Private Walking a different path

[Sazaku]

Location: The Wheel

“Another round barkeep… “ Sazaku said as his glass of Corellian brandy was empty. He was too broke for spice, so instead the liquor was cheaper. One way or another he always found himself like this, in some another chithole of a cantina. “I think you had enough..” Came the rough sound of the vocabulator of the Ithorian bartender who had already served Sazaku for several hours now. “C’mon you know I got the creds…” He said as he banged his gloved hand against the plastoid table. “I know, but we keep going through this over and over Sa… You drink yourself into a stupor and I cut you off… you got fuel to pay for too ya know.”

The Ithorian bartender had sounded like a disgruntled father than anything else. The look in his eyes told this wasn’t the first Chiss to drink themselves to death. Sazaku acted like an entitled child, as he buried his head onto the countertop of the table. “To hell with you then… I’ll just be back tomorrow for more.” The Ithorian rolled his eyes, as he took away the bottle of Corellian Brandy away from the table. “Sure you will, we can go round and round with this.” He wiped down the table with an old rag, before going back to his other customers.

The Chiss smuggler groaned to himself, he often drank more when the brand given to him by the Maw reminded him of the pain. Burying his face into his arms, he tried to ignore the Force even more so since his escape. Everywhere he went, he was surrounded by death. It got to a point where if it wasn’t spice it was the brandy to calm him down. His eyes were heavy, and all he desires was endless slumber. To be with his family again, and then knowing the pain that he would never see them again. The thought caused him to weep, as with every drink he couldn’t hold back the pain anymore.

He wallowed in his grief, looking as if another rogue down on his luck. He felt a chill down his spine, as he felt something, or someone. Choosing to ignore the bothersome feeling, he drank what little drops he could get from his glass. There was a feeling he couldn’t shake off, it wasn’t the Force but he felt odd. As much as the liquor tried to numb whatever feeling he had. He just wanted everything to disappear, to shake off this despair and to feel something, anything but the pain.

Eli-Mae Forrest

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

For Eli these last few weeks had been nothing short of a mess, the small redhead had been on an excursion through some of the most dangerous space in the galaxy the Maw. After that excursion, the young Jedi knight had dodged several bands of pirates and bounty hunters all throughout the hyperspace lanes in the core of the galaxy before deciding to land as she knew that her tanks were running very low and she didn’t want to take a chance on running out of fuel and being stranded in deep space without a way to get back in.

The Masquerade jumped out of hyperspace, upon entering real space the young vahla Jedi knit her eyebrows looking at the array of scanners around her. For Eli-Mae this was all too familiar she was tired of running in some ways but she knew that someone had put a bounty on her head so if she even tried to settle down for more than a few days they would find her and she would inevitably end up having to do something she would regret. Though she was a Jedi Eli-Mae did not kill lightly, she would do it if necessary but not without thought as some other force users did.

The fiery-haired woman attempted to push these thoughts from her mind as she piloted her way toward the planet. The descent was relatively smooth as the ship entered the atmosphere Eli-Mae made contact with the spaceport and announced her landing plans. Upon being given the go-ahead she set a course for the starport slowing down to an acceptable in atmosphere cruising speed. As the Masquerade made its landing in the spaceport with a jolt Eli-Mae shut down the engines and made her way out of the cockpit and into her room to prepare herself.

Once she was in her room Eli-Mae took a long look in the mirror she almost didn’t recognize herself, the long days of running for her life had taken a toll on her the bags under her eyes were dark which contrasted heavily against her alabaster skin. She tried to put the last days out of her mind as she donned her armor. Once her armor was securely fitted to her she turned to her nightstand where her duel sabers sat, her main saber glinted darkly against the light walls of the ship. She moved gingerly toward the saber before her eye was drawn to the other side of the nightstand where her off-hand saber glinted brilliantly on the nightstand. The small girl gingerly picked them up and attached them to her belt before making her way to the ramp and out into the spaceport.

As she set foot on land for the first time in nearly a week Eli-Mae breathed a sigh of relief though she was normally comfortable in space these last few days the walls seemed to be closing in on her. She would pay the man in charge of fueling ships before making her way toward the nearest cantina she needed a drink.

Eli would take in the sights around her she would smile and walk her stride smooth and elegant. It wasn't long before the cantina came into sight just in front of her. Eli-Mae opened the door to the cantina and strode inside. As she did she looked around her eyes landing on several of the patrons inside including a Chiss. Though Eli had nothing against the Chiss it was very uncommon to see them in this part of the galaxy. Eli shrugged it off and made her way to the bar and ordered some Corellian Whisky.

It was then that the doors burst open and a voice said “I have you know young Jedi”

Sazaku

 

[Sazaku]

The young Chiss kept his head into his arms, he was usually left alone. It never seemed to change, each day he would run a job, show up back here and drink or shoot up spice. Anything, and everything that could make it all go away, to prevent the Force from even connecting with him. Even hearing an echo made him crumple to the floor in pain, and shock. He knew it was best to stay alone always keep moving.

The Wheel itself was known for shady characters, people like him that never wanted to be found. Refugees from the barbaric conquests of the Maw had passed on a regular basis. It was to the point where the popular space startion had often felt overcrowded from the influx of people. Sazaku only thought that it was how these dark days were shaping up to be. People always looking to run away.

He didn’t finally look up, until he saw what looked to be red hair block his view from the rest of the bar. She ordered the same thing he had ordered, and in that moment he was about to tell her to go away in a drunken outburst. That was until the door busts open, and a man he saw called out to a Jedi. “Jedi? Where?” He asked confused looking around, pulling out his DL-44 blaster out on instinct and pointing it at the man, his fingers shaky, as he didn’t notice the woman next to him was that same Jedi herself.

Eli-Mae Forrest

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Eli-Mae froze as she spun around seeing a large Houk and a Trandoshan standing between her and the door. In a split second, the small Jedi analyzed her surroundings, plenty of shady characters but no one that would be useful in helping her even if they would be inclined to. After just a moment Eli sat down her glass and began to speak “Hey fellows, took you long enough.” The fiery-haired girl said as she stepped away from the bar “You sure we can’t talk this out? I’m sure we can come to an agreement” Eli said reaching out with the force trying to persuade the two bounty hunters that had her seemingly cornered.

The two froze for just a second but then seemed to snap out of it. Eli-Mae cursed under her breath as the two lifted their blasters “No more talk we can take you in warm or we can take you in cold” The Trandoshan said his large blaster rifle fixed on Eli. Eli-Mae’s fingers twitched for just a moment before using the force she picked up a barstool beside her and threw it at the pair of them before pulling her twin sabers.

In just a split second the young woman went from looking like a helpless little girl to holding a pair of sabers one yellow and one purple ready to fight. As the two opened fire Eli-Mae began to reflect the bolts off her sabers before diving for cover to give herself a break. However, in the process of diving, she managed to run right into the chiss on her way to the ground.

Sazaku

 

[Sazaku]

Sazaku just stood there confused. It seemed everything has spiraled out of control so quickly, he could barely keep track of what’s going on. The next thing he knew was that a Trandoshan and a Houk walk into a bar. Already it sounded like a bad joke. Not that it ever really mattered. He just couldn’t react very well to everything that happened all around him. His hand shaky as he held the blaster, he just watched as the pairing seemed focus on the woman alone.

“What the Kark is happening?” He said aloud, as the two bounty hunters started to lose patience. It wasn’t before long that they had been set off. The woman revealing herself by tossing a bar stool at the pairing, Sazaku did nothing but stood by. Watching as the woman brandished lightsabers, even in his inebriated state he figured out who was the Jedi. “So she’s the Jedi huh?” He would have known this if he had reached out with the Force.

He was about ready to start shooting st the bounty hunters, when the woman rushed with her sabers. Wielding one yellow, and one purple as she made her move, she bumped into Sazaku. “Oof.” The boy said as he dropped his blaster and his eyes were meeting her. “Not sure if this is the right time. Blasters being shot, chaos being caused. Have to stop those guys.” He said staring into her eyes, all the while blaster bolts continued to whizz on by.

Eli-Mae Forrest

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Eli-Mae was almost as stunned as the Chiss male as she landed on the ground after running into him “I am so sorry” She stammered as blater bolts ripped past them “Just stay down I can handle this” as she finished this sentence she scrambled to her feet her lightsbers humming gently. She tried to figure out a way out of this situation she knew that she couldnt possibly out muscle these guys and negotiating was out of the question. If she could just get close to them without them killing her. It was times like these that she regretted not listening closer to her father when he attempted to teach her form III of lightsaber combat that would be perfect for this situation.

All of these thoughts swirled in her head as she held eye contact with the Chiss not thinking about it too much. “I need you to cover me if you can, just lay down some suppressing fire while I reposition.” She instructed as she crouched preparing to move to another downed table not far from them. While she did the other patrons of the cantina had fled just as she thought. She quickly leaped to her feet and dashed for the other table hoping the man would cover for her while at the same time she reached out with the force and pushed the Trandoshan back a few feet.

Sazaku

 

[Sazaku]

Sazaku was not prepared to have a Jedi stumble onto him, he could have thought some bad joke for the encounter. There was a slight blush to his face, as she was so close to him. The blaster fire all around them started to bring the boy back into reality once more. She said for him to stay down, and said that she was capable of holding them off. He raised an eyebrow The blaster fire kept coming, and the Chiss thought the Jedi with her laser swords would block the bolts with ease. It wasn’t that simple, as she didn’t make any motions to go on the offensive, instead trying to bat bolts away from either of the two.

“Are you sure you can take them? I’m not sure those fancy blades are gonna help lady.” He said roughly, not caring that the situation itself had ruined his whole evening. He wanted a drink in piece, and when the bolts started to hit the bottles he was furious. “Fine, but please can we take these sleemos out…” He snapped as he laid behind a downed table. The loud firing of the antique DL-44 sounded, soon a bolt struck down one of the guys. “Got one, if you gonna end this do it now!” He shouted inbetween bouts of returning fire and taking cover.

Eli-Mae Forrest

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Eli-Mae was starting to get very annoyed with the Chiss man whom she had run into as he started to critique her she batted away yet another blaster bolt. As the man’s blaster sounded Eli realized that there were more than just the two bounty hunters chasing them. It was as she saw this that the man decided to try to tell her what to do about finishing this. She scowled at the man before parrying one more bolt and sending her yellow saber through the shoulder. As the man cried out Eli sliced diagonally till he was split in two.

Eli instantly regretted it but she knew it was the only way. As the other Bounty hunters funneled into the cantina she looked around for an escape and spotted a window just to the right of where the two had just been sitting as she saw this she blocked a few more blaster bolts before yelling at the chiss “We’ve got to go you’ve helped me now there's a price on your head.” She said before springing into action and leaping through the window and rolling out the other side, turning around she looked to see if the man was following her sabers constantly moving as was second nature when facing blaster-wielding opponents.

Sazaku