Campaign The Follow Through

[Jaeson Starchaser]

Lianna, the Jewel of Tion, was easy enough to get to sitting on the junction of not two but three trade routes the Perlemian Trade Route and Cadinth Run and the Shaltin Tunnels. It was one of the busiest ports in the entire Tion Hegemony, which was known for being an area of space bustling with ports. This meant that one ship could easily go unnoticed if one knew how to avoid the custom inspectors and various dock workers. The captain of their particular freighter didn’t.

He was an honest man and like honest men are prone to do he registered the pairs presence on the vessel. Jaeson was easy; he handed over his identification and that was that, a student arriving back from holiday. Kyra on the other hand was slightly more complicated. Jaeson couldn’t just say she was him and make things peachy. The customs official wanted to know why she had come and to search her belongings for contraband. It was a hassle more than anything as the teens had nothing to hide, except those things Jae brought through with his antiquities license.

Jae had been through mostly the same when heading to Zeltros. The Sith and Jedi were suspicious of each other, go figure.

Time passed and the questioning ceased as the security forces verified Kyra’s details confirming her identity and business. That is when the waiting began as messages were sent from one end of the galaxy to another. It was night time before the customs officials let the girl out, reluctantly by Jae’s estimation.

Electric light drowned out the stars and a full moon hung in the air but refused to pierce the city with its light. Jae had an apartment on the planet, a little place far away from the labours and study of university and near some of the patrons he had called upon.

The pair traveled into the dcity past the finer districts and into the more industrial heart of the planet. It was here that Jae's apartment sat. Men, women, human, and aliens who worked amongst the fumes that choked the sky lived here, caustic burns betraying their humble origins. The apartment itself was small, only a living room, water closet, and bedroom that barely merited the name. In contrast to the stately manor of Kyra’s it was a hovel and Jae knew it. He was perhaps a bit self conscious about this fact, or the fact that he would for a time be alone with her. Datapads and books sat on the shelves and table sitting next to various baubles of little historic but sometimes personal significance.

“It’s going to take a few days,” he said “For us to make an appointment.”

And there he sat, confused and not knowing what to do.

Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra seemed unfazed by the bustle. The day had been long but her energy was unaffected, the girl curiously plucking around his apartment. She wasn't looking for anything in particular-- spare the surefire sign that he wasn't a sith. Short of that, Kyra was just curious. The waiting room she had been stuck in all day had been incredibly boring and now his apartment took the brunt of it.

"Appointment for what?" She chirped, placing down a strange shaped object on a shelf. She turned, approaching him easily and folding perched on the couch next to him. "You still have that thing with you?" It was a rhetorical question, his bag given a look in between uncomfortable and distasteful. It was no secret she disliked the object they were escorting. She had refused to even touch his bag strap, wanting nothing to do with the corrupting feel she had gotten from it again.

She had never been in sith space before. It was remarkably normal.

Strange.

She tucked her hair behind her ear, causally started to rebraid the padawan braid she had been forced to take out before they met officials on the way in.

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

The comms message came out of the blue, and not exactly at the best time. In the middle of a Silver Jedi field trip to clean up after the mess at the Ruusan dig site, Jerek wasn't exactly inclined to field Damian Starchaser's wild antics. Maybe the capricious Jedi —was he really a Master now?— had the opportunity to call whenever he wanted. Jerek didn't exactly have the ability to go gallivanting across the galaxy on his own much anymore.

Not that he resented the continued learning and training the Silver Rest provided its students, but the boy certainly did miss his freedom.

Somehow, after talking with Damian, he was certain that Kyra was missing hers as well. He had noticed her absence from the past few days, but the padawan had just assumed she was busy with other business. Not so, from Damian's frantic calls, something about getting mixed up in trouble on Zeltron that managed to wind up in the middle of Sith space.

Sith space? That had gotten Jerek's attention, and after a bit more eye-roll-worthy prodding from Damian, his agreement as well.

Ditching his J-2 at the border and hopping a public transport, Jerek was surprised at how simple it had been to enter the Sith-Imperial border. He was almost certain that he'd be picked out somehow, or that some of his more adventurous moments in Sith space had resulted in his identity being recorded, but the trip was nearly uneventful after a customary search of his meager belongings.

Nearly, because without a reasonable space to meditate, or even get more than a meter away from any of the other stinking, crammed-in beings on the transport, Jerek spent the trip fretting and fidgeting in place. Damian's purpose chafed at him, despite the teen's own concern for Kyra's safety. The padawan assumed she hadn't traveled all the way to Lianna for no reason. Whatever, or whoever, was on that world for her, that was her business. It wasn't like her master was worried, either. This was just Damian playing worried uncle from afar, despite his claims of allowing his niece her freedom.

What exactly did that make him, then? Jerek Zenduu, Freedom Enforcer? It all sounded like a pretty flimsy excuse for a wellness check to him.

The address he'd given to the taxi driver had wound up being in the low part of town. The seedy atmosphere was only further pronounced by the noxious fumes that drifted from the nearby industrial plants, and that didn't improve even indoors. With Starchaser's frantic pitch as he described the turn of events that had lost him a niece, Jerek was glad now that he wasn't here. A destitute apartment, deep in Sith space, after Kyra disappeared from a vacation on Zeltron, something certainly did seem fishy about this.

He reached for the door chime, only to find it missing. Typical. Jerek knocked instead.

Jaeson Starchaser Kyra Perl​

 

[Chloe Santhe]

Objective: Protect what she can.
Wearing: Dress, Headphones/Sunglasses
Tags: Jerek Zenduu | Jaeson Starchaser | Kyra Perl
Current Song

Existing after that dream world had been difficult. All those memories. Weeks, months of them before she became aware of the nature of the world swirled in her head. The joy of having been a big sister. It’s strange, how little her parents had entered into her version of heaven. However, it was enough to force the little blonde to go to Lianna.

For the last couple weeks she had just settled down on the planet. Chloe would periodically hack into the various security cameras that her family had planted in the house. She would watch her sisters play together. They had grown so big, they had to be eight years old. While her memories were often jumbled, they had to be about eight years old now. Or maybe seven. It had been six years since she had gotten taken. They were so beautiful, so precious. She knew that if she had gone back it would have placed them in danger. Her family hated her, after all. They were afraid.

Her blue eyes stared out at the ocean, as she sat in the sand. The feed of her sisters playing was in the corner of her right glasses hud, and her cat eared headphones played one of the local favorites of some pretty boy band from a few towns over. A sad smile sat on the girl’s face. So close to home, and yet never able to enter those walls. There was too much blood on her hands, too much filth, too much sin. She could come to this place, but she would never be accepted again. She was officially declared dead, her own family had been the ones to sell her off in the first place. But...they seemed to be treating the girls well. So what could she say? So long as they were happy, what else mattered?

Her hand reached out, and she tried desperately to grasp the image in front of her eyes. As her hand reached nothing, it fell back to the burning sand and she laughed loudly, while tears filled her covered eyes. Ahhh, what was the use. Why had she come back here?

Because, you wanted to be close to them, just for a little while. To protect them.​

Well, there was no use in moping. The girl stood up, brushed off her sun dress. She twirled around and stretched her hands to the sky for a moment. Nothing to do but survive, she supposed. Her sisters were alive, happy, and didn’t need to get dragged into what she was doing. But she would protect them, always. And she knew of a threat. There was time to rest later. She hummed the song along the way, as she made her way off the sand, and back onto the sidewalk, up the hill. Sand got kicked off her shoes as she moved through the crowded streets of this clean, and upper class city. It was such a pretty place, when compared to Nar Shaddaa, Denon, and Coruscant.

A finger traced her path on a wall, as she marched towards the Mansion her sisters were currently playing in. See, while the Santhe family was very wealthy and protected, sometimes infighting happened. An example was about to be set. The white washed walls of the city were oppressive, but she kept to her guns. Soon she passed the large building that served as the home for the twins, and by the black airspeeder that had been parked close by. As she passed by, her fingers moved to her little datapad, and typed out a stream of commands. A control virus was directly implanted into the airspeeder. Soon, it would take off, and at full speed drive itself into the ocean. Inside was a strike team, to storm the mansion, to try and find anything they could blackmail the family with. There was a chance her sisters could be hurt. No one karked with her sisters. Chloe was a monster now, after all.

As she left, the airspeeder took off, it’s waiting passengers locked inside. It soon deformed as it hit the water at full speed and sank to the bottom of the ocean, taking with it all lives. After so many, it was hard to feel remorse anymore. If blood had to be shed, let it be on her hands. Let her little ones stay happy and ignorant. Their sister would protect them, and if it all went right, they would never know she was ever there.

With a sigh, Chloe hopped a hover-bus, and found herself back in the industrial zone of the city. Mmm, she had to get out of sight soon. People were always more rough at night, and while she had recently taken up some basic lessons on how to use a blaster, and martial arts, it hadn’t been enough time for them to truly be effective. So, intelligence had to be used. As the sun began to set, her eyes went up to the smog filled sky. Now, this was more familiar. It made her break out into a hum once more. It just was her life. Why worry about it? It’s not like it would get better. It wasn’t like there were any people out there who would care. Heroes didn’t exist, just people.

 

[Jaeson Starchaser]

They were alone. Jae was painfully aware of the impropriety of the situation. He hadn’t thought about it before, and only now in the proximity of the miniscule apartment was considering the implication.

Looking at Kyra rummage through his belongings in a maddening search for evidence of illusory affiliation with a secret service. Kyra simply had watched too many spy movies.Still Jae couldn’t help but smile at the girl as he scanned over old books and trinkets.

Jae didn’t respond to the comment about having the artifact. The bag was right there plain for both to see. The girl was utterly repulsed by the contents of the bag although Jae felt nothing. The boy wasn’t ignorant of the fact he had a connection to the force, and yet he wasn’t really trained in its use, and wondered why he felt nothing. A few hypotheses passed through his mind but one thought he deemed most probable; this was an issue of alignment and training. Jae was no Jedi, and perhaps something in their training and doctrine caused the resonance of the artifact to seem utterly unpleasant. Jae only saw it in terms of a monetary gain.

“I have a patron who can help us equip us for the expedition. I met her through university, she has money, experience, and access to specialized equipment.” Many people fit that bill of course. There was plenty of wealthy patrons for the various treasure hunters and archaeologists that plied their trade throughout the galaxy picking at ruins like carrion to a corpse. Jae didn’t know most of them, and certainly not enough to call upon on. “More importantly she’ll take my meeting,” he said aloud before hearing the tattoo of knuckles tapping on his door.

With a quirked eyebrow he looked over at Kyra and started slowly to the door. Once in front of the metal slider he reached to the side and opened up a drawer pulling a blaster out and checking it for the stun settings.

He wasn’t expecting anyone, and in this neighborhood people minded their own business, no one would be asking to borrow a cup of sugar.

Jaeson opened the door, the metallic sliding causing a bit of air to breeze through his hair as he stared down…. Not a group of cultists. “May I help you?” he asked, keeping the blaster hidden behind his back. His eyes darted to and fro examining the situation and appraising the possibilities. Instinctively his muscles tensed ready to pounce should the need arrive and yet he felt no threat here, intellect perhaps overriding instinct in telling him that this boy was most likely not here to cause trouble.

----
Kyra Perl Jerek Zenduu Chloe Santhe

 

[Kyra Perl]

"A patron?" Kyra echoed. She tied off her braid, its thin length blending back into her curls. They both looked up as a knock of the door sounded, a bit of tension building through the room as they made eye contact.

They slowly stood together, Jae reaching for his gun while Kyra pulled her saber. The soft 'snap hiss' of it filled the air, its purple light shining warmly over her features. She nodded at him, moving into the door and pressing unseen against the wall as he opened it.

“May I help you?” he asked, keeping the blaster hidden behind his back.

Kyra glanced down once at his butt, then looked back up quickly, heat to her cheeks. Whew. He was rubbing off on her. She cleared her throat, trying to get her head back on straight. ...And alerting Jerek to her presence tucked out of sight.


Jerek Zenduu Chloe Santhe Jaeson Starchaser

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

Facing a locked door in a seedy part of town. The ecumenopolis stacked its denizens on top of one another, hundreds at a time. The padawan could feel the press of beings around him through the Force. If he reached out a little further, he could pick out individuals even with walls in the way. A Duro drinking away the last of his wallet, a few Twi'lek younglings playing an innocent game, a couple of Gammorreans playing a much more intimate game...Jerek shook his head. Being aware of his surroundings was one thing, but there was such a thing as too much awareness. He wanted to be prepared, not snooping.

As the door opened, the boy momentarily wished he had snooped a bit more.

What faced him was the face, worn on a much younger body, of Damian Starchaser. Jerek took a step back, startled. He stared at the doppelganger before him, a hand reaching involuntarily for his waist, and the lightsaber hidden there under the light-brown bomber jacket he wore. The young doppelganger's voice sounded through the hallway, his nervous eyes looking almost every which way than at the Jedi youth. If Jerek was going to make his move, now would be the time.

Then the teen heard a sound behind the door. The need for knowledge overpowered his aversion to snooping, and he reached out through the Force. The doppelganger's being in the Force was muddled. It felt like Damian, but not like him at the same time. A strange sensation, and only served to heighten Jerek's defensive instincts. Moving on to the presence behind the door, however, the padawan found the familiar feeling of someone he knew already. "Kyra?"

He started at the Damien-alike guarding the doorway, rising up as tall as he could with squared shoulders and an inflated chest. The Force as his ally, the Jedi youth used it to his full advantage, weighting his words as much as he could on the mind of the doppelganger, "Who are you? What's going on here? Let me past."

Craning his head, Jerek tried to look back behind the doorway, "Kyra, are you okay?"

Jaeson Starchaser Kyra Perl Chloe Santhe​

 

[Jaeson Starchaser]

As the boy’s hand moved to the waist beneath his jacket Jae tensed and readied himself to action prepared to attack before this unlikely assailant could pull a weapon. Blaster already in hand gave him the advantage even if he didn’t have preternatural speed. And then the newcomer mentioned Kyra. A myriad of questions flooded his mind. Who was this person? What was his relationship to Kyra? How did he find them? If he knew Kyra and she didn’t seem distressed there was most likely no threat here. That thought alone eased the tension for a moment.

Jae turned slightly to bring the girl into his peripherals about to ask about their relationship when the violation came. The headache came almost instantly as the oppression of the Jedi worked its way into his head. It was an invasion, an invisible assault on his mind. What’s more was the accusatory tone in which he asked his follow up questions. Rage would be too strong of a word, but not by much, as Jaeson felt an anger boil over in him. He wasn’t a criminal, or some hostage taker nor was he an abusive spouse to be talked to in such terms. Something clicked inside of him however and although his fist balled up at his side his face maintained a neutral look.

A smile crossed his face as he felt the oppression of the Jedi on his mind. “This is my home,” he started his fist turning white, “You’ve come to my home, invaded my privacy, attempted to violate my mind and made assumptions about my character. So how about this, you apologize for being rude, for jumping to conclusions, and for taking that accusatory tone. Once that’s happened… we can start over. Water over the dam, under the bridge.” His knuckles were white now as his cleansed fist prepared to do what his baser instincts wanted to do.

Kyra Perl Jerek Zenduu Chloe Santhe

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Jerek?" Kyra chirped, surprise in her tone. All at once the tension left her, her saber lowered and flickered off as she peeked out over the door at him. "Oh hey, hey hey!" She protested at them, a wash of calming pheromones hitting the air as a restraining hand followed, pressing on both their chests.

"It's okay, he's a friend-- he's a friend!" She assured them both, her head snapping back and forth. "Hey stop that." She whapped them both, trying to disperse the white knuckles and nosy prodding. Not that she was one to speak. She was the nosiest of them all.

"Jerk, what are you doing here?" Came the words, filled with disbelief. She was a far way from Silver Rest. They had made an effort to go reasonably un-followed! And ye, here he was, at her door.

...Damn border control.

She stepped out, giving a stressed glance out in the hall. Seeing no one, she grabbed the boy's shirt and yanked him in.

"Oh move over," she complained to Jaeson. "Lock the door.-- Explain yourself."

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

This Damian clone seemed stronger than he looked, staring down Jerek even under the onslaught of a mind trick. The boy let up just as soon as its failure was made apparent, a wave of remorse washing over him. He shouldn't have done that. There was no Jedi teaching he could use to justify that, and the words from the other boy only piled onto his self-admonishment. Reckless and impulse was Damian's way, it was Allya's way, not his. The padawan had picked up far too many bad habits from them.

Even so, he couldn't exactly back down now.

The Jedi youth could sense the anger in the other boy, and he wasn't ignorant of the Damian clone's defensive motions. Everything about this boy's body language told Jerek he was about to face a fight. Shifting his weight back onto his heels, the padawan placed a foot a half-step behind him as a brace. If he was attacked, his assailant would not find him easy to catch off-balance. Even if the request for an apology was as half-hearted as the boy expected.

Jerek sighed, "Alright, I think we should..."

The bright timbre of Kyra's voice sounded from behind the door, quickly revealing herself as the speaker in the flesh. Relief flooded through Jerek at the sight of her, Damian's heightened alarm had set such morbid expectations in his mind. He shook them away with a flick of his head, letting his posture relax as the girl got in between the two boys, allowing himself to be driven back to add space to the buffer Kyra was making.

With her in control of the situation, Jerek felt less of a need to be decisive. The guilt from before came knocking once more, driving his regret. He could have waited outside the apartment longer, tried to sense Kyra within. Tried a subtler approach, or at least one that didn't indulge Damian's panic mode. The Jedi youth lost the look of alarm on his face, replaced with a forlorn expression. He was better than this.

What was he doing here, indeed.

"I came because Da—whoa!" the boy cried, thrown off-balance at last as Kyra pulled him by the shirt. Yanked inside the cramped entrance-way of the apartment, the fiery girl before him demanded an explanation. Jerek glanced warily over at the Damian clone, wondering what he was going to do now that they were in close proximity. He kept an eye on the other boy as he formulated a response, not quite sure what to make of all this. A trick? Some kind of imaging technology? A Sith ploy?

The dark side scratched at the edges of his awareness, clawing to get at him. Now that he was inside the room, closer to this mimicry, the force of it felt stronger. Jerek's hand itched, his fingers itching to grasp the comforting hilt of his lightsaber. If the Dark Side was at play here, he wanted to be ready for it.

Jerek returned his attention to his fellow padawan.

"I came because your uncle demanded it. He was convinced you were in danger, and since you hadn't been in classes for a few days, I figured," Jerek shrugged, a casual move he had to force himself to make, "I figured I'd humor him. I mean, it's Damian."

Glancing again at the other boy, Jerek felt a strange compulsion to give the imitation a taste of that fight he'd wanted. Instead, Jerek simply asked him, though with more heat in his voice than the padawan might have otherwise exercised, "Does that name sound familiar? Damian? Because you look exactly like him."

Jaeson Starchaser Kyra Perl Chloe Santhe​

 

[Jaeson Starchaser]

And now his apartment, barely large enough for him and his cluttered mess of trinkets, has yet another occupant. Kyra pulled Jerek into the room, the door swooshing behind him, only Jae had been standing watch and preventing the other youth from entry.

Now he was close to the other boy, mere inches apart, and what was worse he could feel the creeping influence of Kyra’s pheromones. His mouth opened to rebuke her, it was after all the same as Jerek’s little mindtrick, but closed the moment his eyes reached over her.

The situation was a bit tense, and his newest guest hadn’t taken his hand off his saber, and yet the calming wave from Kyra was doing it’s job. “The name means nothing to me,” he replied to the boy.

Taking a deep breath he squeezed through out of his entryway and placed the blaster back in the drawer where he’d received it. He glanced over at his bag with the artifact making sure nothing had happened to it in the commotion. There was little risk, still a healthy bit of paranoia was warranted given the events of the past.

He thought about his next move, what to do, what not to do. Various options swirled in his head and he measured and weighed them before picking one of the worse possible options. “So, about that apology?”

Jerek Zenduu Kyra Perl Chloe Santhe

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Uncle Dami-" the air left Kyra in a soft 'woosh', the girl connecting the dots. "Dammit,' she breathed, her shoulders falling limb. Of course he'd panic, she was suppose to call him yesterday! Something something broke Kyra and Jae out fo jail. Thought he hadn't seen who Kyra's friend was, only that they had been attacked and unfairly apprehended for their self defense.

Chit.

Does this mean he told her mom then?

She grimaced, cringing away from both boys and pacing a little. "Oh, come off it, Jerek, he's a Starchaser. Distant cousin or something, I dunno-- you got a family tree???" She shot him a wayward look of annoyance, the empath baring their agitation as her own.

"This is all just a misunderstanding. I'm here to help my friend on a .... a... a school task. Yeah. He has a jedi artifact and who better to help him than a jedi???" She gave him a look that extended the question mark even further, the answer obvious.

Her!

Never mind the sith space and the disappearing off the map. Shh. None of that.

"Did he send you all the way out here? Geeze. You coulda called." She had smashed her holopod and left it back in Zeltros. Trackers and all. They were in it a bit deep.

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

If Jerek had been hoping for a stunning revelation or to uncover a sneaky tell, his hopes were dashed by the mellowed expression on the Damian-alike's face. Hopes. The padawan felt himself taken aback by his own desire, taking his ready hand off of his weapon. Something about this place was unsettling him, throwing him off balance. The Jedi youth drew in a breath, letting it tumble out through his nose. Unsatisfying. He had a bad feeling about this place.

The other boy stood down, returning his weapon to its hiding place. That was a better place to move on from, Jerek thought. Only a small voice in his head weighed the chances he might have had, matching the speed of drawing his saber against the blaster. Another time, in another place, perhaps. Jerek felt too on-edge here, even after the confrontation resolved.

If it even was resolved.

"An apology?" Jerek asked the other boy, glancing to Kyra to see if this strange kid was serious. Didn't he realize they were in the middle of Sith space, and Kyra was a Jedi? Or did those terms mean as little to this odd youth as the name Damian did?

Kyra's explanation gave Jerek little help in understanding, but he brushed it away. She was satisfied, somehow, and it was her uncle asking after her. The padawan made a mental note to ask the man about this distant cousin business later. There was little he could do about it now, not without a way to send a message safely beyond the Sith-Imperial borders, so he let it go with a little shrug of his shoulders.

"A misunderstanding. I hope there's no hard feelings between us," he offered to the other boy, borrowing a term from his fellow padawan. Accompanied by a conciliatory smile, Jerek extended his hand to the Starchaser youth. "Jerek Zenduu."

He might have customarily offered his Jedi title as well, but even the calming feeling washing over him didn't quell the watchful nerves he bore in the middle of Sith space. The padawan had already said enough, and since this boy knew Kyra he could likely put two and two together. In an analytical mood himself, Jerek quickly surveyed the room, landing his eyes on Kyra's once more. "So what's this Jedi artifact? Since I'm here, anyway, I might as well offer to help."

Jaeson Starchaser Kyra Perl Chloe Santhe​

 

[Jaeson Starchaser]

“Jaeson Starchaser,” Jae replied, taking Jerek’s hand and shaking it with a vigour some may consider offensive.”It’s an easy enough misunderstanding to make, I suppose. I mean look at who she is and where we are right?”

Walking around the apartment he started to open a closet, no larger than a broom cupboard to most, and began to pull items. Blankets, sheets, and a couple of flat pillows.

A quirked eyebrow met Jerek and a smile that was perhaps too devilish to be reassuring.”And it isn’t a Jedi Artifact, it’s a Sith one.”

If the thing unsettled him as much as it did Kyra this would be humorous. No, that was a Damian though, not his. Every now and again the moral turpitude of his template crept in. If all Jedi were like him then that was all the reason he’d need to oppose them, and yet Kyra seemed a decent sort all things considered.

The artifact was nearby and Jae picked it up. He didn’t feel the same impending horror about it that Kyra did. Lifting the McMuffin up he showed it to Jerek hoping to elicit a reaction while saying,. “By the way, If Kyra gets the bed that means we’re sharing the pullout couch.”

Jerek Zenduu Kyra Perl Chloe Santhe

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra squirmed at the awkward tension inside the room. You know the two looked awfully similar. Maybe they were related too. She left them both to their bicker, moving to Jaeson Starchaser 's mini fridge and peaking inside. She crinkled her nose, the musty smell and empty shelves all too expected of the teenage boy. Her posture slumped in disappointment, the girl standing up just in time to hear their final words. "Ew. With your crusty sheets? No way. I'm getting us a hotel."

She sauntered back over to them both, hurriedly tossing a throw pillow at the artifact. "Stop that," she warned sharply. "Put it back. Don't touch it." She was in no rush to feel the darkness it had emitted to her before. And she had no desire to get corrupted friends!

"No, Jerek. We don't need help. You can tell my uncle I just broke my phone and that's that." This was far too dangerous for her to risk another friend's life! She had learned that regret the hard way. She shut him down before it could even start, the girl more willing to risk her own life than his own. She reached for her bag, pulling out her wallet.

"Do you need credits? Can you get home okay?" She asked, her thoughts flickering over to her hard journey in. Sith space didn't like strangers. They also didn't like jedi.

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

Jerek shook Jaeson's hand with an earnest pump, returned upon him ten-fold. The teen felt as if his arm was being subjected to yet another aggressive test by the other youth. He gave Kyra a glance through shaggy bangs that had crept low on his face from the shaking, she hadn't exactly say this Starchaser was trustworthy, had she? Once Jaeson released his hand, Jerek shook it —in a gentler manner— to loosen up his wrist, then tossed his head back to flip back hair from his face again.

"Right," he affirmed, a hollow word that didn't sound at all reassuring to Jerek's ear. He didn't bother to correct it, the Jedi youth wasn't sure if he trusted Jaeson yet to care too much about his reaction. The feeling seemed to serve well as the youthful Starchaser clarified on the nature of the artifact.

Sith. That explained his bad feelings.

Jaeson seemed to take some pleasure in displaying the artifact and making arrangements for the evening's passing, something Jerek didn't give a passing thought to. The boy turned his attention instead to Kyra, who seemed in charge of the excursion despite the apartment belonging to Jaeson instead. Jerek might have chuckled at his fellow padawan's assessment of the room's state, and her choice of options for the evening, but she drew attention to the artifact instead.

Now it was Jerek's time to actually look at it. It was small, shaped like an animal horn, and looking rather ordinary overall. Still, the padawan couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity as his eyes scanned over the object. He reached out beyond mere sight, searching through the Force toward the object. It felt different this way, more than a mere curiosity. Something stronger, perhaps, alluring. He began to reach for it—

All at once, he stopped. The impulse was no longer there, the curiosity quickly fading. Through the Force, Jerek could see the cause, the artifact's influence had been redirected by his necklace, cutting it off long enough for the Jedi youth to realize it and give the Sith object the respect, and distance, it deserved.

"Yeah no, Kyra. There's no way I'm going to leave you and this kid —even if he is a Starchaser— alone with a Sith artifact," Jerek said firmly, shaking his head at the pair. Jaeson's irresponsibility paired with Kyra's stubborn independence was a bad match for caretaking a powerful imbued object like that. Two Jedi were better than one in this case, and Jerek had something of a guardian angel on his side to keep him safe.

"You're right about the hotel, though. If I can find you here, it's not a great hideout," the boy pointed out, turning to the Starchaser boy to offer a brief, "Sorry." He pointed back over his shoulder to the doorway with his thumb. "And better sooner, than later."

Jaeson Starchaser Kyra Perl Chloe Santhe​

 

[Jaeson Starchaser]

Kyra wanted a hotel, and so Kyra got a hotel. Jaeson didn’t protest tooo terribly much, the thought of Jerek sleeping on the lumpy pullout defeated by his desire to keep the girl happy. Of course that wasn’t to say he didn’t suffer from the most mild of melancholia. Afterall he lived in the little hole in the wall that Kyra had so mocked. It wasn’t a lot, but it was his.

The hotel itself was rather extravagant, something he wouldn’t have been able to afford without a con. Still Kyra spent willingly on the rooms, hopefully never knowing that late in the night Jae crept to the receptionist and arranged for his own accommodations to be covered by his severely diminished accounts, he hadn’t sold his last bounty of artifacts afterall.

Still the night went as it was meant, quickly and the morning came. Jae insisted on going to his benefactor alone, it was fitting afterall, besides there was no need to involve the others in the utter emasculation that followed. Jae was called everything but a child of the force in a soft and pleasant voice. That smooth voice that could melt hearts hid a sharpened tongue. In the end he got what he had wanted from her, a line of credit, and went back to the hotel.

There was some debate and argument about what next. Jae wanted to set out right away, buy a ship in port and leave, but cooler heads prevailed, and the group agreed to return to Silver Jedi Space where Kyra could reassure her dotting uncle and they could find supplies and equipment in a port safer for… well everyone but Jaeson himself. He didn’t relish returning to Jedi space after his time on Zeltros, but trusted Kyra to get him through it.

The transit line to neutral space and then Jedi space was, as always, tedious…..

Fin

Kyra Perl Jerek Zenduu Chloe Santhe