Freedom

[Kahlil Noble]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPTCq3LiZSE​

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MONTITIA; LIVING QUARTERS

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"I didn't think they had this many indebted." Kahlil stared around what barely passed as living quarters. Tight spaces where the cybernetic humans who tried to live there having to squeeze together to get sleep, if they were allowed to at all. It was a miserable place. Despite that however, the ex-Sith had been met with a kindness he had not expected of an outsider.

He was here with [member="Kelsie Sylvan"] on other business. They were there to drop of some tools for the workers bought by the company that ran the planet. Cevdek Co. It was a well paying job, but once the pair landed and they were met by the various individuals who lived there. People who had to sell their bodies for cybernetics so they could continue to work.

All to try and pay off a debt their ancestors had earned.

Kahlil turned his gaze to his captain, tightening his grip on the pistol on his hip. "We're gonna help them, right?"

[member="Verana"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] // [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

This world was a good example of what Kiara could have been. The strong held the weak down and those under the boot were helpless to stop it. While Nora hadn’t been sent her here as a liberator she had been sent here to get an idea for what it was that her Order could do, if anything at all. She didn’t understand that pragmatism but the masters said that it came with the years as she got older and saw more of the galaxy. In the end she was met with a far more pleasant attitude from the people than she had expected. Part of her wondered if she would have gotten the same approach if she came here dressed as a jedi, but given the nature of this planet she had been convinced it would be foolish to try.

Lacking for much in the way of her own clothes beyond the robes the Order afforded her with, she had been granted a disguise consisting of a jacket, shirt and pants befitting of someone in the upper-lower stratum of life. Glancing around she was somehow managing to look the part of the rest of the people yet not really. She didn’t carry herself as someone who had seen a credit in their life or seen the need for it. Kiara had never had relied on bartering, and even then the world was teeming with life that left Vera and her family wanting for nothing. If they wanted to hunt they hunted, if they wanted to expand their fields they expanded. It was hard to do that here.

Life in these artificial cities was still difficult to adapt to for her. People seemed to have grafted metal and silicon into their very bodies here and Vera would lie if she said it didn’t disturb her. She could understand why, the people had explained it to her, but she didn’t agree it was the right thing to do. You only had one hand, one leg and heart, a robot could never replace that.

Sitting with a small family she thanked them for their food. They had offered her some in return for help, and in truth the ability to sit down and eat with a family had spoken to her a great deal. It reminded her of home, and while this was not her mother she would have wished dearly that it was.

A spoon dug through the untempting gruel before her with ease. It went down slow but the nourishment was there. They hadn’t quite told her what their help would entail, but Vera was confident there was nothing she couldn’t do.

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

"Kahlil, don't go in there," Kelsie commanded, pausing to stop the repulsorcart filled with boxes of tools. She didn't like it any more than he did, but she wanted the completion bonus before doing anything stupid.

Cevdek was just another corporation using the same strategies as their competitors to get workers. The Corporate Sector Authority, that old thing, did the same. Few things had changed since her time, she supposed. Including her dislike for such practices. But Kelsie was a practical person, and moreover an Imperial to the core. She didn't think she was much better than the scum who ran this place. Better at being worse, really.

The young woman continued, pushing the repulsorcart to the end of the hall at the drop off point. She glanced at Kahlil again... and once more she paused. He really didn't like it... maybe he had never seen stuff like this. It had been a while since she had seen stuff like this. She glanced down the hall and spotted a pair of guards standing around in their prissy white armor. For a dirty planet they seemed awfully clean. She hated it.

Letting Kelsie into their facility instead of just pushing the tools on their own would likely be their last mistake.

She stepped into the center of the hall and called out to the guards. "Hey, you there!" They turned, and she waved them over. There was a pause, then the one on the left walked over and stopped in front of her.

"What is it?" The guard asked.

"Oh, I was just wondering where the command center is, I need to talk to your boss. Do you have a map?"

"Uh, yeah." The guard reached into one of his utility pouches.

Kelsie didn't wait a second to flick her wrist and slash his throat, and the man slumping forward as he realized that his neck had just been cut open. By the time the second had even noticed anything, her Verpine shatter gun was in her hand, and there was a small pip as a tiny slug pierced the guard's visor and through his skull. Kelsie then took the map out of the guard's pouch and let the body slump to the floor, and she glanced at Kahlil. "Whatever, I'm bored. Let's do this."

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] [member="Verana"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"That's.. An efficient way to stop being bored." Kahlil muttered, blinking at [member="Kelsie Sylvan"] 's display. Two quick executions of fully armed and armored guards. Well, now they had to do something. The Knight picked up their weapons, glancing around the area. No one here yet, but the deaths of the pair would be noticed soon. "Let's head inside. Those deaths are gonna bring them trouble. The least we could do is arm em and get them ready, yeah?"

He glanced once to his captain before heading inside. There was already a couple of the more robotic cyborgs rushing out to greet them. Kahlil tossed them the guns. "There's not much time to explain. Who's in charge?" They stared in surprise before pointing to the back of the room. There, a small family had begun to eat, treating what looked like an outsider to their humble abode.

The tall man stepped right through the growing crowd of cyborgs who were beginning to panic. Hushed whispers about what Cevdek would do when they found out seemed to be the main focus. Kahlil did his best to ignore it as he sat across from the one singled out as leader, bowing his head. "We're here to help free your people. There isn't much time." He glanced to the family, and more importantly [member="Verana"] .

Kahlil's eyes widened in surprise. A Jedi from how she felt in the Force. For a moment he was thankful for the amulet that hid him from the Force. The old cyborg let out an electronic sigh. "Yes, we know. I was hoping to enjoy this meal before it started. Miss Verana, this is what I wanted to ask your help with. Save my people. If we can destroy the fueling depot Cevdek will have to pull back. It will give us a chance to unite all of ours and truly be free."

 

[Verana]

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] // [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

Gunshots. Vera felt something hit the ground through the peripheral of her mind as life was lost in quick succession. Food found her throat and she closed herself off to try and figure out what it was but before she could get anywhere the trace was lost. An errant sigh blew through her nose and the family began to look at her. They were about to ask what was going on but before the words could pass through the room they were cut short by the rushed approach of a man and his companion. She caught the way he looked at her, and he would catch the way she looked right back.

Her gut told her this was the man who had caused the sensation of death to roar across her mind.

“I am just a Padawan.” Vera said and slowly let her eyes move their glance over towards her host. “I did not come prepared to start a revolution.”

Her attention shifted back over to the man who had barged into the room and his companion.

“Can I assume you were the one who just shot the man outside?”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

Kelsie shrugged. "What can I say, I'm efficient." She just watched him go about giving out the weapons of the two guards to those... cyborgs. Robot people freaked her out a little, but she didn't let it show and simply followed Kahlil, awfully relaxed for someone who just killed two people.

She leaned against the wall and listened to what this elder cyborg had to say. Smelled like a mission... a fueling station to blow up? What fun. She'd stop by the command center first to mess with their facility and hopefully find a computer where she can find their records...

Today was one of her off days. The Force told her nothing of the odd girl, until the odd girl told her about the odd girl. A padawan. A Jedi. If she could spit words in her thoughts, she'd spit that word. The idea of working with one made her sick in the stomach. But she did raise a good point, they weren't exactly prepared. Yet.

"That was me," Kelsie said, giving a small hand wave. "And we can get prepped easy. Kahlil, be a dear and head to the ship, you can open up the armory. No explosives, preferably, just hand out the blasters. Clear the landing pads so we can get out quickly, if we need to." She stopped leaning on the wall and took a step forward towards Vera, her gaze hardening slightly. "If you're here to help, say so. If not, you can head back with the children and elderly and hide in our ship. Got it?" She lingered for a moment, then spun around and headed out of the living quarters, pulling out her new map to plot their next move.

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] [member="Verana"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"We'll leave it to you to do what you must, Master Jedi. Even as a padawan, we trust your judgement." The old Cyborg nodded his head to [member="Verana"] . "So please. Help us." As he finished speaking he stood, nodding to [member="Kelsie Sylvan"] now. Any weapons would be welcome to his people. "Follow the tall man to his ship, everyone. We'll gather the weapons and those who cannot fight shall stay behind. Our future depends on winning this day."

"Then let's get a move on." Kahlil mumbled under his breath before turning to lead the way. Well, he got what he wanted. Time to help the cyborgs of Montitia get their freedom. He paused as he turned to leave, glancing back at the Jedi. He wasn't sure if he trusted her, not with his past. But he was willing to for the sake of the people he had started a war for. "You comin?"

 

[Verana]

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] // [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

Vera had been raised with an aversion to violence not just at home but in the Order and at the Praxeum as well. A visible discomfort spread across her face as the pressure to help free these slaves mounted, but not at the fact that they were acting for freedom as much as how they strove to seek it. Arming themselves meant war, and war was not what she was sent here to start or what she wanted to do. Perhaps to that extent she knew she had to come along, but as someone of her age she doubted her voice carried much weight.

Not acting would do just as much harm as not acting would.

“I will come along.” Vera said and looked at Kahlil as she straightened out her jacket. “But I will not be taking any lives today, and I will be expecting the same of you and your people.”

Vera looked the old cyborg in the eyes and frowned.

“Hold off from opening fire unless you absolutely have to. Violence will undermine everything you are trying to achieve.”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

Kelsie probably would've objected to that comment... these people wanted to escape their slavery. Rising up and killing your oppressors? Effective and a fun time for Kelsie.

She didn't wait around for the others. Kelsie put on her sunglasses as she began to walk towards the stairwell. Not sunglasses, really, but Theia glasses which took a moment to boot up. She did quite like having a pocket HUD. Two seconds of uploading the map onto the glasses' systems and she began to sprint up the stairs, leaving Kahlil and the others in the dust. She hoped they took a while to get armed, it would give her more time to help clear out these idiots.

She basically flew up the stairway. It seemed like any forces Cevdek might be sending went down some elevator someplace. She didn't encounter anyone after nearly twenty floors... and then, her glasses notified her that the first command center was here. She moved against the door and drew her Enforcer, mentally preparing herself for the next step in her little mission.

[member="Verana"] [member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil watched in silence as [member="Verana"] spoke to the elder. For the longest time the Jedi had been his enemy, a threat to be struck down by any means. Yet for the first time he paused to listen, and found himself rather surprised. She absolutely seemed to refuse to fight unless there wasn't another choice. Was that the conviction Jedi were suppose to hold? Or was she just saying that as nothing more then an act?

"The guns have a stun setting. The Jedi's right. If you kill them, those who survive will only come to resent you. We can drive them off world without having to kill them." For now the ex-Sith would support the Jedi's wishes, curious to see if they amounted to anything. If they didn't, it wouldn't be a hard swap to lethal means. He pulled out his own pistol, switching the setting to nonlethal.

"That to your liking, Jedi?"

[member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

 

[Verana]

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] // [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

There was always a ripple effect. Vera had not had the easiest time understanding that when she first came to the Jedi, but with time they had come to explain it rather well. To dethrone a tyrannical government with violence was effective, it was fast and it was straightforward, but it also nurtured a message of violence being a viable way to make a point. Violence beget violence, violence never beget peace. What is taken by might today could ripple away and decay the good in the day’s message. A slave today, a tyrant tomorrow. Not all intentions were bad, but not all intentions were good at heart either.

“It’s a start.” Vera said and grabbed the blaster and hooked it to her belt. “I will make no excuses. This goes against everything I believe in.”

The old cyborg didn’t seem as appreciative anymore and Vera made no effort at hiding the fact that she was upset she was about to play a key part in either a violent uprising or a potential massacre of innocents, and those were just the smaller potential outcomes of this.

Walking out into the street she looked around. The panic around her was hard to mute at this point. Being an empath was not ideal for situations like this and she knew that, everyone around her knew that. The tension that lingered in the air and the way the streets seemed to have almost quieted did not help either.

“Where did your friend go?” Vera asked Kahlil, her voice strained from blocking the others out.

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

Even with the silencer on her weapon she very much disliked being so close when the Enforcer fired. It was quite literally a hand cannon, and because of her time spent mostly on helping Kahlil (or ordering him around) she hadn't fully mastered the weapon, or gotten used to the massive crack the slugthrower produced upon firing. Still, Kelsie gritted her teeth as she kicked open the door and opened up on the poor armored man who happened to be standing guard nearby.

The shot cleaned a neat hole through his chest and disoriented the command center's operators. She was already pouncing upon the next guard by the time he had recovered, a rapid slash of the throat and kick to the chest leaving him dead on the floor. The remaining two guards raised their rifles and opened up at Kelsie -- or where she had just been. The young woman dived and took cover behind one of the consoles. It seemed that the operators weren't planning to fight back. Kelsie was fine with that...

Taking a moment to recollect herself, the blaster fire stopped as the guards began to move around the room in an attempt to flank her. She listened for their footsteps, quietly counting before she drew the case for her glasses. It was round, sleek, and black -- and she tossed it over the console like a grenade. The two guards' blasters were immediately drawn to the object, following it as it flew across the room. There was another crack as the Enforcer fired again, taking out the knee of the first guard before the barrel lined up with the chest of the second. Crack.

She gathered the blasters quickly and kept her eyes on the cowering technicians of the command center. She let out a small sigh, then holstered her weapon. "I'm not here to hurt you, but I want you all to do a few things for me. If you do them, you'll walk out of here unharmed and probably pretty satisfied if you don't like your job. You with me?" There was a pause before they began to nod okay. They didn't want this scary woman blowing off their heads -- the groans of pain of the last guard still breathing reminded them of that.

Kelsie put her hands together and smiled. "Then let's get to it."

[member="Verana"] [member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"She's off doing her own thing. Kelsie is a very capable woman." Kahlil offered a shrug to [member="Verana"] with his answer. In truth he had no idea what [member="Kelsie Sylvan"] was doing, only that she was certainly doing it better then he could. The now armed slaves began their preparations, knowing there was only a short time before Cevdek sent down their private military to squash them. Time wasn't on their side.

Already the group had moved forward, taking advantage of the opening Kelsie had made to begin their assent of the tower to the fueling station at the top. The ex-Sith had just begun to leave with them when a curious sight caught his eye. "You okay Jedi?" There was a touch of concern in his voice, which surprised him. "You can stay with the ship if that helps."

 

[Verana]

Capable of murder, that much was certain. Verana looked the man over and tried to assess him and who he was. There was something to him that didn’t strike her as if this occurrence was mere happenstance, that she was merely the right woman in the wrong place for this one. He seemed far too careless with the problem that had just taken seed, yet cared what happened to those around him because of it. It wasn’t the wrong thing that he was trying to accomplish yet it was the exact opposite of the right thing still.

“Choosing not to act would be foolish of me.” Vera said and shook her head. “I will come along, even if it is only to stop you from making any more mistakes.”

With that Vera stepped into the elevator with the white-haired rebel, or whatever it was that the man called himself at heart. By being around she could at the very least try her best to steer this in the direction of ‘okay.’ If there even was such a thing.

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] / [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

In comparison to Kelsie's kill count, Kahlil was like a harmless kitten. Murder was basically her favourite pastime... it wasn't something she brought up when talking about herself. And yet it was probably that affected her deeply. She was a killer, through and through. Trained by killers to be a better killer. Trained to kill without being killed. Probably why she spent all her time trying to live life to the fullest.

It seemed that the group of technicians understood the femme fatale wasn't messing around. She stood at the center of the room, spinning her Enforcer on her finger menacingly. Her eyes scanned the screens, making sure none of them were calling for help -- not that she'd mind too much, she was prepared to take on just about anything. They'd have to roll a tank into the room to get her out -- and even then she could probably shatter some armor with her Enforcer. She really did love the beauty of a slugthrower.

"They haven't moved, miss." One of the technicians spoke up from his seat at his computer, which showed the myriad of security cameras in the facility.

She looked it over quickly, then nodded. "Open the doors in their path," she said. The technicians nodded in response and got to work. Kelsie then tapped her commlink and tried to get through to Kahlil. "Kahlil, you there? I'm at their lower command center, I can see you guys down in the hangar. I'll guide you on your way up."

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] [member="Verana"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Mistakes. Yeah." Kahlil frowned to [member="Verana"] as she spoke, but left it at that. They, [member="Kelsie Sylvan"] and he, had just interrupted a planned rebellion that the cyborgs had planned the Jedi to help. Things might have gone a drastically different route had they not killed anyone. He clicked on his com as it beeped, nodding his head once. Right, she couldn't actually see that. "Sounds good. And try not to kill anyone if you can. We did just hijack the rebellion."

As the literal doors began opening in their path the rebels began to spread out, hoisting up their rifles in preparation for the fights they'll no doubt be a part of. The security systems began to activate, battle droids stepping out into the hall to open fire. At least that made the lethal part a bit easier to deal with for the time being. Kahlil raised his blaster and switched back to the lethal, firing into the crowd.

"Take them out, watch your flanks! We'll push our way to the roof and show Cevdek you won't be slaves any longer!"

 

[Verana]

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] / [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

A small hesitant inhale parted Verana’s lips as she raised the blaster towards the oncoming droids. It was the second before she took her side in action rather than words then. The slavers had already seen her in the crowd and for all intents and purposes the jig was up. For better or worse she was in this now. As the blaster fire started roaring Vera took her aim and fired a shot at the droids with a marksman’s accuracy. She had carried a rifle since she was barely out of her cradle after all.

In the end Vear wouldn’t say much. Utilizing cover she would pick off the droids as they approached, taking out the occasional attempts at flanking. All the while looking at Kahlil every now and then to see what he was doing.

It was doubtful the stares would be getting any less piercing or judgeful any moment soon. This could have been a silent revolution worked under the nose of the slavers like a snare that forced them out of their seats of power. Now? Not so much.

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

There wasn't much Kelsie could do to directly help Kahlil and the Padawan -- but she did what she could. The doors that had opened up to let out the mass amount of droids began to close sporadically, crushing the droids unfortunate enough to try to pass through. The droids eventually realized they should stop pushing through and stayed where they were, firing from the safety of the entrance to the facility. It was then that she closed the door once more, cutting off the droids inside from those outside.

After that she moved to one end of the room and drew her pistol again. "Everyone out, now. Keep your hands up, rip off your badges and head to the ground floor."

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] [member="Verana"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

The rebels surged forward as the doors began closing off their reinforcements, much to the groups relief. The droids would have overwhelmed them otherwise. Kahlil kept to the front, purposely trying to put himself in the way of the enemy blasters. [member="Verana"] judgmental attitude was justified in the young mans mind. Had [member="Kelsie Sylvan"] and him never arrived she could of done this in a far more peaceful manner.

And he was trying to make amends in the only way he knew how.

Grant it, this proved to be a rather dangerous attitude. On more then one occasion as they made their way up the stairs he found himself under heavy blaster fire. His shirt was singed, as was the flesh below. If not for his currently shaky connection to the Force that warned him of danger he'd have ended up full of holes long ago. But he continued none the less, his blaster ringing off as he fought his way for every inch alongside the men and woman of Montilla who were fighting for their freedom.

 

[Verana]

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] / [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

At one point or the other Vera had switched over to her lightsaber. The green blade ignited to send the blaster bolts to their senders with uncanny precision. There were a few close calls but practice had sent Vera into a state of being in which her own protection was her ultimate focus. In this state the surroundings were what they were, she had greater issues to consider and the biggest one at that was not dying.

With time the doors that drew the droids in seemed to close, and as the last remaining opposition fell Vera felt herself withdraw from her mind to look at her companions.

“They know where we are.” Vera said and extinguished her saber. “We’ve left a trail. They will track us down, it is inevitable now.”

“Do we set up an ambush or do we go to them?”