Private Against the Law

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Lossa Aureus

They could hear her boots splashing the standing rainwater, hear her wheezing. She ran and so they gave chase.

Underworld mercenaries had been decked out in corpsec armour and were being paid for every fugitive they caught. To keep the credits flowing they were grabbing anyone who might have gone to ground during the lockdown.

The terms of their deal were particularly fortuitous. If anyone admitted any kind of association with Darkwire then they were paid.

"Stop running!"

They had set up a processing centre fifteen levels up. Too high for Darkwire sabateurs, too far down for the haughty jedi to interrupt their work. They'd forced confessions from civilians who probably had nothing to do with Darkwire.

A filmed, digitally signed confession that could not be repudiated as fake was enough to be paid.

They were gaining on her. The soft hum of a blaster being powered up cut through the patter of rainfall.

Snap-hiss

Beyond the girl, a silver lightsaber blade lit up. The four men slowed, shouldering their weapons.

"Jedi got no jurisdiction here!" called out the leader of the team. The face behind the blade was young. He wasn't going to be intimidated by a youth.

"Not a jedi," came the stern reply. "Piss off."

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

Her escape from the tunnels had marked the first part of her continued experience on Denon. The horrible and ongoing one that had found her disarmed of her favored tool.

Her boots clapping against the ground as puddles splashed up against her clothes.

She'd already been running for the better part of her time on Denon, and it didn't seem like it was going to be ending with this last trip. They'd cornered her, a swift kick getting her the two seconds of time they'd stuttered in holding her getting her free.

But now her lungs were fighting her.

The whine of a blaster powering up making the already tight feeling worse as she tried to not look back. Her head down until the sound of a saber resonated in the path ahead.

Her arms wheeling forward to throw her momentum off as she watched the silvery blade shine.

Her eyes fixated on the color as the ones behind her yelled, and the one in front replied. Her body slinking to the side to keep out of the way for what was likely to come.

But a trashcan was a poor substitute for actual cover. Kneeling down, she rocked slightly.

"Just lemme go home."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Lossa Aureus

"You alright?" Trextan asked. He took two slow steps forward into the alley.

He had been carrying an. Umbrella, but had dropped it at the sight of trouble. Now he was left with the rain plastering unruly curls to the side of his face.

"How far is home?" he asked.

"Turn the lightsaber off!"

Trextan didn't, but he did lift his gaze from the girl trying to melt into the shadows.

"Wasn't talking to you," he said plainly.

Trextan had got himself and others into trouble by interfering in people's business. He'd nearly got Choli killed trying to free a mine from imperial occupation.

Unfortunately he was nothing if not stubborn.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

"No." A simple answer that she could manage without bringing herself outside of the measly cover she'd pushed herself into.

The voices behind her continued. The attempt to outrun them seeming more and more fruitless as she tried to keep from crying.

"Too far. Different planet. Can't leave." She shook, unsure about trusting a stranger here on Denon just yet.

"Don't let them take me. Please!" Rain pelted them both, crimson eyes pleading for just a bit of sympathy behind her own mess of dark hair.

She wanted to stand, wanted to keep running. But she was tired. Hurt. And her body wouldn't give anything more than feeling like she'd put her foot into a snare.

Waiting to be taken rather than fighting.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan stretched out with the Force towards the armed men. He had made a complete mess of situations before. He didn't want to free a known murderer for her pursuit, but he had seen the corporate authorities lockdown go into full force and trusted his gut on this one.

He had never been particularly capable of reading minds through the Force, but their intentions were quite clear. He picked up a vague memory of where they were taking civilians they found on the streets.

"Just stay there," Trextan said, only watching the girl out of the corner of his eye.

"Last warning!"

Trextan closed his left hand. The Force flowed through his left, organic arm, more readily than through his prosthetic. There was a deep rumble. The ground shook. Cracks formed in the floor beneath the three armed men.

The alley was lit up in a splash of red as a blaster bolt crossed the space, bouncing off Trextan's saber into the concrete wall. The ground beneath the three men crumbled, all three falling into a mesh of steel girders and concrete pillars that separated the levels of Denon's landscape. Smoke billowed out as all three tumbled through the opening Trextan had made.

It started spreading through the alley, but Trextan opened his left hand. The dust stopped as if it struck a pane of glass in front of him.

"Come on," he said, as if nothing had happened. "Let's get you to the spaceport."

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

She could only give him a nod, trying to keep herself from going into a fit as she felt the mingling of the force around her.

She couldn't focus.

Her emotions were high, body fighting instinct and with the still present ill intent around the corner. She was finding it difficult to do more than sit there.

Thr ground rumbled, her eyes stinging as she tried to keep from making a sound at the sudden change. The effort made her jaw ache from clenching it so tight.

The sound of a blaster bolt causing her hands to cover her mouth as emotions finally boiled over and panic made her let loose a sharp but quickly muffled squeal. If she could have disappeared in that moment she would have been thankful.

She trembled even as he moved toward her.

It was a reassurance that he seemed calm. But her eyes cast down the way to see the torn open ground where the pursuers had just been.

And she was unsure if it was fear or hope that made her speak.

"They. I heard. Heard them say. Spaceport. The spaceport was, was on alert. You," She didn't move yet, a slight rocking in place as she dared to look up. Desperation made her finish the question. "You. Have a way off planet?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

He looked down at the girl. Trextan sighed. Knowing his luck and clumsy - if direct - way of stumbling into trouble, he was probably now getting conned by someone who was genuinely wanted for a number of serious crimes.

Alternatively, she just been chased for a few miles by men with dark intentions and happened to run into a young man who had made the ground itself open up to swallow them.

He stretched out with the Force again. The three men weren't getting up any time soon. There would be a few broken bones from the fall, but he had trouble finding any empathy for them.

A small compartment opened up within his artificial arm. Just large enough to stow the lightsaber. Then he offered her his left hand, the organic one.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "There's Alliance ships up there apparently. If we can get out of atmo it'll be safe enough. Was thinking it was a good time to leave anyway."

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

The force continued to work around her, and that eased a few of the nerves that were still fairly raw. The small pop of something making her flinch as she looked to him, watching with muted horror as he stowed the lightsaber into an artificial arm.

Horror quickly shifted however, another numbing out the other emotions that had been riding her for a brief moment.

Her hand was still shaky as she took what seemed organic, eyes full of mystified caution. The galaxy was a strange place.

"That's. That's not a." Her words lagging behind her brain as she squeezed the offered hand. At least after she had stood from her lackluster hiding spot.

Her mouth scrunched together as she looked between both of his arms.

"Huh."

The only noise she could make as her thoughts tried to play catch up. Eyes suddenly wide and whipping toward the hole remembering she'd been chased. Visible relief as her shoulders slumped and a shuddered breath came out to see none of the corpo goons standing there.

A hand rising to fiddle with the bacta-bandage that had been slapped on hastily as she tried to rid herself of the galloping in her chest.

She sighed, making due with the rain that pelted them and shook her head.

"That's been. The best idea. Today." She wanted to rub her eye, but she'd already been warned about irritating it further, instead content to rub her neck.

The self-soothing only going so far as she stared skyward before looking around before returning her gaze to him.

"Tha-thank you. Lossa by the way and explanation after we get off the streets." She felt exhausted and trampled, but content to have someone looking to get off world like she did.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"Trextan," he said. "And yeah, one robot hand, one real hand. No one expects you to have a light saber hidden in an arm."

He turned to look further up the alley. The odd blue light reflected off the clouds and mists that meandered through Denon's cityscape. Stun blasts that were being fired, not close enough to hear.

"You look like you've had a rough day," he observed. "You have any idea what kicked this all off?"

He started to lead them towards the bay he'd docked at. Trextan didn't know the area, instead keeping them on the same heading whilst staying off the main roads. There were security speeders heading up and down, enforcing a curfew.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

"A robot arm is definitely a surprise." She huffed. His next question making her grimace as she took a deep breath.

"It's been something. Lots of firsts." She looked down and left, trying to put everything she'd heard together. "From, the mumbles and other chit I've heard. Locals bombed a train. With. A jedi in it." Thanking the stars she hadn't been a part of that whole mess given the rumors about what had gone down at that particular party site.

She'd follow him close, eyes wide at the sound of the bikes on patrol with a grumble of irritation at them.

"Denon. Lovely nightlife. Horrible authority." The start of a tirade as she let her hands move while she spoke. "Like. Don't get me wrong. I've done some stupid stuff in the temples. Painted walls. Left heat vision hand prints in places. Just trying to express myself I guess. But. Holy chit. Blowing up a train!? These people. They're pushed to the edge it seems."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"You painted temple walls and are comparing that to a corporate crack down on the streets?" He asked rhetorically.

"Relax," he said. "We'll be alright."

He had the sense to know she was talking like this because she was panicked and had been through a lot. Unfortunately he lacked the maturity to know that telling someone to relax very rarely helped them to relax.

They reached a fire exit that led into a quiet looking building. There were no cameras and no alarm systems. It looked to trextan like an abandoned building.

He glanced up and down the alley before punching his artificial fist straight through the door. He reached around for the internal bar handle and yanked it open.

"Let's try and get up a few levels and continue on. They'll be watching the main routes up and down."

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

"I. I was." She fumed, eyes slowly settling on him. "It doesn't. Not comparing. I meant. UGGHH. Never. Mind."

The comment to relax did indeed have the opposite effect. The already riled attitude simmering beneath the crimson eyes she bore.

"Oh. Yes. Let's just relax. On a planet I've only visited. When the Corporate authorities. Not even like. Like. Government? Civil?" The anger settling for a moment as the ponderous nature of what exactly that meant for the planet as a whole.

"Anyhow. Point being. I'm glad everyone else is, I guess used to Denon. And. And it's unusual situation of authority." She let her irritation flood the air around her as she spoke."But this is my first run in with what seems a highly tyrannical system that no one seems bothered about except those that seem stuck here."

Her words finishing with an exasperated sigh as she followed behind him. A curious stare as he used his arm to break through the door to open it. Didn't seem a very jedi like solution, but practicality and the force usually didn't go hand in hand.

"You lead the way." She wasn't going to argue a plan until she had a better read on the person in front of her.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"Mhmm."

Trextan was clearly only half listening to her explanation. He had never been particularly good at being empathetic. Trextan had plenty at brooding quietly.

It was dark beyond the door. A light switch didn't change that.

"No power."

It didn't surprise him. Plenty of places around this city seemed to be boarded up or uninhabited.

It didn't mean the building wasn't occupied by squatters, or spice users. He walked through it carefully, looking for stairs.

"You're not from here then?"

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

Her irritation funneled through a fine sieve as he seemed all the less interested in the conversation. The dark beyond the door not being helped with the flip of a switch.

She didn't need to let her expression change much with the already existing frown.

"The whole place sounds dead. Of power, I mean. You can usually hear it humming." She offered, following behind him enough to not step on his heels. Their was a weird assortment of containers on the floor as she tried to make them out in the dark. Hard to do without stopping though.

They looked like her inhaler, but her inhaler didn't have a jury rigged looked to it.

"No. Jedi Temple on Coruscant has been home for a few years." Came the reply as she looked behind them for a second, swearing the shadows were moving.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

"When I grew up on Coruscant, that was a sith temple," he said.

Trextan decided to leave out the part where he had been trained there for several years after the death of his mother. The girl was already on edge. He was certain that her frustration and nerves were rubbing off on him a little..

Beams of light cut through the gals in the boarded up windows. Trextan went still. The beams them swept across the room as the air speeder past by. He heard it heading into the distance.

"The corporates have air speeders and dropship sweeping the streets," he explained. "Won't be long before one of those men calls in what happens. Or maybe they might dust themselves down and decide its not worth the paperwork."

He'd seen stairs as the searchlight had swept by. He led Lossa between the containers towards the far side of the space.

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

Her head snapped to him at the mention of the coruscant temple being a sith one rather than jedi affiliated. Making her wonder just how old he was.

"Wait you-" She went silent as the light began to filter through the boards, her form still as she watched the light fill the room. All it would take was a misstep to be found out.

And she was thoroughly done with corporate types today.

The slow thrum of the airspeeder engines beginning to fade when Trextan spoke. The idea of those goons calling in her escape almost making her go quiet.

Almost.

"I can only hope they decide it isn't worth it." Came the defeated sigh as he led them through the containers. "So, how long ago was the temple a sith one? I guess I didn't realize it had ever changed hands."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

T R E X T A N​

"Yeah, I was raised as a sith," he said. "Want to run away?"

He actually cracked a hint of a smile, having deliberately skipped a lot of pertinent information around that fact.

"About eight years ago," he said.

He stopped climbing the stairs and turned out towards another boarded up window. He wiggled his prosthetic fingers under the chipboard and tore a piece free. Bringing his face up to the gap, he took a good look outside.

The streets had been cleared, but only a few airspeeders slowly flew through the air, searchlights sweeping back and forth to enforce the curphew.

"We might be better waiting until its light to make the spaceport."

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

There was no hiding the expression she gave him. A slow and considering look when he spoke and then followed with a question.

"Not particularly. So far, my best chance getting off planet and I'm not missing that chance. Plus," She gave a barely there smirk to him. "You don't have the sith, uh. Vibe. At least not. Right now."

And not like she could outrun him at the moment.

The walk up the stairs paused as he peeled a piece of the window away and looked outside, a brow rose in curiosity before he made his report on the matter.

And a sharp frown followed.

"Lovely. Probably the best idea. I don't want to be bait for tricking them. And I've had my eyes opened to their choice of... tactics." Her gaze moving toward the upper level before moving back to where they had been.

A funny thought tickling the back of her brain as she narrowed her eyes.

"Think they'll notice the fist sized hole in the door?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

His dour demeanour cracked at being told that he didn't give off a sith vibe. Part of him was tempted to try and make her question if he might actually be a sith.

Unfortunately his grin as he mentally plotted gave the game away.

"Yeah, the hole in the door would be a bit of a give away..."

Trextan had always been better at taking action than he had been had thinking ahead.

"We'll keep moving and see how far we can get without going outside."

In the duracrete maze of Denon, that was probably quite far. Especially as they seemed to be in a network of mostly abandoned former office buildings.

"What do you mean about being bait?"

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Denon
Equipment: Danger Jacket, Outfit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Concealed Sling Bag
Tags: Trextan Voidstalker

An all too pleased look crossed her own face when he smirked.

The mention of the door bringing a drop of smug into the mix as well given it seemed like an afterthought. Not as though proper planning was a particular forte of her own.

But she didn't need to share that at the moment.

"Meh. Probably a few broken doors around old buildings like this one. Might not be a huge issue." Cleary a shot in dark idea but spoken with the confidence of naivety.

The idea of moving further through the maze of buildings wasn't ideal. But it was better than the alternative. The mention of being bait however made her grin.

"Something we kids in..." A pause as she looked him over. "Intensive care came up with. We'd figure out who was the best bait for the nurses. So some of us could sneak outside for a bit without being hounded."

Whether pride or shame was riding her as she spoke, it was a defiant tone that marked her words.