had returned. As much as escaping was on his mind, he had to figure out how to get out of the ropes. A knife was not going to cut, figuratively and literally, it would eventually but it would take too long. In the tent, Eldin noted several metal boxes and crates, and he hoped that one of them would provide him with an out. For the most part they were filled with mining equipment, spare parts for machinery but in one of them he found a file.

Eldin sat on the ground and started to work on his ropes. Wedging the file between his knees as best he could to vice it, the crystalline dust from the ropes started to cake the file but it was working. Every now and again he tested it, to see if it would give way. He doubled the pace, filing like a madman and muttering to him about getting into this mess. Cursing himself for not somehow using the force. Not that he knew how.

Since he had become more accepting of the fact he was attuned, and opened up to it, his sense where all over the place, an influx of all sorts of feelings and sounds came into his mind which was why he had become so disquieted in the days that followed. Suddenly, he heard voices, like they were directly behind him, even causing Eldin to turn around. But no one was there. He could hear them so clearly though even though they spoke in Gutretee, he did not recognise it as a force ability which later he would discover. There was something in their tone that told him they were curious about his sudden appearance, and that of the Alliance.

Finally, he was free, ringing his wrists to try and take away the pain. He scrambled to the crates and riffled through the spare parts to find something that might work as a weapon. Mostly, it was chunky parts and nothing of weight behind it. The toolbox proved more fruitful, as he took hold of a hydrospanner, which had a bit of weight to it and long. It would have to do.

Trying to negotiate with the Gutretee was going to prove difficult, and he felt out of his depth, he had not come here for this, something else had guided him to this place which he cursed. But now, all he wanted to do was get the hell out of here in one piece. The tent he was in, was in the middle of the mining camp, there was no avenue for sneaking out, all he had left to him was the element of surprise. And that was a long shot at best.

He sucked in a deep breath and before his courage failed him, he charged through the tent flap hydrospanner held high. What met him was a fist to the gut and crumbled to the ground gasping for air. But the will to survive as strong in this one and he scrambled to his feet, only to find Gutretee surrounding him in a circle. He gripped the hydrospanner tight and slowly turned in a circle prepared for what might happen next.

If he was going to die, he would die fighting.

One of the Gutretee stepped forward, threw down his weapon while another handed him a .. hydrospanner. Eldin realised in that moment, this was a challenge, a part of their culture to fight in a rite of passage.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The OPA had been doing a lot of hard work, and the are they were heading to was very familiar to Coren, and those who served in the old Alliance. Outer Planets? This was their turf, it was part of their heritage. They were doing everything they could to keep the galaxy safe, well, at least the Rim. And it kept the Imperials and Sith at bay. That was what they were here for. Freedom and protection. However, the Jedi leader in Coren Starchaser knew they were out here for kyber.

The Undervine was doing its job, getting people out to the Ison Corridor and giving them their orders. Jedi, Judges, and the rest of the OPA’s best were out here on Isis. Starchaser himself had landed with part of his own detachment of the Jedi Covenant. They had landed in a pair of shuttles and stepped out. A few Partisans and Jedi in each.

“Alright team, we’re looking to secure the Kyber. We’ve got competition here, so stay frosty.”

 

[Eldin Daine]

THE DARK CRYSTAL
BYOO - Negotiate With Hydrospanner
Trade Agreement


There was a smirk on the guy’s face. Eldin caught a glimpse of it as he watched the large hand grip on the hydrospanner. The circle of Guntretee stood casual, he supposed they had the reason to, not as if he was going anywhere.

The only place he was going was in circles. Eldin raised his hand and grabbed the peak of his hat, pulled it off his head and threw it to the nearest Gutretee. It was time Eldin smirked, and so he did, the reason being was a sudden realisation that the Gutretee were not going to kill him after all. This was their way of ‘introductions’. And it just so happened that Eldin had stumbled across Gutretee that held a sense of like for the Alliance, especially the old Galactic Alliance. These Outer Planetary Alliance chaps were made up of the same stuff, and had a similar philosophy.

“Who’s the boss here?”, Eldin jumped back as the Gutretee swung his spanner toward his gut.

“That would be me, human”, one of the members of the circle answered just as the spanner swished loudly passed the side of his head. Eldin ducked under it and as he did cracked his spanner hard against the upper tight of his opponent. He noticed as he did so, that small hair line cracks broke over the ‘skin’. The result was not that much different if the same injury was received by him. Only his would result in bruising with ruptured blood vessels. Which would immediately be proven by the sudden spike of pain piercing his brain as the hydrospanner connected with his shoulder blade.

The hit made Eldin stumble forward, almost loosing his balance. However, when he regained his footing, he swung his spanner in a wide arc as he turned hoping it would stop any second flow to the back. The Gutretee jumped clear with ease as the swing was obvious in it’s coming.

This was not Eldin’s finest hour in fighting.

The pair continued to take swings and hits and misses at each other, neither one would appear to be the victor, and the boss put an end to it, by ordering the circle to be tightened. The hydrospanners were taken from them, it was time for fists. Normally Eldin would relish this, he is very good with his hands, however his fists were not about to pound into soft flesh.

“The Outer Planetary Alliance wants to trade for those crystals”, straight to the point, this was no time for lower words. It was hardly time for any words at all as a big crystalline fist landed on his cheek, snapping his head sideways and sending shooting stars through his vision.

And losing a tooth.

“Yeah”, was the matter of fact response, “They always do”.

“We’ll send you back to your bosses with our price”. His hand raised, the ‘negotiations’ were over.

Eldin’s body ached, every part of him and he stretched to try and rid his limbs of it. The Gutretee moved off, all but his opponent. “You bleed good, you fight good”. Bleeding was a show of courage, and lack of fear for loosing a part of yourself.

The pair entered a tent, and inside Eldin would find a drink and a seat. The liquid stinging his cut lip, but he did not care, the strong brew was a treat.

“You didn’t come here just to speak about trade”, his companion not only had quick fists, but a quick mind. Eldin shook his head, his hat now back on it. He hoped that this admission would not make them reconsider their trade, the answer was a hearty laugh.

“What’s ya name?”, blues eyes looked up, “Beldak”, Beldak replied. “Eldin Daine is mine”. He raised his glass to his new friend, who suddenly stood up and pulled Eldin to his feet by the shoulder. What the hell?

“Come with me”. They walked out of the mining camp, “My tribe has mined the crystal for generations, always moving from pit to pit following the vein. And each time, some one would come wanting them. They would either trade with us or they would kill us. And each would have a different reason for wanting them”.

They kept walking, Eldin did not know why Beldak was telling him this, nor where he was taking him, but soon enough they stood in front of the mine entrance. Beldak indicated for Eldin to enter. “Them Jedi always looking for crystals”, he gave Eldin a shove into the cave.

“They bleed good, they fight good”.

.. but I ain't no Jedi ..