The Past Always Haunts Us

[Writer]

Jaken Port and Market​

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Tash-Taral​

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1900 Hours Local Time​

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Her cloak was draped about her form, the excess cloth flapped behind her in the winds like a billowing storm cloud. She hadn’t visited the desert world since she was convinced this wasn’t the place for her years ago. It had taken a lot of courage and convincing, but she moved on. The personal shame she felt was buried, in the sands along the Western ridgeline near AT-AT 1313. She was here for different reasons now, a calling in the Force. A tremor that pulled her back into the darkness that was her past. She couldn’t tell what or who it was but she had to face it, acknowledge it and embrace it.

There was no turning away from whatever it was.

The days of running away were long gone.

Not much had changed since the Silver Jedi Order had taken control of the planet, atleast in terms of the port itself. It remained a bastion of lawlessness. A place where someone could hide from their troubles, or just hide from trouble. With the collapse of the Republic and the One Sith – it had grown in population, become more colorful. Mira moved against the crowds of people that were making their way around the market as it was in full swing.

A cry caught her attention, making her stop to glance through the crowd at a near-human woman in chains. She was being prodded, jabbed and yanked around by species of all sorts. Mira would push through the waves of people, trying to get a closer look at her handler. As she approached, the voice of a Rodian shouted through the crowd, yelling out the current price.

“200 Credits!” The Rodian shouted, holding up two squibbly looking fingers.

Mira grit her teeth and looked around at the beings eagerly holding up credit chits and countering with offers.

There wasn’t anything she could do, should she free the woman – they’d kill her on the spot. Should she free her later, she’d most likely get caught again.

Without warning, the woman cried out and began to violently yank against the chains and collar around her neck. She was screaming in a language that Mira didn’t understand. Her handler began to panic and tried to get her under control, but was flung off as the woman yanked her chains free from his hand. Mira went to reach out, to object – but the sound of a single blaster shot ceased her actions before they began.

The woman fell to the ground, lifeless.

A guard pushed his way through the gathering crowd, looking over each individual before gesturing. “Clear out.” He said in rough basic.

Mira frowned, turning away from the scene and pushing her way back through the crowd. Nothing had changed in Jaken at all. It was still the same barbaric place it once was. She found an opening in the crowds and made her way to the side. With a huff, she sat down on an empty crate.

“What in the hell am I doing here…?”

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

Subjectivity is the bane of description. It's difficult to alight on the exact qualities of anything when one person sees those qualities and believes them to be one thing, while another person sees those exact same qualities and believes something entirely different. Niysha saw potential, curiosity, freedom, and anonymity in Tash-Taral. She saw evidence of the righteousness of "her" cause in how poorly the people of the planet were faring even after the Silver Jedi took over. She saw infinite potential in the sands. Old things were lost out there. Dark things. Powerful things. She couldn't wait to find some of them.

The city she was based in for the moment, some hellhole called "Jakkin" or some such rot, was about as pleasant as any place she'd been in the last few months. People were willing to kill each other over supplies, especially water. Jealousy and envy were the dominant currencies in equal measure, and it was only through her powerful fear of death will to survive that Niysha had managed to thrive so well in the last few days. The Force provided for those who were willing to take its fruits with confidence.

Now, days after she'd landed, Niysha wandered the market looking for oddities she could peruse to her little heart's content. There was some kind of ruckus somewhere in that massive crowd gathered around a woman's dead body, but she paid it no mind. There were more important things to worry about here...like how she was going to barter for anything here. She had no money to speak of, no real assets, and her only possession was a lightsaber that, if activated, would function as a brilliant red aggro magnet to anyone who saw it. Quite the conundrum. The obvious answer was theft, of course.

Or murder. Followed by theft.

She'd have plenty of time to work out how to acquire one of her finds after she actually found it. This entire crowd had a low-grade Force signature, so picking out curiosities with her Sight was like trying to find someone's heat signature with thermographic goggles in a field of steam vents. She'd have to get very close to be able to tell one signature from another, and so she wandered. Chin up. You're Sith again. Take pride in that, for whatever it means.
[member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[Writer]

Mira blinked a few times as she caught onto something.

It was a strange sensation in the midst of the swirling chaos in the Force. An aura that sort’ve stood out, as if it didn’t belong. She peaked up a bit, looking through the crowd at the various individuals, trying to pinpoint the individual – but that felt like trying to find a needle in a haystack. This person was different than the individuals around them. They were a bit smoother than the coarse rocks around them. Sure, they had nefarious intentions – in some manner, but who didn’t? Every single individual here had some nefarious intention, some hidden fear.

Maybe Mira was looking at wrong, looking at the physical instead of the signature they gave off.

What if she pushed and incited a reaction?

Maybe, just maybe it’d work.

And she could have some fun with it – depending on how calm they were.

It was worth a shot.

It’d also be worth finding out what they were doing in such a place. So many questions, so little time.

Mira inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, crimson orbs closing as she focused. She shut herself off to the physical world around her as she elevated to higher levels. Her ethereal presence reached out through the crowd, roaming in and out – searching. She’d touch here and there, speaking softly to each one like the passing wind.

The occasional individual would jerk, but nothing that caused the stir she was looking for – nor were they similar to the aura she felt, so she continued. Eventually, she would catch her unsuspecting target – one way or another.

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

A volcano suddenly erupted from the sea of life around Niysha. She visibly recoiled, but since she didn't need to turn to See, it looked more like she tripped over something. There was enough Force presence in this crowd to mask Sith artifacts, and even that settling haze couldn't mask what just happened. In a slight panic, Niysha immediately busied herself "browsing" the closest market stall to her. Fade into the background. Draw no attention.

It occurred to her that she'd probably already drawn attention. That was likely why the...Jedi? Wasn't Sith, that was for damn sure. It was likely why the Jedi had made their presence so clear. Just like a Jedi to strut in like they own the place and expect no repercussions, too. This was why their precious Republic had been in decline for almost as long as Niysha had been alive. Hell, this was why the Sith empire in the Core Worlds had fallen: a bunch of sound and fury to get everyone's attention with no thought to the consequences.

Short-sighted fools.

With a deep breath, Niysha calmed down. Once again, she tried to blend into her surroundings. Unfortunately, the Force had a way of causing things to happen. Destiny was alive and well, and far beyond the control of the mortals it played with. Now that it had been made clear to both of the assembled Force-users that the other was present, a confrontation was likely inevitable. Unforged as she was, the poor Miraluka was likely to catch the short end of that straw. It was in her best interest to prolong the hunt as much as possible.

After a moment, the Iktotchi man working the stall she'd wandered up to tried to at least engage his potential customer. "Hey! This ain't a place for window shoppers. See something you like, you bring it to me. Otherwise get moving."

Had she eyes, Niysha would have shot him a withering glare. Instead, brought the full regal bearing of her Sith will to bear against his mind. "I'm just browsing, and that's fine." Her hand waved slightly, even though her head didn't turn.

"You're just browsing, and that's fine," the man agreed. It was a good thing his species' mental abilities were so stunted outside of his homeworld, or else the Sithling's mind trick might not have worked so well. It had, though, and now Niysha had a fantastic excuse to loiter and focus her Sight intently on the crowd, to attempt to pick out the exact aura that she was looking for. Physical triangulation of such a ridiculous display would take a bit of concentration...
[member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[Writer]

There was a sense of panic.

One which she could latch onto, capture the moment and hone in on its source. She stood silently, and began moving through the crowd – the source began fading through the ethereal webs of the Force before ceasing. Mira stopped for a moment, an eyebrow raising as shifted around, glancing from person to person casually. It was unusual someone would be able to erupt in such a manner and blend in – then again, this place was such a chaotic mess in the Force.

Light and dark, chaos and peace – it was hard to tell what was what unless it stood out and one focused on it.

Something else caught her attention though, the sound of dialogue that was all too familiar to the former scavenger.

“…just browsing, and that’s fine.” Mira turned to look at the stall with the Iktochi man and the Miraluka girl, her gaze fixated upon the pair. She noticed the subtle gesture from the girl and the sudden agreement from the man, which was very unusual in these parts. That had to be her panicked individual, attempting to blend into the environment without knowing it as well as she did.

Mira approached swiftly, yet casually and before the hand of the girl could drop – Mira caught it within her right hand, clutching it tightly.

“Adorable trick, question is, why are you trying to hide?” Her crimson eyes would stare upon the vendor who became confused at the situation unfolding before they shifted to the girl’s hand whom she held. “Don’t they ever teach you guys anything about – you know – being sneaky? Or is it just in your nature to be obvious?” Of course, she was assuming this girl had ill intentions and a malicious aura. She could have read it all wrong and misunderstood here, for all she knew this was just some wayward girl lost in the transition of power.

However, Mira doubted that.

No one ever got lost, not like that.

Some way, somehow, the lost were always found.

[member="Niysha"]

 

[Niysha]

Somehow, the volcanic presence behind Niysha had managed close a dozen or more meter gap in the few seconds that she was making a legitimate excuse to hang around. Normally, this would have either sent her scampering or paralyzed her with abject terror. Apparently this time it was the second, as she was interrupted in the middle of establishing her cover story by a very loud and self-important aura behind her.

It was attached to an equally loud and self-important woman who had quite a few pointed assumptions to make about Niysha. Grabbing her wrist, bearing down on her, making accusations... were all Jedi this arrogant? This was the second brazen idiot of a Jedi Niysha had met in as many weeks. While she'd done her best to reserve her judgements of the whole order until she had a better grasp on who they were, this was doing them no favors.

Of course, it wasn't doing her nerves any favors, either. A naturally timid creature, Niysha jumped when she was suddenly and aggressively manhandled. She would have squeaked, if her throat hadn't been shocked to silence. Instincts kicked in, which means turning her eyeless head to face who she was talking to was a fantasy that wouldn't be coming to life anytime soon. Instead, she tried to recoil away, (legitimately) shocked disbelief in her throat. "Wh-what? They who?" The Sithling attempted to recoil away, but considering she was outmuscled by many middleschoolers, that was unlikely to happen. "Can I help you, lady?!"

Frantic fibbing and feigned ignorance covered by layers of very real terror. Even a Miraluka would have trouble seeing through that. Niysha would know; she'd been subjected to it before. She had a nice, thin scar between her third and fourth ribs right next to her left lung to show for it. The One Sith academy: a great place to grow up.
[member="Mira Rekali"]