New Vertica

It was too easy. Like a moth drawn to the flame.

Keeping her chin lowered, Mariah’s figure turned. Her face was shrouded, her stance was relaxed, her aura was calm. Suddenly so, that it should have been a dangerous clue. As she outstretched the Force to snake around the Jedi’s mind, though, she could feel his struggle to quiet the emotional flurry of this new information. Mariah judged his desperate eagerness would shroud the eeriness of her unforeseen willingness to aid him.

However, how does one plunge the soul of a light-sider into the bowels of Chaos? A puzzle for some, but Mariah needn’t any time to consider her options. There was a clear path; however, something about that path caused the woman to hesitate. There was a beat too long, silence filling between the two -- or rather an unspoken moment as the loud, bustling city continued onwards as though it was but another typical night. In that beat, though, her hesitance dissipated.

“Then we must depart for the place that she called home for all of those wasted years,” she said, the sharpness in her choice of words contrasted by her dulled, stoic tones. “There is an artefact she left behind that I must retrieve, and you will help me retrieve it, Jedi.”

She held her stance still for but a moment, ensuring the Jedi could fully process her instructions, before she took longer strides away from the Jedi. Yet again, she didn't turn to look back, but there was a sense of confidence that he would now follow her every move, always staying just a few feet behind. With a clear path and a destination now set and locked in her mind, she carved her way through the streets and towards the local hangar bay.

[ Serenity Sage A.K.A. Red | Warehouse | New Vertica | Nar Shaddaa ] Attn: @alvius & @rawkill

Red observed the woman with her head tilted to one side, as if studying an odd subject. Her guard was up, and she kept her thoughts, feelings and worries behind a mental shield of fire. It was a little trick she'd learned from another student at the base. Her face a placid mask now, she listened to the woman, who seemed to be trying to bait her or the Ewok into reacting. The woman had done something to the Padawans and Younglings, that much was without a doubt, but the danger was to give in to emotions here, not that it was bad to have them, but Red was so inexperienced, and Rawkill had his limits too, the girl was certain. They could ill-afford to falter or fail.

“They are friends,” said Red quietly, answering the woman evenly when spoken to, “please return them to us, and the bodies too. They are all people, not playthings.”

She sounded like she was gently rebuking a child, and Red realized how she sounded only after she'd spoken, but she nevertheless held her ground.

Jair followed her to her ship. As soon as he saw the ship, he knew space would not even be an issue. He really should invest in a freighter sometime. Flying around in a fighter constantly wasn’t the most practical thing, although his A-wing was very quick.he followed her inside, and then, she revealed her face for the first time. Just as she suspected, Jair stopped in his tracks. His heart skipped a beat. It was almost like seeing a ghost. This woman looked so much like Aria. A wave of melancholic longing gnawed at him, but then he was torn away from his wandering thoughts as the woman called out instructions to him. He shook his head to himself, trying to regain what small semblance of composure and normalcy he had within him.

“Y-yeah... that should be easy enough...”

He replied with a distant look in his eyes as he approached and took seat in the copilot chair.

“I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting... You remind...”

Jair stopped mid-sentence. Probably not the best thing to bring up the uncanny resemblance right now. For either of them. They were both grieving in their own ways. Besides, it would prove beneficial to focus on the task at hand. Jair let out a deep sigh.

“Right... Felucia.”

*This post and the post below by Mariah Shadows are continued here: boards.jedivsith.com/thread/369/felucias-open-orbit?page=14

As the shuttle landed, depositing the pair of travelers into the city proper Patrick can't help but nearly gag on the pollution in the Air. Oradin City had been bad, but nothing to this level. He almost wished for his TIE helmet and re-breather as he started to feel like he was loosing months of his life with every breath in and out. Turning to his companion with an only slightly forced smile he speaks up. Remind me not to follow strange women around anymore, it seems to just lead to lung cancer. With a laugh that makes it sound like he was only half joking he continues, gesturing to the cityscape before them. So where is this fine place you promised to take me? Full of rich opportunities and such I believe? Laughing again he knows he's going somewhere unsavory but at least there really was the potential for a payout. That is of course assuming this whole thing wasn't some elaborate ruse, which he still hadn't completely discounted.

“I am aware of the difficulties of life, milady,” said Red, drawing breath and embracing the Force around her, opening herself up to the Light in a way she never tried to before, “I was raised almost by myself as a baby on Raxxus Prime, then I came here when I was a toddler, until only recently, did I learn about the Jedi way.”

She could feel life, Light and Dark, all around her. Everyone had a bright soul, even the corrupt ones, but she could see them all clearly. She could see the men and women above her. She could see the bare restraint that Rawkill exercised on himself, and she could see the flame within herself. As she spoke she put her lightsaber away and drew out her massive power wrench. Tendrils of the Force reached out towards the Catwalks from herself as she began to weave flows and energy around every nut and bolt. She sought to loosen the holds on the platforms, and it took supreme effort to perform, but she would not be able to take the gunners down so quickly. She still needed to use a console...like the one to the side on the first floor. The control systems were there, and she recognized the type.

“I have met your kind, before,” said Red, keeping her gaze on the Sith, “you believe in hurting others because you were hurt too, but instead of embracing an inner calm, you sought vengeance. You sought to inflict more pain. Now you intimidate and threaten us with numbers and firepower. Think what you will, we are Jedi, and if I have learned anything from the Jedi, it is we need not fear even death.”

That said, she called on what little of the Force she could master and threw her wrench all the way to the controls on the first floor. The tool struck the console, and the catwalks above, the nuts, bolts and beams supporting them buckled and shook, destabilizing and keeping everyone on it busy trying to maintain their own balance.

That was her move, and she hoped the Ewok found this agreeable. She wasn't sure if she had been overstepping here. More over this was her limit. She was out of tricks if the Sith had anymore. From here on, it would be Red the Mechanic to fix the rest of the problems.

There was something to be said about the bond between the master and a Padawan. Though they only spent a short time together, there was something more to the raising of her status from Apprentice to an actual Padawan, despite her lack of deeper training. Red could feel, even with her exhaustion in the Force, Rawkill's conflict with the Sith. And though she couldn't channel even a sliver of the Force at the moment, her instincts warned her of dangers all around. Barely leaping out of the way of a blaster bolt, the crimson-skinned girl turned to look at a thug who blindly rushed her, seeing a small, frail youngster, and believing she was no match for him in any way.

She clumsily ducked another wild shot, and barely got her wrench out, clocking him hard enough to knock him unconscious.

“Stand back,” she said to the captives behind the door as she ignited her lightsaber, “I'm going to cut the door open.”

Taking a moment to regard the door and its structure, she found cutting it by its hinges was the fastest and easiest way to get the door open without making a mess or carving a hole through it. “Is anyone named Salen among you?” asked Red, looking for Meeri's brother, and hopeful that he was unharmed. She was worried that her friend would not take it well if Salen was scarred of deeply traumatized...well, there wasn't much hope of avoiding that, if the Sith's claims were anything to go by.