Private Lost and Found

[Cenric Marus]

"Manipulation and lying can't get you everywhere." Cenric stated plainly as he glanced at the panel.

There was no way of opening it without setting off some sort of alarm, he was pretty sure of that. Cenric had little to no skill in slicing. A few people had tried to teach him, but it had never really been something that he was good at. Why slice into a panel when you could just blast it and get through the door anyway? Hell, why blast it when you could use your lightsaber to cut through the door faster than it could actually open up.

"Nor can an air of false confidence." He would have to either cut the bars or blast the panels. "Why'd they take you?"

He reiterated his earlier question, glancing down the hall to make sure no one was coming.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"I dunnnno," Kyra squirmed, looking back down the hall with him.

"It got me this far." She shot him a cheeky grin, a bead of sweat slipping down her forehead.

 

[Cenric Marus]

He shrugged. "Alright then."

The voice modulator in his mask made him sound as unemotive as a robot, something he'd always quite enjoyed about the bit of tech.

"See how far it gets you now." Cenric said as he turned and began to walk away from the cell.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra stared at his back as he walked away, trying to get a read on him. He was bluffing. He was totally bluffing, right? ....He had come back for her, he'd-... The sweat sliiiiiid down her face, the girl squirming. "Wait wait wait!" He was so not bluffing. She caved, straining against the chains to pull his attention to her.

"I derailed their spice train and burned it all and while the guards mighta appreciated the killer high i gave them, I stole Hutt's credits on a drive and ran off to try and crumble his underground network but I failed and now he's going to sell my hid to the highest bidder as compensation, so you see you have to get me out of here or a sith will get their hands on me and you don't want that cause we're on the same side!"

Her voice rang out, breathless and echoing as she rattled her way straight to the end. Silence broke out, the man given nothing more than her ragged breaths. Tears started to bubble up, the reality of her situation finally hitting home now that she had been forced to say it out loud.

"Please. You have to help me. You're all I got," she choked.

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric stopped as she started blabbering, the choking sound of her voice causing him to freeze for a moment.

A frown touched his face for a moment. There was a callous response that he wanted to utter, to say to her and just leave it out there, but he knew he couldn't. She was right. If Legukk was going to sell her then she would likely end up in the hands of a Sith. The Empire paid handsomely even for Padawans. Force Users weren't exactly common in the galaxy, and if you could get a Padawan before they fully matured then they could be broken and turned.

He had seen it more than once during his time with the Alliance. Masters and Knights were usually killed, but Padawans? Padawans were put on the spit and tortured. Lips thinned for a brief second and then he took a step back towards the cage.

His hand sprawled open, and from the small of his back jumped his lightsaber.

It was a simple thing, not much more than a curved metal case with a few ridges for his fingers.The blade sprang into life with a loud snap hiss, it's vibrant blue gloom casting shadows on the barely lit walls of the basement. The blade swiped forward, cutting the bars of the cell twice and creating an opening large enough for him to step through. "Hold still."

He told her as he moved the blade and quickly cut her chains.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Her body quaked under his efforts, the padawan unable to keep herself still. The shakes took over the moment his saber snapped out, not in fear of it but in relief. She was never not safe in the arms of a jedi. Ex-jedi or not, she knew without doubt that Cenric would get her out of her in one piece. The utter terror she had been swallowing back erupted from her then. Kyra half fell into his form, hugging her savior tight.

"I knew it. I knew it," she lied. For a moment there she really thought she was done for. Whether or not he cared for the contact, she squeezed him tighter in a bout of authentic appreciation, her gratitude rippling off her through the force. "Red would have clashed horribly with my complexion."

She released him, careful motions made to stand on her own. Her body ached endlessly. She was pretty sure a few ribs were busted. But everything that counted, worked. Her shaking melted away, that sure confidence returning to her core. She gave him a firm nod, reassuring him of this. "So," she chirped. "How we getting out? What's your plan?"

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric patted her on his head.

Affection of any sort wasn't really in his bag of tricks, but he made careful note to point his lightsaber in the other direction so that he did not end up cutting her. He wondered what his mother and father would think if they saw him now, emotionless and raggedly worn. A frown touched his face and then he slowly shook his head, pushing away the vision of his parents. "The Sewers."

He stated plainly.

They could try fighting their way out, but he doubted that would end well. She was just a padawan and he...well not much better. A Padawan turned mercenary. They did not have the skill to face a small army, nor did he have the desire to do so.

Cenric knew that there was a sewer below this manor, and roughly where said sewer was. He could use his lightsaber to cut an opening within the ground and from there they could make their way to the spaceport easily enough. Of course her absence would eventually be noticed, but if they moved quickly they would be able to get out before that became too much of a problem.

"Come on." He motioned for her to follow, notably heading away from the stairs.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Wait!" She grabbed at his arm, looking towards the stairs. "My saber!"


She absolutely could not return to silver rest without it. The fact that she was missing was sure to be very soonly noticed. Even masterless as she was there were still people to notice a black eye and a missing saber to boot. There would be no explaining it away without revealing what she had done, and she had no desire to admit this mistake had ever happened. But it wasn't just her pride that drove her back towards her saber. It her attachment to it.

Sure she hadn't picked out the crystal herself and yeah it was annoying that it couldn't actually cut things. But the padawan still felt immensely attached to it. It was hers, and it represented a lot.


"I have to go back for it!"

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric stopped mid-step, hesitating for a second. His own lightsaber was still giving off that steady thrum of noise. The Pale blue light casting a shadow of himself onto the wall. A frown touched his face, and quickly he glanced down at the weapon in his hand.

A lightsaber was just a lightsaber, a tool to be used. Nothing else. Yet...he could understand the attachment to it. Though it should have just been a tool, the Lightsaber was a more of a mark of progression. A sign that you had shown yourself, that you deserved to be where you were. For Cenric especially it was a mark to his past. A token of the good days, when he'd still known his purpose, when he'd still walked a clear path.

His fingers tightened slightly on the hilt of his saber, then slowly he nodded. "Alright."

The former padawan said as he turned around and motioned towards a distant hall.

"The Armory is down that way." He knew that from experience, it was usually where Cenric picked up most of the packages he delivered for Legukk. "It's guarded."

If the lightsaber wasn't there, then the Hutt had likely kept it for himself as a trophy. If that was true things would get...complicated, but they would cross that bridge when they got there.

 

[Kyra Perl]

She fully expected resistance. The fact that he didn't endured him to her greatly. She kneeeew he still cared. He woulda flat out turned around and ditched her, and the saber, otherwise.

An appreciative smile light up her features, the girl giving a nod of understanding as he gave orders. She took off down the hall, both apprehension and excitement bubbling in her gut. It was nice to be back in the game, but it didn't surpass her that she could easily be shoved right back down here again. Especially weaponless, as she now was. She'd depend on Cenric in these upcoming moments more than most would care for, considering he was a stranger. She didn't think twice on it, slowing as she crept up the steps.

"Ready?" She mouthed, holding up her hands. She sensed a single presence on the other side, and she pointed towards their direction. "One," she continued to mouth, using hand gestures enthusiastically. "I'll distract. You get him. One... two..."

 

[Cenric Marus]

"What?" He blinked slightly. "No."

The last thing he needed was for her to get shot.

Right now the both of them could walk out of here without much of a problem, but if she got hurt trying to distract the guard then he would have to carry her. That wasn't about to happen, not when they were headed into the sewers. "They know me here."

Meaning they wouldn't immediately shoot him.

"Just force push him into the wall when I grab his attention." He stopped for a second. "You know how to do that, right?"

 

[Kyra Perl]

She balked at him, resisting the urge to force push him down the stairs.

"Just go," she hissed, this tiny dinky stair way no place to give him all the sass that was boiling inside of her. Oh but she'd remember this. Trust.

She kicked the door open for him, forcing him to walk out before he could utter any other retort. And the moment he had garnered the thug's attention, she whipped a hand out and sent him smashing back into the wall. A bit too hard. Something crunched. She grimaced, stepping out with him.

"You know how to do that, right?" She mimicked childishly.

 

[Cenric Marus]

He shrugged. "I wasn't sure."

Cenric lanced down at the Weequay that had been thrown against the wall. He had likely broken a rib or two on his fall, though he could see his chest move. It was a good sign, and he was glad for it. The Jedi was pretty sure that giving Kyra the first 'kill' talk would not be a pleasant one.

He didn't want that job.

"Grab his blaster." The thug of course carried a weapon, all of them did. Cenric wanted to make sure that when he woke up he at least didn't have it on him. With a quick two step he wandered over towards the control panel, quickly punching in a few digits that he remembered from the last time he'd been here. There was a slight delay, and then the panel blipped two green lights.

Hutts were terrible at Security.

Quickly he motioned to Kyra. "Search for your saber."

The armory was filled with dozens of different weapons. Blasters, stun lances, even a few force pikes.

 

[Kyra Perl]

She pinched the blaster between two fingers, uncomfortable with it on many levels. She slid it into her pant line as they moved, quickly deciding that such weapon was a last resort. Goosebumps speckled her skin, a faint reminder of the last time she had had one on her.

Maybe she did like her training saber after all. They didn’t kill.

She scattered into the weapon’s room as he laid it open for her, her eyes eager and open as she ran between the piles. “He just lets you in here? Why?” She challenged, already realizing there was more to this quasi jedi than he let on.

“Are you on a mission or something?” She glanced up at him, a particularly gruesome and blood stained dagger dangling between her fingers.

 

[Cenric Marus]

"Technically." Though that wasn't why he knew the code this time around.

"Legukk gave me the code a while ago." He explained. "The Hutt probably doesn't think that I would ever dare steal from him."

That was of course because most people would not be stupid enough to try. Though the slug was just a minor Crime Lord, he could still create more trouble than it was worth for pretty much anyone in the system. Pushing your luck with Legukk could very well see you end up in a grave. In the back of his mind Cenric already knew that he would be burned on Ylesia, that he would have to find a new home somewhere.

He wasn't entirely sure it was worth it. "Find your saber."

Cenric said glancing back at the guard.

"We don't have all day." More like fifteen minutes really.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"The Hutt seems to think he's all that in a bag of potato chips," she grumbled, digging around further. Dread started to grow in her gut, the girl quickly exhausting the length of the room. "I don't see it," she reported, her voice tight. "I don't see any, actually..." Which could mean she was the first of her kind to be so bad at their job to get caught or..." Are you sure he'd keep it here?" She looked up at him, panic in her gaze.

Returning without her saber would be a plethora of questions she didn't want to encounter. Not to mention all the 'talks' she'd get about responsibility and how a warrior should tend to the weapons. She didn't want to hear it, because she was already thinking it herself. She didn't need a master's voice in her head to tell her she had been foolish, she was feeling it herself. She stepped forward, her tone practically pleading.

"Perhaps he... still has it on him?"

 

[Cenric Marus]

A groan escaped him, frustration spiking across his features as he realized that Legukk had likely kept the weapon as a personal trophy. The Hutt's weren't really known for their use of lightsabers, but they did enjoy their shinys as much as anyone else.

"Poodoo." Cenric said quietly.

For a moment the former padawan closed his eyes. He tried to remember the layout of the Throne Room, the trophies that hung on the wall and everything else on display. He tried to think if he saw a lightsaber, or at the very least a place for one. He searched his mind quickly, thinking for a second before he clicked his teeth and realized where it could have gone. A small podium to the side of Legukk himself. Empty when he'd been there, but maybe...

"He probably has it." Cenric confirmed. "A trophy."

It wasn't every day you could find a lightsaber, even if it was a training saber.

For a moment Cenric hesitated. "How important is it to you?"

Not every Jedi cared about their lightsaber as much as he did, and heading to the throne room was beyond dangerous. There was more than one guard up there.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra sputtered at him. "Uh. Very!" Her panic was erupting into the air around her. All concepts of Kyra once being a capable and composed padawan could easily be questioned in the presence of such tangible panic. It coated the air, no pheromones needed to make the force thick with it.

"I can't- we need- I mean- ... no, I gotta-" She rambled, pacing between the shelves. She struggled for a solution, options racing through her mind and discarded as quickly as they came. There were a very less dangerous options, but none she would even bring up.

"You've kept yours!" She rationalized, her tone flat out pleading. She had no doubt in her mind that she needed him for this. If he decided this was not worth the risk, she'd be forced to go with him. She may have been reckless on this trip, but she wasn't stupid. Her heart slammed in her chest. "...Please..."

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric scowled behind his mask, fingers tightening for a moment as he considered their options. Going after the Saber was dangerous, more dangerous than breaking her out.

Kyra escaping might just be written off as a business loss, something being stolen from Legukk's personal throne room? That was an insult to both the Hutt pride and ego. Cenric wasn't sure if he was ready to pull the trigger on something like that. The danger was…entirely on a different levels. Lips thinned for a moment and he cast a glance down the hall towards the stair.

Itd be much easier to just leave.
If they went now they would have a head start, he could probably even put Kyra on a ship and have her half way back home by the time anyone realized there was any real problem. Fingers tightened again, and then relaxed in an almost meditative pattern. He breathed quietly, looking down at the girl.

She was right.

He had kept his own Saber cause it meant something. "Alright."

Cenric agreed quietly.

"But you follow my lead." There would be no arguments with that. "I say jump, you ask how high."

Otherwise they'd end up trophies on that wall.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Eeeee! Thank you! I will!" Kyra nodded, overenthusiastic. "Yup. Mhm. Promise! Whatever you say, Master." The words came out sincerely. What?

She couldn't see his face. He sounded old.

She gingerly placed a taser inside her pocket as well and hop-skipped right over to his side, her injuries forgotten in a wave of excitement. He got an abrupt, brief hug before the jittering padawan pulled right on back. "Right, well. Lead the way!" She chirped, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

Kyra could totally take direction. Totally. Shh.