Reunions and Revelations (PM for invite unless tagged)

[Celiana]

Master Roberts had missed the fun...If one could consider jumping from a hijacked speeder down the shaft using The Force to accelerate and absord the shock of your landing on a platform 1300 levels down fun. I had a feeling I was beginning to live up to Anakin Skywalker's reputation for foolish antics... Zara had finished setting up my Verpine rifle on the rooftop we were both currently on and I sensed Master Roberts nearby. I'd sliced into one of the cargo ships that had been used to transport these poor girls here it had orders to once weapons fire was detected search out a heavily modified X-wing. Master Roberts could fly quite a few of these young women out on that.

As for Zara I hadn't seen her in what felt like forever so even with the Likelihood that Master Roberts could pop onto this roof at any moment I moved over next to Zara and draped my right hand over her soft, firm, and very cute ass. Clicking the helmet comms on she said, "Really Celiana? Even when we're working?" In response to her question I squeezed her ass, digging my nails into the soft flesh under her bodysuit. "Mmmmm Zara you know me. I'm Mando'ade and you also know I love you. If we weren't working right now your clothes would be shredded and you and I would both be writhing in pleasure." I loved the fact that we could be sexing each other up and nobody would hear us due to our helmet comms. I heard her moan throught the comms and say, "After this Celiana, I don't care what you do as long as there's more of what you're doing now involved."

Just then I felt Master Roberts' presence approaching and rolling back a short distance away from Zara I waited for her to pop up onto the roof...

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

The Peacock found the Nav point easily enough. Finally climbing up a nearby ladder to reach the middle rooftops of the district. Brushing herself off from all the gray debris and rust that so easily lingered down here. Bah. The backwater underground of Coruscant. 1313. What a horrible place to visit.

"Sorry about the wait."

Karen smiled behind her helm,

"Traffic was killer. Hehe. ...So. Do we have eyes-on the target?"

She knelled down to get a better look. Not exactly certain just what, she was looking for.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Looking down over the edge I saw there was a cage of young women with three guards to this cage as well as rotating patrols...Well good thing Zara had my Verpine sniper rifle...Master Roberts looked eager to begin and I said, "The cages are where the girls are being held until auction at which point we can eliminate the guards and ferret them away. I took the liberty of slicing into the controls of one of the freight vessel they've been using to bring girls down here in. It'll begin heading towards your X-wing once the sensors register weapons fire. As for the others I rigged them with high yield EMP charges that will also short out some of their weapons. They've all got slug-throwers though..."

Taking a quick look at all these slavers I began noticing patterns. Turning towards Master Roberts I said, "Silence is key for getting these girls out safely. To avoid unneeded gunfire until it happens Zara cooked up something special. It's a highly corrosive acidic compound specifically geared towards the metal in both the slave harnesses and the cage locks themselves. Spray it on the lock and it chews right through. Zara will be providing overwatch while you and I go and get as many cages open as we can. Once these slavers have noticed us if they do I'll remotely trigger the charges grounding the rest of their ships. Zara will fire off a single round to get the freighter you'll be using out of here but once she does they'll be on higher alert."

Looking at my former Master I said, "I hope you're ready Master because the auction starts in ten minutes..." Winking the countdown clock into view in my HUD I vaulted over the edge and used The Force to land without a sound. Triggering my Mandalorian hidden blade with The Force I leaned into the shadows and just then one of the guards was going to take a piss when he spotted me. Before he could do anything I reached around his neck and plunged the hidden blade up through his jaw before twisting to make sure he satyed silent. Well, that was unfortunate as much as I despised these scum I didn't enjoy taking life unless necessary.

Moving silently over towards one of the cages a young Twi'lek girl saw my mask and was about to scream when I gestured for her to stop and be silent. Removing my mask I looked at her and said, "It's to scare them. I'm here to help just be quiet ok?" She nodded her understanding and pulling my helmet back on I sprayed a bit of the compound on the lock and watched as the lock and their shackles were eaten away. Speaking quietly I told them to get to the scrapyard Master Roberts' X-wing was at and to hide there for a while. Ten girls and nobody had noticed...this was a great start! Hopefully our luck help a bit longer before we were noticed....

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

Karen nodded and the plan began. [member="Celiana"] even managed to cushion her landing from off the roof with the Force. In full irons. Well well. Not too shabby. She was a quick learner. Interesting.

Roberts fell from the building likewise. Touching down softly and shouldering her rifle. Then moved to the cages. However, before freeing any of the girls Karen simply walked around and waved a gesture at all the patrolling guards, ruffians, psychos, vagrants, and thugs. One by one they each fell over as her hand passed over them. Unconscious and asleep for hours. Just a sweep of her hand and then nothing. All of them put to sleep without so much as a sound.

Roberts didn't bother stripping their memories or hiding the bodies either. No need to waste time. They only had ten minutes. Had to be quick with the girls now. Clock was ticking.

...

With the dozen or so guards now asleep, she was free to lightsaber the cages wide open and unshackle the slaves. Luckily. No bomb collars this time.

"Okay ladies. If anyone speaks Basic nod your head."

All of the girls in the cage nodded. Huh? Bright stock today. Wonder where they got them? Some might even be able to read and write too. Strange.

"Alright then. Follow me. We'll be headed out into the scrapyards and to another ship. No noise. Alright? Nice and easy."

Karen gave a thumbs up signal to Zara. She could start the shooting and get that shuttle moving whenever she wanted. All the girls were moving out on foot. Karen could escort them to the scrapyard. Easy as pie.

Karen sent a mental message to Drayven through the Force,

~ "I'll get the girls to the ship and then up to the temple. You and Zara have the leftovers here. And their ships. Don't worry about pursuit either. R2 will cover me in the X-Wing. ...Cheers Drayven. See you two back at the hotel." ~

And, all without firing a single shot, Roberts disappeared into the underbelly of 1313 with the slave girls. Celiana and Zara could handle the rest of the stage crew and the pilots. Poor slavers...

They'll never even see it coming.

 

[Celiana]

Feeling Master Roberts in my mind I heard her say they were headed to the temple as soon as the ship was off. Speaking through the helmet comms I said, "Zara anytime you're ready go ahead and ping that freighter." I felt the round exit and saw the impact on the freighter next thing the slaver who were still conscious knew one of their ships was zooming away. As they rushed to their ships I remotely detonated the EMP charges grounding their ships. Now they were ticked, and they also had begun to do a sweep. Looking through my HUD I saw a young Mirialan woman cowering in a corner.

Osik...Dashing over next to her I had enough time to say, "Get behind me." Then one of the slavers saw us both igniting my Aqua saber as I drew it I bisected him at the waist and pulled off my helmet looking at the girl. "It's alright love, I'm a Jedi and you're safe now. Hold onto me ok?" She nodded and wrapped her legs around me as I launched a line and climbed back up to the roof I'd jumped from. Zara saw me with the girl and just shook her head. Pulling her helmet off she said, "Just had to rescue the small ones huh?" I glared at her and said, "I wasn't going to leave her with them Zara."

The young Mirialan girl had apperently gotten over her shock and just pointed at Zara and said, "She's gorgeous." Smiling I said, "yeah she definitely is." I heard shouts from below and then saw the rifle beam on Zara. Pushing the Mirialan girl down I tackled Zara to the rooftop just as the shot came. Taking the blaster bolt to the reinforced backplate as I fell looking over at the Mirialan I gestured for her to stay down as I channeled The Force and instintively shot a single bolt of Aqua colored electricity through the sniper dropping him. Zara had rolled and come up with a rifle just as I'd used Electric Judgement. Letting out a low whistle she said, "That's new Celiana.." Smiling I said, "Yeah it is, call the Morrigan if they didn't know where we were before they do now..."

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

The slaver ship did indeed make it to the scrapyard. Karen watched it hover over the location and just, well, kinda sit there.

"Huh?"

So much for a proper slave circuit. The thing wasn't landing. Damn.

"R2. Watch the girls."

~ Weep? ~

Roberts shrugged and used the Force to board the vessel. Once inside, she cleared the hacked terminal and began a fresh boot. Eventually landing the vessel nearby.

She dropped the ramp and let the slave girls aboard.

"Okay ladies. Rides here. Let's go. Chop chop!"

It was strange how well the girls obeyed. As if they weren't free at all. Just... Obeying their next master. It made Karen uncomfortable. Bah. What a gross feeling.

When all the girls were aboard, Karen waved to her Astromech droid.

"Okay R2. Our destination is the Jedi Temple. Follow em up threw the ceiling and then land her in the hanger bay. I'll meet you there once I'm done off-loading the girls. Got it?"

~ Woop woop! ~

Good. Okay. Now she could finally get outta here.

"Alright ladies. Buckle up. We're flying outta here. Yeehaa!"

...

Next stop. The Jedi Temple.

___

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

I was suddenly very glad I'd packed as much ordinance as I had. After having been nailed protecting Zara my focus became protecting the young woman with us. The alarms went off and even though I'd disabled all the rest of the ships they could still be restarted. There were more thugs being offloaded too. Pulling my DC-17m free from my right thigh I loaded an anti-armor explosive grenade into the anti-armor attachment and fired at the ships offloading troops. A brilliant fireball erupted ahead of us and I decided it was high time to blow the rest of the ships to hell. Triggering the incendiary charges on the fuel canisters I watched as a curtain of flame exploded outwards triggering secondary explosions throughout the ships. As this happened the ships were shredded into bits.

Looking over at Zara I gave her a hang loose gesture and glanced at the young Mirialan woman. Pulling my cloak off I handed it to her and said, "You ever fired a blaster love?" She nodded and said, "before all this I was a pretty good shot why?" Pulling my blaster pistols from my belt I tossed them to her and said, "Cover the roof behind us and if possible avoid getting shot." Flipping my DC-17m rifle to the sniper setting I began to start lining up shots on the the surrounding rooftops. Pulling my helmet back on I lined up the scope with my HUD and winked the countdown clock out of existence, Winking again I enabled the combat HUD and began to line up shots. Squeezing the trigger gently I dropped someone on one of the roofs and began the process of picking off targets one at a time. I really hoped The Morrigan would arrive before long...

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

The pirate vessel took off from the scrapyard and lifted upwards towards the giant in the hole in the ceiling. One of the main skylights and passageways out of 1313. Karen was a natural pilot with years of experience behind the wheel of many, many different vessels. This one proved no different. And with R2 flying her X-Wing on AUTO behind her, nothing would stand in her way.

Roberts hit the skylanes in less than five minutes. Then began the ten minute voyage over to the Jedi Temple. Clearing security checkpoints as she neared. However, it was unloading and documenting all of the slaves that would take all of her remaining time. Even with the assistance of two other Jedi Knights, it still took Karen over an hour to get all the girls processed into formal Immigration. Doting all the i's and crossing all the t's. The Jedi Temple would see to the girl's care for the rest of the week after that. Paperwork was slow but the GA would take it from here.

In the meantime. [member="Celiana"] and Zara still had a fight to win...

 

[Celiana]

I continued picking riflemen off the opposing rooftopss and my HUD showed The Morrigan as still being five minutes out. Just then two shots rang out behind me and I saw two slavers fall from the rooftop behind me. Zara had switched over to the DC-17m and was laying down fire on a roof as well as the level below. Switching to the assault rifle setting I racked the slide and loaded a fragmentation grenade into the anti armor attachment of my DC-17. Running across the roof to Zara's position I slid into place on my knees and popping up over the edge I fired off the frag grenade into the second floor down from the top. Two seconds later it detonated eliminating around ten slavers and the walls were misted with red.

Loading a riot control grenade into the chamber I popped back over the edge and fired one down into the streets below. Clouds of tear gas began forming after the detonation. Tossing a rag towards the Mirialan I gestured for her to cover her nose. Nodding she tied it around her nose and mouth. I pulled the riot control grenades and primed them before throwing them over the edge and into the nearby buildings slavers had been moving into. I felt a blaster bolt impact my chest and dropping to my knee I fired a three round burst through the offending slaver dropping them. Moving to the edge I began to lay down suppressive fire while I tossed a mag to Zara. The Morrigan was only two minutes out now and turning I saw slavers crest over the rise of the building. Repeating the process earlier I channeled The Force and called Emerald lightning to my hand channeling it through my fingers I flicked my hand in a quick horizontal motion directing the Lightning through them at the midsection bisecting them.

I continued then firing off my rifle in three round burst before changing to five round bursts. I saw that The Morrigan was coming in hot and the suppresive fire was active. Two sets of triple barreled blaster cannons dropped from the wings and began firing off rounds in an overwhelming amount of surpessive fire. The boarding ramp dropped and using The Force I simply picked up the Mirialan young woman and tossed her inside. Zara hopped aboard and then I leaped aboard as well. Closing the hatch I went to the cockpit and taking the controls I pushed both yokes forward rocketing out of there. As we'd begun leaving I'd disengaged the blaster cannons and retracted them. Now that we were out of that mess I sent a message to Master Roberts saying "Master we made it out and we're intact more or less. Keep an eye on the news feeds coming out of 1313 while we make our way back to Zara's shop."

Now to have a chat with our new guest...

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

Back at the hotel.

Karen smirked as she walked down the stairs. Silly girl. 1313 didn't have news. Just dead bodies.

She pushed open the door with a flick of her wrist. By the look of the starships parked outside, Karen was already the last to arrive.

"Intact. More or less. ...Huh. Funny way to phrase that, ya know?"

Oh my.

"Blaster mark to the chest [member="Celiana"] ? How rude of them. And with an empty grenade belt too."

My my. It appeared she had missed the good part.

 

[Celiana]

During the ride back over I'd gotten the young womans name. Catarina, she'd also taken an instant liking to Zara so when we landed Zara had arranged for her to spend the night at Zara's loft. Pulling my helmet free I smiled at Master Robert's remark and rather flippantly said, "You should see the other guys and the building they were in. I'm fairly certain they weren't expecting two women to be so well armed. Or for one of those women to be shot then shoot a hole through them with green lightning either. I'm fairly certain that exploding ships, a loss of slaves, and swollen eyes and such from tear gas riot control grenades wasn't covered in their hazard pay either. But they know now it's a bad idea to enslave young women and an even worse idea to shoot at Mandalorians especially ones with Force powers."

Master Roberts motioned towards the blaster bolt on my chest but I also had managed to pull at least ten different slugs from various points on my chest and back plates as well. The grenade belt had been used up as a mass detonation of different things on our way out. I'd basically created new empty real estate down in 1313. Looking towards Master Roberts I said, "So Master, I'm assuming the rest of the girls made it to the temple then? Perhaps after a brief shower you'd be good to take me up on an offer of dinner now? I wanted to ask you something that you may have experience with."

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

Well then. Green lighting, riot grenades, custom firearms, and a taste for M-Iron. Huh. It appeared there just wasn't a modern tactical option that [member="Celiana"] hadn't endeavored to tackle all in one go. Sheesh. Talk about a one-man-band. Where was the King Manda when she needed him. Got a prime recruit right here.

Smiling at the thought, and Doe Charm still in place; Karen could help but feel a blush of pride. Or, ya know. Overkill.

"The girls in the custody of GA customs and immigration. So, they're fine. The Jedi Temple will look after their immediate conditions before being transferred to the Thatcher Facility downtown. However, if either of you are looking for a great way to spend some money? Well. Any of those girls would be proud to have you as a sponsor. At twenty thousand a pop. Their recovery and rehabilitation could be covered for the next six years. ...Anyway? Just something to think about."

Again. Paperwork and government stuff. The girls would be fine regardless.

"As for dinner. Sure. That sounds lovely. Give me an hour to cycle out my suit's water layer and I'd be happy to go with you. Wonderful."

...

By now Karen had gotten used to living in her EVAs and Katans. She could fly, land, combat, dine, and even dance in her sixth-generation armored spacesuits. So, it was no wonder the Peacock to such great care in engineering that every piece of her custom body armors also presented themselves fashionable in excess. Ha. Black is beautiful, as they say. Besides,

She never left home without them.

 

[Celiana]

20,000 Credits a pop times 25 was exactly 500,000 credits. I had the money to burn and it was a start to help improving those girls' lives...Scheduling the payment to The Thatcher Facility for twenty five of the girls that would arrive from the temple and six years of their life would be covered. I was happy to have the paycheck I'd earned working with James being spent the way I'd just spent it. Having heard Master Roberts accept my offer for dinner I looked at Zara and said, "I'll leave my armor here in the shop and I'll catch up with you later tonight love." Zara nodded at me and mouthed have fun.

Stripping out of my armor I stacked the plates and walked into the shop's shower. I'd started keeping a spare set of clothes here after my last trip to Coruscant. My clothes had been soaked in garbage juice and blood. Getting in under the hot water I scrubbed up fairly quickly and then pulled a dry towel to dry myself off. After having pulled on some clean underwear and pulling a plain sportsbra on I pulled on the trousers of a set of formal Jedi robes I'd bought on my last trip here. I only had two sets but they were incredibly comfy and they actually rocked the fact that I was a young woman with curves. It actually accentuated those curves in a way that wasn't overtly sexual. I'd decided to forego the button down undershirt and pulling on the rest of the robes I slipped back into some warm socks and a slightly dressier set of boots.

I wasn't sure what exactly Master Roberts liked for food but I had either sushi, steak, or stir-fry places I could recommend. While I waited for her to return from cycling her suits water layer I began removing slugs from my armored chestplate. I also pulled out a piece of chalk and began drawing designs into the armor that I'd handpaint later...

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

Karen returned in just over an hour. Feeling much better now that she had to readjust everything. Dinner seemed right in order now. Excellent.

She walked down the stairs without her helm and opened the door,

"Ah. There she is. Well. I'm all set. Shall we?"

And, to offer her taste,

"Know any good noodle places?"

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Smiling at Master Roberts' well... peacockishness I called my sabers to both hands and clipped them to my belt on either side of my hips. Gesturing for Master Roberts to exit first I closed up behind us and slid into Zara's personal speeder and kicked on the ignition. As Master Roberts mentioned good noodle places I pulled up into the skylanes and asked her, "Stir-fry noodle places or Italian noodle places Master?"

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

"Stir-fry sounds fine."

Karen smiled as they took to the skies. [member="Celiana"] knew just the place and it didn't take long for them to jump onto the 199 freeway. They could drive and talk, I suppose.

"So? What brings you to Coruscant so soon after the One Sith occupation? Did you have some sort of personal beef against those slavers?"

 

[Celiana]

Looking at Master Roberts as I drove I said, "Personal beef? Well yeah, yeah I suppose you could call it that. My father whom you know about had dealings with a band of inter-species traffickers. Last time I was on Triple Zero was when I met and began working with Zara. I'd heard of the slavers my father had worked with here were holding a meeting where they'd all be present. I did...what could be considered vengeance had it not been for the fact that they had young women in cages that those Hut'uun used as shields. I held those scum there as the girls ran and then...well bounties posted by the Sith were claimed for them dead. Apparently the Sith had issue with it not being them who were enslaving people."

"These slavers were also employed by my father whom I warned against going into business with slavers on a previous trip to Triple Zero courtesy of a business dinner with James Justice. He was warned and given ample time to make money in another way other than trafficking young women. Drugs fine, guns fine, enslaving women and others not fine. I solved the problem and left most of them alive tonight although the tear gas will be a memory they won't forget soon."

Still driving I closed my eyes and saw with The Force. Funny what you learned whilst training with a Miraluka during your childhood years I knew we'd be arriving any time now so I just drove with my eyes closed...

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

So much emotion in this young woman.

Fear, anger, hate. Suffering. How the Darkside touched her. Branded her. Her passion for her family, her friends; Zara. There was so little real Jedi in [member="Celiana"] that is always seemed to surprise her. So little restraint. Guns, grenades, and chemicals weapons too. Dead men and badly. Heh. Nothing seemed off-limits to her. Why look. Even now she was driving their vehicle with her eyes completely closed. Ha. As if the Force was just some new toy she'd gotten for her birthday. Bah. Was there no end to her irreverence?

No. Karen didn't ask anymore questions. She seemed distant now. Looking far, far away and out the window. Reminding herself once again that she herself had surrendered her ceremonial sword so many long, long years ago. Karen was no Jedi. Therefore? Who was she to judge.

Mmm. Old habits I suppose.

"But a Jedi must remain in the present. This is her place."

She said it like a whisper. Reminding herself not to dwell in the past.

"Ahem. Well. Sorry. Lost in thought there for a moment. Your story reminded me of somebody. ...Anyway. Since we are almost to dinner? Was? There something you wanted to talk to me about?"

 

[Celiana]

Turning to Master Roberts I opened my eyes as I said, "The eyes thing I learned from my Miraluka bladesmaster on Eshan, she was the first one who recognized my Force potential. She saw the possibility for me to be more than just another Echani heiress. I do this not out of a desire to toy with my life or show-off, though I can see how some may see it as such. I do it to remember her kindness, her caring, the desire she had for me to better myself, she showed me The Force in a way that is so beautiful I can't imagine not being able to see the way she taught me... Though I apologize if you thought I did so just because I could."

Pausing as I pulled in to the restaurant I looked at the floor of the speeder and somewhat guiltily said, "Master I'm sorry if you've only seen me as a young woman with a desire for vengeance. I'm not that at all and I hope the rest of The Masters will realize it. The fear I have is that I'll end up as just another woman who loses herself in her powers and abilities. The anger I have is mostly directed towards myself if not at the horrific injustices I've experienced and seen others be submitted to. I'd call it a righteous anger, suffering well...that's on me to come to terms with... All three will play a role at dinner as they're directly connected to what I wanted to ask you about..."

"Also the somebody...Are you perhaps referring to yourself in a past life perhaps Master?" With that final question I exited the speeder and sliding across the hood opened the door for Master Roberts. Perhaps once we began dinner things would become clearer...

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

Some clarity would be welcome at this point.

Karen dismissed [member="Celiana"] 's mind-reading apologies and stepped out from the car.

"Forget it Celiana. Let's just go inside and then you can finally tell me what all this business is about, yes? Come now. Let's not dally around like socialites. Dinner awaits."

Together they went inside and found a table. A waiter came by and dropped the menu's and took their drink order. Then he gave them a moment to overlook the menu. Everything looked wonderful. Drayven had chosen an excellent spot. Not bad at all.

Karen pondered what to order. Hmm... Maybe the Mon Cal Special? Mm. Hard to say.

"Well. We have a moment alone now. Shall I inquire again about why you wanted to see me? ...Or. Should I inquire about your opinion for the eggrolls? Hehe."