#thebreakup

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

The doors closed in her face. #rude. Once upon a time, she was held captive in Sage Bane's ship. She had almost brought the entire ship down with them inside. Only weeks worth of imprisonment, a poor meal plan, and her inexperience kept her from doing so. Oh, and coming off the drugs of a force collar OD.

#dontdodrugskids

Could she open the doors the darth had just sealed? Yes. Could she bring his entire ship down now? Most likely. But was she going to? No.

#notyet

She stumbled forward from his hardly subtle nudge. #personalbubblespaceinvaded!! "Excuse you. I'm trying to help you. I doubt your probes have enough human element to investigate things properly. What are you worried about? I'm not some fresh off the spaceship acolyte. I can handle myself off this priso-I mean vessel. I'm not going to try to escape."

#notyet

"If you don't take any risks you won't get any rewards." Bony-elbows jutted out as she crossed her arms and stared him down. Well, the reflection of her own face in his mask. "I'm not looking at any more of your book volumes until I get a trip off this station."

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Silence was Adekos' only answer for a few moments. He rubbed his chin as he contemplated something. She wanted a trip off this ship? That could be arranged. Clearly she didn't think she had anything more to learn. He largely ignored the "don't take any risks" comment. Darth Adekos had built several lifetimes worth of fortunes executing low risk schemes. Looting Onderon's vaults? Low risk. Looting a large mining facility that specialized in precious metals? Low risk. Capturing Spark Finn? Low risk. Galactic economics? If you knew what you were doing, also low risk. And here he was, on a Lucrehulk that he more or less owned, wielding power and resources most men often dreamed of.

And where were the risk takers? Dead, poor, humiliated, discredited, and worst of all, irrelevant in the worst sort of way. No, Adekos was just fine roosting in his own corner of the galaxy, occasionally sniping opportunities that floated his way. Poor Spark Finn was young; blind, even. But with time, his training would make her see.

"Well, how could I say no? You've been such a delightfully behaved guest." Adekos said. "I'll adjust our course. By tomorrow morning, you'll be off this vessel and free to roam."

He turned on a heel, and with a wave of his hand the doors unsealed and opened for him. "Go get something to eat. I recommend you make sure you're well rested for tomorrow. You'll have a busy day of hunting ahead."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

#uhoh #stillnotscurred #thechinrub

That was usually a bad sign. Even with only a short week and some change of being in the darth's persistent company taught her one thing about that gesture; it was never good. Made sense. It's not like he felt anything when he rubbed his head. He had that giant helmet on.

"That's it? No more details?"

He was already gone. Eventually she got food. But more importantly, she stored up on cafe. There was a small server room that powered the library. She preferred to sleep there, with her back pressed up against the steady hum of power and streaming data.

It reminded her of Coren. After Sage.

 

[Caulder Dune]

The next day...

Finding [member="Spark Finn"] curled up next to a computer server was adorable, but only in the pathetic and weak kind of way. It might have tugged at his heart strings, but there were no strings attached to the icy rock that was his heart. And so it was with little remorse that Darth Adekos depressed the trigger on the electronic air horn he had procured specifically for this purpose. "Wakey-wakey." Once the slicer was jolted from her sleep, he handed the device off to the TA4 droid standing behind him and clasped his hands behind his back. She would probably complain, but this was nothing compared to what was coming.

"Make yourself presentable. You'll be expected in the hangar bay in one hour. Please be punctual, or regret it later."

His business once again concluded, Darth Adekos turned on a heel and exited the server room, TA4 trailing behind him.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

#doubleRUDE!!!!

"Eeeeep-OW!" The captured-slicer grunted, thin-digits pressed against her ears. Head bumped against the warm server behind her. Bleary-eyes glared at the Darth.

His voice was mostly muffled. All she heard was hangar and something that sounded like bower. Or was it tower?

Fingers twitched at her sides, as she almost short-circuited the droid by his side. She resisted. Barely.

She only had to tie her whispy blonde-hair back and throw on her fav jacket. #ready #grabcafealongtheway

Spark found herself in the hangar early. With a lot of time to snoop around. Datapad was shoved into her back pocket skinny-jeans.

#prisonersstillhadstyle

She wove between the ships and cargo, mentally taking inventory as she crept around. Maybe Darth KoKo would be late.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Towards the middle of the colossal hangar bay, Darth Adekos stood with a solitary TA5 Lightsaber Droid. As far in as they were, the planet they orbited could still be seen past the ray shield keeping everything inside. It was a great, green sphere. There were four large inland oceans that could be seen, but other than that it seemed to be dominated by either forest or jungle. More important than the planet was the fact that Adekos and the droid were standing beside a pair of drop pods, which were being loaded by a few Z3 Labor Droids with basic survival supplies and other tools. One of them even had an emergency blaster rifle.

"Ah, the prodigal acolyte returns." He said once he sensed her presence, turning around to face her. "Spark, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Rasselas."

Adekos gestured to the TA5, which immediately straightened up. It's head snapped to look at her, single glaring red photoreceptor focusing on her.

"D̵A͡R̵KNES̶S̕ E̡ŃV͜E̛LOPS̸ M̢É.̷" Said Rasselas.

Wiping a smudge off his mask with a finger, Adekos continued. "You'll forgive him, he has a flair for the dramatic. Anyway, you got me thinking the other day, what with your total lack of discipline and respect. What you really need is some good, old fashioned field training. And what better place to do that than the Barkhesh System?"

Barkhesh was an agriworld known to be dotted with several dozen Sith Temples and Tombs dating back thousands of years. Since Barkhesh was not exactly well known, most of them remained undisturbed, even after all this time. The locals refused to go near them, citing curses and other superstitious nonsense. Simpletons. Maybe if they had the courage to seek out the treasures within, they could afford to move off such a dingy world.

"We'll be riding down in style. Drop pods. Since you're an acolyte, it's time you started forgoing luxuries. Shuttle rides will be one of them." Adekos indicated the drop pod that was being loaded up. "At any rate, Rasselas will be our back up in the event things go... Less than optimally."

Curiously, Spark would notice Rasselas was dead to the Force. Even to electronic manipulation, it felt like something was in the way. Perhaps Adekos would explain later if he felt the need to. Presently, the Umbaran only paused to check his chronometer. Oh, they were ahead of schedule. All the more reason to simply launch now. "Alright, let's get this show on the road. Strap yourself in and I'll see you planetside."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

She gulped.

It wasn't because of the drop ship ride. It wasn't because she forgot a travel top for her cafe. It was because of that...thing. The T-whatever-droid. She was a technopath. She knew her droids. And this one: #badmammajamma #creepy

Blue-eyes still managed to roll at the Darth's use in title. 'Acolyte.' #asif

She filed away the details of the supplies and the planet beyond his shoulder. She didn't do well in wilderness. Shuffling into the drop ship, she pulled the harness down. Mind reached out with the force, wrapping it around the pod's few controls.

Her descent would not be as wild as the Darth intended. Thoughts drifted again to Coren. And Rekha. They both would've loved something like this. A wild pitch through space.

With a mostly smooth thump, the drop ship landed. #madskillz. She tried to forget thinking about the Terminator punk droid when she got out. Speckled-gaze swept the area for potential escape routes if things got bad.

Living a long time on a jungle world without cafe would be totes hard. #firstworldslicerproblems

A hand withdrew to absently swat a mosquito away. Mind already lurched forward. Pinging. Sensing. Anything technological that was in their vicinity. Or hidden within the depths of the mysterious temples.

She was never any good at sensing light or dark or power levels. Even a darkside drenched planet didn't bother her. It was just familiar. And something she hadn't sensed in a long time. Not since living with [member="Darth Carach"].

 

[Caulder Dune]

A holoprojector that had been embedded into the pod sparked to life, displaying both Darth Adekos and his loyal subordinate, Rasselas.

"Goooood morning, [member="Spark Finn"]." Hologram Adekos clasped his hands behind his back, just like the real one would do before launching into some absurd and long winded explanation. "So, to clarify, you are not actually on Barkhesh. That was a lie. You're on an uncharted jungle planet somewhere between the Bintir and Nemexia systems. Maybe that's a lie too. I also lied about joining you down there. See, I forgot something about traditional Sith training: weeding out weakness. And you're weak. Just so terribly, terribly weak. So now you're going to be made strong the old fashioned Sith way. We'll see if this changes your attitude."

"You're going to stay down there for one week. This planet is a complete pre-industrial backwater without even the faintest trace of Sith habitation. Probes calculated about two dozen warring, primitive tribes in your region. This planet also has several large Rancor packs that frequent the general area for breeding purposes. And I believe it is also mating season for Rancors on that world. Not too sure. Anyway, if you survive the week, you get to come back onto the ship. If you die... Well, I won't bother you with the worst case scenario. You'll do fine, I'm sure. You're resourceful."

Adekos paused, then remembered he had left out something important. "Oh, and I almost forgot. Rasselas will be joining you. Say hello, Rasselas."

On cue, Rasselas intoned the following: "I ͞A͡M ҉A͜ ME҉C͝HANICA͝L͡ GOḐ ̕OF WAR.̨"

This statement was ignored by Adekos in favor of continuing the explanation. "Rasselas will be landing on the planet the following day with the intent of capturing you. If he does so and drags you all the way back to the designated point, the timer gets reset. So if you're four days in and he captures you, you get another week. Exciting, right? The stakes are high. You've got some starting equipment to make use of, not to mention all the electronics you can re-purpose off the pod. Rest assured, I will be watching your progress intently. All other communications, in or out of the system, will be jammed, so don't try calling for help. It would be years before anyone heard you anyway."

"That about covers it. Happy hunting."

The prerecorded message shut off, leaving Spark Finn alone on the uncharted jungle world.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

Blue-eyes beneath glass lenses widened slightly as the transmission cut.

#byeFelecia #wasescapingthiseasy???

All she had to do was survive on some rancor-world and hide away until the darth got bored and left. It wouldn't be too bad. #butnocafe!!!!! #sadface A roar sounded in the not so distant-distance. Then again, rancors.

Did he really just spend all his time and resources keeping her alive just to watch her potentially die now?

#maybe #mehwhatevs

Without wasting anymore time, she stretched her senses forward, going to shut-down any monitoring equipment the darth had installed on the pod. She was not going to be under surveillance. #duh Grabbing some food and hydration packs, she left the shuttle with some pieces of tech.

#TBDwhattouseforlater

Heading into the jungle and trying not to freak out from cobwebs, she disappeared using white current. She would watch and wait for the Raz-droid, find its location, and move forward with Plan B.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

This was supposed to be relaxing for Darth Adekos, but Spark just had to ruin that for him. He hadn't even settled into his nice, comfortable captain's chair on the Machinator's bridge when one of the deckhands marched over to whisper something in his ear. "What do you mean she's off the grid? We ran the tests. Those probe droids have the most advanced-"

"They followed her out of the crash site and into the nearby jungle, but once she entered, we lost track of her."

How could this be? He had never taught her the power of Force Cloak. Carach didn't know that power, so it was unlikely she learned it from him. Unless she was using some other way to mask herself from sensors and cameras. The probes also had tiny stealth field generators and the same nullification set up as Rasselas. Expensive, but what was the point of saving his money if he couldn't splurge once in a while? In either event, she wouldn't be able to sense them and tamper with their equipment. She must have been doing something else. White Current? Some other illusion? It didn't matter in the end, did it? Adekos would just have to make note of this development.

"Whatever it is," he resolved, "She can't do it forever. Agitate the Rancors and the Acklay. Send them on a murder spree through the jungle. They'll be bound to blunder into her one way or another, the clumsy beasts."

A murder spree. What wonderful vocabulary Spark's antics brought out of him. "Of course sir." The deckhand answered, skittering away to return to the control station. One pack of angry Rancors, coming soon to a jungle nearby.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

The village hut was sparse. A hammock strung above the dirt and palm floor, a small table hand-carved from the local wood, and mosquito netting populated the area. There was one other thing. A small pile of spare clothes. One by one, the clothes disappeared.

A good few minutes later, a slight village girl left the hutt. She had brown, mud-caked skin and dirty mud-caked hair. The villagers didn't think it odd. Neighboring villagers walked through on trade all the time. And yes, most covered their skin in mud to keep off the flies and mosquitos and to mask their scent from the many predators. An astute observer would come to this conclusion. The only thing that was slightly off were the color of her eyes.

But they didn't notice. And it wasn't unheard of. The color was just rare among their people. And they had bigger things to worry about.

Like the stampeding Acklay racing toward the rickety outer fences of the village proper.

A call to arms echoed across the landscape. The girl gulped. #gulp But she joined the others and grabbed a spear, circling the irate beast with the others.

#ImissSpacebook #greatstatusupdate

The spears went flying toward the underbelly of the beast, including her own.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"Found her, sir."

"Finally." Adekos relaxed in his chair. Crisis averted. "Where has she gotten to?"

"Integrating herself with Tribe A-37."

Oh my. Spark Finn had gone tribal? Hilarious. Her odds of survival went up now that she was with a group, which was good. Now he wouldn't have to intervene if the scuffle with the Acklay got too messy.

Rumor had it that most of these warring tribes were the descendants of a human colony ship that crashed in the system centuries ago. Cut off from the rest of the galaxy, they eventually regressed into this... Mess. It was good that it hadn't been an Ishi-Tib colony ship or a Caamasi colony ship, because then Spark would have had a harder time blending in, muddied up appearance or not. That might have been part of the reason Darth Adekos chose this world, and it might have been an indication that this was all going according to plan.

Hopefully she wouldn't hang around them too long. Otherwise they might figure out she didn't speak their proto-basic language. Or realize she didn't smell as foul as the rest of them, which was really just a dead giveaway. Nobody on this side of the jungle didn't smell like sweat and dung. It was practically customary. Not as badly as the rest of them, anyway.

"How many Acklay did we get down there?"

"Looks like just one."

"Good enough."

Meanwhile, on the planet, the tribesmen militia plus Spark were doing an excellent job of keeping the Acklay at bay. It hissed and growled as they jabbed their spears towards it, but not actually into the beast. Tribe A-37 dealt with Acklay on a weekly basis and had perfected the art of scaring them off without having to actually fight them. Unfortunately, one of the tribesmen got a little too frisky with his spear. He jabbed the beast's underbelly, causing it to wheel around and stab him right into the ground with one of its sharp feet. The Acklay then spun around once more, quite quickly, and snatched the tribesman to Spark's left off the ground in its jaws. Oh, the humanity! Someone could probably save him if they acted quickly.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

It's a good thing native Spark didn't know that Adekos knew. Or else she would've been highly tempted to scrub off all that mud from her skin. #smelly #totesgross #notmycolor

And how exactly DID he know? #oocupcomingskypeconvo

A man got snatched next to her. #eeeeeep Mud-caked face scrunched. The Acklay would suddenly find that the man didn't taste like anything as it chomped down on a space of gummy air. An invisible force bubble wrapped so closely around his skin, it looked like he was being chewed on. The man slipped free and hit the ground. No one knew what happened.

Maybe a miracle!

And certainly no one knew it was from the visiting tribe girl. The group continued to herd the beast away. It smashed a few huts with its scissor legs on its retreat out. It looked like they were winning. And it looked like an invitation would be extended to Spark for dinner.

#mmmmMMMmmsmores #orberries #orAcklaymeat

But the Acklay wasn't all the way out yet. And the tribesman that was 'saved' was beginning to come to on the ground.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

It was the dawn of day five. Five days of being mud-caked. Five days of eating local village fare. #acklay #needmoreveggies. And five days as being known as a mute. The small translator in her ear was priceless. She didn't need to talk. The introverted technopath preferred to keep to herself. She just needed to understand.

And so far her disguise worked on not only the villagers but also Darth Adekos. She hadn't seen any sign of that Razzle-dazzle droid. #punkbully #Imwinning Even though the week was almost up, the slicer had no intentions of going back so quietly. She had far greater plans. And after five days in the village, she had enough information to do it.

Sitting around the fire, she gnawed quietly on a roasted hunk of meat. #Imisschips. She would fill her water skin and go soon. The sounds of nearby Acklay in the woods didn't even bother her anymore.

 

[Caulder Dune]

And so for five days, [member="Spark Finn"] did live among the Tribe of the Leaky Trees, and did become acquainted with the tribes people and their customs. The Tribe of the Leaky Trees were a relatively isolated tribe, well trained in the volatile arts of Acklay hunting and... Well, there was not much else for the tribe to be good at. Though they did weave nice baskets, tribal skirts, and other such trivialities. They were on a regular-contact basis with the Tribe of the Black Boulders, who lived just outside of the jungle in a large valley surrounded by sheer, black cliffs. Regularly, envoys traveled between the two tribes and traded wicker baskets for sharp rocks.

Becoming acquainted with the tribes people was inevitable. Partially because she could apparently understand what they were saying, but also because everyone knew everyone in the tribe. There could not have been more than fifty people milling about, weaving things, repairing huts, or cooking Acklay. Since Spark could not give up her name to the tribes people, they often referred to her only as some meandering collection of garbled worlds, which roughly translated into Squinty the Mute Girl. Truly, there had never been a more prestigious name awarded to a silent outsider. Still, Spark was well regarded by the tribes people who spent most of their time in the village and largely ignored by the gatherers and hunters, who saw little of her. Her ability to boil water and weave baskets ranked up with the best of them.

Tonight was an important night, as Squinty could probably overhear the Tribal elders and Chieftain discussing how the Black Boulder Tribe had failed to send their trading envoy a few days ago. The Cheiftan speculated that the Acklay might have intercepted them, or some other fell beast. But one Elder still had a bad feeling, and could not help but feel this somehow related the famous Black Bolder prophecy. You know, the one about the fated return of their patron deity, He Whose Red Eye Pierces All and how Red Eye would lead them in the conquest of their neighbors. Although the elders disagreed, as that would mean the Black Boulders would soon wage bloody war on all surrounding tribes. It was also completely impossible as, per Leaky Trees theology, gods lived inside of trees and could not manifest outside of them.

Besides, the fighting men of the Black Boulders were outnumbered by those of the Leaky Trees by at least five to one and the Leaky Trees weren't even the largest tribe nearby. They would need quite the advantage if they were going to actually conquer anyone. So the Chieftain did dismiss the Elder's worries, and the whole tribe had a mighty laugh at that Elder's needless expense and the military deficiency of the Black Boulders.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

#Squinty #bestnicknameever

But Red Eye?

#uhoh

Could be something related to the darth. Could be nothing. Frowning, the slicer swung the filled water-pouch over her bony and muddy shoulder. It wasn't her concern now. She was going to take a risk and plunge into the jungles on her own. What she needed was out there. Somewhere. She could sense it.

Without any fanfare or tear-filled goodbyes, she slipped past the perimeter fence and into the surrounding jungles. She wanted to be well on her way by the time the sun set. She had hopes to make the wreckage of the centuries old colony ship before nightfall. If she hurried.

#buttheRedEye

Footsteps angled away from the colony ship. She'd take a quick detour to the rocky-tribe. #whatevs she had to do a little spying because if it was the bully droid. #gulp well, she'd have to work a lot faster.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

She didn't have to go very far to find the Black Boulders.

Her sudden pivot brought her to a patch of the jungle she might have completely avoided otherwise. One could question the likelihood of that ever happening, just as one could question the merits of "railroading." It would just be a futile endeavor in any case. So as it happened, there were five members of the Black Boulders hanging around idly sharpening spears and giving their bolas a couple test swings. Three were seated across from one another on felled tree trunks. One was keeping watch in the direction of the Leaky Trees village, and the final tribesman was off relieving himself farther away from the rest of them. These were not envoys- envoys did not carry spears of devilishly sharp stone or adorn themselves in Rancor hide armor.

They were waiting for a signal.

In keeping with the theme of railroading, one of the sitting tribesmen happened to glance up as Spark was trotting past. Even in the darkness, he could make out the intricate manner in which mud was caked on Finn's face. This was a member of the Leaky Trees! A most decorated water boiler, apparently. Why a water boiler was meandering about in the woods at this time of night was beyond them. All they knew was that if she reported this to her peers back at the Leaky Trees, this whole plan was a bust, and He Whose Red Eye Pierces all would feed them to the Rancor Of Ten Thousand Teeth, which would keep them from resting when they died. Or so the story went. The one who saw her immediately shot up standing, clutching his chair, shouting something in incomprehensible gobbledygook that probably meant something along the lines of "kill the nerd!"

He flung his spear at her like a javelin while his companions were still turning to face the intruder.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

Instincts made her hit the deck. In this case, 'the deck' was a mud drenched Forrest floor. A fresh layer plastered over her face as a spear wedged itself into the space she was just occupying. Some spit out of her mouth.

#ewwygross #railroadsarefunwithtrains

What the feth were the Boulder peeps #bbs doing attacking her? They were supposed to be on friendly terms right? Of course, she couldn't trust five days to pick up on all the cultural minutiae. She wasn't an anthropologist. She was still acting under the assumption that her cover wasn't blown. Even if she faced Razzle-dazz. #gulp even his sensor might not register herself as Spark. Maybe. She could use some force illusion on the eyes if she had to.

So, she did the pragmatic thing. Bony-limbs flew into the air in a universal sign of surrender. She picked up on some leaky leaf language and she tried it out in a halting, clicking tongue. "Leader take me to leaves."

It wasn't perfect. She just hoped her plan would work. And if the legend of red eye was #razzledazzle, her other plan would work. #starsImissshowering

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Spark Finn"]

To her credit, the surrender gave the leader who threw the spear (we shall call him Pogongo), pause. He yanked his spear from the ground and glared at Spark as his comrades came over and surrounded her. The one on lookout looked concerned and the one who had been relieving himself was just now stumbling over. Did Pogongo really want to kill the sad, poor water boiler? It didn't even look like the Leaky Trees were feeding her enough. Then again, Red Eye had been very clear with what to do with the Leaky Trees Tribe. If only she had left sooner, then maybe she could have been a concubine. Or maybe a water boiler. Actually, the Black Boulders were quite utilitarian when it came to personnel management, so Squinty could have easily been both. Take it in shifts and all that.

In the end, it didn't really matter. Red Eye wanted them all dead and Red Eye would kill all of Black Boulders and find someone else to worship him if they failed to do so. If it would be someone else to kill the Leaky Trees if they refused, then it might as well be them. Pogongo babbled some more base gibberish, which probably meant something along the lines of "all Leaky Trees must die," and then gave the customary Black Boulders war cry. The war cry sounded roughly similar to an overweight male Aqualish giving birth to a freighter. After a solid second it was complete, and Pogongo and his two friends attempted to fall upon her with much waving and jabbing of spears.

Oh, the humanity!

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

#abortabortabort

Invisible force bubble sprung to life like an exploding raindrop in reverse. It had enough force to knock all the bbs into trees, rocks, ground. Whatever was around. Maybe some of them were lucky enough to duck in time.

#fethfethfeth

There went her cover. Glasses came back on. So did her converse. But the mud and tribal clothes stayed. This was bad. Very bad. Without waiting for them to recover, she sprinted back toward the leaky tribe, though she wanted badly to disappear. Head to the downed colony ship. Why did she care about them?

She probably didn't. She cared more about facing red eye. Darth Koko was going to learn today. #gunlearntoday

Hopefully. Or she was going to pee her pants. Maybe she could just warn them and go...

And having run more than she ever had in her life, she sprinted back toward leaky tribe, hauling a bb spear with her. If any bbs pursued, she'd have to stop and deal with them. #Sparkstyle