Mos Eisley

The Zabrak and hutt guards hustled Alaric through the deserted streets of the slave neighborhood. There remained a constant air of tension from his escorts as well as from the slaveswho cowered behind thin walls, their only protection from what had become a constant state of violence. He had learned more from the Zabrak that a popular uprising amongst traders, moisture farmers and free citizens in Bestine, the capital, had been a catalyst for the crises across the planet. While initially a conflict between the hutt overlords and the citizens of towns outside Hutt control, the Hutts then became vulnerable to rival criminal and rebellious parties within their own territories. This had led to near constant firefights in the cities as various factions fought for control of neighborhoods.

Their trip ended when they entered landspeeders at the edge of the slave quarter and were whisked to the hutt's stronghold. Alaric had expected to ride up to an auspicious palace so he was suprised when a signal from the landspeeders activated a a drawbridge that dipped their road down to a subterranean tunnel before sealing them underground. The speeders raced through the tunnel system before coming to a stop at a hutt checkpoint. Weequay, Rodian and Human mercenaries operated a pair of E-Web blaster cannons and hid behind blast shields.

Ushered into a makeshift throne room somehwere in the hutt's underground lair, Alaric was brought before the Hutt. He had surprisingly been allowed to keep his saber, though the level of security he had noticed in his quick inspection of the throne room made him feel as if they didn't expect him to use it. Among other things, he noticed at least one shield projector under the Hutt's throne.
Motta sprawled upon a luxurious throne, his slime ruining the precious silks that adorned it. Alaric expected that he had the silks changed daily in an audacious display of his wealth. Motta the Hutt had a purplish complexion and was of medium build by hutt standards, however what was noticable were the cybernetic implants on his head. It was unusual for a hutt to be trusting enough to undergo such a surgery, to allow himself to be at a surgeon's mercy. Alaric wondered what the implants controlled.
To the hutt's left stood an imposing Besalisk in heavy combat armor, his two sets of arms crososed across his massive chest.

As the Zabrak escort stepped away and retreated into the shadows Alaric bowed before the hutt. It hurt his pride to extend such pleasantries to such a deplorable creature, but Alaric had become pragmatic in the time since he awoke from stasis. "I thank you for the safe escort to your domain Motta. I am Alaric Lamar, jedi knight, to what do I owe the pleasure of your summons?"

The hutt bellowed with laughter. "How hard did you have to bite your tongue to say that Jedi?" The hutt laughed again as did some of his cronies. "I wished to offer you protection as thanks for the saving of my livestock."

Alaric's lip curled in disgust as the hutt described the sentients under his whip as livestock. "Truly fortunate I was there. Though I wonder why they were not under your protection."

"Do not insult me jedi!" Roared the hutt, bristling with indignation. "Those terrorist scum have destabilized the entire planet! I need every guard available to maintain order in my district. My slaves are docile and had never been attacked before."

Alaric was unwilling to be sucked into this, his mission was elsewhere to destroy a physical manifestation of the darkside. "I apologize, I meant no disrespect. I accept your thanks and only ask that you return my ship to me. I am on a vital mission on behalf of the jedi council and must continue on my business."

The hutt laughed and waved his hand dismissively. "All in good time jedi." 

The Besalisk unfurled his arms and reached for a button on his belt. Before Alaric could react paralyzing bolts of electricity travelled up from the floor and knocked the jedi unconscious.
Two Gamorean guards easily picked up the limp human from the ground and began to walk out of the throne room with him. The hutt's voice bellowed orders, "Have Dr. Toboggan fit him with a dermal explosive and have him sedated."

Alaric was forced to bow before Motta, to the jeers of his assembled cronies. The humiliation stung his pride and made his face and heart burn with frustration. He was finally allowed to rise by the Arkanian female and he once again found himself standing before the Hutt's throne. Motta to his credit pretended to barely notice the jedi and instead engorged himself on wriggling eels that he slurped down with gusto. The slave girls laying at the foot of the thrne tried to avoid the saliva and eel juice that was falling liberally from the Hutt's mouth.
"Enough with the pleasantries and honors jedi, that bow was far too long. I am quite important but you should not debase yourself to curry favor." The Hutt finally said with no small amount of irony. "Now that you have so willingly agreed to join my service..."

Alaric interrupted. "Every moment you delay Hutt, the greater the consequences that will befall you. The Republic and Jedi will notice my disappearance and they will raze this place to the ground." 

The Hutt waved at the Arkanian surgeon who quickly pressed an unseen trigger that sent Alaric debilitating waves of pain and nausea. The jedi dropped to his knees, breathing deeply to try to recover.

"You know nothing jedi. I have been here for over 300 years and many times have I seen jedi pass through this place. Never once has a jedi worked to bring their idealism here. Not once has a jedi tried to bring peace and equality to this savage place. Your ignorance of your own order does you a disservice. Now get off your knees, you embarrass yourself."
The words had some small measure of truth thought Alaric. He rose to his feet, still somewhat unsteady.
"In my service Jedi, you will bring stability back to this planet in a way that has never been achieved. You will stop the anarchy and bring stability back to the planet, and through my orders you will fulfill your duty to bring order to my humble slice of the galaxy."

"I will not help you." Said Alaric with defiance. Again he was subjected to dizzying pain that caused him to cry out.

"You are fortunate that there is not enough time to torture you into submission." The Hutt replied with disgust. "I could very easily kill you, but that would be a waste. You are needed now to track down the terorrists who attacked those poor defenseless slaves and ensure that they do not threaten those wretches again."

"Just.. like that.. you're sending me to murder." Alaric croaked out.

"You said murder Jedi, not I. Now begone.."

The large Besalisk guard led Alaric out of the throne room to his mission...

"You're about to become Motta's favorite possession, Jedi." Said the Besalisk. As Alaric had learned, the Besalisk's name was Kipth and he was head of the Hutt's security detail. The four armed alien held a pistol to the back of Alaric's pilot chair. Alaric had stubbornly refused to give up the Lambda Class Shuttle's ignition codes despite the implant induced torture. However in the interest of time, Kipth had relented and allowed the Jedi to pilot the ship on a short jump to an 'insurgent' base at the edge of the Entertainment District and the Gao neighborhoods. A noticeable observer in the area of the entertainment district might see the military grade shuttle heading towards Bogden Street with some haste.

Alaric refused to take the Besalisk's bait and remained silent. In response Kipth pressed the muzzle of the blaster forward into the back of the seat so that Alaric could feel it through the cushions. "Don't be so grumpy Jedi. This is real justice. They bombed slaves and you're not excited to deliver justice?"

Finding the sanctimony of the Hutt's guards unbearable, Alaric shot back, "Real justice would see Motta and all those who serve him punished just as severely for no doubt a litany of additional crimes aside from wanton murder."

"Take the wins the galaxy gives you. Tonight you stop terrorists, maybe tomorrow you'll try to bring Motta to justice, though I doubt it. There's no law on Tatooine, only the law of force and if you use force on us, then you'll be no better than we are. And if that happens, you won't be a jedi." Replied Kipth.

Alaric had no reply to that. There certainly was the insistence that he turn on these guards, use the force in underhand ways to escape his predicament. When he was forced to bow before the Hutt he had to suppress the urge just to kill the hutt and be done with it. He had to remember his training and center himself once more. The fear and chaos in the planet was having an effect on the jedi's connection to the light side of the force, if he did not remain committed to principles he was threatened to be drawn down by the planet's emotions. He briefly considered whether it would be better just to crash the shuttle into the ground, but he thought better of it.

Minutes later they were coming up on their target. The plan was for them to strafe the enemy's building's to sow confusion and then land in the street to unload the Gamorreans. They had loaded 15 of the imposing, pig-like creatures in the shuttle which was already beginning to stink with their particularly pungent odor. They were armed with deadly vibro-axes, no blasters which meant that Motta wanted them to get close and personal. Alaric wrestled with his level of complicity in what was sure to be a bloody and horrific night.
Kipth's data pad, plugged into the ship's console identified the 3 houses on Bogden Street on the targeting computer. 

Before Alaric pulled the trigger, activating the shuttle's fire-linked blaster canons, he considered what his Uncle Vrook would have done and he understood that he had already failed where many jedi would have resisted or escaped. Perhaps he was weak, he allowed himself to be used and offered up insufficient justification for his actions and the actions he would be taking. He was acting as a servant of the darkside in helping Motta.. Alaric pulled the trigger and the front of the  shuttle lit up with red flashes from the blaster canon. The Jedi's expert targeting at least limited the destruction to the roofs of the 3 enemy houses. The adobe structures' roofs exploded in a cloud of fire, dust and chunks of plaster. By this time Alaric had already turned the shuttle and begun the process of folding the ship's wings as it came down to land in the middle of the street.

The explosions and blasterfire had awoken the street, lights had begun to turn on and several people were already out in the street either fleeing or watching. The Lambda class shuttle touched down with a thud and Alaric hesitated a moment before hitting the loading ramp control, perhaps hoping to give the people more time to flee.. When the loading ramp touched down the Gamorreans surged forward, heading towards the burning remains of the three houses. The occupants were recovering and several began firing at the charging Gamorreans who shrugged off the blaster fire before charging into the 'insurgent's' ranks. Axes were raised and came down, lives were ended.

Alaric was content to remain in his seat, choking on the guilt of his actions when the buzzing in his head caused his body to go limp. Kipth had paralyzed the jedi and now his burly arms were lifting him up, to be carried to the edge of the loading ramp. The firefight outside had intensified as disgruntled third parties began to take shots at the shuttle, the gamorreans and anyone who was foolish enough to be caught in their sights. With a chuckle and a "Get in there jedi, deal some justice." the Besalisk threw Alaric down the loading ramp where he rolled to a stop on the sandy street, laser-fire pockmarking the ground around him. The buzzing in his head stopped allowing him to regain control of his motor-functions. It had been quite devious for the Besalisk to throw him into a situation in which his life was in danger, it had forced him to act. He drew his green lightsaber and deflected blasterbolts into the sky.

*The destruction caused was immediate, taking out several lives at once, though mainly gang members. Unfortunately, the troopers were too well-disciplined to go down that easily, but he was confident he had at least caused some small measure of damage. But they were up on their feet again, the flametrooper taking first aim at the rooftop.*

"Better bolt—"

*The command was cut short when he noticed Morgan's state. The sudden loss of multiple lives at once, coupled with those who went out rather violently, had taken its effect on the empath. She was no stranger to the sting of lives suddenly blinking out on the battlefield, but rarely was she witness to several at once. Add in the horrified screams of those who didn't die immediately and she was now in a minor state of trauma.

He grabbed her up in one arm, pressing her against him as he turned and dashed in the opposite direction the flames came from, leaping for the next roof. He then darted for one to his right and, once convinced there was sufficient enough cover, he lowered her to the ground, letting his weapon fall beside him as he held her face up, examining her.*

"C'mon, Morgan, stay with me," *he pleaded steadily.* "It's all external. Use your focus."

*Her emerald eyes remained blank for another moment or two before they blinked twice, light returning to them as she gasped softly.* "I was... I'm alright." *she declared after a moment, clearly still unnerved but far more alert now.* "That was... a lot to take in."

"I don't know how strong it is for you, but you'll—" *He paused, hesitant to complete the sentence, harsh as it sounded. Reluctantly, he knew he had to say it.* "... you'll get used to it. The sting of death is never pleasant, but you can at least learn how to take it in stride so as to prevent further death. Got it?"

*She nodded.* "Right." *She glanced over her shoulder before looking her father in the eyes again.* "We need to get back in there."

"We need to use our full strength. Need to make a statement." *Her eyes widened in understanding but she did not question it as he grabbed his weapon, stood, and led her back around towards the battleground, but approaching it from the opposite direction of the allied gang force, who had attempted to pick off fleeing enemy gangers before opening fire on the seemingly-uninjured troopers. Despite taking some losses, they were motivated by the blast that had dealt a serious blow to the enemy, though admittedly unsure how it had happened; some assumed 'Satt Aleet' simply had explosives on him, but otherwise didn't care and tried to capitalize on their blessing.*

"Lightsaber," *Aerandir instructed, as they peered from the roof a couple streets down.*

"But—"

"Use what you know. That whip won't be doing you any favors at this juncture, while you're still a novice in its use."

*Morgan grumbled but did not argue, even as Aerandir lined up his final shot with his rifle. He had to make sure his aim was true, eliminate the largest threat for close quarters combat at the moment: The flamer. The fuel tank... the target he needed to hit most... He fired off several shots, willing one or more to make their mark. If his aim was true and he was exceedingly fortunate, the reaction would whittle down more troopers, making it so that they didn't have to completely blow their cover yet, but he would settle for simply disabling the weapon.*

There was a short pause as the three Novas stared down the two Jedi. The NovaRiot trooper was the first to react, opening a wideband transmission from his commlink that would be picked up by every Novatrooper on the planet. Of course, it helped that they were all within the limits of Mos Eisley itself.

-NovaRiot
Code Seven, two confirmed. Repeat Code Seven, two confirmed.

These three would likely not survive the next few moments, but now every member of the First Order on the planet was aware there were Jedi in play. The sending of the transmission shocked the other two Novas into action. They were well drilled enough to know the futility of firing directly at the Jedi. The pair of them began pouring fire into the sand several paces in front of the two Jedi. The maneuver had been drilled with stone & other hard surfaces. While the shards & splinters of rock thrown up by the bolts would have been more effective, the molten sand blasted up toward the jedi was still something that couldn't be ignored. The NovaRiot used the covering fire to rush forward toward the jedi, but it would take him precious seconds to cross the distance. The two NovaLines were careful to keep their fire bracketed on the NovaRiot in order to keep from hitting him directly. His armor would be plenty to resist the molten blobs of sand/glass being thrown up by the blaster fire.