Alright everyone, here we're really getting into act three.
Secrets of The Outer Rim.
Act III.
The Hunters and The Hunted.
Chapter XXX.
Living Weapons of the Empire.
I was still dazed as the main assailant holstered the assault cannon on her back and knelt in front of me. I could do nothing but groan as he grabbed me by the chin and examined my face, turning my head both left and then right, as if he was trying to verify my identity. Evidently, he got the answer he was looking for, because he soon released me and stood up, walking toward Phanza - towards Zapnha Tamat, rather - and examining her. I'm not sure why I felt the need to protect her identity in my head, especially when it was all proven to be useless when the man knelt down in front of the Nautolan and scraped the red makeup off of one of her head-tails. I cringed, both because this was bad and because he didn't exactly seem to be gentle about it, not that Phanza reacted, no, the Sith Lord was still unconscious, and as was Schweva for that matter, but she was at least clutching the briefcase with the deed in her otherwise limp hand. Speaking of briefcases, I looked around as quick as I could, trying to find the briefcase with the credits in it, even as my vision was still blurry and unfocused. I eventually found the briefcase not far from my hand, it had been knocked out of my hand in the explosion, but fortunately it hadn't gone far. Back to Phanza, scraping off the makeup revealed a patch of black Sith tattoos, that was apparently enough to confirm Phanza's identity, causing the man to stand back up and speak into his comlink.
"Three individuals neutralized. Two of them identified as the Taaszon Sith Master and the escaped Zeltron Jedi from Ypherro. The third individual is an unidentified alien buyer in a business transaction. Shall I terminate her as well?" the man spoke into his comlink, his voice mechanically distorted by his helmet, as the other two men, also dressed in black and red armor, kept an eye on us. I was still the only conscious one of us three, thus I was their primary focus, though they were being vigilant of all of us, so if Phanza or Schweva came to, they would be covered off as well. Their armor resembled clone troopers, at least somewhat, but it was definitely custom fare, designed for elite units. The main assailant, the leader of the trio, definitely had the most unique look, but even the other two were not exactly identical, not upon closer examination. The leader was talking to someone, likely the Emperor himself, based on his first communication, but if it changed or not, I couldn't tell, because I only heard his end of the conversation. Whoever was on the other end of the comlink, it didn't exactly seem to be faring well for us, because the next thing I heard from the leader was "Understood, they will be eliminated, my Emperor."
The man looked up to his two companions and I watched as one blaster rifle was trained at me, another at Schweva, and the leader grabbed his own vibroknife to deal with the unconscious Phanza with. I wondered what I could really do right now, I was still somewhat concussed from the explosion, outnumbered, and had a blaster trained right at me. There was also the matter of getting to Phanza and Schweva before they could be blasted. Schweva would be easy enough, the Chiss Sith is laying not too far from me, and I had two blasters to work with, so that could work. Phanza would be somewhat harder though, because, while I can see her through a gap in the collapsed ceiling, the same collapsed ceiling makes it hard to get through her. I would either need to squeeze over the rubble on the side by the entrance, or squeeze under it here on the side with the destroyed aquarium. Speaking of the destroyed aquarium, there were still all sorts of puddles on the floor and my clothes were drenched, meaning that fighting would be even harder. Then there was the biggest limiting factor, the fact that none of us really had lightsabers with us, deciding that it was too much of a security risk if we were to get caught...we were ironically wrong.
"Who are you?" I asked, trying to stall for time if nothing else, hoping that Phanza or Schweva would wake up and make this situation somewhat less futile. I saw the man aiming his rifle at me force his blaster rifle forward, threatening me, silencing me, making it clear that I was supposed to be quiet and wait to be executed. Fortunately, however, my words did stop the leader, who looked over at me, and even walked away from Phanza. I wasn't sure how his troops ended up on this side and him on that side - perhaps they had entered the hallway from the other side while we were dazed - but the collapsed ceiling proved no barrier for the leader of the trio, who simply knocked the rubble knocked through the hole in the wall and walked over to me yet again. Now I had two armed, very large men standing over me, but at least the way to Phanza was cleared and I brought us some time before the execution.
"Don't worry your little head with questions, Jedi, it'll only be emptied out by a blaster. All you need to know is that there is no escaping Emperor Palpatine, there is no disguise great enough, and there is no magic box of credits that will rebuild your little Grand Duchy. Resistance is futile." with that, the man turned and walked back to Phanza, finding the Nautolan exactly as he left her, and the whole trio moved towards their executions, about to finish us. I did what I could, trying to stall them, or to at least learn some information before we all died, but all I found out was that the leader of this trio is somewhat of a fanatic. I sighed, resigning myself to an ungraceful end, before I felt a spark of hope, something stirring at the end of this Force bond between Phanza and I. The next thing I knew, all three men had stopped, then they dropped their guns, next they were grasping at their throats. I looked over to see Phanza getting up off the ground, struggling to keep up the Force choke on the three individuals so soon after being knocked out, but she was giving us an opening.
"Go! Take Schweva and flee to the lower levels, I'm going to hold them as long as I can before disappearing into the slums. I'll have Bajeeto move the ship and we'll rendezvous somewhere safe once we've lost them!" Phanza conveyed the plan through our mental link as I simply nodded and sprung into action, picking up the soaked Chiss woman before running away, heading for the opposite edge of the hallway. Meanwhile, behind me, Phanza kept the three men preoccupied before finally Force pushing them out onto the balcony with the rest of her energy. Last thing I saw was Phanza enter her office and seal it behind her, perhaps needing to get something, perhaps possessing a secret escape route. Whatever exactly it was that Phanza was doing, I didn't exactly stick around to find out. Instead I ran, running as fast as I could with a 110 pounds of dead weight slowing me down. I got to the opposite end of the hallway and the door revealed itself to be an express elevator leading down to the speeder garage of the Star Cluster casino...I could work with this.
I entered the elevator and lowered Schweva down from my shoulder, leaning her back so as to prop her against the elevator wall, balanced on the railing of the tacky, luxury casino elevator. I suppose now is not exactly the time to comment on the decor of Phanza's casino, no, that could wait until our lives are no longer in danger. Then again, I suppose between the Empire hunting us and now hiding on a world where, apparently Sith ghosts and Terentatek are essentially our neighbors, are we ever really out of danger? Of course, I'm sure Palpatine wants it this way, we are perhaps the largest currently existing oppositional organization in the whole galaxy, and the Emperor wants to make every part of life as hard as possible for us. That is most likely why this man is here as well, perhaps a bounty hunter, perhaps an elite soldier, perhaps an experiment clone, whatever he is, his purpose is clearly to track and eliminate us all on Palpatine's behalf. Thus, not only have we been deprived of our capital world, we now have to contend with assassins hunting us, assassins which have evidently cracked our cover identifies before we even landed on Nar Shaddaa. Schweva still seems to be flying under the Empire's radar, but, seeing her unconscious in an elevator as we're fleeing a trio of Imperial assassins, that's not exactly very comforting right now.
"Come on, come on, come on..." I restlessly muttered to myself as I waited for the already fast elevator to finally make it to the speeder garage. I'm feeling a little more focused and attentive now that some time has passed since the trio blew their way into the casino, but the side effect of that is that the adrenaline is flowing through me now. It's hard to remain passive and run when in a combat situation, though it seems I have little choice. Eventually, not a second too soon for my impatient, combat-conditioned mind, the elevator stopped and opened, prompting me to grab Schweva and put her arm around my shoulder while I put my hand at her waist, basically dragging her over to the nearest roadster speeder - I was not about to deal with a locked door - a black model somewhat more lowkey than the gaudy faux-wood taxi Phanza and I arrived here in. I practically threw Schweva in the passenger seat and strapped her in before getting into the driver's seat and trying to figure out what to do...I was a crap pilot at best, in a speeder I didn't know, and with an unconscious passenger, all while being pursued by the Empire. Wonderful conditions for a speeder ride, I have to admit.
I obviously didn't have the keys to this speeder, nor was I at all proficient in hot-wiring a vehicle, and I didn't even have a security spike. A hacking device like a security spike could fire up the speeder for me, but, just my luck, I didn't have one on me right now. The bitter, sarcastic part of my brain though wonderful work Phanza, think this through enough to buy me a new outfit but don't consider the fact that a security spike or two could be one: useful, two: would fit in rather well with the image of an elite mercenary bodyguard. I couldn't blame Phanza for this though, no, she planned this as well as she could, the problem is the Empire evidently had a secret trio of assassins, and, not only that, but these assassins managed to crack our identifies and, on top of all that, they somehow knew where this meeting was. The Empire has simply outplayed us here, so no, this is not the time for complaining, this is the time for figuring out a way out of here.
I finally ended up using the Force to manually start the spinning of the thrusters, effectively forcing the ignition process of the engines. Soon enough, both engines were powered up a pair of small, blue flames formed in the thrusters on the rear of the speeder, providing us with thrust. We took off and I steered us out of the garage as quickly as I could, managing not to hit anything in the process. Only once I was out of the hangar did I start considering exactly what Phanza ordered me to do: I was supposed to descend to the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa and disappear, ensuring that Schweva and I escaped the eyes of the Empire. I, of course, was unfamiliar with this world and had no idea where exactly to go, but I knew I had to make myself less conspicuous as quickly as possible. Therefore, I found a lane of speeders heading down from this central area of floating structures - including the Star Cluster casino and Nar Shaddaa's airborne promenade - down to the districts out and below this area. I merged into this lane and sought to disappear into the old urban maze of the smuggler's moon.
I looked at the first possible destination, a platform on a level that was pretty damn deep below the heights of the skyscrapers, to a level that must be thousands of years old, and it did look promising. The platform connected to two different buildings, meaning we had two potential paths of escape, which, if the hunters were still pursuing us, could force them to divide their group and hunt in both directions. If we also consider one of them, likely the leader, going after Phanza, then this could mean we could face as few as one of the trio. That being said, I also had no idea what I was dealing with and had an unconscious Schweva to lug around, so I wanted to avoid a fight in general, therefore, I decided to pass a number of platforms. There was a purpose to this, first of all, hopefully the trio didn't know exactly which direction we went in, second of all, even if they did, they would have multiple platforms and sections of Nar Shaddaa to search through. Effectively, I was looking to not only divide their forces, but divide them in the wrong place. Therefore, I continued on, following the lane of speeder traffic as it entered into a tunnel going through one of the skyscrapers. I piloted through the S-shaped tunnel and emerged on the other side right as, in my passenger seat, Schweva began to stir. The Chiss' solid red eyes quickly looked around, seeing the two of us strapped into a speeder with a pair of briefcases, with no Phanza in sight.
"We got ambushed at the deal, and separated from Phanza. I'm looking for a place to set this speeder down in the lower levels to hide from the pursuers. Once we're in the clear, we'll find Phanza, recover the ship, and get off this planet." I explained everything to the Chiss woman as fast as I could, trying to at least give my Sith counterpart a working understanding of the scenario. This was apparently enough for Schweva to get the point so, still dressed in her disguise and her ridiculous metallic fur coat, she nodded, and we both started looking around for a platform where we could land. We were looking for the stereotypical Nar Shaddaa landing platform - busy enough that an arriving speeder won't raise eyebrows but discrete enough that no one there would ask any questions. Fortunately for me, I saw three speeders ahead of me divert from the lane, all of them turning right to come in to a platform somewhat below us. This wasn't a convoy of three speeders, it was a random collection of three speeders that decided to land here. Deciding that this was enough activity to hide our approach.
I brought the speeder down in the nearest available bay, a few bays away from the nearest speeder, making sure Schweva and I had a little bit of privacy that we could use to talk this out. I set the speeder in hover mode and then hopped out, climbing out onto the surface and taking a look around, finding the usual sort of Nar Shaddaa crowd. Bounty hunters, petty gangsters, smugglers, spice dealers, slicers, and every other kind of shady clientele imaginable. I'm sure there were also plenty of civilians and even refugees in these crowds as well, but they knew Nar Shaddaa well, and they knew that, on this planet, they were better off letting things go unquestioned. Yes, this was exactly the kind of place where we could disappear into. This is the kind of place where people go when they don't want to be found, and this is the kind of place where people go to disappear. It's no coincidence that this is where we found Exiim Abarghe, people go to Nar Shaddaa to escape, and the only people who have any real hope of tracking them down are the Hutts who control all of this.
"What are you doing?" I asked Schweva as I noticed her putting both briefcases on the ledge over by me while she remained in the speeder just long enough to jury-rig something on the control panel, before quickly hopping out of the speeder as it began moving on autopilot, leaving the dock and returning to the speeder lane where we had been, continuing its journey. It was only at this moment where the Chiss woman turned back to me in order to explain herself.
"We can't risk the chance that they saw the vehicle before leaving, so we're not going to leave it sitting outside of the platform that we're on. I sent it along to continue as long as it can. Best case scenario, it leads whoever is pursuing us on a wild akk chase, worst case scenario, some random casino patron's speeder is going to end up somewhere else on this planet. Either way, it can only benefit us." Schweva whispered in response, this being as allowed as she was willing to go in her natural accent. I decided to accept her logic for now. If the Imperials didn't see the speeder, we were safe anyway, but, if they did, well, now it was only going to get away from us. And, unless they happened to already have placed a tracker on this random speeder in a garage, they'll have no way of knowing it even stopped here. Basically, this was just another layer of security to make sure that, when we entered this district deep in the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa, we would actually remain hidden from the prying eyes of these Imperial pursuers.
Schweva decided to lead the way, after all, her outfit conveyed status while my outfit conveyed the idea of a rugged bounty hunter or bodyguard, some kind of henchwoman anyway. So, in that respect, our outfits didn't really look all that out of play anymore, we were simply two better-off criminals up to some suspicious business that only the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa could provide, with that, no one asked questions, because asking questions on a world like this is a good way of ending up dead. This is a world of excess in every sense of the word, yet also a world of immense inequality, this is a world of intense crime, yet larger and more powerful organizations kept the smaller ones under their control, making sure they didn't make things bad for business, and this is a world where justice didn't even enter the minds of the people who lived here. Nar Shaddaa was offensive to the Jedi mindset in every way possible, even the amount of people here was bothersome, all the commotion and all the life meant that this planet was like the Force itself screaming into your brain. So many people, so many emotions, so many different intentions, all swirling together in such a small pace. Nar Shaddaa was like Coruscant in overdrive, especially here in the lower levels.
Coruscant had more people overall, but it was also a bigger world, with taller buildings, and the upper levels - where the Jedi Temple, the Senate Building, and any other place that the Jedi would often find themselves were - weren't that crowded. The cost of living at the center of the galaxy and galactic civilization meant that relatively few people lived on the uppermost levels of Coruscant. Of course, the downside of this is that the cheaper lower levels were overcrowded and filled with every type of crime, poverty, and inequality imaginable. All of that meant that the upper levels of Coruscant were actually somewhat quiet in the Force, yes there was life everywhere, billions upon billions of people, but they weren't clustered all around you, not like it is on here. Here, in the crowds of whatever ancient Nar Shaddaa district this is, life is screaming out, surrounding us, tempting us, assaulting our every senses. Some Jedi would claim that feelings like this were why they didn't go to the lower levels of Coruscant, though...I suspect the truth has more to do with the late Jedi not wanting to confront serious questions about their purpose and their failures. The Jedi claimed to be peacekeepers yet couldn't even ensure justice and equality on the very world their Temple was based on. The Jedi claimed to be about upholding morality and good standards across the galaxy, yet they let the Hutts get away with countless atrocities and injustices here on Nar Shaddaa, all while waging a war against a faction which was, fundamentally, made up of people who wanted to secede from the Republic.
The side of the separatists that the Republic and the Jedi presented to us were the corporate overlords - ignoring the fact that the same corporate interests, literally the same corporations in many incidents, were present in the Senate at the same time - and their droid armies. I wouldn't be surprised if most Jedi didn't even know about the separatist parliament or any of their government organizations. Yes Count Dooku was a Sith and yes the whole Confederacy of Independent Systems was under the thumb of Palpatine, but can we really argue considering that, at that stage, so was the Republic? The separatists had many flaws, no one is denying that, but, when I met Aela and Senator Cenetta on Loukhamii, a well-intentioned couple trying to resist from the tyranny of the Empire, I knew that, between the Republic and the separatists, there was no moral high ground, no good and evil, merely two factions that had their better interests and ideals played by a Sith Lord. Of course, I'm not exactly in a position to moralize, running alongside a Sith apprentice in the ghettos of Nar Shaddaa, trying to find a way to escape the assassins going after us in order to regroup with yet another Sith Lord.
"Where exactly are we going?" I finally snapped out of my thinking and tried to focus on what we were doing, rather than the constant hum of life surrounding us, figuring out where Schweva was leading us. I could be wrong, but from everything I've heard, before Schweva joined forces with us, she's only been on Taaszon, Exavellos, and maybe a handful of other worlds within the Grand Duchy, there is absolutely no reason why she would know the layout of this random district in the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa.
"I don't know, but we're putting some distance between ourselves and the speeder port, making sure we're somewhere that the Empire can never find us. Then, once that is done, we're going to figure out where we are and where we can go." Schweva replied in a clipped whisper, making it clear that she was annoyed by me doubting her abilities. I rolled my eyes at her attitude but kept following, deciding that the idea was sound, even if she wasn't exactly painting herself as mature and capable with her defensive answer. I understand what we're doing now, but there is no reason to paint this as if it were the most obvious answer ever, especially when we're dealing with a district we don't know on a world which has proven to be hostile. So, when Schweva decided that we should follow the crowd onto a large avenue in what appeared to be the center of the district, a vindictive part of me almost felt smug at what happened next.
"Do you know why there's so much foot traffic here? Because it's getting bottlenecked through an Imperial checkpoint. There's six clones, a rayshield, and two autoturrets in front of us - how exactly are we going to deal with that?" I asked, a harsh whisper in my voice once I realized why there was so much traffic clogging this hallway. The vindictive part of me faded away relatively quickly at this, because this wasn't a matter of proving Schweva wrong anymore, now it's a matter of how we're going to deal with this. We can't exactly turn around, there's people behind us and trying to run through them would cause more than enough commotion to grab the clones' attention. There are some small alleys on either side of this main avenue, but who knows where they lead or even if going down them would be a good idea. We had to do something though, there is no way we could make it through this Imperial checkpoint. Now, I don't think this has anything to do with what happened at the Star Cluster, I think this is simply a place where the Imperials were able to gain permission from the Hutts to set up a checkpoint. The Hutts still had the platforms and the private hangars for the criminals and undesirables they wanted, while the Empire could set up stations of their control in intersections the Hutts found less important, effectively giving both sides what they wanted.
"This way!" a voice called from the alleyway. Schweva and I both looked over, finding a human woman in a white longcoat calling out to us from an alleyway. The Chiss woman and I locked eyes for just a moment, but, deciding we were fundamentally lacking in options, we followed her into the alleyway, disappearing from the crowd and avoiding the Imperial checkpoint. Instead, we traveled down the narrow alleyway, following the human woman in her strange coat - it was nice and distinctive, two things definitely meant something on Nar Shaddaa - on this planet, if you wear something nice, you're making a statement. Wearing something nice makes you a target, because every other two-bit gangster is going to want to blast you and take your new coat. That means that wearing some nice not only shows off wealth on Nar Shaddaa, it also oozes confidence, saying you're not afraid of any would-be mugger looking to take your shiny new clothes. That's part of the reason why Phanza had us dressed up in these nice outfits carrying all these weapons, to give a loud and clear message to anyone in the underworld who would dare to even think about bothering us. Everything on Nar Shaddaa revolves around underworld politics, even the fashion choices.
We followed the woman onto another avenue once the alley opened up, slowing down from our run and now walking through the streets, blending in with the crowds, and disappearing into the common people of Nar Shaddaa. I glanced to Schweva again, now that we were somewhat safer, and I silently asked her what she thought of this situation, what her course of action would be, because now that we were away from the checkpoint, we technically didn't need this woman anymore. Schweva, however, looked back at the woman we were following, her detailless red eyes evidently seeing something I wasn't - something which Schweva seemed to be intrigued over - and she nodded. We were going to see how this goes, if nothing else, we get to kill some time while waiting for the Imperials to give up their search. At least for the search to die down enough for Phanza to regroup with us so we could escape aboard the Chancellery. The Empire was present on the smuggler's moon, maintaining enough troops here to show their control, but this was still fundamentally a Hutt world. That meant that there were only so many clones here and that the Empire couldn't blockade the planet. As long as we could shake the Empire and get to our ship, we would be safe.
"Here we are, the compound." the human woman whispered to the two of us as we slipped inside an innocuous storefront - a clothing shop as it turns out - just a small place that had some outfits on offer, a handful of pieces of armor, and could maybe offer some tailoring at the right price, but nothing too impressive. Of course, this was Nar Shaddaa, so no business was ever this simple. At minimum a place like this would be a protection racket, but with gangs like the Hutt Cartel and the Exchange present, the protection fees are so great that no one could realistically pay them. That meant that no business stayed just a business for long. That meant that these businesses would have backroom industries, run by the gangs. These industries could be everything from spice labs to massive tech facilities to small, seedy brothels, all types of scum were present on Nar Shaddaa. The backroom of this particular business was something else however, and that was revealed when this human woman went behind the counter and, after inputting a secret code, opened a hidden staircase leading down below the store. The woman looked around, making sure the coast was clear, before gesturing for the two of us to head underground, her silence indicating that it would be safe to explain down there, but not up here. Schweva and I shared a glance before she stepped forward, going down first, and I followed. The human woman was the last of us three, making sure no one saw us disappear, before heading down the stairs and pressing a button at their base, sealing us down here.
I looked around this basement compound, finding a spacious and well lit place at the bottom of the stairs, to say the least. A tall, grand woman was located beneath the shop, with statues of ancient worshipers - many of them Ongree, strangely enough - along the walls. Each of these statues occupied a small niche on either wall along the side of the room, then, on the wall opposite of us, there were three defining features. The first and most obvious one was the tall, arched doorway continuing on into the rest of the compound - revealing this place was even bigger than just this impressive main hall - and I could see people in the other room beyond the doorway. On either side of the door, however, there were two long banners, hanging from the top of the wall near the ceiling, these long red banners displayed an emblem of Revan in silver. The logo was an outline, in a roughly shield like shape, though it was representing a mask, and inside, a T-shaped Mandalorian visor filled the open space, their whole logo being a simplistic representation of the famed Mask of Revan. This place was a compound of the New Order of Revan. That means that, the human woman in white, the one who saved us, was a member of Phanza's Neo-Revanites.
"My name is Kyenia Cheraid, humble servant of the Revanchist and of Grandmistress Tamat." the human woman introduced herself, and I got a good look at her now that we were in the clear. Her hair was primarily blonde, but I could see a silver streak in it, shining in a metallic sheen similar to some of the blue highlights Schweva was wearing in her disguise. Kyenia wore her white longcoat and, now looking at her in the front, I saw that the collar of the coat was blue, which matched and blue and black shirt she had below. A white belt kept her coat tight around on her waist and held her white tights up. A pair of black thigh holsters sat on these thighs, holding her blasters, and then she had her black leather knee high boots, producing a good look for the human woman. The outfit was definitely expensive, marking her as a tough individual here on Nar Shaddaa, but I also couldn't help but notice that there were definitely similarities between Schweva's Chiss disguise as Zaranu'utthonna'aphillii and this human woman's outfit. Then I remembered that Phanza mentioned she had a Revanite manager lined up for the Star Cluster casino, someone with ties to the Chiss Ascendancy, but someone here on Nar Shaddaa. I had expected this to be a Chiss woman, but maybe, just maybe, Phanza was talking about this human. I also noticed that, likely a result of contact lenses, her eyes were red. Not entirely red like Chiss eyes, but still noticeable.
"My name is Zaranutho, an associate of Lady Tamat." Schweva introduced herself first, using her persona's name and introducing herself as an associate of Lady Tamat. We knew that this woman worked for Phanza, being a Neo-Revanite, and I was already expecting her to be the new casino manager Phanza had in mind, but we didn't know exactly how much she knew or what we could trust her with. The Chiss apprentice was playing it safe and setting the tone of this conversation, something I was admittedly grateful for, because I don't know how I would have introduced myself here. I think I would have been smart enough to avoid revealing too much about the real me, about Zaliza Vyvan, but would I have the forethought to fully commit to the Vyvienne Alzicia bodyguard persona. Then there is the matter of what to do with my suspicious, should I question her about the casino plan, or is the risk too great if I'm wrong? Perhaps this woman has nothing to do with the Star Cluster plan and telling her about this could affect her trust of Zapnha Tamat. If we're going to approach this topic, I'm gonna let her do it.
"Vyvienne Alzicia, her bodyguard. We were attacked and separated." I decided to explain how we got here in the most basic, need-to-know basis possible, awarding her with the context but not wanting to reveal too much, because, again, I don't know how much Phanza tells her cultists. i doubt she tells them that she runs two different, contradictory cults on the same damn planet for one. The New Order of Revan worships Revan, that much is clear, even just by the honorific "the Revanchist" that Kyenia put onto her, how can those who worship Revan make peace with this other cult that Phanza runs, the Order of the Screaming Blade, who apparently worship Darth Imperius? If Phanza is willing to run these two different cults and keep them secret from one another, who knows what else she isn't telling these cultists, all while using them for her own ends. Perhaps the cults know she is a Force user, or at least suspect it, but I don't think that they outright know that she is a Sith Lord and from this faction of hidden Sith in the Unknown Regions.
"I know, Lady Tamat holocalled me and informed me about the situation. Once you two happened to stumble in my district, I decided that it was time to intervene, luckily I caught you guys before you got to the Imperial checkpoint, if only just." Kyenia replied, explaining that she was more cued in than we had feared. I suddenly felt a little bit less awkward holding this briefcase in front of us, considering that I still had the Hutt credits and Schweva still had the deed with her - this woman was somebody who we could trust. Seeing the two of us relax in front of her, Kyenia Cheraid continued "This is one of the many Revanite compounds on Nar Shaddaa, dating back to a colony of Ongree who were kept alive and self-sufficient by a miniature Star Forge, these statues are devoted to many of these early followers of Revan, those who saw Revan's greatness before the Revanites were ever organized. By now, our Order has a presence all across Nar Shaddaa, with agents on every level of Nar Shaddaa, inserted into almost every organization on the planet."
"Oh? Which organization do you belong to?" Schweva asked, framing it as an innocent question, but I knew there was something more to this. Schweva must have seen what I saw, expect she saw it the moment she took a look at Kyenia, so she wanted to know why this woman was dressed in Chiss clothes and what she had to do with her species. I would imagine that Schweva is in somewhat of an awkward place with all of this, because yes, she is a Chiss, but she isn't from the Ascendancy, no, she is a Chiss from the Grand Duchy of Taaszon. Schweva has a whole different history and context in which she views her species, and she is arguably more defined by the fact that she is a Sith than the fact that she is a Chiss, now, she is playing the role of an Ascendancy representative because that's one of the few believable roles that her species allows, and now she has to confront someone who may well be from the Ascendancy. Ironically enough, it is a human who may be from the Chiss Ascendancy being confronted by a Chiss from the Grand Duchy of Taaszon.
"It's complicated," Kyenia sighed, but she was going to go ahead and explain it "I was born in the Chiss Ascendancy. I don't know how I ended up being born there and none of my Chiss superiors seemed particularly keen on explaining my origins to me, instead, they just trained me to serve the Ascendancy. I was to be one of their operatives, someone who they could send into the galaxy to subtly serve them without revealing their involvement. I didn't like this role. One day, I decided to run away, I managed to escape the facility where I was being held and I slipped into one of the few ships leaving Copero for the rest of the galaxy, escaping the Ascendancy, eventually winding up here on Nar Shaddaa. I was happy here, I got to be someone else, find my own existence and find my own meaning. I saw droids for the first time, I learned about the Jedi and the Sith, and I learned about Revan, who was master of all three. Revan, who was Jedi, who was Sith, and who built countless droids, everything that the Chiss Ascendancy hated and shunned was now available to me, and Revan symbolized all of that."
"How did Zapnha Tamat filter into all this?" I asked as we continued into the next room. As I walked through the doorway, I saw two rectangles in the ground, flat against the floor, but looking like these panels could lift off the ground to reveal a pair of massive turrets - the first line of defense if someone were to find this hidden base - so I figured we were pretty safe from the Empire. In the next room, there were four heavy battle droids, one on each corner, standing there to watch over the room as everyone else went about their business. Based on what Kyenia said, the first followers of Revan on this moon were Ongree, but the modern, organized cult was very cosmopolitan, with members of every species imaginable - humans, Twi'lek, Zabraks, Duros, and that's just the species I identified in my quick scan over the room - and seemingly no speciesism on display here. That part of Phanza's cult seemed good, the work of a Nautolan Sith. Also in the room, there were various display cases, holding various relics and objects connected to Revan.
"Well, as it turns out, hiding from the Chiss Ascendancy didn't work out too well for me. They tracked me down and tried to force me back into their service, taking me back to Copero, but Grandmistress Tamat intervened on my behalf. Zapnha negotiated for me to become an agent of the Chiss Ascendancy on Nar Shaddaa, meaning they retained me as an asset but I got to live free from Copero and got to continue being a Revanite. Now, I serve the Chiss Ascendancy when needed, but I'm ultimately loyal to the Grandmistress and the Order of Revan, and I have been hand-selected to serve as the new manager of the Star Cluster casino." Kyenia gave us an abridged version of her origin story while leading us to her office on the left, sitting down in her desk and facing us. Cheraid looked at Schweva in particular "I take it you'll be playing the part of my new boss?"
"That is what Lady Tamat told me, yes." Schweva replied, answering her human counterpart's question. So, Kyenia seemed to know that Zapnha Tamat would ultimately remain in real control of the casino - I suppose she has to know that, considering she's going to take orders from Phanza and play the role of her day manager, keeping the Empire from finding a link to Phanza - but I wondered what else she knew. I have to believe she has interacted with Phanza in person, especially during this episode with the Chiss Ascendancy catching her, but what did she learn from this encounter? Kyenia is not Force-sensitive, not according to anything I can see or sense, so she wouldn't be able to sense that Phanza is Force-sensitive, but I get the impression that Kyenia is an intelligent woman, and I wouldn't be surprised if she knows one way or another. The very fact that the Revanites know about the Jedi and the Sith and worship Revan for having been both at one point or another makes their relationship to the Force strange, because they're more aware of this kind of stuff than most people. I think Kyenia had a closer relationship to Phanza than most, in fact, she's mentioned that she had a holocall with the Sith Lord just now.
"You mentioned being in a holocall with Lady Tamat, how is she doing?" I asked, wanting to figure out what was going on with my master, are the hunters still pursuing her, where has she gotten to since escaping the casino, and what is going on with the Chancellery during all this? Phanza said that Bajeeto the Hutt could move the ship somewhere safer, meaning that we could board the ship without having to get to the spaceport and potentially expose ourselves to the Imperial hunters, but where exactly would he move it, and how quickly? These were important questions, because, for all I know, the ship will be in a while different district, maybe one that can only be reached by either using a speeder or passing through the Imperial checkpoint, neither of which were great options. Sure, Schweva and I could try and steal another speeder, but do I really want to resort to common crime again? Stealing the first speeder was a necessity, something we needed to do in order to escape, and Schweva was unconscious at the time, stressing the situation and forcing me to act quickly. We would not have the same kind of imminent justification again. Then again, passing through the checkpoint wasn't an option either - we were wanted criminals, at very least I was, and even if we weren't, it's not like we have Imperial documents - meaning we couldn't pass through the checkpoint without a fight. I couldn't think of a good way of getting out of this district.
"When I spoke to Lady Tamat, she had just escaped the Star Cluster casino, disappearing into the crowd and boarding a shuttle bus down to the Promenade. She announced that she was going to use this place to shake the hunters completely, as speeders from the Promenade spread all over Nar Shaddaa. Zapnha said that she was going to try and head for the Shadow Town district, she has a hangar down there and your ship is being ferried there." Kyenia Cheraid explained, telling us where Phanza was going and where our ship was, which meant that she was telling us exactly where we needed to go. That being said, this means we need to go to a different district and Shadow Town is a rather ominous name, so that means that I want to be prepared for whatever is awaiting Schweva and I there.
"What exactly is Shadow Town?" I asked, not liking the sound of this district. Nar Shaddaa was never particularly safe, everywhere you went, you were on the turf of some kind of gangster or walking through a potential territorial dispute. Anything you did could be interpreted as a threat by the Hutts, and a threat to Hutt business would be punished brutally, either by the Hutt Cartel's own forces or by the hordes of deadly bounty hunters that gathered on this planet. Around any corner, there could be a three-way battle as two petty gangs fight for control while Hutt or Exchange enforcers move in to crush the both of them, stopping a dispute and reminding any rising gangs who is really in control of the smuggler's moon. This wasn't a pleasant planet, not by any means, so what did that say about this district that it was bad enough to be christened with a name like Shadow Town? What makes a district bad by Nar Shaddaa standards?
"In the time of the ancient Sith Empire, Shadow Town was a prison for a particularly dangerous breed of intelligence operatives that needed to be locked up. Now, consisting of armored cell blocks and containing four thousand year old guard armories, this district has effectively become home to a series of armored fortresses. Cell blocks turned into the impenetrable bases of rival gangs. One of our own operations is in that area, and Lady Tamat's hangar is close to that." Kyenia narrated, listing out all the various reasons why this district earned that name. A Sith prison is bad enough, but a Sith prison being run by Imperial Intelligence? That just adds a whole different deceptive, diabolical layer to the prison complex. Finally, now that it's not a prison anymore, the armored cellblocks which were used to contain Imperial Intelligence's prisoners have been converted into criminal fortresses.
"How do we get there?" Schweva asked, evidently not that concerned about the threatening nature of this district, or maybe just willing to throw in some bravado in the face of such a difficult obstacle.
"Simple. I can take you there." the human answered, picking up an ornate box from under her desk and then leading us out of the office, taking us to an elevator on the opposite side of the compound. A short elevator ride later, we were in a private, Revanite speeder garage, hopping into a simple, unmarked speeder - the Neo-Revanites were a secret cult after all - and letting the woman from the Chiss Ascendancy take us to Shadow Town. Evidently, this district we were coming from was a few thousand years old itself, because we didn't really change altitude all that much on our way to Network Access, meaning that these layers of the skyscrapers were built at roughly the same time. Nar Shaddaa was the kind of place where renovations were relatively rare, its hard to build up a district when its swarming with petty criminals, so, instead, the Hutts just built over the old crime-infested districts, adding verticality whenever they wanted something new. This meant that the planet was almost like a layer cake, with most buildings being of similar heights in each era, and then being built over in the next era.
"Is this the place?" I asked as we pulled up in a small platform outside of what seemed to be one of the armored cellblock fortresses, the Revanite fortress in particular. Based on what Kyenia said earlier, this meant that Phanza's hangar was somewhere close by, meaning that we didn't have to go too far. Kyenia, however, was grabbing the ornate box she brought from her office, and only once she had it in her lap did she reply.
"Yes, but even with the hangar close by, Shadow Town is dangerous, and you are being pursued, I think the two of you could use these." I watched as Kyenia opened the box to reveal two lightsaber hilts - Revanite relics most likely - and offered them to Schweva and I. Each of us grabbed a hilt, four thousand year old lightsabers, but operational ones as it turns out. I ignited mine to reveal a green blade, a color which almost instantly reminded me of Ullara Avdune, but I decided to push that thought out of my head for now. Schweva's lightsaber, meanwhile, was a unique, cyan blade. I looked back at Kyenia, wondering just how she figured out that we were Force users and how she had these lightsabers, but her answer wasn't much of an answer to begin with "Go, you two need to meet up with Lady Tamat and get off this world. I'm going back to the Revanite compound."
Kyenia deflected, but she did have a point, so Schweva and I deactivated our weapons and climbed out into the Revanite fortress, quickly making our way through and emerging out onto the streets of Shadow Town. In contrast to the crowded streets of the last district, or even the music and the patrons of the Star Cluster casino, the streets of Shadow Town were uncomfortably empty...this was the no-man's land between the fortresses. Schweva and I didn't stick around to find out, feeling tense enough in this district, instead we took a right and continued on to the hangars, heading for the one closest to the Revanite fortress, putting some distance between us and this line of competing cellblock fortresses. We got into the hangar as quickly as we could, however, unfortunately for us, the sight in front of us wasn't a particularly good one. The ship was here and so was Phanza, but, between us and them, stood the three hunters, the towering leader taking center stage. I gestured for Schweva to remain in cover for a moment, having her take my briefcase as well - the secrecy of the Star Cluster's new owners was still a priority - before coming out to join the group, trying to formulate a plan with Phanza, a way out of this situation, preferably one that didn't require exposing Schweva.
"Well, well, the Sith and the Jedi survivor, an unlikely pair. Not that it matters, the Emperor demands both your heads, and you being together only makes things easier on me." the leader mocked, acting as if he hadn't already ambushed us at the casino, treating this as our first encounter and taking the opportunity to mock us, trying to unsettle us and gain an advantage for his trio.
"I'll give you one chance to leave this hangar and let us go - I suggest you take it." Phanza replied, dropping the accent, and revealing herself as a Sith Lord. In what was somewhat of a bluff, she was showing confidence and threatening the trio, trying to unsettle them in return. Phanza was trying to out-gamble the trio and avoid a fight, letting the three of us escape. Meanwhile, behind me, Schweva quietly as she could lowered her lightsaber hilt onto the floor - offering up the Revanite weapon to her master - giving her another advantage if she wanted it. I could tell the Nautolan noticed this, but she didn't act on it immediately. The trio, likewise, didn't act on Phanza's offer to escape either. I watched as the Sith Lord smirked before replying "As you wish."
Red lightning powered out of Phanza's hands and hit the trio. The three hunters were affected by this, stumbling backwards and feeling the raw power of the attack, but the armor was protecting them from the electricity itself, and, as they adjusted to the force of the shock, they started raising their blasters at Phanza. This is when she dropped one of her hands, shooting lightning with one hand and pulling Schweva's lightsaber to her, igniting the cyan blade. I knew that the trio would question where the blade came from, so, before they could really react, I ignited by own lightsaber and crashed into them. Now the trio was distracted by two Force users attacking them so, while we were fighting them, Schweva took the opportunity to sneak onboard the Chancellery and fire up the ship. Hearing the ship activate, Phanza Force-pushed them away and we boarded the ship, escaping the fight.
We managed to get away from the trio without much action, but, as we left the hangar, I knew we made a new enemy today.
Ciao!