A Slaves Folly

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

The Bantha's Bite came down with a swooping landing, its wings extending out and its flaps stretching out to slow its decent. The ship came to a dead stop in the blink of an eye, the pilot inside straining slightly as the massive G-forces were applied straight to his chest.

Ceran let out a loud sight as the landing gear struck the pads of the Imperial Palace, his lungs filling with breath again and his lips curling up into a tight smile. He loved this ship, more than Nexu loved blood. It was by all accounts, the fastest ship of its size in the entire galaxy. Even without its afterburner the Banthas Bite still outclassed most interceptors, an impressive thing to be sure. Lots of labor had gone into this ship, and it had payed off.

This latest bounty had been captured on the backs of a Space Battle.

He had engaged a squadron of Republic fighters and had systematically taken down each and every one of them. As it turned out, the final fighter had contained a young Jedi Knight, a woman who with stark resolve had tried to fight him to the last. Of course she had been at a disadvantage, given that her ship had been disabled and Ceran had shot her with a stunner as soon as the ships had docked.

Funny that.

Now she was laying unconscious in a force cage and would soon be turned over to the Sith for a handsome sum of money.

The Bounty Hunter jumped out of his chair and darted to the back of his ship, there he found the woman still unconscious. There was no smile or grin on his face. He didn't particularly like Jedi, but he didn't love the Sith either. He had no illusions about what they would do this to woman once he turned her over, but money didn't stink.

Before long Ceran had the girl in force cuffs draped over his shoulder and heading down the ramp of his ship.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

Bounty hunter.

Two words that elicited a wide variety of responses. Some might hiss and spit claiming them to be the scum of the galaxy, others would dive beneath the nearest table to hide from there would be captors. A small percentage might tip their hats or raise there glasses, in the right hands, under the right pay check, they were the cleaners. The kept the worst of the criminals tucked away in the darkest cells.

Some had codes, others simply didn't care. Money was money, a job was a job, looking to hard at it was bad for the mind. Rosa might have wondered what this one might be like. Did he have a code? Or did he not want to look to hard? Rosa was not alone when her bare feet moved across the Palace landing pad, to greet theri guest. Flanked as always by hand maidens, one on either side, one behind. Like shepherds they herded her forward, kept her on the path Isolda was so keen to keep her on.

A golden mask concealed her features out in the open and she itched to remove it as the hunter descend from his ramp, unconscious Jedi over his shoulder. Her role? Check the package, then make him welcome, keep him entertained while his payment was arranged.

"You can drop her." Rosa's voice was muffled beneath the mask.

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

Ceran walked with surprisingly graceful movements. He seemed liquid as he wandered up to the small retinue, somewhat surprised by the more than warm welcome. The last time he had dropped off a Jedi there was little more than a clerk. Perhaps it was because this Jedi wasn't just an apprentice, but a Knight, or so he understood it.

Or perhaps the Sith were up to something.

They always were.

For a moment he didn't move, simply observed the three women before him. It was an odd little retinue, and the gold mask wasn't quite as welcoming as he would hope for. These Sith really were rather odd.

After a moment more Ceran heaved the woman from his shoulder, placing her on the ground rather gently between himself and the woman in the golden mask. “Payment?”

He was starting to get a chill in his spine.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa did not respond to his request of payment. Lowering herself to one knee she brushed a strand of hair from the Jedi's face in an almost loving gesture fingers trailing the womans cheek. She'd been like her once, a knight in the Order. So blind.

"Wake up." she said softly, reaching into her mind to pull the girl from her dreamless sleep. The Jedi's eyes fluttered open, panic flaring in her eyes as she instantly began to struggle. A firm hand kept her in place. "Hush now. Are you hurt?" The jedi shook her head, "Good, can you tell me your name?" Eyes flicked past Rosa to look upon the bounty hunter.

"Where am I?"

"Coruscant. Your name?"

There was a pause and anger rose in the Jedi. "Go to hell."

Rosa smiled sadly beneath her mask and rose to her feet, waving guards forward to take her. She closed her eyes as the dragged her away, bellowing curses at the group. Her anger and fear threatening to rise the beast within. Only when her cries were out of ear shot did she open them again. "Come," she spoke to the bounty hunter now "Payment is delayed, you will be looked after until it arrives."

She turned to walk away, without waiting for a response.

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

Ceran didn't do anything when the woman was dragged away screaming and kicking. He scowled slightly, but outwardly he did nothing that the Sith could actually see. No, he didn't like Jedi, but Sith weren't much better. That girl would likely be interrogated, tortured, and then converted. That was the fate of all those he brought here. Part of him could deal with that, it was the way of the galaxy after all. If it was the opposite, if he captured Sith for the Jedi, they would very likely just be killed.

He knew that some Jedi would campaign for repentance and aiding the captured Sith, but most would simply want them put to death.

Ceran supposed that was the way of war.

Far above his pay grade.

His scowl worsened when the woman mentioned a delay in payment, his lips turning down until his face threatened to peel off. “Delayed? Why?”

He of course began to follow after her, his crossbow clunking against his thigh as his first few hurried steps brought him only a few short feet behind the woman.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa winced beneath her mask, his irritation grating upon her mind. The maidens shifted, allowing him to be closer, but still flanking the pair. "Why?" she repeated the question "I don't know. Why do the Sith do a lot of things? Normally because they can."

Why had they twisted Turin? Why had Turin brought her here? Because someone had the power to orchestrate such things. "I can speculate reasons, if it will make you feel any better?"

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

“It would, actually.” Ceran said with the most solidly brick like tone imaginable.

It was interesting that she referred to the Sith as a separate entity. From the way she carried herself, and the golden mask adorning her face he definitely would have gauged her to be a force user. Perhaps his gut was off, then again it had never been on. His eyes narrowed though, and he began to pay closer attention to the woman.

This was proving interesting.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa paused in her steps, surprised by his response, amber eyes peering at him curiously from behind her mask. One of the maidens cleared her throat and Rosa's eyes flicked towards her, tension rippling slightly in her shoulders as she turned away and continued through the corridor. The beast stirred slightly, its slumber trembled as her own irritation rose.

"Well," she continued as if she'd never paused, swallowing her pride "There is a war going on, and wars are, from what I'm told, expensive. Perhaps its taking them time to source your payment. Or, perhaps they want to make sure the delivery is worth what it says on paper. Or, they are testing you. All equally viable."

Rosa led them into quarters in the eastern wing of the palace. Large enough to keep a family of five comfortably, they were lavishly decorated. A touch over the top for Rosa's liking, but she paid none of it any mind. Pulling off her mask she handed it to one of her shepherds, and settled herself onto one of the couches. Watching the bounty hunter carefully. "Feel any better?"

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

“No not really.” Ceran said calmly. “The Idea of Sith testing me for anything makes me deeply uncomfortable, and the idea of not getting payed even more so.”

He had never actually been inside of the Palace before. Even before it had been mostly destroyed by the Omega Protectorate it had been a rarity to see inside, after, more so. Now that he was inside Ceran wasn't really all that impressed. Oh it was lavish, that was for sure, but the lavishness bordered on garish and quite honestly Ceran wasn't one for garishness.

Ceran was a Bounty Hunter, he lived for usefulness, and almost nothing in here was useful.

“Whats with the mask?” Ceran asked suddenly, his eyes focusing on the womans face. Masks were meant to hide ones identity, so why wear one if she was just going to take it off? That made absolutely no sense to him.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa's eyes darkened somewhat at the mention of the mask, her eyes flicked towards it and the maiden carrying it. Anonymity gave people power. Without being known on the battle field, she was free of guilt. Or so the theory worked.

It was a poor theory. She didn't sleep any better at night. So why not leave? The beast stirred within, yearning for their screams, hungering for the power. She closed her eyes drew in a deep breath and opened her eyes settling them once more upon the bounty hunter. "Anonymity is a powerful thing. How do you face deal with an enemy with no face? No name? How do you track someone like that?"

How would Seydon find her? "It stays on, to make a statement to their enemies. You are not an enemy." she tilted her head slightly "And if, by small chance you happen to turn out to be one of their enemies, I see no issues with you seeing my face."

"My lady!" came a disapproving hiss from the maiden.

The beast rose, furious and ravenous. Rosa was on her feet and the maiden was on her knees, begging for mercy. She forgot the bounty hunter for a moment, as gold tendrils connected with the woman's skin draining the life from her. A corpse at her feet, Rosa swayed slightly. "Take her, and get out." The other two moved without hesitation, there fear so refreshing, so addictive.

Rosa sank back to the chair, eyes fixed on the floor, to ashamed to lift her gaze to the hunter. "My apologies."

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

Out of pure reaction Ceran almost drew his blaster and shot the woman in the head as soon as she started moving. When he saw what happened next however, he was glad he hadn't. His first assumption had been correct it seemed, in a way. She was a force user, and as the life drained out of the handmaiden in only half a second the Bounty Hunter felt a spike of disgust and fear. He hadn't expected that, not at all.

He had no idea what she had actually done, though from the girls now frail and ancient corpse he would have guessed something close to what the Anzati did to their victims. Had she taken the young womans life?

His eyes narrowed.

Ceran didn't like things he didn't understand, and the force was definitely one of those things. He had fought both Sith and Jedi, Masters on either side, but their powers and their individual strengths differed greatly, and that particular trick he had never seen before. He would have to watch for it, be weary and alert.

Suddenly, as if realizing he had been silent for too long Ceran spoke, his words sounding somewhat rushed and even hoarse. “Not a worry.”

For a moment he studied the girl, realizing that she was...uncomfortable. That was unexpected. Sith weren't usually uncomfortable...no, that wasn't it. She was ashamed. For a moment he was taken aback, a Sith and shame went together about as well as an Uggnot and beauty. No, definitely not a Sith.

“Not exactly like them, are you?” He probed.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

"Well, that depends entirely on how you look at it." she said finally lifting her gaze. "Am I a sith?"

She hesitated, disgust apparent on her face. "Yes." her voice was hoarse, the answer almost to painful to reveal. "But I have no pride in what I have become. In what they have made me. I am a slave to my addictions, and to the Chosen. A weaver of nightmares. So, in some ways, no I'm not." She wondered if it was possible to make him scream, what nightmares lurked in the dark corners of his mind.

Rising once more she moved to a drinks counter. "Do you have a name?" she asked, her back to him as she tried to fight against the hunger. Trembling hands fumbled with the top of a whisky bottle.

I am Rosa Gunn. Wife to Seydon of Arda. I am not one of them. I am not one of them.

She repeated the mantra slowly in her head as she poured them both drinks. By the time she had turned round, she was composed and calm again. No more tremours, no more desire to see his darkest fears nor hear him scream.

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

“Yes.” Ceran answered comically.

He wasn't in the business of sharing who he was unless he absolutely had to.

This woman had just admitted to him that she was a Sith, and from her other words and the shake that had run through her hands she was slightly unstable. His number one goal in life above everything else was simple, survive. His species had an uncanny knack for survival, not one that many people expected, but he was sure that whatever she had done to that slave would kill him all the same.

“What caused your fall?” He assumed she fell, after all she had said what she had become. Implying that she had once been something different. "I'm guessing you weren't always this way."

He guessed Jedi, though she didn't hold that air of self righteous loathing about her.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa smiled at him. The smile didn't reach her eyes, it was cold and void of anything that could be considered nice.

"Why would I tell you that if you aren't going to share your name?" She offered him the drink she had poured. "I'd say I have no intention of harming you, and it would be entirely true, but you wouldn't believe me. Considering what you've just witnessed, I'm in no position to defend that." She tilted her head slightly.

"You should believe me, however, when I tell you I can make you darkest fears a reality, so plucking a name from your mind is child's play."

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

“A name perhaps, but not mine.” Ceran said the words almost too confidentially, as if he was sure finding his name would be rather difficult.

Still, his eyes narrowed and the tension drained out of him slightly. Clearly this woman wouldn't go on without his name. He frowned slightly, his eyes shifting down to the ground, where the dead woman had lain, then back at Rosa. There was no reason to antagonize his woman, no reason to upset her or start a fight. All he wanted was his money, after that he could leave.

“Ceran.” He said finally. “Ceran Moerelle.”

There was something entirely unsatisfying about the name.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

"Ceran," she repeated softly before giving a small nod as if she approved.

"My name is Rosa Gunn." She took a sip from the glass before answering his previous question. "As for what I was before this? I was a Levantine. A warden of free space. I suppose you could call me a jedi, but I haven't been with the Order since the Battle of Roche." She paused, watching the liquid in her glass for a moment. unable to answer the real question. What had caused her fall?

A number of things. Her failure to save Turin. Her inability to resist the Dark Lord. Isolda's drugs. Odium and his vile ways. "A series of unfortunate events." she answered finally "None of which I am willing to go into detail on." She looked back up at him "What about you? How did you wind up on the One Sith payroll?"

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

He scanned his mind for information on the Levantines. All he knew about them was that they were made up of ex Jedi, broke off from the Order quite a while ago and were now something quite different. That was all he knew about it really, and for a moment he realized how large a mistake that was. They controlled entire sectors of the galaxy, countless planets and likely dozens of fleets. He would have to rectify this, study up on the Levantines and learn.

Good place for a Bounty to run.

“I don't like Jedi.” He said simply. “People who constantly claim to have the moral high ground bother me. The Sith offer me money, and they don't mind if I take jobs on the side.”

That was actually it. He didn't believe in the Sith ideology, but they didn't try to force theirs on him. That was good enough to work for them, at least in his mind.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa gave a short chuckle "Well, the Jedi have no shortage of enemies. When the Jedi fell as Palpatine rose to create the Old Empire, they were not missed. People did not weep for them. People will not weep for the sith either. They are not so different really, in the grand scheme of things. People die around them, the Jedi try to justify it, the sith simply do not care." she shrugged.

She pondered him taking jobs on the side. How much information was he privy to in the Sith if they did not mind him taking jobs on the side? Could he be trusted with a message? "Have you ever been to free space, Ceran?"

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]

 

[J3C0]

[member="Rosa Gunn"]

He had no idea who this 'Palpatine' was but he decided not to mention that, Ceran was sure that she was far more learned than him. Instead of commenting he simply nodded along, acting as if he understood what she was saying, though of course he caught the general gist. Jedi or Sith, it didn't matter, the result would be the same save for those who were caught by the wayside.

“Yes.” He said simply.

Ceran had traveled farther than most, his hunts had taken him all across the galaxy and before that he had worked on a Smugglers ship. He had been to worlds that most had never even heard of, and he doubted that trend would ever stop.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Fingernails tapped on the side of her glass, eyes glazed for a moment as she pursed her lisp in thought. What if she got a message to Seydon? What if she could throw him off her trail, keep him out of this and away from what she had done?

"What would you charge for the delivery of a message, with secrecy from all sides, paramount?"

[member="Ceran Moerelle"]