The website changed the character 'Exile' to 'Exile/Meetra Surik'. The woman is inescapable! Grrrrrr.
Ok. Done ranting now.
Liran
I think I'm growing fond of human companionship again. Have to be sure I don't get too used to it. Withdraw is... unpleasant.
Neither of them are particularly charming, or pleasant to be around, although Atton is okay, I guess. As long as you don't mind the spacing-out, lying, and general shiftiness.
Not that enjoying company means I'm good at it. Awkward silences, full body cringes, and foot-in-mouth are in plentiful supply.
Wait. What is that?
It's like a hand, pulling me one direction... away from the cantina.
The Force. Lovely.
Can't I have a drink first? Is that too much to ask?
Apparently it is.
Follow the tugging in my brain through Citadel station. It's bothersome, but I need a place to start.
Stop at a plaque on the wall, next to a door. The Ithorian Compound.
Whatever drew me here is inside.
Wave the door open.
"How may I help you?" It takes a minute for me to remember the language, translate it to basic in my head.
"I... I..." What can I say? The Force told me to come?
"You look confused, Miss. Are you alright?"
Stand there, trying to think of something. I must look like an idiot.
"Are you here to learn more about the restoration efforts?"
"Yes! Yes, that's why I'm here. Sorry, I've been so scatty lately..." Fake a laugh, rub my forehead.
"Come in." The Ithorian's black, round eyes look so trusting, I feel a little guilty just for lying to him. "It is good to see someone interested in our work.
The door closes behind me.
"Our greenhouse is open to visitors."
"Thank you."
Walk towards the... thing I'm here to see. Or the person.
Another Ithorian approaches me. "Please come with me. Chodo Habat would like to speak with you."
Maybe I should have brought a weapon after all.
Follow him, get ready to bolt if I have to. Ithorians are peaceful, but everybody else is trying to kill me, maybe the hammerheads renounced their pacifism and decided to take a stab at Jedi killing. It would suit my luck.
He leads me to a separate chamber, one of the two Ithorians in the room turns, looks at me. "Jedi. I sensed your arrival."
Atton
Liran might have a plan to get us out of here, but she's not sharing, and I'm not spending more time with Kreia than I have to.
Credits. We need credits. Could go to the cantina and shake down the pazaak sharks, or pick a few pockets.
Good thing I didn't put my deck in that backpack on the Hawk.
The backpack. Jaq's backpack. I hid it pretty well, but if someone finds it...
That would be bad. And pointless to worry about.
The cantina isn't too far away, only a few TSF officers patrolling. Thought Grenn would up the security after we escaped. Not to mention left a body in their jail.
Maybe they assumed the Hawk's disappearance meant our disappearance too. I hope they did.
Liran
After Habat and I discussed the restoration work for a while, I tried to steer him towards business. The promised 'healing' doesn't mean much to me, I already have more swirling Force than I need, thank you very much, but he mentioned a shuttle somewhere between xenozoology and grousing about Czerka like a child tattling on a bully for stealing his lunch credits.
Maybe it's just the spittle that's putting me in an impatient mood. I'll have to wash saliva off my face later.
"What can I do to help?" Soften him up a little, do a few favors, then ask about the shuttle.
"We ordered a new droid to replace the one Czerka stole." Ithorians' voices are odd to begin with, raspy and high, but Habat's takes on a distinctly whiny tone at the mention of Big Bad Czerka. "The TSF will not escort it from the docks, and we are afraid this one will not reach us either."
"You want me to escort the droid." Force, I'll be running errands til Dry-Rot comes knocking.
"When is the droid getting here?"
"0800, tomorrow. Can you help us, Jedi?"
"I'm not a Jedi." It's automatic by now.
"I apologize."
Awkward moment.
"I'll be at the docks tomorrow then." Try to sound cheerful. It doesn't work. I don't do cheerful. It's kind of synonymous with happy. I definitely don't do happy.
"Thank you. Would you like to see our greenhouse before you leave? It is a calming place in the Force."
I could use calming. "Thank you. I would like that very much."
Atton
Mebla Dule wouldn't even bet against me after a few 'friendly' low-stakes games.
After that, she pulled out and cut her losses pretty quick, but it's enough to get me started.
Moving on to Corrun Falt: half-drunk Czerka flunky, not a big fan of his boss. Spent the whole match complaining about Jana Lorso.
"Do you know any way to make some fast credits around here?" I interrupt him in the middle of another rant, keep shuffling the deck. "Or how to get your hands on a shuttle?"
"Well, Czerka has one. They use it to..." He leans over the table and whispers "Transport Lorso's goons to the surface. Very hush hush and illegal, so I never told you."
"You didn't." Okay, maybe he's more than half-drunk. Good for me. "Why do they go to the surface?"
"Oh, some kek about security. I think it's to track down some Zabrak saboteur who escaped there a few months ago. Lorso wants him dead." He's slurring just a little, not sounding nearly as drunk as his words suggest. "If you really wanted a shuttle, you could have her hire you as a mercenary, and go off the grid when she gives it to you. You'd have to deal with the pilot and other mercs, though."
They wouldn't be a problem. "You're practically making my nefarious plans for me, Falt." And it's not a bad plan... for a drunk.
"Yeah, just remember to mention I was the brains when you boast about it." He signals for another juma.
"You have reached the legal limit, Sir." The serving droid turns away.
Wow, this guy must be related to Liran. "I'll have one."
When it gets here, slide it over to Falt. Just in case. Don't want him to remember me.
"One more round of pazaak?"
He shakes his head. "Out of credits. How'd you do that?"
You know, most of my opponents ask the same thing.
"You know, most of my opponents ask the same thing." Echo Jaq, sans demonic chuckle. We're talking about entirely different kinds of 'opponents'.
Leave Falt there. Pretty sure he forgot me in the time it took to push my chair back and stand.
Ah, the wonders of alcohol.
Should probably check out Czerka right now.
I collect my winnings.
"I saw that, human." A female Zeltron, armed to the teeth and flanked by two Gamorrean thugs, leans against the bar.
"Saw what?"
"You skifted Falt. Ten rounds in a row. Without him seeing a thing."
"Well." Shrug modestly. "He was pretty wasted. I doubt he'd have noticed anything, as long as I didn't skift his drink."
We both look at Falt, who has decided to take a nap with the pazaak deck as a pillow. He's drooling.
I touched those cards.
Yech. Wipe my hands on my pants.
"You have a point." The Zeltron turns back to me. "I heard your... 'nefarious plans'. What do you need a shuttle for?"
Suddenly I feel a little dizzy. "Someone stole my Captain's ship. We need it back. It hasn't left Telos."
What are you doing? Why are you telling her-
Shut up.
"Would that ship happen to be the Ebon Hawk?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"My... boss might have had something to do with it." Something about the way she says 'boss' catches my attention.
Give her another look-over. The guards, the weapons...
Exchange. Great.
Zeltron. I'm probably inhaling the pheromonal equivalent of truth serum. And my pills are in my pack. On the Hawk.
"Really?"
"Yes. Look, I know you're with that Jedi-"
"She's not a Jedi." It's automatic, after hearing Liran grit her teeth and spit it so many times in the three days it took to get here.
"Then you have nothing to worry about from me." The Exchange woman takes my words and uses them with a smoothness Jaq begrudgingly applauds. "Although I was considering using you as bait."
"Waste of time. She's not very fond of me. What can I do for you...?"
"Luxa. If your friend isn't a Jedi, she must have done something to spread the rumors. Is she 'capable'?"
Luxa has a slimy habit of making everyday words sound criminal. Like Jaq. Really, I think he's found his soul mate.
He snorts.
"Well, I have to help her out a lot with some things."
Stop. Telling. The. Truth, Jaq hisses.
I can't!
Then try harder, or I'll give you nightmares.
You already do that.
"Really?" Her perma-smirk gets bigger.
Whatever she's secreting is almost choking now, Luxa must be winding up for a real interrogation.
"Sorry, I have to go." Back away. "Need to check out that merc job right now, before whoever took the Hawk finds Jaq's stuff." Fierfek. I could just jump on a table and give everyone my service record to save time.
"Well if that doesn't pan out, I'm usually here. I could help your not-a-Jedi get her ship back."
I want to stay, gather more info, but not without the meds. I need to find the stuff to make more tonight. "Maybe later."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Goodbye, human. I'll be waiting here if you change your mind."
Practically run out of the cantina, gasp for air outside.
I'm adding her to the list of 'things not approached without a fully charged blaster in one hand and a fileting knife in the other.'
Liran
The greenhouse plants smell wonderful. I can feel them through the Force, vague, non-sentient.
My sensitivity is increasing. The life all around me should be drowning out everything else, but instead I can feel all the people on Citadel now, not just a glob of life in the general direction of the docks or the cantina.
"I will go to the docks tomorrow, before the droid arrives."
Chodo Habat sends out a wave of relief. "Thank you, Je- I mean Miss Ilexe." I remembered to give them the fake identity.
After a few more pleasantries I barely remember giving to people before my exile, I leave the Ithorian Compound. Ithorians aren't so bad, they just have... martyr tendencies.
Consult a public map, make my way back to the apartment.
Kreia doesn't look up from her meditating.
Atton is bored out his mind, from his expression. "Get anything done?"
"I'm playing errand girl to the Ithorians tomorrow. It's a start. They have a shuttle."
Looks like he's considering telling me something, but decides against it. "I went to the cantina." He tosses me a pouch.
Open it. Credits. A few hundred at least.
"Nothing illegal, or attention grabbing. Just a few pazaak games with a drunk."
"You've done more than I have, then."
He hands me a small bag. "Eat."
It's dried fruit. Shove it back at him. I'm not hungry.
"If you don't, I'll have to make another comment about your weight, and I'd like to survive the evening."
It would be sort of ungrateful for me to kill him right now, so I sit on the floor and eat the leathery bits. While I chew (Between this and the Republic dry rations, I'm going to die toothless), Atton keeps talking, crouched in front of me.
"I ran into this Zeltron, Luxa. Pretty sure she's working for the Exchange. She insinuated her boss stole the
Hawk."
My molars are cemented together with half-hydrated muja fruit, so all I can offer is a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. She could have just been trying to get a favor out of us. I told her you weren't a Jedi, she claimed she didn't want to turn you in, but if she knows we didn't leave on the Hawk, word might get back to the TSF. Besides, she'll probably try to capture you after the 'favor' is done."
Finally swallow. "A Zeltron, you said? Did she-"
"Oh yeah. I thought I was going to pass out from all those pheromones, or I would have stayed and gotten more out of her." He opens a medkit lying on the floor and separates the chemicals. "I'm making more of those pills. They should help me keep a level head."
"You arranged to meet her again?"
"No, but she said she's usually in the cantina. Told me to come back."
"Does she want to talk to me?"
"She didn't say anything about it, but that's probably a bad idea. I made sure no one followed me back here, but she keeps a couple of goons with her. If she sees you, they might try something. Let me case the place first. I can be your contact... if you trust me not to sell you to them."
The dried fruit in my mouth goes sour. "The thought never even crossed my mind." That's a lie.
"Thanks." He knows it too, from the look on his face. But if he's willing to pretend, so am I. "Besides, I think Luxa likes me. Must be my roguish good looks."
"Or she wants to harvest your organs."
"I like my idea better."
"Yeah. You keep thinking that." Close the bag. Lost my appetite. "You can meet her tomorrow. Don't commit us to anything."
Nod.
"And be careful. I don't want to have to break you out of some slave shipment to Nar Shaddaa. Or hunt down your kidneys on the black market."
The grin he passes my way looks sharp, like when he smiled at Batu Rem before snapping his neck. "Don't worry about me, Angel. I never turn my back on people who mess with my head."
Atton
Sleeping in the same room as the crone is about as appealing as a waterboarding session.
I can't believe you find this fun.
Being subjected to one, psychopath. Yeesh.
Liran gave the only bed to Kreia and we both slept on the floor.
Oh yeah, and Liran looks kind of like a cadaver while she's out. Flat on her back, stiff, arms folded, pale skin, face dry and pinched. She's completely still. Her eyelids don't even flicker.
It's immensely disturbing.
I turn away from her. Jaq wants to stare at her for some unknown, hopefully remaining as such, reason, and I think I've reached my creepy quota today, with all the neck-snapping and stealth attacks.
It's going to be hard to keep my skills from attracting Liran's attention. So far, she doesn't seem to care what I can do, as long as I don't stab her in the back. But that might change.
Almost told her about my initiation job with Czerka. But it's illegal, and I'm not sure if she'll mind. If I get a shuttle, she probably won't care how, as long as I assure her Czerka can't risk reporting the theft to the TSF, since the merc migration would come into light.
All I have to do is help her back to the Hawk. Then, I've paid my debt, and the Empath will be satisfied. End of problem, everybody gets what they want. Except for Jaq, and that's an added bonus.
Funny. Just remember; my pain is your's.
You know what's even funnier? I have a higher tolerance for pain than you.
You're acting... different. You usually ignore me. Why aren't you now?
Shut up. I'm tired. Let me sleep for once.
Are you... afraid?
Me, afraid of you? I'm the one in control.
I never asked if you were afraid of me. My question was going to be; are you afraid of what will happen if I regain control?
Liran isn't a Jedi. She has nothing to be worried about from you.
It's more of an order than a statement, but Jaq rarely does as I ask. I don't know why I bother.
Then why are you worried?
I don't worry. Not about other people. Now be quiet.
Sleep well, 'Atton'. You're going to need it.
Oh, I hate him.