Private A Broken Relic

[Acaadi]

Acaadi had never stood under a canvas in rain as heavy as this. There was something oddly satisfying about standing in its shadow. The sound of the rain hammering down on the soft awning above and they were surrounding by a curtain of rain.

Acaadi had half expected someone to shoot at them. No one did that, which was a good sign.

"Came down from the docks!" Acaadi continued to accuse, shaking his head.

He skimmed surface thoughts with ease. It made him feel a little uncomfortable to do so. They didn't have any strong suspicions about these people and yet he invaded their privacy, even if he didn't go deep.

They were flustered by Phalsi, but could quickly turn to anger if Acaadi pushed them dkrecy. Good to know. They were also smuggling cargo, but they hadn't dropped off passengers.

"Unless you saw him come this way? Might have been someone else's crew?" Accusing their crew would have tipped the situation in the wrong direction. He gave Phalsi a defensive squeeze.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

<"Not ours. We brought cargo!"> the rodian snapped as the wookie corrected a bit of its hunched posture. The bit from Acaadi having the green skinned being pointing to him and nodding vigorously before waving down the way and speaking before Phalsi could interject.

Her mouth had opened, nodding her head as Acaadi filled in the words and double taking the rodian before looking down the way.

<"Try that way. People left from there. No one here."> he assured them as the wookie grumbled and continued working.

"I...sorry. Just...mad." She huffed and left it at that as she pulled them away from the pair. The rodian buzzed in annoyance before shaking their head and looking to the wookie who shrugged and let out a barking laugh. A brief exchange between the two had the wookie howling with joy.

She tensed as they walked, leaning in to Acaadi as she spoke.

"The wookie found it funny the rodian had to deal with me." She gave him the shorthand of the conversation behind them, her translator kicking in for the languages she had installed on it for the time being. While she couldn't speak the two's respective languages, she could certainly understand the majority what was said.

The rest came with deductive reasoning.

"Good exit strategy by the way." The compliment paired with a soft squeeze on his arm as they walked down the way a bit toward the next stall.

"Same thing or do you want to try something?" She asked, grinning a little at the show they were putting on. They had a job to do certainly, and the weight of it was not lost to her, but she was going to have a bit of fun with it.

She had to practice after all.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi smirked at her comment. He actually knew a little wookie, smattering of Huttese too, but absolutely no rodian. Their job was serious, but it was far too funny seeing the rodian utterly flummoxed by her tirade.

A sudden breeze angled the rain sideways and he altered their course further from the edge of the cover. Acaadi couldn't help but wonder why these people didn't move to sunnier climates.

"I don't know, your angry seemed to rattle them well. And thanks, gave him any excuse to let us go and he took it. They wrote open with their thoughts to read.

"Er, its the ithorian next thought. Maybe ithorian."

Acaadi pondered this. A captain would be less easy to rattle and if they were an ithorian them they expression wouldn't come across the same way.

"We could go for 'I heard from the old guy you take passengers' and see if anything floats to the surface?"

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She wanted to giggle at the change of course but knew better than to let even the slight divergence in her mood slip from its feigned irritated course. She wouldn't be able to slip back as easily if anyone questioned it.

"No one wants to deal with an irritated female, especially of a different species on a mostly human planet. Its kind of sad how readily people will jump to xenophobic nature when its plain who was at fault." She informed him. There was a sad look about her as they came up to the next stall.

The Ithorian was dictating to dock hands were cargo was to be offloaded and loaded as it took note of the two approaching and ambled over slowly with a ponderous hum to its tone.

<"Can I help you two? Not often we get people walking through here."> It hummed in a curious tone as it scratched the lower half of its face.

"Rodian down the way said you had passengers come off. You didn't bring an old man through did you? I need to get his name and file a complaint to authorities." Phalsi huffed, playing up the irritation she had manufactured.

 

[Acaadi]

Kashyyyk

The door slid shut behind him as he approached his master. Even in the halls of the shadows, they kept to the same master and apprentice system, even as padawans graduated to field work. Expanded out into cells of operation and they have very simple horizontal and vertical slices of organisation.

The door clicked. It was an adiabatic seal. No sound or signal would leave this room for the next five minutes.

Darello placed his datapad down. An image of the returning jedi master.

"He's alive and he just showed up at Emberlene.".

Jesi Master Sovren kept a very neat desk. Never more than a single report or datapad was allowed to grace its surface at a time. His expression was well controlled, but his apprentice of fifteen years recognised irritation at the unannounced interruption shifting to shock. He swept aside the report he had been reading and moved the new datapad in front of himself.

"Alone?" Sovren asked.

"She wasn't there."

"He is talking?"

"Apparently not. They are trying to retrace his steps."

Sovren made a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat. It was as close to disapproval as the old twi'lek would ever show.

"Who are?" the Jedi Master enquired, not seeing the information on the report.

"The Mistryls and...one of ours."

"A Shadow?"

"No, a young Knight. A guardian and pilot."

"Idealism is not what we need on the ground right now. Feed information to whoever...Acaadi Tam...is reporting to. We can direct them that way. The timing of this...very curious."

---

Emberlene

Phalsi had a point and it was quite sad how people behaved. People didn't want to get involved in anyone else's affairs, no matter who was in danger or had been wronged.

As they ambled towards the ithorian, Acaadi decided that if he had been alone and trying to do this job it would probably have gone badly. No matter what he planned, it would have come down to him asking honestly and politely about the Jedi Master.

<"Then you need to get the authorities to come and ask for my manifest" >

Acaadi skimmed his alien thoughts and reached out towards Phalsi. What he imparted was not quite words or phrases. Much like he skimmed the information, it was concepts and thoughts.

He does take passengers. He's planning on leaving before you can arrange anyone from the law coming to ask questions.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The soft twitch of her lip was easily missed. A hand sliding into the pocket the datapad had been slipped into as a recessed button was pressed. There was a series of them that were protected by the anti-shock casing, and difficult to find if one didn't know they were there.

"Mmm. So you brought the perve to Emberlene. At least thats what we can assume...nice ship there." Phalsi nodded to the Ithorian's vessel with an alarmingly gentle tone. It was almost sweet if there wasn't a dagger hidden beneath it.

"Must make you a pretty fair bit of credits I would guess if you're that stiff about a simple question." Phalsi nodded, still gazing at the ship in question. There was a return to what Acaadi said, something close to play along, watch this.

If Acaadi was paying attention to their surroundings, he would notice the dock hands slowly stop working. Their attention on the bubbling conflict around the Ithorian and the strangers.

"Right shame for it to be impounded." She pulled out the device once more, waving one of the planet's dock hands over as they watched the events unfolding.

A brief hushed exchange and a look at the datapad had the being wide eyed and hurriedly walking towards the office of the yard. They walked with purpose, glancing back at Phalsi when the chance allowed with a nervous look before disappearing into the room.

"But if that's what it has to be..." She swiped her screen as the sound of a generator kicking on filled the area. A magnetic containment field sputtered into life, a body in the yard office standing up and watching the dock they stood in. Barely visible through the rain compared to the soft glow of the shield overhead that now contained the area.

Her previous demeanor of annoyed girlfriend seemed to melt as authority slipped over. Her tone shifting to bland interest as she presented the datapad to the Ithorian for his inspection.

"Il'Nata Kopurri of the Emeberlene Internal Security Offices." She spoke, her eyes half closed and already seeming bored with the situation. The datapad would show proper authority to begin these steps, an official seal of the Council of Emeberlene along with the higher authority of the planet emblazoned upon the bottom edge of the information.

"This could have been a quick yes and no exchange if you had simply answered my questions...but now you are to be placed under arrest and your ship impounded for suspicions of smuggling fugitives along with illegal cargo." She glanced to Acaadi, giving him a frown.

"Other officers will be arriving shortly. Make sure no one leaves the scene." She ordered. The information on the datapad was legitimate to a degree. The Seals and official signatures actually able to pass scrutiny without fail.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi didn't know if she took pride in the display of authority, but it was certainly impressive. She switched roles in an instant and took control in a calm and collected manner.

Acaadi stood a little taller when he realised he was just acting as an observer to events. He didn't make his lightsaber - the only badge of authority he had - visible, but he tried to join in on the act. He gave Phalsi a sharp nod.

"<Hold up, hold up,"> said the ithorian with his stereophonic voice. Even across the language barrier it was easy to pick up the change in tone. He waved his arms as Acaadi took a step forwards.

"<I can still cooperate. Bit of information on those who might have snuck aboard. A few credits for wasting your time...">

Acaadi halted his pretend advance to secure the ship and its crew. He looked to Phalsi. There were certain to be more lies, but they only needed two key pieces of information.

Had they carried to tortured jedi master and where had they come from.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The shift in the Ithorian's voice was noted, her bored gaze slowly shifting to regard him once more as she waved a hand to Acaadi. He had already paused in his advance, but she made sure to give the captain the clear idea of who held the power.

"Bribing an official and attempting to circumvent galactic standard procedures are not something to take lightly, Fonwin Roltohath. Especially..." Her words carried the tone of annoyance before she frowned and looked at the ship once more.

"It's also a lot of paperwork that comes with this...and signatures along with a few months of digging by off world authorities..." A hand went to her temple and rubbed slowly as though a headache were already forming.

The motion paused, her eyes moving back to the Ithorian before giving a sigh and motioning to Acaadi.

"I'll let the others know to hold off for a moment...since it was a false alarm." She spoke sharply before taking the hand from her temple and waving to Fonwin.

"You give me the names and this could be your lucky day. Or a lot of paperwork and background checking." She pressed the lingering issue to prompt him to speak while giving him the clear out as she crossed her arms.

 

[Acaadi]

The ithorian didn't have a large crew and what he had were mostly down at the bars. His wide set eyes gave him a broad field of view, but Acaadi still saw him turn his head from side to side as if looking for support.

Phalsi's attitude of authority didn't elicit fear for Acaadi. It touched upon something else that caught him a little bit by surprise. He would have to give that a bit of thought later. It was time to focus.

"<I don't exactly...keep records>" Fonwin replied. She didn't seem to be pressing for the bribe as much as she wanted compliance. "<I can describe them! I didn't bring anyone that seemed dangerous.>"

Acaadi stilled. A subtle wave in the Force. There was danger here. Stretching out with his senses he couldn't find feel anything on the ship.

"Where did you just come from?" he asked sharply.

"<Attahox>"

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She barely blinked as the Ithorian looked around. She pulled back her sleeve enough for her to see something before letting the sleeve drop and looked back to the captain as he spoke.

"Most don't. Get describing. Time is a precious and limited privilege." She informed him with a growing annoyance. Not entirely feigned as she listened to his last place of departure.

She tapped her chin and looked skyward before dropping her gaze back down and tilting her head.

"Attahox. Hmm...you have a contract for the Phosovane Salts, I hope. Or will information and credits let me ignore that?" She asked with a small smile that barely formed.

She wasn't as aware as Acaadi, not noticing the danger that he had begun to sense.

 

[Acaadi]

The sense of anger faded. Acaadi peered out into the darkness. The floodlights used to throw patches of light around the vessels caught the falling rain. The wind was made visible by the swinging sheets of rain.

He couldn't sense the presence from which the danger came. A weapon trained on the ithorian. It had been lowered. The worst of the damage was done.

"I think we might have something else that requires our attention soon," Acaadi said quietly. He turned back towards the ithorian. The Force was mysterious, nothing drew his attention now.

"<I might have a few details kept about some of the passengers...aboard the ship if you'd like to look at them?>"

The implication being they were available if Phalsi chose not to look closely at their licenses too.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She hadn't sensed the danger as Acaadi had, her focus on the Ithorian. The danger had not been thrown her way, and her senses were far duller than most force-abled beings regardless.

She did not fail to catch his words however, not sparing him a look as the captain offered details about his passengers in a silent exchange for ignorance.

Which ultimately wasn't difficult to give.

"Keep watch. I'll do a once over to confirm the Captain is indeed not who we are looking for." She informed Acaadi before waving the Ithorian towards his ship. "Anyone tries to come aboard...well. Detain them."

There was no outward sign of her shifting the gear she kept on her beneath the large coat. Her skinsuit of Mistryl design being relied on in case of the worst as a shock whip handle slid into a secret pocket of her left sleeve.

She braced her face beneath the sheet of rain as the two walked aboard the ship, and Phalsi let the captain fetch his information while she gave a quick once over of the interior.

 

[Acaadi]

He had to wonder if the people living on this coast even noticed the sound of rain. It had not stopped the entire time he had been there. Beneath the port wing of the freighter it was a constant patter of metal being lightly rapped, but joined by irregular splashes as the water streamed off the hull in front of him.

Acaadi drew in a deep breath though his nose and filled his lungs. He let his eyelids fall as he shifted to breathing low and shallow from his diaphragm. The sound of the rain slowed, became distant.

He stretched out with his senses. The Force was a turbulent ocean, flowing through all living things. The difference between its natural ebb and flow and a disturbance from the outside was subtle. Acaadi reached out towards the source of the eddies.

He was rebuffed. Forcefully.

He lost whatever he had been trying to track as the Force snapped his attention back to the present. Imminent danger.

He opened his eyes to see a flare of bright blue in the sky. An arc of colour cutting a path and lighting up the underbellies of the cloud cover.

"Phalsi!" he cried out, his self control for the ruse evaporating as he turned and dashed up the loading ramp with precious seconds before the torpedo fell upon the freighter. With few options left, he made a fist in concentration as he tried to wrap the Force around himself in a protective barrier.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Even in the short time here, the rain had become something familiar once more. Like the sound of passing repulsor craft in urban centers. Or the howling winds of barren sand planets. Though comfortable with the latter two, the first was something that had always been present in her childhood.

The rain hid the sound of imminent danger approaching. The speed of its approach something that mere seconds of warning to her limited senses forced her to choose in that moment.

Acaadi was barreling towards her, the feeling of the force swirling around them as the seconds painfully ticked by. The captain of the ship hadn't given her details yet. She hadn't found anything substantial with that lead. Hadn't been able to get them another step forward.

But there would be no forward motion if they died.

A pang of guilt washed over her as she abandoned the captain to his fate and moved towards Acaadi. Hopefully it would be a quick thing, whatever was coming. Even the Ithorian didn't deserve some lingering death for being stubborn. She reached for Acaadi in the moments before her sense of danger rang in her senses like a pitched bell she was sat beside.

He was taller. Had made that clear some time ago as she leapt for him. Her arms wrapping around his head as she tried pulling them to the floor and wrap herself around him.

---

The main office was buzzing with excitement at the news of an inspector being present in the dock yard. The manager quietly tapping on the display before him of known listings and yet not finding one for the young lady that had called for the halt on that ships passage.

A detail he wouldn't let slip as he stood to grab his coat and confront her about it. There was no warning to the events that followed, his back to the yard when the explosion rocked the whole shack that served as the office.

His eyes shielded by the throw of his arm and coat, he heard the slinging of small debris slide off the small building in different directions as dock hands yelled and screamed in various states of alarm.

He stood silent, numb, confused.

Blinking, he found himself staring at the wreckage and at a loss for what to do as those around him moved in quick order to secure the scene and scour the scrap heap.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi lost a sense of their surroundings as she collided with him. He caught sight of the walls spinning past before he felt the cold, hard embrace of the deck. They fell hard, even if she wrapped herself around him and prevented him from being concussed.

Instead of focusing on the pain at the back of his skull, he directed his focus on the discontinuity in the Force forming around them. It was hard when trying to ignore the possibility that they were about to become one with the Force in a single flash of energy.

It was like forcing a crack into a flowing river. An unnatural state of things where the Force was used to disconnect things rather than the draw them together. The barrier gained a physical manifestation, a shimmering bubble around them, just a moment before the torpedo struck the nose of the freighter.

Even with his eyes closed it was a blinding flash of light. No training kept fear at bay as he felt a wash of heat, heard the cry of tortured metal as it bent and buckled. His stomach lurched as something collapsed beneath them.

He drew in a first breath of hot air when the noises and movement had stopped. Pain assailed his senses as the last of the barrier drifted into the Force like dandelion seeds on the wind. It was dark, a weight had them pressed together. He couldn't move his arms from behind her back.

"Are you okay?" he coughed

Acaadi felt a swell of panic at being trapped. Surviving the first blast only to die slowly in a fire was a possibility that clawed at his thoughts and tried to drag them down.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The world sang in different chords. Heat played across them and all around them. The groan of metal against metal adding to the harsh tones that filled her ears. She had wished severely for the thought to put her mask on but that would have been a giveaway of their intentions. The shockwave had forced her mouth open, a strong burn in her gut making her gasp on the dry air around them as every sense about her was white and vibrant against her mind.

She blinked, and realized it wasn't her eyelids that had made things dark. They had found themselves entangled in the scrap of the ship. As feeling came back slowly, the sensation of something warm about her back and head was finally recognized. Arms were wrapped around her, or at least she hoped they were arms. They were warm, but not unusual as she sluggishly thought on it.

The world felt like it was spinning, and she was struggling to stay awake as she heard Acaadi speak. It sounded like he was so very far away, even if she felt him right beneath her. Fingers flexed along his back as the taste of iron ran along her tongue. One eye stuck part way as she blinked, frustrating her a bit as her voice croaked back to him

"I'm alive." The most she could honestly say as she hacked a bit. The air felt hot and dry, though she couldn't figure out why that was worrying. Weight settled on them, even more distant voices filling her head as more metal groaned and shifted. Disoriented and confused, nothing was adding up and the most basic question flitted to the surface of her clouded mind.

"What were we, doing?" She was trying to sort out the distortion. Her eyes still blinking and trying to focus in the dark as her hands shifted their weight against him. It would seem like she was trying to push up before falling back onto him. Pushing on her foot to give her leverage, she gave a sharp cry as pain muddled her thoughts further.

"Feth!" She yelled, sucking in dry and gritty air as voices outside seemed to come closer. More metal began shifting around them as the sound of rain grew louder.

 

[Acaadi]

Rain. If they weren't going to burn then maybe they would drown. The thought shook Acaadi to his core. It was like a block hole opening up beneath his feelings, dragging him down into the depths. He had dreams about drowning.

Acaadi went quite still beneath Phalsi. Droplets of cold rain fell over them, but there was no water pooling beneath them. He took a slow breath and tried to move his arms.

He yelped in pain and screwed his eyes shut.

"My right arm is...definitely broken. I could try and move things but I don't want to bury us further."

Fear is the path to the dark side, he reminded himself. They had survived. They just needed to find the path that kept them both alive as they got out of the wreckage.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The contact between them caused a disconnect between her own thoughts and his as she failed to separate them in her current state. The feelings within his thoughts further skewing the real and the imagined.

A sharp draw of air as he thought of the rain had her whole body tensing and then becoming still.

Her own thoughts were murky at best, but his thoughts surpassed her own as his swirled around the thought of drowning. A tension sang through her, pushing past the pain that clouded her mind as fear and anxiety swelled in it's place.

Water. Down, down, down. Struggling. Can't breath. Darker, darker than black- her own fear flowing unchecked through their contact as her rational mind fled in place of panic.

No!

Arms tightened around him as the force swirled in franctic spirals, the voices outside calling out in what may have been warning as metal groaned and shifted quicker than it should have.

Raw force energy drove a wedge between their bodies and the metal wrapped around them. Splitting open the twisted metals and bringing light in.

Air pushed against them, rushing into the gap between as arms tightened around Acaadi while a voice screamed in his ear. An old pain and fear seemed to take the space Phalsi had occupied as the force channeled through her.

Uncontrolled.

She rocked in place, caught between wailing and crying while trying to pull him closer. Hands opened and closed, as though he would slip through her fingers. Her eyes screwed shut as though it would keep her from seeing the end.

 

[Acaadi]

He felt the depths of her panic. Dark, suffocating depths that mirrored the worst of his dreams. As she tightened her grip around him his instinct was to try and soothe her fears with soft words.

"Phalsi...it's..."

That idea was clearly too small to the challenge. The Force coalesced around them and the crushing weight was pulled away. He found himself shouting with her as blood rushed back into his broken arm and nerves started firing again.

His breathing became short and sharp as he tried to push the pain aside and keep Phalsi's ever present fear at bay.

"I've got you," he hissed. His free arm slipped from her back. He grabbed his clawing hand and pressed it firmly to his chest.

Acaadi stretched out with the Force. She had lashed out and created space around them. He filled it with the Force and kept it from collapsing back in on them.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She was still rocking. Still holding him tight until her eyes snapped open at his voice. Can't breath...can't... But he had spoken. Her mind still racing around the thoughts of drowning as she blinked and struggled to draw a full breath without choking on it. Without letting it stutter back out of her in a hoarse staccato as she tried to wrap her mind around them not actually being underwater.

Quit thinking about drowning, quit thinking about- Her own inner voice was firmly directed her way but still slipping to Acaadi freely as she tried to rationalize with herself. Her eyes were already puffy, a mix of rain and tears as she watched him. The pain about her was still far and away while she looked him over. Looked around them in slow turn. The scene before her showing metal. Showing the outside. And solid ground, causing her draw of air to slowly became deeper with each following breath.

Ground. Not water. Air. Sky. Breath. Simple thoughts, all scrambling to calm herself as she tried to hold a breath in. To count seconds and make herself calm down.

It still sounded pained, but was changing. A hand still touching him as she slowly turned. Fear still holding on but not nearly as sharp as the energy around her began to wane. The area became a hive of activity again as movement happened around the outside of the shell. Metal tossed aside, drug, or sharply dropped as pieces began to fall away from the shell that Acaadi was holding up.

Pulling herself closer, mindful of the scrap, she pressed her forehead to his. The contact and words slowly winning the duel of rational and irrational as she began to feel tired, a few faces of the dockhands appearing behind the wall of shrapnel as the hollered to the pair.

"Either of you hurt? We're trying to get to you! Stay calm!" The words getting a sharp snort from Phalsi as tears stung her eyes.