Private Lost and Found

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric nodded his head. "Works from there."

The former Jedi confirmed as he glanced around for a brief moment. There were no soldiers on the street, plenty of gangsters, but nobody wearing emblems of the Sith or anything of the sort. That was a good sign at least, meant that they weren't going to be stopped before they actually got to where they were going.

His gaze cast backward for a moment, sensing an odd pulse.

His fingers unlatched themselves from Kyra's, his stomach dropping as he realized they couldn't just lazily make their way into the starport. "Go."

Cenric told her as he pushed her forward.

"Get to Hangar A21." She needed to know the number, the name. His step quickened, they turned towards the entrance of the Starport. "Look for Ragish."

 

[Kyra Perl]

The manhole they had climbed from blew open. A figure shot out, landing into the street with the unmistakable aid of the force.

Krya stopped for a moment, staring in horror. The darkness that rippled off of them was overwhelming. It ate at her senses, locking her up and leaving her quaking in terror. A solid shove from Cenric was the end of that. Her senses snapped back to her, the padawan obeying without reserves as she ran into the Starport.


Her muscles burned against the speed she forced herself to take, but the pain meant nothing against the blinding need to survive. She scattered and slammed into Hangar A21, a box of tools scattering across the floor as it broke her stop. That would hurt later.

"Raaaaaaagish!" She bellowed.

 

[Cenric Marus]

A Twi'lek suddenly popped his head up, eyes growing wide as he spotted the fleeing Zeltron bursting into the hangar bay. Behind him sat an ancient VCX-720. The ship might at one point have been described as fast, though by the looks of it's rusted hull and worn out engines it was just a bout a ruin. "Who the feth are you?"

The man asked.

"Why are you yelling my name?" The Twi'lek looked her up and down, his lips thinning as though he were considering if this was going to be more trouble than it was worth. "Wait no, tell me why I should care in the first place."

There, couldn't get more direct than that.

The Sith leaped out of the sewers, his black cloak snapping as he landed on his feet and glanced directly up towards where Cenric was standing.

A loud snap-hiss erupted, the red blade bursting forth from the man's lightsaber in an instant. As soon as the weapon showed screams erupted, the crowd around the young Jedi Padawan parting in an instant as everyone flocked to run away. Cenric glanced around him, letting out a swear as he pulled out his own weapon. "Stop!"

He called in a bluff.

"You don't have to do this." The Sith did not answer, his pale face only parting in a smile as he marched forward.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra panted, half hanging over the box of tool. "Cenric. Sith. Fly please," she wheezed.

Her head snapped to the entrance of the port, a horrible feeling hitting her gut. "Fly! Now! We have to save him!" Arms flailing, Kyra gave no further explanation as she charged him on the ship.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

There weren't many people named Cenric on Nal Hutta, even fewer who Ragish would associate with the word "Sith". The moment the Girl blurted out those Nouns his eyesbrows shot up and his lips thinned.

A pit formed in his stomach.

He had known that this one come one day, Cenric had warned him. He didn't like it, but he knew that he had made a promise and he had to keep it. Honor was not often found out here in the Outer Rim, even less so among the kind of people he hung out with. Cenric though? Cenric had saved his life.

Without another word Ragish pulled himself up and followed the girl. "STRAP IN!"

He yelled as he stormed up the ramp.

The bright blue blade of his lightsaber erupted just in time to catch the flurry of red that sprang at him. He caught the Sith's blade, his hand twisting on the hilt of his weapon and let the other man's blade slide off of his own.

A kick reached up, throwing the Sith back and buying himself just a second of time before the man rushed him once more.

"What are you?"​

The Sith Hissed.

"A padawan? A learner? Pathetic."​

Their blades met with three quick strikes, the force of the Sith pressing Cenric back with each attack. His blade clashed once, then twice, then a third time. His hand swept outward, throwing a fallen chair towards the Sith. The man's blade came up, slicing through the metal as he extended his hand and sent a flash of lightning towards Cenric.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra did not buckle up. She barely stepped in. Instead she clung to the poles of the ramp's hydraulics system, waving the pilot off. "Bring me to him! I have to help him!" A sith, a sith, a bloody flupping cookie burning sith. She burned with impatience as the man grunted at her and made his way to the cockpit. The seconds it took to feel the engine roar to life felt like minutes. Every flash of the sith's power felt like knifes in her chest. The empath left herself wide open to the force as she tried her damnest to focus and listen.

They pulled out of the hanger, the force of it dragging her body down. Quick maneuvers towards the street threaten to shake her off, but her sweaty hands stuck to the metal as if they were glued. The street pulled into sight, and following an instinct she let her saber hiss to life as she tossed it out.

The purple length went flying down from the sky, intercepting the lightening. The whole blade seized up and sizzled off, the light disappearing and the hilt smoldering as it fell to the ground. But the lightening had been stopped, Cenric spared, and that was the only thought that reached Kyra as she screamed into the depths of the ship. "Lower! Lower!"

She held out a hand for Cenric, noises of exertion gritting between her teeth.

 

[Cenric Marus]

There were no words.

There was no time for words.

Cenric should have been panicking. He should have been afraid or pissing himself. Yet there was none of that. He was calm, almost serene. There was no explaining that lack of emotion, no telling why he felt the way he did. Yet it was there. Cenric watched as the Sith flourished his lightsaber, spinning the blade and cutting into the concrete ground as he smirked and took a step towards the Padawan.

With his off hand the Padawan reached up and pulled the mask from his face.

He tossed the thing to the ground, offering the Sith a smile. The man instantly charged at him, letting out a roar as he rushed forward and headed directly towards Cenric himself. The padawan let out a breath, and then shot his hand forward. The force pulsed outward, throwing the man back just as Kyra's voice and the sound of engines burst into life behind him.

Before the Sith could recover Cenric tensed, and them jumped backward in a flip, catching the edge of the ramp with one hand and Kyra's palm with the other.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra caught his hand in turn, her fingers digging into his wrist as she heaved him up with a force-assisted tug.

"Go!" She screeched, leaving Cenric to tumble into the hanger as she blocked another lightening bolt with a well-time force field. Her fingers tingled at the effort, her expression paling as she caught sight of the fury twisting over the sith's face.

With one last bout of defiance, she called her smoldering saber up into her hand. It burned her skin, the padawan scrambling backwards to give the door clearance as it closed in on them. The ship rocked as another bolt o energy struck, this time with nothing stopping it.

And then they were off, the force of their departure sending Kyra slamming into the wall of the hanger.

She slid to the ground, her rapid heart beat slamming in her ears. They were... safe...?

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric barely managed to hang onto one of the small guard rails that was positioned in the back of the ship. His fingers held onto it so tight his knuckles almost turned white, the ship rocking gas a patch of lightning ran against it's side.

Then they pulled away.

The ship rocked back and forth as they broke into the atmosphere, Ragish calling out something unintelligible in his native tongue. Cenric assumed that it was a series of swears, or at least something close to it. HIs gaze cast over towards Kyra who had slid to the ground, his own chest rising and falling as he felt his heart thunder in his chest. "Not so bad."

He commented quietly.

"Didn't even get a new scar." It was the first joke that he'd made in her presence.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra gaped at Cenric, finding him practically unrecognizable with his helmet off and that joke slipping from his lips. "Oh, now you develop personality," she grumbled, groaning down at her saber and letting the destroyed mess fall to the ground.

"It's shot..."

Which meant a lot of what they had done had been for nothing. But a training saber wasn't meant to hold up to forces such as lightening. It was just a tool to allow practice. And now her misjudgment had costed her-- costed the lot of them really. Many times over. Her mood was not so quick to bounce back as his.

"Are you okay?" She gritted against the wall, the force of breaking off from the planet's atmosphere straining her cracked ribs. It didn't surpass her notice that she was lucky to be running with all her limbs attached. And the fact that Cenric had his too...

"You fought off a sith."

 

[Cenric Marus]

"Not for the first time." Cenric commented quietly as he finally let go of the handle bar and pulled himself off the ground with a slight grunt.

Pain lanced through him, though he had no idea why. The Sith hadn't managed to strike him once, and Thanks to Kyra the lightning he had thrown never managed to hit him either, a frown touched his lips as his gaze swept over his body. No wounds were fun, but an odd sensation still clung to him.

His fingers tightened, then he slowly shook his head and replaced his lightsaber on the small of his back. "I'm alright."

The padawan said, deciding that the odd feeling must simply have been his nerves.

"Thanks to you." His ego was not so large that he couldn't admit she'd saved him. His own lightsaber likely would not have come up in time to block the lightning, and without that he would have been fried. "Are you alright?"

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Fine," she dismissed. She hadn't been the one that had to do the sith fighting. All she had was a few thugs kick her sides in. She wouldn't be the one to complain. "...Thanks to you," she commented back. Her gaze held his for a long pause, the faithful cheer replace by a heavy and summarizing look. She looked older for a moment.

And then it was gone.

She pulled herself up, squeaking back noises at the effort.

"You're cover's blown. Where ya gonna go now?"

 

[Cenric Marus]

A loud sigh escaped him.

He knew that she was right. It was doubtful he could ever work for the Hutt again, much less anyone in the criminal world. News of this would spread and he had no thought that the Sith wouldn't remember his face.

Briefly he wondered who the man was, why he'd been doing there. Buying Kyra seemed the obvious answer, but why? Usually they could send soldiers to do that. His lips thinned for a moment and his head slowly shook as he opened his mouth to speak, then realized he had no idea what to say.

A moment passed, then he finally spoke. "Suppose I'll stay with Ragish."

Until he found something better.

The Twi'lek wasn't exactly his first choice, but he liked the man, and they could tolerate each other.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra snorted at the thought. She barely exchanged more than a few screamed words with the man, but it didn't take more than that to forsee problems there. "Yeah, I gueeeeess you could." Her saber went flying back into her hand, then tucked out of sight. Maybe it was salvageable? She couldn't leave it behind before, now was no different.

"Or, you know. I do know one place that is safer," She started, speaking carefully as she approached him.

"A place where siiiith can't reach-- or track. A place you could lay low... let this die down... not half to hide.."

She twirled in place a little, her shoulders shrugging nonchalantly.

"You know. You could go with me." She stuck out a hand, a silent offer to lead him deeper into the ship.

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric stared at her in silence for a few moments, frowning deeply. "I'm not Jedi."

The answer would likely not be what she was looking for.

Her excitement was already clear, or rather, her intent. Yet the idea of going back to any Jedi Temple made his stomach turn in loops. He wasn't a jedi, he was never going to be a Jedi. That was something he'd decided a long time ago, when he'd been cut off from the Rebel Alliance.

There was no going back.

"It's not a place for me." Cenric told her stiffly, trying not to sound too harsh about it. "Not anymore."

Had it ever been?

After the last few years Cenric wasn't all that sure anymore. He'd made a much better bounty hunter than any sort of Jedi. He didn't step forward to take her hand, too standoff ish about the idea.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's hand wavered, palpitate disappointed cutting across her features. "But we could help you," she insisted.

"You wouldn't have to do it alone anymore."

She wasn't blind to the fact that it was rough out there in the world. A few days on the world she had found Cenric in gave her enough insight into what his life must have been like. He should come with her, not just because of the safety the sjo could offer, or even because he could be himself in the company of his own again. She was offering him a hand out of poverty and strife, and she just couldn't understand why he wouldn't take it.

"Imagine. A week from now you could leave your house without having to watch your back-- hide your face-- didn't it get stuffy in there?"

 

[Cenric Marus]

He frowned for a brief moment, he couldn't deny what she said was true. There was something extremely exhausting about living the way he did. Looking over your shoulder, glancing at everything twice, the stress of it was enough to make him want to claw his eyes out. Fingers tightened for a moment, lips thinning as he considered what she said.

The prospect of not being alone?

That had the opposite effect. He didn't want to be surrounded by people. He didn't want to be close to anyone. The thought of friends, the idea of caring about others...it was daunting. All be could think about was what happened with the Alliance, what had happened when the Sith came.

The disappointment.

The feeling of utter despair when he'd watched them die. Cenric didn't want to watch it again, he didn't even want the possibility. Isolation meant he couldn't watch everything all the time, but being with others meant that he had to protect them. His fingers tightened, his chest seemed to hurt.

"I'll go. For a few days." He could afford that. A window of being comfortable, of not being chased. After that he and Ragish could go somewhere else.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra's expression lit up, the girl rocking onto her toes in a bout of excitement. "Awesome! You'll love it there. Promise. Won't regret it. No siiiiiths to dodge. Bounties to collects-- Hutt's butts to kiss!" She grabbed at his hand, pulling him out of the cargo hold with her. "I even won't make you talk to others. Much." She shoot him a cheeky smile over her shoulder before turning back front.

"Ragiiiish! To Kashyyyk!"

 

[Cenric Marus]

Cenric didn't say anything, he only frowned.

The idea of going to any Jedi Temple was harrowing for him. Not as harrowing as fighting a Sith, but he could have listed half a dozen unpleasant things that he rather would have done. His fingers tightened and released, head spinning as he decided that me might have just made a mistake.

"Kashyyyk?"

The twi'lek called from the cockpit, a clear amount of confusion in his voice.

"Why the hell would we go there?"

The planet of the Wookiees wasn't exactly a tourist destination, though it did make a good hiding place. Lots of trees and lots of hangars that most wouldn't go to. Cenric frowned for a moment, then shouted back. " Just do it!"

It was just about the only option.

And it was only for a week.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra released his hand again once she found herself a seat, the worn down padawan flopping heavily into it. A few days? A week? Forever. It didn't matter what he had to say to himself to make it palpable, Kyra was sure of the end result. And that confidence was about the only good thing she had to cling onto as she felt the ship readjust its course and jet towards her current home planet.

It felt weird to refer to it that way, but this trip had made her realize just how much she had begun to settle into live at the academy on Kashyyyk. Strange. But kinda exhilarating too. If not for the fact that when they returned she had a lot of explaining to do. Worse part was she had no clue what to even say. Something came over me and I just had to go?

Her fingers tangled over her hair in unspoken worry, the girl unconsciously twisting stains into a padawan braid at the base of her neck.

"It'll be good," she told no one, trying to convince the air itself that things would be juuuuust fine. Just fine.