Theed Spaceport

Light. Pain. Sound.

Senses slowly awakened as Jashin slipped in and out of consciousness, each period of semi-lucidity getting longer and longer, until, finally, he was blinking - fully awake. He was cold, and, turning his head, he could see that he lay on his back in a pool of water. He was at the base of the falls that sat at the edge of the spaceport in Theed. The falls. Why was he at the falls? His head turning, his gaze turned upward, the vast cliffs above him making him dizzy. It was then, cutting through the haze that settling on his mind like a fog, that he remembered. He had fallen, fallen from the that high up. Doing...what? He turned his head again, wincing as it protested, regarding the pain in his left hand. It was not injured, though. Instead, he regarded the egg sized orange stone that he had stolen from the Royal Palace - clutched in his hand in a death grip. Releasing it, the muscles in his hands grateful, the egg rolled out of his hand to fall into the pool that he laid in, sinking a few inches before coming to rest on the stones below.

Attempting to move, he hissed in pain as the bones in his legs, right arm, and the right side of his chest screamed out.

He looked down at himself. He was dressed in the armor that Poppi had loaned him. Its black color, combined with its sensor baffling ability, is probably why no one had seen or spotted him. Not to mention he had to be at the extreme outskirts of the spaceport. Due to it, though, he couldn't visually check his wounds. How many bones had he broken in his fall? How many hours had he spent healing? He had been supremely lucky that he had worn the helmet - had anything damaged his heart or his brain, his healing factor wouldn't have engaged. Still, though, he had to move. Standing, very slowly, he gritted his teeth to keep from screaming. Oh, he had definitely broken his bones. And while they had healed enough for him to put pressure on, they most certainly were not done mending yet. Bending down, picking up the egg, Jashin secured it in a pocket of his utility belt, before - tentatively - lifting his arms to check that his weapons were still in place, finding that they were, if only thanks to magnetic holsters. His hands coming to rest on his helmet, he disengaged the seal, throwing it to the side, where it disappeared from sight as it sank into the water. Moving forward, slowly sloshing through the water to the bank of the pool, he clamored up to dry land.

Breathing heavily, he rested for a moment.

He could see the edge of the spaceport. Maybe a hundred meters or so in front of him. Closest to him was a lightpost, under which a vagrant in robes had taken to selling...something. Slowly, he half walked, half stumbled towards the creature. Who, upon nearing, turned to regard Jashin: of course, seeing the black clad and rather dangerous looking individual, it gave a squeal, before attempting to run off. Jashin was slow on the draw, but, thankfully, he didn't have to be quick - the alien, whose species was unknown to him, was frankly horribly gangly. His blaster coming up, his thumb flicking the setting to "stun" the blaster pulsed, a stun bolting striking the creature squarely in the back, making it fall over on its face.

Approaching it, Jashin bent down and dragged the creature back to its impromptu stand (it was selling some kind of local fruit, Jashin thought. He recalled seeing a few of the odd looking blue orbs at the base of the falls). After concealing the alien, well, as much as he could, he looted the creature of its heavy robes before donning the clothes for himself, pulling them tight around him, and securing the garments hood over his head.

The garments reeked of the creatures bodily fluids and sweat. But, thankfully, the odor combined with jashin's shuffling and limping, made for an altogether good impression of a vagrant - and, as he got closer to the spaceport proper, sentients gave him a wide berth, wrinkling various orifices as they passed. Fifteen minutes or so had passed, and he already felt much better. His walk was steadying, and his bones hurt far less now. Coming to a comm booth, he entered, shutting the door behind himself, placing a call to poppi. They exchanged short words, and exiting the booth, jashin slumped down on a nearby bench, closed his eyes, and rested...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of an approaching speeder stirred Jashin out of sleep. This section of the spaceport was practically abandoned, much to his luck. As the speeder drew close, he could see the pair - Poppi and Sinina - scanning for him, and he drew the hood of his garment back briefly, before pulling it forward again. Landing, Poppi practically half fell, half leapt out of the speeder, various words of concern on his lips. He got as far as "Jashin are you -" before Jashin's hand came up, gripped Poppi's throat, and lifted him into the air, to slam him into the side of the comm booth. "Poppi, Poppi, Poppi. Where to begin? The faulty line thrower, or the alerted guards?" Asked Jashin calmly, his skin edging into silver as Poppi choked. Between gurgles, his heels drumming a beat against the side of the Comm booth, Poppi grated out a few words. "Not...my...fault!" Needless to say, this was less than satisfactory. Another slam - and a line of green blood trickled down from the Zelosian's forehead. Jashin's hand flexed, leveraging alien strength - and Poppi's eyes rolled back into his head, his skin taking on a distinctively dark green tone. "A-Assat!" Poppi choked out. At that, Jashin's brow furrowed, and he loosened his grip. "What? I didn't catch that." Poppi, gasping for breath, his voice hoarse, repeated himself. "Assat! He made me do it. Al Massat!" For a long moment, Jashin held Poppi in place, before, after a fair bit of contemplation, Jashin set him down on the ground. Taking a knee, Jashin looked the tiny man in the eye. "Al Massat...is here?"

Poppi, massaging his throat, shook his head. "No, his men are, though. Didn't you wonder how Dante got you those boxes so fast?"

Jashin, his brow furrowing, rested his hand on his blaster. "Poppi, my father is a Jedi now. If that's your best excuse then you're good as de -"

"No, no!" Poppi squeaked out, his eyes on Jashin's hand. "Dante doesn't know about any of this. He just asked Al Massat - who is the head of the Internal Serenno Security now - to keep an eye on you. Well, when Al Massat heard Dante was letting you run around, doing whatever you want, he lost his karking mind man! Just LOST it. He got ahold of me, told me I was going to 'dissuade you' from causing too much trouble, or they were going to kill you. I mean stone cold just assassinate you man! So I gave you too big of a job, sub-par equipment, and sent you on your way. I never tried to kill you Jash - I was trying to protect you! Ask the girl, ask the girl!"

For a long moment, Jashin stared at Poppi, before, eventually he looked at Sinina questioningly. "Well? Is he telling the truth?"

And, if she read Poppi, she would realize that Poppi had nothing but love in his heart for Jashin. Indeed, he was terrified of this Al Massat - but that he had done everything in his power to ensure that Jashin lived, and, further, failed in the eyes of Massat, in order to appease the man. It was never part of Poppi's plan to alert any guards, or to make the winch fail at the time it did. These were likely caused by Al Massat in the first place.

"I thought thieves and pirates were tougher then that."

"Never trust a thief and pirate." Said jashin and Poppi simultaneously, albeit Poppi rather hoarsely. It was odd, perhaps, for an outsider looking in - many people valued trust, honor, and perhaps even bonds. But the criminals of the galaxy were largely motivated by profit. Nemesis' and age old foes could turn into mutual allies and the best of friends if they were paid enough. This held true for Poppi and Jashin. Jashin saw the potential, the wealth of knowledge, within Poppi. And Poppi saw the potential of Jashin to become one of the greats in the criminal world. The fact the two shared a bond closer to father and son, was secondary to this perception of profit and gains.

Shaking his head at Sinina's words, Jashin released Poppi, who fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Rubbing the back of his head, Jashin turned around in a circle, apparently trying to find some semblance of a center. Al Massat had his eye on him. Al Massat! That was...far less than ideal. Far, far less. But, then, he didn't think he was going to make any friends during this entire ordeal. Taking up the trade of a pirate wasn't the the kind of thing you did if you wanted to be on peoples good side. So, really, had anything actually changed? Zordo the Hutt was still after him. And Zordo had - at least - just as many contacts and resources at his disposal as Al Massat did. If not more, considering Zordo didn't have to go through red tape and bureaucracy. If anything, this was validation, validation that the path he was on was frightening to people who knew his family - that knew of his family's potential to become heroes and monsters. Turning to Poppi, Jashin rather unexpectedly helped the man up to his feet. "I forgive you. In exchange for that forgiveness, you're going to uphold the original deal. In full. You will teach me everything - and I mean everything - you know about this business."

Poppi, somewhat flabbergasted, went slightly pale at that. "B-But...Al Massat!" He spluttered.

"Is ultimately inconsequential. I'm already wanted by Zordo the Hutt, and he's already tried to kill me. I get why you did what you did, ok? But the felinx is already out of the bag. You and I both would be better off out from under Al Massat, Zordo, and anyone else's thumbs." Jashin said patiently, drawing his cloak around him a little tighter as a landspeeder drove past.

"You're...really committed to this, aren't you. You're really going to do it." Poppi said, still a little awestruck.

"Before we were force users, before we were Counts and royalty, before we were weighed down by codes and creeds and rules and obligations - before all of this, my family was a family of bandits and pirates. We had no cares, no curses, no allegiances. Only freedom, to go where we wanted, take what we wanted, do what we wanted. I'm going back to that. Because those ways, the old ways, as far as I can tell, are far superior in the long run than anything else my family has achieved or endeavored to do. So...yes. I'm doing this Poppi. And I need your help to do it, ok? I need you, really need you, on my side - as a partner, and a friend." Jashin quieted at the end, Poppi and Jashin staring at each other, before, slowly, Poppi extended his hand. The two shook, and, finally, Poppi spoke.

"Deal. I'm in - all in, no tricks. We need a ship, first and foremost." Poppi said quickly, efficiently. Furtively looking around, he leaned in whispering. "We're probably being watched even now."

"Probably." Mused Jashin, his own eyes scanning the spaceport. "The ship I have. Getting it up and running is another matter altogether. It was one of Zordo's, a YKL Nova Courier. Got blown out of the sky, and crashed into a lake in the Lake Country. I have the parts to fix it. Between, me, you, and my R8 - I think we can get it space worthy."

"Then we should move with haste." Poppi urged. "They had beacons on your old scout ship. They won't be able to track you now. The second you try and leave the planet, they'll attempt to kill you."

"We'll be ready for them." Jashin said, confidently. Turning to Sinina, he put an arm around her waist, pulling her in close. "Sinina. Sona. I'm sorry if I made you worry. I'm fine. Really. This Al Massat, though...he's a dangerous man. I'm going to travel with you and your group. But, I'd like you to rejoin the others, for your safety - and for my peace of mind. Zordo and Al Massat have it in for me, and me alone - er, and Poppi, now, I suppose." He was quick to add, when Poppi cleared his throat. "I'd prefer that you and the rest stay off their lists."

"And what of my peace of mind? You expect me to feel at ease knowing the only thing watching you back is that? I would feel better knowing someone had your back that didn't turn into....well.. I would say a little girl at the sight of a Zabrak; but I, a little girl, was even brave enough to face down a Loki...I know you've only seen me at my worst... I am truly not that useless all the time... I was wounded and recovering.."

Jashin frowned at that, and jerked his heat at Poppi, who raised his hands and walked back to the speeder. Turning back to Sinina, Jashin struggled for words before, finally, deciding on what to say. "This isn't about your ability. I have faith in your ability. This is about my ability. I was trained in dueling, in combat - hell, I've fought in wars and survived. The fact I almost died is a wake up call; I'm out of shape, and out of form. I've got to stop relying on other people, like Poppi, my father...even you...if I'm going to survive. Hell, if you hadn't been there in the space port with that bounty hunter, he might have killed me. I have to get back to where I was, my way, if I'm going to survive or be any kind of asset to your group."

Jashin nodded at the speeder behind them. "Now...let's go. We'll drop you off back at the Inn. It's not like I'm going into battle or anything - not right now or anything."

"A confession... You want faith in abilty... talk to my Mother.. My sister. They are the ones trained to be assassins, Nightsisters. I possess but a fraction of their ability, their level of power."

For a long moment, Jashin stared into her eyes, absolutely lost as to the point she was trying to make. Maybe it was a cultural thing. "Well, uh, I'm not exactly the pinnacle of my family, so...why should I care?" He trailed off, casting a look over at Poppi, who shrugged slightly.

"Kill you? Maybe if you weren't there he would have killed me..."

Jashin rolled his eyes - many times, as if he had a bad case of spirit possession - before simply scooping her off her feet, walking over to the speeder, and depositing her in the back seat. Kissing the top of her head, he climbed over into the passenger seat, signaling Poppi to take off. "Let's just consider us even, then? Don't have to dole out any life debts or anything now. Not that I'm about to get back into one of those."

The speeder lifting off, it tilted on its axis briefly, before engaging its repulsors - heading back into the city.

Adrien nodded with a faint smirk but otherwise expressionless face after Silas' initial statement. "There always is." His smirk disappeared as he looked around the hangar bay along with Silas, for the first time in a long time he felt at a loss for words. He pulled his coat back and put his hands on his hips and looked down at the ground where he spotted a small piece of glass with a down turned label. He kicked it around a little trying to turn it over but couldn't. So he instead knelt and picked it up to examine it then stood once again with glass in hand.

He eyes met with Silas' as the man spoke and then shifted down slightly before Adrien looked away and nodded once again, unable to speak as he was fighting the emotion that was boiling to the surface at the sound of her name. He remained silent for a several moments as he choked back the pain he looked around deep in thought at the man's last words. He wasn't even sure what he was going to say. "I don't blame you for what happened if that's what you mean. You followed me on a suicide mission, you took my friend out of that hell when she was hurt, and you came back and saved my life. As far as I'm concerned you're a part of this crew." He paused and looked at Silas directly. "That is if you'd like to be." He then shrugged and looked at the piece of glass in his hand, the label said Whyren's but there was something off about it and Adrien smirked once again, more genuine this time around.

Theed Spaceport, Naboo

Boarding Ramp, Wayfarer-class transport, the Midnight Shadow

She closed her eyes, internally cringing, before finally raising her head and looking up at him. He's so blasted tall, she abruptly thought, then snapped back to the problem. She knew Trent Weston could read body language. Knew that from the time she started getting to know him on board the Shadow. But she wondered whether that would be enough for him to figure her out. She wasn't as high up on the ladder as he probably thought right then. It was only dumb luck that she knew that secret code. So it actually gave her a sense of dread when she saw his reaction, and it showed on her face, along with the beads of sweat forming on her brow, despite the cool weather. His speechlessness actually frightened her more than anger would have. Her mouth opened, then closed, almost mimicking him at one point. Then the flat, cold voice, with one simple question that balanced so much of Erly's future with Adrien and the crew, and the blonde woman knew she was on trial now.

"No." Was her simple and honest reply, and her eyes were fixed on him. She kept her eyes locked with his as long as he would hold it. Even if she wanted very much to look away, but she was not ashamed. Afraid, yes. But ashamed? No. Not one bit. She did not regret using CorSec resources to aid these people. It was the least the governments could do, honestly. There was enough suffering in the galaxy, and truth be told, "If I have to use the resources at my disposal to help these people, this crew, again...wouldn't hesitate to do it again too."

She spoke softly, and gave the blue eyed man a weak smile, "Erly Ryzer, former analyst at CorSec."

Tilting her lips until her dimple made a deep impression on one side of her face, she went on, "And if you're wondering how a little analyst like me ends up having that kind of power or knowledge...well, it's because I listen, and never forget."

She gestured towards him, "Such as the fact you clearly have Republic military and probably navy training? You talk like someone who's been through the mental discipline instilled in pilots, oh, and I recognize some of the manoeuvres you pulled. Just something I've observed. It's what I do. Annnd, I'm no longer CorSec. I was burned. You know what I mean, right?"

It was something she only just now realized. That was why they had cut off contact with her on Juvex, and pulled out any and all resources save whatever she managed to squirrel away for herself. She must have been compromised somehow, or she had given herself away. And just like that, she had been cut off from everything she knew all her life; her home, her husband...it wasn't until she felt the strain of muscles on her face that she realized she was looking angry and hurt, and she returned to a lighter expression, looking once more to Trent. It all hung on him now. "Though I was an analyst, I participated in a few cover missions, and the last one where I was abandoned by CorSec, was on Juvex. That's where I met Draykon. I was supposed to undermine the slave trade of select cartels and return. It was simple enough. Something went wrong, I don't know what, but I was burned and left behind. Now I have nothing, no purpose. Draykon gave me one. I learned that passphrase because I was observing an exchange between a Republic spy and an official on Corellia once. It made no sense to me back then. I mean, I sort of guessed, but I wasn't really sure until just now. So, no, you're not a mission...you're all I have."

That wasn't entirely true, she realized in the back of her head. What about her husband? She couldn't for the life of her recall any distinguishing feature of his, but she was married. It was something to think about later...if she remembered to think about it. More important right now was whether or not Trent bought anything she said, or thought she was lying. As far as she was concerned, she had said nothing but the absolute truth to him. But would it be enough? "I was burned by the organization I was loyal to, with no explanation, no clue as to the why. So I owe them nothing for leaving me to die. Look at me, Trent. Am I lying to you? Do you feel like I've been less than candid with you and the others?" She bit her lower lip, then spoke, "Do you unload everything on people you've newly met? Or show off your entire load of baggage first chance you get?"

*Sin sat there, her fingers gripping the armrests of the speeder tightly, never had she seen such a poor pilot on Naboo. She looked at Raven slightly worried if they would even make it to where ever they were going. Then Raven said she didn't have an idea. She was surprised.*

I... But.. Raven. You know everything..

*She stopped and bit her lip. She hadn't even realized that the only reason Raven had left the inn was because of her and her concern. She felt a bit bad. She would definitely have to thank and apologize Raven afterwords.*

It was dark.. I felt colder then I ever have... I couldn't breath...

*She closed her eyes, stopping to think as she spoke. Frowns and wrinkles creased her forehead as she thinks deep and hard. She opens her eyes, jumping out of the speeder before it even stopped moving. She looked this way and that. She felt like she was supposed to be here, but why. She pushed past people, much unlike her, left, right, left again. She even shouted "Out of my way!" at one particularly stubborn man that wouldn't move out of her way. The red glow of the sith runes slowly coming into view on her skin. She enters the main part of the space port and suddenly without warning she stopped. Everything melted away, she didn't see the other people, she didn't see the droids, animals, even Raven, everything disappeared from her sight. Except the starships, new, old, nubian, corellian, others. One word escaped her lips "Space." Her head spun around very suddenly to look directly at Raven.

Do you fly? Ships I mean? Steal one? Up. Way up.

*Sin walked towards one of the ships, she just picked one and walked, as she went, she was already fumbling through her crate of belongings, picks, lock breakers, she knew she could open a ship. Could she fly it? Would Raven fly it? They had to go up. That was all she could think of. She every now and then looked to see if Raven was following.*

I have lock picks even..

*She said as she started to look back where she was going, and, oof, runs right into a man that was a fair size bigger then she was, she suddenly felt very small. She looked up at him, her dark grey skin almost looked to become a shade paler then it had before. She bites her lip softly as she stepped backwards. Her small slender grey hands moving towards her belt hanging off her right hip.*

I mean... um... Hello there, big fella...stranger... muscles...Raven?

*Sin looked up at the man, she was slightly intimidated by his size. She had gotten a close up encounter to just how muscled the being was. Her mind instantly going to how strong a paralytic dose would be needed to incapacitate him. Poison? Sleeping darts? She heard Rave speak up behind her, making her jump slightly, almost forgetting the Jedi Master was there. She blushed lightly. She was left in awe at how easily and calmly Raven had handled it. She cursed herself again for panicking and going straight to plans b, c d and e before even trying plan a. What was wrong with her today?*

I...Um... Wow. Raven. You are wonderful.

*Sin beamed as she nodded and bowed respectively. Her steps taking her backwards from Raven and closer to the side of a ship she couldn't take her eyes off of. It was a beautiful and shining vessel. It almost called to her. She put her hand on the side of it and it felt electric as her hand ran on its smooth side. She walked to the boarding ramp, popped a small panel open and instantly her mind went to her sisters words. She grabbed the pins and wires, working with practiced hands. Soon enough the boarding ramp lowered, even before it was fully open Sin was racing up it and inside the Modified D-Type Stealth Freighter.*

Whomever had this ship made was not a tradition Nubian. It had weapons, which most D-Types lacked. Better shields, Smuggling Compartments, and upgraded shields and engines. Though. Sinina did not know this.

Cockpit. Right.

*Sin raced down the main hall. Stopping when she reached the cockpit she looked around. She figured Raven would be soon behind her. She looked left, then right. Flying. Right. Did Raven know how? How hard could it be! She moves towards the pilots seat. She bites her lip hard, it hurt. She flicks this switch. That switch. Nothing. How bout that one over there? A few lights came on. She growls softly, the runes on her skin getting more visible. Frustration mounting. What if what the force showed her was too late? How hard could this be. She flicks more switches and moves dials. Come on! She sighs deeply, slumping into one of the 4 chairs.*

Its hopeless...I can't fly...