Things in the colony had picked up a good bit since Marin's departure. As an extra bit of reinforcement, before the colony itself had even started being built...they'd installed a series of sensors that would trigger if anyone crossed out of their designated area. Specifically, if they were heading towards the Durza residence, or where they assumed it to be given that was where they were told to avoid. And said sensors had been tripped. What was even more distressing, was that everyone from the colony was accounted for. And so, a volunteer had been called for to look into it. This was over an hour ago, and the middle aged volunteer was trudging almost carelessly through the forest following what she hoped was the right trail. After all, the only thing she had to defend herself with was a straight-edged carving knife...and she'd hate to come across some manner of creature. Brushing a stray brown hair back out out of her face and sighing in frustration, she started muttering absently. "Stupid sensors...what is their point, even? We all know not to come this way, and when someone -else- does...they just send me out here...without assistance, I might add..."
Marin sighed. Things had been relatively quiet around the house since she'd completed her jetti'kad. And for once, she was glad of the silence. For too long, she'd been going from mission to mission with hardly a rest in between. So, the time at home was welcome. She had taken a walk out into the forest surrounding her home, her new saber clipped to her belt. She wore utilities, a deep mottled green pants and jacket with some heavy boots. As she got farther and father from the house, she breathed deeply, letting the sounds of the forest surround her as she reached out with her senses. There wasn't much that felt off, though she did pick up one of the colonists closer to her lands than normal. That wasn't normally cause for concern, but they would normally notify her if they intended to be anywhere close to her lands. She'd gotten no message, which she found strange. Her left hand slipped down to quietly slide one of her DE-10s from its custom holster on her left hip as she moved along silently.
"I mean, what is with the -EEEEEEAH...!" The woman had kept rambling as she walked, making it about another five minutes before this turned into an extremely loud yell. The reason for this, would be the surprisingly well hidden net that had shot up from the ground when she stepped in the wrong place. Hanging there silently, she contemplated the origins of this for a few moments before she decided she didn't care. Growling a bit, she set about sawing away at the thing with her knife, though she wasn't being particularly effective at it. Not that far off, an armored head turned silently to scan the area. They'd heard the trap go off, which meant someone was nearby...but they weren't going to check on it quite yet. Better to make a circuit around, just in case.
Marin felt the spike of surprise, and turned in that direction, closing down her presence in the Force as she moved closer. She frowned as she saw the net, her fingers clenching around her DE-10 as she crouched on the branch of the tree and scanned the clearing below
"Whoever put this thing here...I am SO going to give you a stern talking to when I get out!" This was only one of many statements the trapped woman had shouted as she worked on freeing herself. She'd cut through one rope, but that still wasn't enough to get out. Meanwhile, the armored figure worked their way around the area slowly, passing unknowingly under Marin in the process. However, they were wearing a cloak in mottled earthly colors, making it almost impossible to spot them in the forested area. In addition, their presence could not be felt in the force, so it was pretty much impossible to detect them at this point.
Marin felt something strange, and it made her skin crawl. That same almost-there feeling she'd gotten from Ethan when they'd first met. Over the years, she'd learned to sense him. But whoever else was here besides her and the colonist, their presence eluded her. For a long moment, Marin studied the trap. It was quite similar to the one Laurel had used months ago when she'd been captured. The memory sent a shiver up her spine, and she studied it closely, looking for a way to break the rope that held the net aloft without using her blaster. But would that really help the woman, or just make the situation worse..?
After another minute or so, the armored intruder decided the woman was alone and stepped out next to her. The cloak covered the entirety of his being, and it was difficult to tell if there was armor underneath. However, there was a bit more bulk than expected with their size...so it was a good bet. They spoke after a few seconds, revealing themselves to be male, at least. "You seriously followed me? Now why, exactly, would a kriffing colony care what I do outside it's borders? You know what? Irrelevant..." His right arm shot out, revealed to be grasping a spear of some sort...that was aimed directly to stab the trapped woman. Surprisingly, though, she actually twisted to avoid the thrust and grabbed the shaft. She managed to pull her attacker in close for a moment before his other fist met her face. He backed off, but what he didn't know...was that she had lifted a holdout blaster from his boot in that short period.
Marin's eyes narrowed as she watched the exchange, and her fingers tightened around her DE-10 as she saw him lunge at the trapped woman. She knew the woman wasn't very skilled in combat, but Marin didn't want to announce herself too soon. Taking a deep breath, she send a thread of Force towards the man's blaster, disengaging the safeties as she caused the blaster to overheat. he would either drop it or get burned.
Swearing profusely, he dropped the weapon and went for the one in his boot. There weren't supposed to be Force Users in that colony! It took until his hand reached his boot that he realized the weapon wasn't there. This was confirmed as, less than a second later, a bolt lanced out from inside the netting and hit his shoulder. Now, this barely made a hole in the cloak, much less his armor...but it certainly surprised him. Even as he started to say something, however, the woman's knife finished it's work on rope number three. She dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch with the stolen blaster aimed and her knife held in what was actually a proper backhand grip.
Marin smirked as she watched the scene play out below. The woman knew what she was about when it came to a knife. Nodding approvingly, Marin remained crouched on the limb above them for the moment, her DE-10 held firmly in her grip as she reached out again, causing a dead tree branch to fall from it's resting place against a tree a few dozen meters away to the ground.
Swearing quite loudly this time, the cloaked man's gaze and attention snapped towards the sound of the falling branch. The 'trapped' woman, however, simply used this as an opening. Skittering in, she brought the blade across the shoulder she'd hit with the blaster...but it just skidded off the plate underneath and entangled itself in the cloak. Turning back abruptly, the man brought his palm up under her chin hard. At the same time, he undid the clasp on his cloak with his spear hand before he brought it swinging across to entangle the woman as she fell. There was a muffled curse from inside the cloak, but this stopped when a swift kick was delivered to it. Without the cloak, the man was revealed to be wearing a set of beskar'gam. It was made out of a series of overlapping plates, almost like scales, and was painted in scattered patches of brown, gold, and green. The most distinctive feature, though, was the sigil displayed on his upper left arm...Kyr'tsad.
Marin swallowed then, her suspicions confirmed. She had to admit, she wasn't all that surprised to find Kyr'tsad so close to her lands... but the fact they had gotten this close scared her more than she wanted to admit. It meant they still had good intel on her whereabouts. She thought they'd been cleared from Tanagis months ago... but it seemed she was wrong. Her blood chilled as the realization hit her, and she swore under her breath, crouching on the limb for a moment as she studied the situation and drew one of her knives from concealment, holding it as Ethan had taught her. A breath in, and on the release, she let the blade fly, speeding towards the trapped woman. But not to kill. Her blade caught the edge of the cloak, and dragged the fabric backwards, partially freeing the woman before the cloak was pinned to the tree. Marin was already on the move - silently moving to another tree, her fatigues blending in with the forest as she landed soundlessly on a branch several meters away.
Sputtering a few curses, none of which he actually completed, the Kyr'tsad glanced over at the thrown knife for a moment. His own suspicions confirmed, he laughed mirthlessly. He flipped the spear to a reverse grip, and rested the now downwards facing point on the semi-trapped colonist's chest. She was still dazed from the kick, and wasn't exactly moving fast enough to do anything useful at the time. The man's voice rang out once again, a slight edge of malice evident this time. "We have a mutual friend, dalyc, or I guess we did. Remember the name J'oran? Now, I would very much like to settle the matter of him dying...but I can't do that with you hiding like a hut'uun. So come out and drop your knives and blasters, or I will not hesitate to kill this woman. It would be easy...like dropping a needle." He seemed to know what weapons she had, but the info was naturally out of date due to the quite recent addition of her lightsaber.
Marin swore under her breath, her fingers tightening around the grip of her DE-10 as she balanced on the branch above them. She had been right... and that scared her. They shouldn't have gotten this far into Cataani territory after Galan. She wasn't about to drop all her weapons - not after the vision she'd had of Beviin. Taking a deep breath, she shoved hard at him, shoving his spear wide before it embedded into the tree behind the colonist. In the few seconds he spent trying to pull it free, she back-flipped off the tree, and landed in a low crouch a few meters behind him.
Sighing almost absently, he turned to face her as he finally tore the weapon free. Smirking slightly under his oddly designed buy'ce, he shifted into a ready stance. Right leg back with his weight on the left, and his left arm bent at an angle in front of him. His spear was balanced lightly of the top of this arm, his right hand gripping the shaft firmly. If anything was evident from the way he moved...it was that he was definitely no novice. Behind him, the colonist woman groaned softly as she tried to collect herself to move.
Marin gritted her teeth, and set her feet, her DE-10 in her left hand and a knife in the other. Her saber was clipped horizontally at the back of her belt and hidden by her jacket for now. Her tone was ice. "It seems you know who I am. As to J'oran, he deserved his fate. But why come after me?" Her eyebrows rose quizzically, and she paced to his left, watching his reaction.
He shrugged slightly, turning slowly to keep her in front of him but otherwise making no actions, aggressive or otherwise. "Personally, I would like to know what exactly happened between you and him. I've been here for some time wandering aimlessly under orders to find the residence of someone named Durza, so I was out of the loop. Next time I hear anything...it's that J'oran and a great many of his subordinates were wiped out by yourself and others. My question is this; why? What exactly did you have against each other?"
Marin swallowed - hard, her gaze flicking to the colonist for a moment as she weighed his words. After a moment she straightened. "And you think roughing up the colonists and others is a way to get answers? We've had more than enough Kyr'tsad presence the last few months."
Laughing lightly, he shook his head for a moment before he responded. "Not my fault she followed me, and I wasn't about to let my presence here be known...given what happened to my associates. Besides, I needed to talk with you. And how could I be sure you were going to be civil? The last thing I need is to get killed because I took a chance." The woman's hand shifted up to rub a spot on the back of her head for a moment, finally focusing enough to figure out what exactly hurt. Taking advantage of her assailant's distraction, she closed her fingers about Marin's thrown knife and hid it under the cloak before she went back to appearing helpless.
Marin scoffed softly. "You.. talk? And what makes you think looking for my home will in any way incline me to speak to you..?" Her grip tightened slightly on her blaster as she looked over at him. She didn't lower her weapons, and her tone was wary. "Why do you care?"
There was a moment's pause, and the point of his spear wobbled slightly as he contemplated this. It steadied then, just before it came to rest against the ground. He lowered both of his arms down to his sides, though his stance was still in place and ready. Clearly he wasn't quite trusting her, either. "Looking for your home was the only objective I had, and given that everyone that knows where the kriff I am is now dead...I had nothing better to do. And why do I care...? I care because, quite simply, I would like to know what caused J'oran to be so reckless when it came to you."
That got her attention, and she stared at him in open-mouthed surprise. "What do you mean...?" she asked softly. She still held her DE-10 ready, watching him closely.
Another shrug was offered, and he glanced down at the colonist for a moment. She was immobile, very much still looking dazed and helpless...but gauging the situation carefully. The man sighed as he looked back to Marin, and responded simply. "That base you wiped out? Every last person that even knew I existed was there. And J'oran was far from an idiot, but when it came to you...he was reckless almost to the point of being a di'kut in my opinion. As a result of that, he and the others are dead." He seemed somewhere between pained and angry through this, but what any anger was directed towards was unclear...and still he made no aggressive moves.
Again Marin frowned, she could tell the woman was biding her time. For now, Marin kept her attention on the Kyr'tsad. She waited a few moments, studying his body language before she asked softly. "What do you know of Jarius Durza?"
Sighing quite heavily this time, he shook his head helplessly as he responded to that. "I know J'oran took a lot of risks to kill someone by that name, more than usual. This indicates a personal vendetta, but other than that...I only know that he owned the residence I was sent to find. And of course, that you were adopted by him."
A cold lump settled in her stomach. How much they knew scared her. "Aye." she said softly. A short pause. "I'm not sure it's my story to tell... What would you gain by knowing this?"
Dead silence at that. It took a solid minute for him to think on this, and when he finally did respond it was unsure. "I...don't know, honestly. Just felt like...knowing what caused this might help me accept why I'm stuck out here, maybe...?" The colonist tensed slightly, seeming to prep for something...but it was unclear what.
Sighing, Marin leaned against the tree, but kept her weapons ready. "What exactly do you know...what did J'oran tell you - if anything?"
"I was told what I needed to know, nothing more. I was told where they thought your residence was...apparently they were off. By a great deal. I was also given a name, as well as a general description of appearance and weaponry for one Marin Durza. Beyond that, I'm out of the loop." His left hand came across to press a pair of fingers into his right wrist for a moment, and his grip on his spear relaxed slightly as he did so. The colonist shifted rapidly then, bringing the stolen holdout blaster up to discharge a stun blast at the small of his back. Oddly, however, the man actually reacted before she finished squeezing the trigger, without looking. The plates just below his left elbow shifted apart for a moment and a small disc slid down to the middle of his gauntlet before it projected a disc shaped energy shield with rounded edges that covered his entire forearm. This he snapped back to block the shot, but he made no movements beyond that...just kept looking directly at Marin.
Marin swore softly in surprise, her eyes widening as she watched his reaction. He was a Force user.. Again she remembered Laurel, and a cold lump of apprehension formed in her stomach. She glanced over to check the woman for a moment before turning back to study his dark visor. "If I tell you this... what will you do with the knowledge? It is not something I share lightly, or with just anyone..."
He sighed softly, slowly rotating his spear in as nonthreatening a manner as possible until it was pointed down once again. He then drove it into the ground before sliding his shield projector back into it's concealment. Crossing his arms across his chest, he responded calmly. "I will use it for my own peace of mind, nothing more. Not many people around to leak it to anyway."
The colonist had simply stared blankly at the man's back through this, not daring to lower the blaster. Her finger was off the trigger, however...she knew when not to do something foolish. And interrupting an exchange between two Force Users was definitely on that list.
Frowning, Marin lowered her DE-10, but didn't holster it completely. This... was going to take some time. For now, her attention was solely on the armored form across from her. She wasn't sure how much the colonists knew, but she hoped what she was about to share didn't get spread around. "As you already know, I was adopted by Jarius Durza. By Cataani and Mando'ad traditions. I am his heir... his family. What I know of his past was gathered from talks with him, and with others who knew him well." She paused and looked around at both of them. "He was Cataani by birth before he became a Mandalorian, and he served in the Cataani Marines. From what I've been able to gather, there was some sort of...incident involving my father and J'oran. It resulted in J'oran's dishonorable discharge from the Marines, and he served some time in prison. After that, Kyr'tsad sought him out for his skills and knowledge of the Cataan system."
"I'm unsure what happened in the intervening time, but J'oran had spent a lot of effort trying to to recruit my father to Kyr'tsad. He refused. So J'oran had his... wife and child murdered and shipped home to him in a box. It was then that my father went on a rampage of his own... hunting down the people responsible. He questioned them... nayc.. tortured them... and then killed them..." She shuddered at the memory of having heard it, and feeling Jarius' own self-loathing of what he had been.
"But J'oran didn't stop there. He... was able to keep tabs on my father to the point he traced him here, and to Cataan many times... He wouldn't give up. If he wouldn't join Kyr'tsad... J'oran felt he deserved to die. And so, he set out to do just that." Her hands clenched against her legs as she remembered it, and her own burning rage.
There was silence for what seemed like an eternity when she finished, but in truth only lasted a few seconds. This was broken when the man's right hand moved up, resting it's fingers where his temples would be as he shook his head slowly. "I see...that stubborn chakaar..." He sighed heavily, and returned his arms to their crossed position on his chest before continuing. "And so...here we stand. The result of something that started years ago and turned into a vendetta. I do appreciate you telling me this, lass...and I honestly don't blame you for not taking me at my word given what was just detailed." He turned slightly to look at the colonist, and jerked his head slightly, indicating she should stand. This she did, though she kept the blaster aimed and had Marin's knife in a reverse grip.
Marin sighed and reached out with her free hand to lay it on the woman's shoulder as she sent a wave of calm towards her. "I don't think you have anything to fear.." she said softly, her gaze never leaving the black visor of the man across from her. It was then that she began to piece together what the woman might have been doing there in the first place. "Please, you can return to the colony if you wish.." Her gaze slid back to him then. "I learned the hard way not to take people's words at face value. If J'oran thought there was anything to gain from hunting down my father, and murdering him... and then torturing me... and Manda knows who else... I feel his death served a purpose."
Nodding slightly, the man bent down a bit and fished in his cloak for a moment, standing again with the woman's knife in his hand. "I have no use for this, so by all means, take it back...I have nothing to gain from depriving your colony of even a small tool." He then tossed it to her lightly, and she gently set his blaster down before catching the knife easily and with utter calm. Smiling a bit, she turned and handed Marin's knife back to her before she started back towards the colony. Her muttered rambling could be heard then, trailing off slowly as she moved further away. Shifting a bit after the colonist left, the armored man casually indicated the blaster that was now laying next to Marin's feet, silently requesting it's return. He spoke once again, quite matter-of-factly. "Now then, you have given me information that you had no real reason to...it is only fair to respond in kind. Is there anything you would wish to know?"
Taking a deep breath, Marin dropped to a knee to retrieve the blaster, and nodded as she stood up. "There is. It's been bothering me for well... years. How is it that J'oran was able to track my father so accurately. I know my father was always very careful..." She fell silent for a moment as she hefted the blaster. It was small and light, reminding her a bit of the ones Jarius had trained her with when she was young.
"Quite simply, an excessive amount of effort. I hadn't been filled in on the whole setup, but I do know that just about every one of his contacts, associates, subordinates, you name it...knew what gar buir looked like and were asked to report any and all sightings. Combine that with surveillance teams on a lot of the nearby planets and moons, and it becomes hard to miss him. Here, however, is where the difficulty lies...never could figure out where exactly he lived. We knew it was here, but the last intel I had been given placed it a good distance south and west of here." Shrugging slightly as he finished, he brought his hands up to his buy'ce and disengaged the seal. Sliding this off, he was revealed to be quite young...probably only a year or two older than she was. His jet black hair extended down to his shoulders, and his eyes were a startlingly vivid green. There was a jagged scar running across from the left side of his forehead down to his lower right cheek, but otherwise he was fairly ordinary looking. He held the buy'ce under his left arm casually, waiting patiently.
Marin blinked, not having expected that. She frowned as she listened to his words, her fingers clenching around the grip of her own blaster. She'd tucked her knife back into it's hiding place. She was silent, and blushed when she realized she was staring. Flustered, she looked away for a second or two. "Will it end? J'oran is dead. My buir is dead." She shook her head slightly. "As to the location of my home, it should remain a mystery. I want this crusade against my family and those I care about to end... but will it? It can't be that simple..." she shuddered slightly as she thought about her two encounters with Beviin. She was still healing from the one on Coruscant.
An exasperated sigh was given at this, an he stared blankly at the ground for a moment before he shook his head and responded. "Who knows...? The matter with J'oran, I know, is settled. After all, we appear to be the only two directly involved in that remaining...and I see no reason at all to continue. As for any other conflicts, I honestly can't say...I'm on my own out here and don't know what the kriff is happening elsewhere."
Frowning, Marin flipped on the safety before tossing him the blaster. Her DE-10 she kept ready. "And what will you do now...?"
Smiling ever so slightly, he caught the blaster and slid it back into his boot. There was a moment's hesitation before he shrugged once again and dropped his arms to his sides. "I hadn't thought of that...even if I managed to find some way to leave this place, I'd probably just be killed by the others for returning having accomplished nothing. Though, I don't really want to stay here by myself, either..." He trailed off for a moment, then seemed to come to a conclusion and continued formally. "And so, I hereby offer myself as your prisoner. Actions have consequences...and I attempted to kill a colonist that I'm assuming is, if indirectly, under your protection. I know you have no reason to trust my word, but I am willing to trade what information I have for a place to stay and someone to talk to. You may have possession of my gear, and I honestly don't care if you decide to keep me confined somewhere...nor do I need to know where it is that you reside." As if to reinforce this a bit, he calmly detached the entirety of his forearm plates, letting them fall to the ground. He then did the same with the knees, the underside revealing spring-loaded darts.
Again, Marin found herself gaping at him in surprise as she watched him doff his beskar'gam. A frown crossed her face. "You would do this... knowing that I could not let you leave...what's to prevent you from trying to leave when I look away? I know you are a Force user..." The last words were whispered, her free hand resting on her hip as she hooked her thumb through her belt - not too far from where her saber was clipped.
Shrugging slightly once again, he met this calmly by aiming his left arm out to the side, away from either of them. He carefully let the force flow through this, and at the moment where is should have manifested in some manner...it simply, for lack of a better term, fizzled. He let his arm drop back to his side, and resigned himself to staring at the ground once again. "Aye, I would...and what would prevent me is the simple fact that I have no better option at this time. As for my being a Force user, I technically am...but at best all I can do is read others' next actions. Any attempts at using what most deem to be true abilities have failed miserably."
Marin frowned slightly, and reached over her shoulder for the small backpack she'd brought with her. It held rations and water, but there was still plenty of room to stow his armor pieces. For a moment, she chewed her bottom lip nervously. She'd never really been in a situation such as this. The house did have a secure holding facility nearby, but not in the house itself. She set the pack down and pulled a pair of stun cuffs from her belt. "Turn around, gedet'ye..." She was trying hard to be mindful of the fact he'd been cooperative thus far, and treat him accordingly. She wondered what story the woman would share with the rest of the colony.
He offered a slight nod, and complied calmly...using his boot to slide his discarded 'gam pieces a bit further away from himself as he did so. He bent down slightly to place his buy'ce on the ground as well, and then placed his arms together behind his back. She seemed to trust him a bit, at least...so he was trying very hard not to break that. After all, he was in fact alone out here.
Biting her lip, Marin closed the stun cuffs around his wrists, listening until they clicked into place. When she was certain they were secure, she knelt to retrieve his 'gam and weapons, carefully placing them in her backpack and ensuring the safeties were engaged on his blaster. With that done, she slung the pack over her shoulder and stepped forward with a blindfold. "I have to..." she said, not quite looking at him.
Nodding slightly, as if knowing exactly what she was doing...which in fact he did, he spoke softly. "I understand, necessary for your own safety and peace of mind."
She nodded once, and reached up to tie the blindfold in place. She then waved a hand in front of his face. "Can you see?" Her question was perfunctory and curt as she took his arm in a firm grip and turned him slowly and firmly around. She'd have to take somewhat of the long way around, and the trip to the holding facility would take a good couple of hours.
Shrugging lightly, he responded quite casually. "Well, I can 'feel' you...but as for actually seeing? Not a kriffing thing." He did his best to move along with how she directed him to, and was doing quite well. This indicated experience with blind-fighting.
Taking a slow breath, Marin concentrated on guiding him towards the holding area, without going directly there. She wasn't sure how much of the moon he'd explored - but if he'd been here for months it was a good bet that he knew the moon almost as well as she did. That wasn't exactly a comforting thought. After close to two hours of hiking through the forest, they finally reached the destination. It was a small building set into the side of a hill, and mostly hidden from sight. The walls were made of native stone and reinforced with durasteel.
Inside, there were perhaps four enclosed cells with security fields. The fields functioned on a self-contained system, which had a backup power source closer to the house. The holding area itself was wired for surveillance. The system fed to a guard station on the upper level, but also uplinked to Marin's buy'ce, had she been wearing it. The upper level also housed a small food prep area. Pretty much all that was there was gihaal and the ingredients for making behot. She felt it was wiser to keep food that wouldn't spoil, and wouldn't need replenished as often.
There was a heavy thunk followed by a grinding noise as the heavy blast door slid aside after Marin entered her security code. Once they stepped inside, the air was cooler and sound echoed ever so slightly, their footsteps bouncing off the walls as they walked across the room. The interior lights flickered on, illuminating the somewhat cramped bunker. Taking a moment to orient herself, Marin guided him over towards the nearest cell, a soft pop announcing the deactivation of the security field as she deactivated it via her wristcomm. "Here we are. In you go..." she said firmly, deactivating the stun cuffs and catching them in one hand as she undid the blindfold with her other. Catching that, she stuffed it into a pocket, and tucked the cuffs back into her belt pouch. Giving him a gentle but firm nudge towards the holding cell.
The young man was patient as she led him along, intentionally not making note of what general direction they were going. He'd given his word to not know where she resided, so he was going to make sure he did not. His arms were mildly cramped by the time they arrived, but it was a minor inconvenience. As the cuffs and blindfold were finally removed, he took a few steps forward without question before turning around. He interlocked the fingers on his hands and extended them up above his head, stretching for a moment...but otherwise just took in his surroundings and remained silent.
With a slight frown and a shake of her head, she backed up a few steps and typed a few commands into the wristcomm for a moment, watching as the security field flickered into existence again. She paused for a moment. "You know my name... what's yours...?"
A slight nod was offered once again, and the ghost of a smile crossed his features before he responded to that. "Aran, Aran B..." He trailed off for a moment, then sighed and continued. "Sorry, always forget I'm not permitted to give my surname to even allies...for now let's just go with Aran Werda."
Marin froze for an instant as she caught his correction. She felt in her gut what he had been about to say, and her eyes narrowed for a moment. Shaking her head, she decided to let it go for the moment, stepping away and up to the small food prep area upstairs. After a few minutes, she returned with a small tray that held a steaming cup of behot and several flaky chunks of gihaal. She deactivated the security field again, and slid the tray towards him with a shrug as she watched him.
He caught onto the fact that she reacted to so much as the first letter of the surname, and inwardly sighed ...this was going to be interesting. Simply pacing until she returned, he turned back to face her as she did, offering an appreciative nod as she slid the tray over. Moving over to it, he shifted to a seated position and took an experimental sip of the behot. His eyebrows rose for a moment, and he took another slow draw...savoring the flavor. This being done, he set the behot down and set about slowly and calmly chewing on the gihaal. It was what he'd been living on anyway, so he was used to it.
Swearing softly, Marin leaned against the edge of the table that was in the center of the room. Folding her arms still caused her to wince slightly. She found it strange that she at fifteen had faced more things than many her age. There was a moment of silence, and then she asked, "Did you know what clan Jarius was part of? After his.. rampage, he was found by a Mando and adopted..." She knew none of her clothing had the Beviin sigil embroidered on it, so she was testing him.
Shrugging, he looked up at her as he thought on this for a moment. Sighing in exasperation, he responded to the best of his knowledge. "I honestly couldn't say, I was only told the name and what he looked like. For all I know Durza could be the clan name." He was trying to figure out what she was getting at, but that wasn't going to keep him from answering to the best of his ability.
"It's not..." she said quietly, absently playing with the hem of her fatigue jacket for a moment. Then something else occurred to her. "Where you given names of anyone else..?"
There was silence for a moment, then broken as he responded quietly. "Nayc, just two...my job was to find a house, nothing more."
Frowning again, Marin shifted against the table and winced again as the action pulled at her still healing side. The wounds from Coruscant had healed, but they still pained her at times. For a few moments, she considered what to say next. When she did speak it was quiet, so that he had to lean forward to hear. "I was given a Verd'goten several months ago: to assist in the removal of all Kyr'tsad from Cataani space. While that was mostly successful - or so I thought. The fact that you are here begs otherwise." she swore softly. "Were the Kyr'tsad incursions into Cataani space - or were they for some other purpose?" She knew that the Kyr'tsad were working with the Sith Empire, but she didn't know if it was because of J'oran's crusade or for other reasons.
Aran listened to this carefully, weighing each word carefully. He wasn't well informed on why Kyr'tsad was so interested in Cataani space, but he did have something that could be useful to her. He responded just as quietly, carefully sliding something from under a few plates in his chestplate as unthreateningly as possible. It was a datapad, which he then set down and slid over to the security field."I'm not going to pretend to know what all was being planned, but I do know this...J'oran wasn't the only one interested in Cataani space. I don't know why, but there seemed to be a great deal of focus on gathering intel about some academy or some osik like that, Jettise I think. That datapad has the coordinates for a good few of the recon groups and listening posts on many of the moons and such, including this one. I can almost guarantee most if not all of the recon groups have moved on by now, but listening posts should still be there...manned or otherwise."
It took all of Marin's self-control not to react, but even so, something passed over her face before she turned away for an instant. She used the few seconds it took to retrieve the datapad to compose herself. Now it all made sense... J'oran's questioning of her... and his methods. Sure, there was the vendetta between him and her family... but that was settled now.
This... This was something else, and it further confirmed her initial findings on Coruscant and her earlier suspicions. The Kyr'tsad were working with the Sith. Only the Siit would be so interested in the praxeum... and J'oran's personal vendetta had given them even more reason to push into Cataani space. She shuddered slightly at the memory and flexed her left hand at the remembered pain. "Why would you share this with me...?"
Her reaction was noted, but he did not comment on this. Instead, he waited until she posed a question again...and responded without hesitation when she did. "Quite simply, I don't have comms, everyone that knew where I am is dead, and anyone else that would care to thinks I'm dead. I've been abandoned by those I considered allies. What reason do I have to not?"
"As you say..." she responded softly, tucking the datapad into a trouser pocket for later analysis. Chances were, it was encrypted anyways. She lifted the backpack from the table and moved over towards the secure lockers by the stairs. She then placed his gear in one of these and engaged the lock with a swipe of her thumb before she came back. "That is true. I have found enough evidence to support that.."
Sighing softly, Aran drained the remainder of his behot before he stood and calmly slid the now empty tray and cup back to the security field. He then set about removing the remainder of his beskar'gam as he spoke, placing this in a pile by the security field as well. "Aye...anything else you would like to know?" When he was finished with removing his beskar'gam, he slid a number of small objects from hidden pockets in his bodysuit. Credit chips, old fashioned lockpicks, even a few small knives...which he then also set by the security field. He then stepped back, giving her the opportunity to easily remove all of this from the cell if she so chose.
Her eyes widened slightly as she watched him, and she returned to lean against the table for a moment as she watched him do this. Something nagged at her, and she turned the thought over in her mind before she spoke. "If you're willingly cooperative, what drew you to Kyr'tsad? Clan affiliation, or something else?" She had a guess, but she was honestly curious.
He frowned at this, and sighed heavily before he responded. "Clan affiliation, specifically...adopted into it. Didn't have much of a better option at the time."
Shrugging, she moved forward to collect the tray and set it on the table before moving back to collect the beskar'gam and knives. He stood now in only his coverall and boots, but she knew better than to trust him. He was still Kyr'tsad. But... the events surrounding the arrival of the colonists had proved to her that people could change and for the better. But for someone who was raised into such a culture, would it still work? She was silent for several seconds as she considered this. "If given the opportunity to do so... would you leave Kyr'tsad...?"
This question was met with dead silence for several minutes as he thought this through in it's entirety. Kyr'tsad had taken him in, but...now they had abandoned him. Besides, was he honestly in agreement their ideals and methods? No, he couldn't say he was. He was particularly quiet when he did finally respond, but there was a firm resolve evident even then. "Aye, I think I would."
Nodding quietly, she moved way from the security field and added the new beskar'gam and knives to the locker, closing and securing it again before she returned to her spot and stepped closer to the security field, her blue eyes locking with his green ones. "I encountered Beviin on Coruscant. They were indeed working with the Siit... and they were trying to plant bombs around Galactic City..."
Aran's blood ran cold at that entire statement, and his eyes widened for a moment before he abruptly slumped back to a seated position. Staring blankly at her face, he managed to get out a short question. He was gripping tightly at something under his bodysuit, around the upper chest area. "You're sure...?"
"Fairly, certain, yes..." She sighed, and gave him an apologetic shrug as she hesitantly reached out in the Force, projecting an image of Beviin.
Swearing softly, he quite abruptly stood back up and tore something from around his neck. He backed off a few feet, slowly, not taking his eyes off the image, and flung this violently at the security field. It was oddly weighted and shaped, though, so it fell a few inches short...his Beviin clan sigil. He tried stammering out a few things, but failed miserably. Seeing and hearing that clearly put him out of sorts, badly.