Thalassia: Slavers Bay

They had landed a few clicks out from the slavers compound.  The hope was that they could be talked out of their current line of work.  If not, intimidated.  And if that didn't work, there was the last resort.  The Galactic Alliance's reach didn't cover the Outer Rim, so sometimes an imperfect solution was required for an imperfect world.  From what she could tell, it was about mid day on the planet.  The slavers had a nice setup.  She was curious how they would react to their visit.

"What do you think the chances are of them going quietly?  Or using the slaves as hostages if it comes down to the wire?"

The Jedi Master surveyed what they could see and looked to his prize student. "You know how this operates.", Jase said matter-of-factly. There was only one reason he and his students were ever asked to investigate these types of things. They operated under Jedi principles that the normal Order didn't adhere to.

They were the ones that were needed when blood needed to be spilled without hesitation if it came to it. Naturally, the best outcome would be a peaceful resolution, but these types often required a firm hand.

"If they fail to comply, we wipe out this operation."

Master Denora seemed sure of how this was going to end. She didn't doubt it either, when did they ever manage a political outcome? Despite being Jedi, she found that their academy was placed out in the middle of nowhere for a reason.  Sometimes she wondered if the council was just trying to keep his influence from the rest of the order and placated him with his own academy. "I don't think the outcome of this was ever in doubt. Any operation like this in the Outer Rim or Hutt space never goes quietly." Nephtis heaved a silent sigh as she followed Fata down a small cliff face  She sometimes wondered how her life lead her here, among humans and Jedi.

The compound wasn't overly large, nor did it seem to have significant defenses. The majority of the region seemed to be rather rocky with the compound nestled among the small mountains and hills. A natural river seemed to flow through the compound, splitting it in two.  The left half was smaller and led into the mountain face. It was all gated off when compared to the rest of the compound. The opposite building was much larger with some sort of overhang that rang the length over the majority of the complex. If she had to guess, it was to hide it from orbital scans and recon. She saw very much in ways of patrols or resistance. Even had an official looking entrance. "After you!?" Nephtis motioned.

"After you!?" her padawan suggested to her, which Fata quickly followed up with a rather girlish giggle. A slight wave of her hand caused edge of the cliff she was standing on to shift slightly, robbing Nepthis of her balance as she began to fall.

"You really should watch your footing, it would be unfortunate if you injured yourself so early on in this mission." She would also be in a decent bit of trouble if she could manage a simple landing strategy from this far up. After ensuring she was a good ways down, Fata followed, going into free fall with a sheer rock wall behind her. By the time she slowed her descent as she hit bottom, Nepthis was giving her a rather disgruntled look as she straightened out her robes.

As they approached the entrance, she found that they weren't their only visitors today. Being led to the entrance was a male, his eyes were covered in a thick bandage, though he seemed completely at ease as he walked, not missing a step as he passed through the doors. She could sense the force around him, though he didn't seem to fit the bill very well. Then again, if outer appearances were everything, neither did she. "Don't remember them talking about any other Jedi being here."

As he sat down in front of one of the Slaver traders Tyrfing took a moment to appreciate how surprisingly civil this particular fetch quest had gone so far. His client had paid generously upfront, customs had no reason to hassle him, the journey to the Outer Rim was painless, his reception upon arriving at Thalassia was adequate... if not for the slaver internal patrols watching him like loose credits in a Coruscant slum this may have been a pleasant excursion.

After exchanging what counted as pleasantries to the trader, Tyr decided it was time to get down to business, "As I was informed you were aware, I am here for the human your operation identified as 'Ro'hk' from the Corellian freighter you intercepted just over a week ago." He let the words linger in the air, feeling a slight disturbance in his surroundings, as he cautiously produced credits from his travel pack. The Thalassian eyed it carefully yet approvingly.

"So I am aware, Miraluka. I have already sent for your slave-man, he should be arriving shortly. Are you certain I cannot interest you in any other acquisitions? While he looks fit for labor surely you could use... companionship, no?" Despite lacking eyes the Miraluka was no stranger to the ebbs in the Force that belied pleasure... even if this was a perversion of it. But it was not his place to judge the sentient.

"I do quite well for myself, thank you," Tyrfing began as he stood, prompting a few of the guards to shift nervously for a moment as they watched him closely. The Miraluka could feel the approach of his human deliverable, still alive and strongly sedated but somehow conscious, "Though if you would inform the spaceport of my impending arrival it would be greatly appreciated."

So far, so good.

He wasn't the first one there and he could tell he wasn't going to be the last either. Wall to wall in the small compound comparatively were slaves, and now he was one of them. Ro'hk wasn't really surprised, looking back on life that was precisely what he was, from his time in the depths of the slums of Coruscant to his time under the imperial army he was only ever obeying. He exhaled a breath into his two hands clasped gently together, in his own corner of the cell he was cradled attempting to work the warmth back into his fingers.

The difference between him and the rest of that room was the fear that was across so many of their faces. They didn't know where they would be in another week and the fear of whatever was shown across their receding expressions. He aimed to identify the species of some of the incarcerated beings there; kubaz, more then a handful of twi'leks but a majority of them were human. An assortment of drones could be seen just past their cell scuttling about from place to place as the slaves were prepared for auction or shipped out in droves directly after their purchase. He himself couldn't outwardly express his indifference properly, quietly no louder then a whisper on the wind, it calmed him in its assurance. The choked sobs of the twi'lek daughter holding to her mother though was sobering against the feeling and replaced its calming with a downtrodden feeling instead.

"Don't cry, everything will be alright, you will see home again soon." He offered warmly to the small child.

"Says you, human. Were slaves now, we're never going home." The mother responded deftly with the same twinge of a sob hidden in the strength she attempted to muster for her child. These were the moments that he disliked most, the feeling of the emotions on the beings around him, the way they played at his heart strings and made him feel, even when he didn't want to. Slowly he rubbed the warmth back into his hands. The daughter cradled in her mothers arms, gently sobbing, but watching him through teary vision. He breathed a warmed breath into his hands before slowly removing the top most one. The girl looked on with a confused expression as the weird man slowly revealed the small creature in his hands, a butterfly that when revealed to the open air took to stretching out its wings.

"I have to go, would you mind taking care of my little friend here?" He smiled again warmly to the small child who was now looking on in awe as the small but beautiful insect took to flying about the room. It had strong bluish pink wings that contrasted the drab dull of the room. It landed on the small girls cheek earning at first a surprise from her before the small creature took walked across her cheek eliciting a small giggle instead.

"Ro'hk?" A guard called from the door in a barkish gruff tone. He stood up promptly stretching the exhaustion from his joints as he did so.

"Thats me." He said in the next series of being lead from the cell.

Cavo Knowl leaned back against the entrance frame of his freighter’s open loading ramp, legs outstretched as he let out a long yawn before lowering his head to doze off. The trip to Thalassia had been long but uneventful, and Cavo was grateful for it; the less complicated a transport gig was, usually the more profitable it was as well. Trips to a known slaver outpost rarely seemed so easy.

Opening his eyes to look at his surroundings, Cavo stared ahead at the large, steel wall of the spaceport’s hangar. Upon his descent into port, Cavo couldn’t help but notice all the scattered, isolated hangars, like enclosed fortresses across the landscape. “Typical of slavers,” he thought to himself. “Always having to keep customers under close guard for their cozy little business.” Cavo glanced over at two Thalassian guards stationed at the bottom of the loading ramp. “Well at least they know how to keep their visitors company.”

Transporting people to certain places, much less to a slaver outpost, was not usually the type of work Cavo felt comfortable with. But his current client, a somber, mysterious Miraluka, paid a decent price for his services. “Well, he certainly hasn’t said anything suspicious yet,” Cavo reassured himself, closing his eyes again. “I can usually tell by the look in a client’s eyes if they’re double crossing me. So if he doesn’t even have eyes, that means he’s okay, right? Or does that mean he’s just going slit my throat in my sleep…”

Cavo’s random thoughts were interrupted by the loud chuckle of one of the guards. Cavo turned his head to see them both staring at him with amused expressions. “Can I help you, friends?” Cavo inquired sarcastically. “Six,” one of the guards grunted in reply, looking at Cavo’s holsters. “You have six blasters in your holsters. What’s wrong, little man? You need six blasters to hit a single target?” The other guard let out a prolonged, high pitched laugh in response. Cavo casually rose to his feet, adjusting his awkwardly heavy belt, accounting for each pistol. “Well, you know how it is. Always have a back up – or five,” he answered.

The conversation was then interrupted by the beep of a comm device on the laughing guard. The guard composed himself and turned away to answer, muttering a few sentences before turning to Cavo. “It looks like your traveling companion has concluded his business at the trading site, blaster man,” he said, holding back his laughter. “He is on his way back to port.” “Great!” Cavo replied. “I’ll just wait back in my ship, then.”

Everything seemed to be going well. It was perhaps the easiest gig in the Outer Rim Cavo had ever done. “This is good. Everything is good. Right?” Cavo asked himself with cautious optimism.

Too many players on the field...

Jase looked over everything, the slavery had quite the operation. Even if it wasn't a Jedi they had, the unknown slave was definitely Force Sensitive. And there were buyers here.

He closed his eyes and thought quietly while his students waited. A plan needed to be formulated. "Fata, Nephtis, hide your lightsabers and display your blasters." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a first aid kit, but more customized that one would normally find.

Looking to Fata, he pulled out a hypo and reached out, tearing her top to reveal even more of her cleavage. "That should distract them during your conversation. You've just bought them a rare prize."

He then injected himself with the hypo and handed his own lightsaber over to Fata. "You have ten minutes. Then we close this operation down.", he said, before slipping into unconsciousness.

When being asked to hide her lightsabers, which she had two, each with a more t shaped handle, she glanced down her own body not seeing any easy way to hide them.  She didn't fit in with the general Jedi uniform, finding robes to be too cumbersome.  She wore boots, each with a dagger hidden in them, a pair of mock-chap form fitting pants, a few belts where she had her lightsabers and other weapons hang from, and a sleeveless top.  She took one of the packs she was carrying and emptied it onto the ground.  It had simple stuff, a few grenades, some rationabars, and a random stuffed Nexu.  She eyed the stuffed animal before tossing it to Nephtis.  She stowed her lightsabers, and put the pack backer where it was originally stored on her lower back.  Before she could do much more, Master Denora took her top and tore it a bit, accentuating her décolletage a bit more than she usually did herself.

"You have ten minutes. Then we close this operation down." Master Denora told her before falling unconscious, .  Fata barely caught him before setting him on the ground.

"You know, I really liked this top." Fata said with a sigh before picking up her grenades and attaching them to her belt, and sliding her blaster forward into the spot where her lightsabers used to bounce against her hips.  I also expect you to keep that Nexu safe, you don't want to know what happens if you don't"  Fata warned, adjusting her top further and ripping the material more to look better and not so uneven and rushed.  When she was done moments later, her top  showed a bit more than just cleavage.  "Like he knows what sexy is, let's get going."  Fata said as she motioned for Nephtis to carry Denora.  IF they had more time, she probably would had made some sort of skiff to drag him on.  

When they got to the complex, guards approached them, raising their guns.  "What is your business here?"  Fata replied with her signature smile, stretching her arms behind her back to accentuate her breasts.

"We caught the assassin and Jedi Master, Jase Denora.  We've come to make a deal with the Blood Priest ."  Fata spoke, pulling out his lightsaber and igniting the purple blade, doing her best to look awkward with it as she handled the weightless blade.  Despite this, she could feel the history in the blade and understood why Master Denora liked it.  Nephtis dropped the body before them with a loud thud.  They looked slightly skeptical, but they seemed to be paying more attention to Fata's assets and the purple blade than they were to the pair of them and the unconscious body.

"And expect us to believe you took down the master assassin, just the two of you?"

"There were more of us before.  Those who survived learned that I don't like to share."  Fata said a serious tone that was uncharacteristic of her.  "Now, can we do business now, pretty please."  She asked in a much more happy tone than she was using earlier.  She could sense their intentions, and little to do with the prize she was presenting them and more of her herself.  

"Fine, this way.  Stick close and don't wander."  The man spoke, motioning with his blaster.  Nephtis lifted the body up again with a little exasperation, and then followed Fata's lead.  The guards spoke over the radio as they entered the building, more guards joined them as they were lead through the complex.  They were ushered into a larger room, a deal of some sort was already going through to the man she saw entering the building earlier.  Their business seemed to be concluded and were getting ready to leave.  The pair of Fata and Nephtis were introduced as they were ushered forward.  Nephtis yet again dropped the body to the ground, this time though, in front of who they believed to be the Blood Prince.  he didn't say a word as one of the guards caught him up on who they had brought and that they wanted to deal with him.

"That's quiet the catch you got there, for two no name hunters.  What do you want for him."  Even as he spoke, she found he didn't care what they wanted, nor did she sense any attraction to herself from him.

"Five aurodium ingots should cover the costs and troubles of catching him."  He laughed at her price.  She had doubted he would go for it when she thought of it, but it was go big or go home.  And Jase was a big catch, not many bounty hunters could take him, she couldn't think of one herself who could do it.  It would take quiet the unified force to try.  

"That could be arranged, however," He began as he stood up. "Fortune seems to favor me today.  The master assassin and two beautiful women?  One of your Chiss to boot.  You will all fetch quit the price."  He spoke, in a rather chipper tone.

"Ori'buyce, kih'kovid.  Ne shab'rud'ni!"  Fata spoke, she rarely spoke in her native tongue, but sometimes she enjoyed the cheekiness of it.  The Prince didn't seem entertained nor pleased to be spoken to in a language he didn't understand.

"She thanks you for your compliment, but urges you to reconsider her offer."  Nephtis interjected, though she had no idea what Fata had said.  She raised an eyebrow when she saw Fata casually wave her hand, followed up by drawing Master Denora's lightsaber from her belt, holding it out like an offering to the Blood Prince.  Though unseen, Fata had used the force to close the door behind them.  The guards were confused by this as their attention was drawn away from the group of Jedi and the door.

As Master Denora was giving out his orders, she was reminded yet again where Fata's personality spawned from as she watched Denora work. Nepthis stowed away her lightsaber, instead favoring a carbine blaster she had slung over her shoulder. She was also handed as stuffed animal and charged with protecting it. She stowed it within her robes and decided it best not to ask questions. Then within moments, Fata's clothes were torn to make her look more provocative and Master Denora drugged himself. Why he couldn't use the force to do that, she wasn't sure. Maybe he thought it wouldn't appear as real. From then on she followed Fata's lead, feeling exasperated as she was forced to carry Master Denora. He was a tall individual and weighed more than she would have liked to carry.

"Five aurodium ingots should cover the costs and troubles of catching him." Nepthis did the math in her head, that would average out roughly to one point five billion credits. With that, there wasn't much that they couldn't do. But when Fata replied in what she believed to be mandalorian, she knew stuff was about to hit the fan.

"She thanks you for your compliment, but urges you to reconsider her offer." She decided to interject hoping that maybe some persistence would afford them time or leniency. She noticed the door behind her closed, causing some confusion among the guards that were behind them. They were about two meters apart, and maybe 6 meters from her. She took a few casual steps back to correct that distance to five while keeping an eye on the Blood Prince.


OOC: Not too much for me to do really.

As the slaver staff brought in the slave he had requested Tyrfing felt an odd ebb in the Force. Despite the fact that there were many sentients in the compound with their own varying degrees of Force-sensitivity he was able to discern a particular mixture that put him on edge: several Force-sensitives accentuated by Kyber crystals.

"The starport has been notified of your impending arrival and your slave should be here any-" doors slid open to reveal the slave but that mattered very little to the Miraluka who had already sensed his presence well in advance. Despite the sedatives moving through his body he seemed relatively unaffected - conscious enough not to need any assistance. At least he wouldn't be dead weight. "moment... Is there any-"

"That will be all, thanks," the Miraluka replied hastily as he stood without ceremony and made his way over to the slave quickly. He felt a wave of emotion - pride or fury, it was difficult to differentiate - and knew they didn't have much time. "Come, I have a speeder waiting," he said to the slave, a hint of resigned worry in his voice - they needed to reach his speeder and make it out of there before some idiot Jedi raised hell and they were left stranded in the crossfire.

Ro'hk took notice of his surroundings as he was led through the halls of the compound. It was poorly kept though he doubted the conditions of the facility meant much to the band of misfit slavers. Eventually a final door opened revealing the product of his predilections in the form of a young man who shown impatience. If the Miralukas voice made it to him, he did not show it in the slight, warm smiling expression he held, a useless gesture to the sightless species. A face that he had seen what felt like a dozen times before, the younger man urged that he hurry yet he did not move.

Instead his attentions took in the surrounding room, its slavers and consumers and their banter. "Sorry friend, I would be a poor servant indeed to not properly introduce myself." He bowed before returning attent as he stalled for time.

"I'm not much but I promise to be as best of service as I can." He said in-descriptively while he continued to feel out the happenings of the facility. Indistinct, nuanced sensations deliberating at his cognizance. He knew he wouldn't have very long till the adept species in front of him caught on to his antics. It was already taking the brunt of his focus to deftly keep the wane of his consciousnesses at bay with his abilities. But still the quieted whisper in his head told him that more time was needed. A single glance around the space gave him just what he needed, a distance beyond where they stood now was another unassuming cargo ship whos insect like species were in talks with other traders and slavers. He stoked their tensions and the negotiations between the barely communicable species by slowly, slighting the small breach of metal that his abilities could feel at.

"What are you?" One of the other sentient slavers managed just before the smugglers blaster went off hitting him in the leg. Every person around instantly started at the sound of the blaster going off, the slaver doubled over with the pain in his leg. In an instant the man was tackled by a couple of the guards of the facility, all the while claiming it was an accident. No one saw the smirk that was on the disheveled slaves expression.

"Names Ro'hk." He said now that he had managed to buy some time for the other unknown presences that he could feel beyond his natural senses.

As the numerous dealings and distractions began unfolding in the facility, an invisible tendril of the Force snaked around the Blood Prince's throat and squeezed. It wasn't enough to kill, not just yet. No, this was the point where 'negotiations' began.

Jase's fingers on his right hand closed as he revealed his return to consciousness. Blue electricity crackled and hissed in his left hand as he rose, surveying the slavers with an emotionless gaze.

"You should have accepted her deal. She might have actually left me here. Upon decree of the Jedi Council and the Alliance, shut down this operation or we will do it for you."

The Blood Prince was unsettled to see Jase awake and standing at full height. He was a taller individual for a human, he was well over six feet while Fata herself barely stood over five feet five inches. Even Nepthis was taller than her, though her race was known to be on the taller end. When standing at full height, he could be rather freighting, when he wanted to be. The Blood Prince struggled to breathe let alone reply to the Jedi's demands. Despite his struggle, he kept up a good poker face as he choked on his arrogance for letting Jedi into the heart of his compound. Seeing their leader under attack, the guards no longer stood idle and opened fire. Fata launched two of them up against the ceiling, deflecting blaster bolts back at the rest.

Nephtis waiting until the moment was right, sprang into action as soon as the guards opened fire. Whipping her lightwhip out in a circle, she cut the guards around her in half with ease and reach. As quick of the saber came out, it was gone. They had the advantage in close range combat in this room. With all his guards disabled, quit filled the room again aside from a slight gasping sound on top of the light hum of a lightsaber.

If his reign was going to end so suddenly, he wasn't going to go down alone. he would be known as the one who killed Jase Denora and his Jedi. Reaching in his pocket as he started to feel light headed, he pulled out a custom thermal detonator with a fail-deadly trigger, which he held out as he let it drop from his hand toward the Jedi Master.

The grip on the Blood Prince's released, dropping him to the ground. At the same time, the thermal detonator stopped in mid air. Jase had reached out with the Force, using his practice in precision manipulation to stop the detonating switch from activating.

He held it there, keeping it disarmed as he looked back to the Blood Prince. His free hand reached out and his lightsaber flew to it. In a swift motion, the purple blade swung out and decapitated the Blood Prince with a hiss.

Jase turned his attention back to his disciples and floated the detonator to Fata. "Pathetic. Find a good use for this."

"Pathetic. Find a good use for this." Master Denora said as he handed her a thermal detonator. It was such a small but dangerous thing. It didn't just explode; it atomized anything within its range.

"Oooohh, you shouldn't have." Fata squeed slightly as she threw the thermal detonator and two of the guard she had been holding up against the ceiling. They collided against the door to the room, and with an explosion, almost all evidence of their existence was removed. Only took a moment after the explosion for an alarm to sound. The doors to the complex locked down, guards were informed, and anti-air guns were raised. No one was getting away.

"Oooohh, you shouldn't have." Nepthis grimaced, Master Denora really shouldn't have. You know, give the girl a thermal detonator, have a few laughs, what was the worst that could happen. Fata, Fata was the worst that could happen. In the end, she killed two people that she didn't really need two, and somehow set off some alarm with the explosion.

"Well, that went well. Search and destroy now?" Though, more than likely, they would be coming to them in the end.

"Names Ro'hk."

"Cute," Tyrfing replied as he fired up the speeder, "But let's not do anything stupid without thinking it-". The pitched squeal of alarms started to signal throughout the complex. Immediately, he could feel the tension of the slavers raise significantly. And these were not Imperials that would incapacitate and question. "Damn Jedi. Hold on."

With all the grace of a pregnant bantha the miraluka maxed out the acceleration that was possible on their speeder; although the slavers had weapons they didn't have training. They were lucky that they would be hard-pressed to hit the passengers in a small, moving vehicle. As they started to break from the complex the mechanical cry of turrets being raised echoed around them. Anti-aircraft turrets.

"So, good news, those turrets aren't made to obliterate speeders," Tyrfing shouted to the ex-slave over the cacophony of noise between the turrets and the blaring engine, "Bad news, they'll obliterate the ship we arrived on. You wouldn't happen to have a frigate laying around here somewhere, would you?"

At the spaceport hangar, Cavo finally gained the peace and quiet he had been longing for since landing. The obnoxious guards had stopped talking, and Cavo was free to relax inside the ship until the Miraluka returned and the job came to a close. Entering the cramped sleeping quarters in the corner of the freighter, Cavo wearily approached an outstretched hammock. Letting out a long yawn, he began slowly leaning back on his feet to fall back into long awaited slumber. “Finally, a little time to relax,” he exhaled. “Here’s to a nice, easy, uneventful, and profitable jo–“

Suddenly, the quiet was pierced throughout the hangar by the shrill, monotonous wail of security alarms. Cavo caught himself abruptly, staying on his feet.

“You have to be kidding me” he thought, his arms hanging limp at his sides.

The sound of shouting guards followed, with the sound of numerous voices and languages echoing off the walls as pilots and smugglers scurried in confusion and panic.

“This is a dream. I already fell asleep, and my shot nerves just gave me a nightmare. I’ll wake up soon and everything will still be alright – this whole job is still nice, easy, uneventful, and profita–“

Running, clanking footsteps rattled the mesh metal floor of the ship as the two guards stormed into the freighter’s cargo hold. Cavo composed himself and quickly opened the sleeping quarters door to meet his unwelcome company.

“It’s okay. It’s aaaall okay. This has nothing to do with me, right? It has nothing to do with the menacing blind guy I don’t know and transported halfway across the galaxy to pick up some random person of interest at a slaving outpost, right? All of this can still work. This is still a nice, easy, uneventfu–“

As Cavo stepped out of the doorway, the two guards that had been standing by the loading ramp abruptly stopped in front of him, blaster staffs pointed at him, armed and buzzing with energy. “Halt, blaster man! Put your hands in the air, now!” the left guard shouted, gruffly. Cavo discreetly unclipped a blaster on each side of his holsters before quickly jutting his hands toward the ceiling. “Hey! Hey! What’s the problem, friends? Nothing wrong here.” Cavo responded, an exaggerated stammer in his voice. The right guard carefully inched closer to his would-be captive, his staff pointed squarely at Cavo’s face. “I’ll bet this one has something to do with it,” he hissed, "all the comm chatter says the intruders are using Jedi trickery at the trading site. That Miraluka has to be one of them! Can’t be coincidence.” “You’re right! You’re right!” The other guard chimed in. “We’ll get double the slave price for cashing his partner in.”

“Oh come on guys, you can’t be serious!” Cavo retorted, slowly backing away, currents of the Force snaking through the air behind his would-be captors. “Look at me. Look in my eyes…that’s it, focus right here,” Cavo continued, nodding his head back to draw attention away from his belt. “Do I look like I’m deceiving you? Would a man with six blasters…six blasters, mind you…really team up with a bunch of light saber-wielding sissies? Seriously, that’s like a jawa trading in his sandcrawler for a nice bantha cruise with a bunch of tusken raiders. I’m just trying to get by guys, really…”

“Oh, that’s not possible pistol man,” replied the left guard, guffawing menacingly. “You are going to get on your knees now, or we’ll put holes in your knees and make you kneel. We’d really rather not harm the merchandise though, so if you don’t mind–“ Just then, two simultaneous blaster shots rang out behind each guard, laser shots burning between their shoulder blades and out their chests. The shots whizzed past Cavo on either side, as each guard dropped their staffs and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The right guard collapsed face down, a puddle of blood pooling around his body. The right guard barely caught himself on one knee, a look of confusion and terror on his face as he grasped his wound. “Who,” he stammered, “who…who…shot us? Wh–who would help this ridiculous…” The guard struggled to turn to see his attacker, glaring behind his shoulder. All he could see was two of Cavo’s blasters floating in the air, now pointing jointly at the guard’s head.

“Well, friend, I hate to break it to you, but I’m afraid I was half lying to you.” Cavo explained calmly, lowering his hands to his sides. “I actually have some Jedi training, just…you know, lightsabers. They’re such cumbersome weapons. Blasters are so much better.” With a final blast from his pistols, the guard crumpled dead to the floor. With a motion of his fingers, Cavo’s blasters returned in place to his holsters. He approached the guards’ bodies, pulling off any keys he could find before launching them out the ships loading ramp with a force push. “Well, guess I’m finding a speeder to meet up with my payday,” Cavo muttered to himself with a depressed sigh. “No way I’m leaving now with this old freighter. I was just about to give her a name too.” Cavo cautiously stepped out of the loading ramp, looking in either direction. “This could still be a nice, easy, only somewhat eventful, profitable…ah, screw it, this job sucks.”