Disclaimer: We ( zazabelle and draksisreborn) own nothing but our OCs. Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm and Disney. Please review and enjoy this latest installment.
Lerti's vision swam in a lost sense of time and space. She couldn't remember having been beaten this bad since…actually she couldn't remember much at all at the moment.
She could remember feelings of numbness in some limbs and pain in others. She remembered the feeling of movement, the sockets of her arms aching as the floor slid under her weight. And now, as she tried to gather her mind, she felt like an animal hide hanging from a wall.
But most importantly, she remembered getting her hide handed to her. And Lerti did not like being beat.
With a heave, she opened her eyes.
Her vision was met with strobing blue and purple light that made her wince as she realized she was suspended by her wrists and ankles in a containment field.
The metal cuffs, locked above her hands and feet, strained her body between two magnetic plates positioned in the floor and ceiling, creating a magnetic field restraining nearly all forms of movement.
Despite this fact, Lerti gritted her teeth and pushed against the force to turn her head. That's when she saw that she wasn't the only one restrained.
Nek and BX floated in similar states of containment beside her.
Lerti sucked in a breath and began to struggle against the invisible force, a move she knew was useless but at least made her feel like she was trying to do something.
"You know you can't escape those." A vaguely robotic voice drawled.
Lerti's eyes shot over to glare at the figure in tanned leathers and a large brimmed hat who sat watching them nearby. Their weapons and her helmet sat neatly by his side.
It was the old Duros man, the one BX said was named Cad Bane.
"Containment fields?" Lerti began, "Don't you think it's a bit much?"
The Duros frowned and picked up a blaster from the crate near where he was sitting, "No. I don't actually. You don't last in my sort of business as long as I have without taking every precaution."
Rising from his seat, he strolled towards Lerti, rocking the blaster back and forth with each clinking step caused by the rocket boosters attached to his boots, "You especially take precautions when someone attempts to steal one of these." Cad Bane held up their mission, the holocron.
"Tell me, do you know what this is?" Bane questioned.
Lerti looked at Bane before glancing over at Nek and BX.
He would kill them.
The moment he knew what they were doing there and why, he would kill them. The only reason they were still alive was that he was curious and cautious. You have to know what you're looking for if you're stealing old Jedi artifacts and he knew it.
They hadn't prepared an alternative lie. They hadn't thought that far ahead… They-
Lerti sighed, 'Here goes nothing.'
"We didn't come here to steal it… We came here to pick it up. We're with-"
"No." Bane cut her off suddenly.
Lerti's mouth snapped shut. The coldness in his voice. In that one word. He sounds just like- 'Stay focused. You're not dead yet.'
"No?" Lerti retorted with unexpected defiance.
Cad Bane shook his head, "No. You didn't answer my question." He walked up to Lerti until he was right in front of her, blaster pointed between her eyes, "I didn't ask 'Who do you work for?' I asked 'Do you know-'" He held up the holocron, "'-What this is?'"
"It's. It's a Jedi holocron." No use lying to him, and no use further explaining. He had some sort of lesson to teach, talking more than asked would only get them all a shot in-between the eyes.
Lerti hoped Nek and BX realized that too.
Cad Bane gave no recognition if that was the answer he was looking for. He didn't shoot her, so that was a good sign.
Turning he began walking along their line of humiliation.
"Holocrons," Bane began, "Were a Jedi's prime database of information. Before their sudden… extinction. These little boxes were highly sought after during the Clone Wars not only because of what they held but because of their potential. After the Empire's renovations, nearly every holocron in the Jedi temple was seized and either destroyed or kept for safekeeping. All of their knowledge, their wisdom, no longer a mystery. No longer valuable."
He stopped in front of BX; the immediate right of Lerti.
"So, what you've tried to… "pick up", from me today is not just a "Jedi" holocron. It's a holocron that the Jedi didn't have in their possession or there would've been a matching lightsaber in that crate you pried open."
He moved onto Nek.
"So I'm going to ask you this one more time. Do you know what this is?"
Cad Bane held the holocron up in front of Nek. The smaller man said nothing, his lips drawn into a line and his eyes frantically searching his mind for, something, anything.
Nek shook his head and bowed it. Accepting fate.
But the shot did not come.
Bane instead walked even closer to the Devorian man suspended before him, "You need the Force to open holocrons. I've seen my share of Force-wielders. And none of you fit the mold… Well," Bane pushed Nek's chin up by the barrel of his gun and looked to stare at Lerti "Maybe. You do look familiar."
He backed away slowly, face expressionless as he examined them.
"You three have intrigued me enough because I'm...baffled, by your sheer stupidity. That is the only reason you're still alive. So, now you may answer the question I hadn't asked. Who sent you?"
Lerti's mind raced. She couldn't give up Soron, but could she get away with lying to him? Could she lie to those knowing eyes? She wouldn't even believe her and-
"We work for Beebs." BX butted in, before Lerti even had a chance to speak.
This actually made Bane pause for a moment. His movements froze and Lerti knew that kind of look. He was connecting the dots.
'But what dots are you connecting you scum-sucker.' Lerti thought as she watched BX.
"You work... for Beebs?" Bane asked with amusement on his lips, "You know, I know just about every nerfherding crime boss from the edge of the galaxy and back. So what would a woman like Beebs need with a holocron?"
BX didn't miss a beat, "We don't get paid to ask questions."
Bane sighed a metallic garble that flowed through his breathing tubes.
"Right." Bane raised his blaster.
BX's voice suddenly sprang to life, the voice of a woman coming through. Beebs' voice.
"Just tell Bane I have a very interested client on the market looking for one of those little box things and Bane is the only man I know for certain that has one. I'll pay him what he asks but no more, I don't want to lose money on this deal." The sound of "Beebs'" voice crackled to a close.
Bane, with blaster still raised, shoved the barrel forward, his lips peeling into a snarl, "You think I'm an idiot, droid!? You think I don't know what commando models like you used your voice changing features for? I'm no clone, so you're going to have to try harder than that! You think I'm going to believe that Beebs Devrin would have you waltz into my home, uninvited, without contacting me first about a deal?"
"Then contact her now." BX dared the bounty hunter.
Cad Bane glared at BX.
It was over. No matter what the three of them did now, Cad Bane knew this was all a bluff. There was no winning this, there was just surviving.
Nevertheless, Lerti held her breath and hoped Vis' Force had some miracle up its mystical sleeves as she watched Bane reach for his comlink.
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Cenden returned to 'The Raving Titan' alone.
Chol stood anxiously at the bottom of the ship's lowered gangplank as he watched the old Jedi's approach across the shipyard. Vis stood at the top of the gangplank, scroll piece still clutched in her hand.
From what they could see, the man looked terrible. Drenched and muddied clothing, a split lip, several bruises along his arms, and that was only what could be seen from beneath his hooded vest. But it was nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little Force-connection.
Walking up the gangplank, Chol turned to follow close behind and both he and Vis moved in quickly to hear Cenden's verdict on the situation.
"Well!?" Chol asked in an anxiously hushed voice as he pressed the panel to close up the ship. Cenden visibly clenched his teeth in obvious frustration.
"Vis'... reenactment seems to have been accurate," He paused, "Something happened to the three after arriving at the coordinates. The only reason we know about it is because we got a call from Beebs shortly after we hung up with you."
"Are they…?" Vis' voice shook, "Are they dead?"
"No. Not yet anyway. Soron went back to Beebs' place to sort things out with their captor, he told me it was best I wasn't there. And considering who we might be dealing with-" Cenden's word cut short as he rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head before his eyes locked on the scroll piece Vis held. "But. We have other matters to attend to."
Cenden paused before holding out his hand. It took Vis a moment to understand what the gesture meant before quickly and awkwardly handing Cenden over the paper.
"Come, young one," Cenden said suddenly putting on an air of solemness in his demeanor as he turned and began down the hall.
His words caused Vis to suddenly blink in surprise. Raising an eyebrow, she looked at Chol and mouthed, "Young one?" to the pilot whose only response was an unknowing shrug.
Vis followed Cenden to the training room where Vis had temporarily set up. Walking carefully around the piles of papers, Cenden found and lowered himself onto an empty spot on the floor and then motioned for Vis to sit across from him.
She did, sitting cross-legged to mirror him, she watched with intrigued excitement (apparently the color orange) as Cenden looked over the paper. They sat for some time before Vis asked cautiously, "Why are you acting so weird? GASP! You're not a clone of my friend sent here to kill us, are you?"
"You say that this is important because you can't see anything through it. What exactly does that mean to you?" Cenden asked, ignoring her first question.
Vis bit her lip, "The Force gave me the ability to… I have the ability to sort of uh-" Vis stumbled as she attempted to explain herself.
Cenden held up a hand, "Your ability to retrace past occurrences is a known Force-ability, one of the most notable being Quinlan Vos who served during the Clone Wars, though in your time alone you've developed it differently than most. But you're right, your ability should allow you to sense under what circumstances this was written and by who if you knew them."
"So… Why can't I sense who wrote this?"
"Because I'm guessing, as impossible as it sounds, that they don't exist yet."
Vis' jaw dropped open, "Whhhhaaaaaaa?"
"Please don't ruin this," Cenden breathed.
"Sorry. Sorry. Look? See? Totally calm." Her yellow freckles said otherwise.
"Look, Vis," Cenden began, "I will admit this to you: You are intelligent, and a very good listener when it comes to the Force, you could be a valuable asset to whatever it has planned." Cenden paused, gazing at her reaction, "Those visions we experienced in the temple made it… clear, that I am supposed to train you, and if stuff like this," Cenden held up the paper, "Keeps popping up, then I fear failing to train you as to what it could mean for us will have dire consequences. If you will let me, I will teach you, not just to listen, but to understand whatever path has been set before you. I'm just… not sure how qualified I am to teach you."
"Because of the corruption?" Vis asked quietly.
Cenden shot her a look of concern, "Corruption?"
"I felt it when we first fought back at the temple. When you used the Force to push me back? It felt so sad and guilty. I'd assumed it was because of Order 66, all you'd lost, and your isolation from the Force afterwards. Am I correct?" Vis deduced.
"Yes…" Cenden mumbled, gazing into the depth of the floor, "Afterwards."
Both were quiet for a moment before Vis finally spoke up, "Cenden Sondron. I will let you teach me the ways of my guide and how they deem you worthy to train me. On one condition: That I don't just learn from you, we learn from each other. Things'll be different than what happened to the Jedi Order. We'll make some new order or something!"
Cenden gave the half-smile of a busted lip before he bowed his head slightly, "It's a deal, Padawan."
Vis seemed to vibrate with joy as her freckles shifted about in a spectrum; a small sniffle joining the mix as she mimicked the Jedi's bow.
"I appreciate it, Master."
Cenden nodded, seeming satisfied before standing with some effort. Vis noticed a pressure building about Cenden as he gathered the Force about him. His eyes closed, the Force penetrated his skin like small threading needles and Vis noticed some of his bruises begin to fade a bit.
"Alright," Cenden said, opening his eyes as extending a hand to Vis, "Let's get to work figuring out why the Force felt it necessary to get us wrapped up in all this."
"OK! What's the first step!? Should I do a handstand or something?" Was Vis' only response.
"...No."
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Soron sat at the barren bar of the Incubus alone.
He waited, attempting to untie the knots in his stomach with a stiff drink.
Carefully, the captain stole a glance up at one of the night club's balconies overlooking the floor where he knew the Beebs stood, watching him.
They were in so much trouble, HE was in so much trouble.
She stood glaring down at him. Eyes unmoving.
Soron's ears pulled back as a show of respectful submission… at least that's what he told himself as he slowly turned his attention back to his drink. Now came the decision: To lie, or tell the truth. Both would leave them in a mess of trouble either way.
Lies had a way of spiraling out of control, spinning and weaving themselves into a kaleidoscope of spider's webs. At some point, you just couldn't keep up anymore and you die with the mess, leaving someone else to unravel the contents.
The consequences of the lie were distant with greater impact. The consequences of the truth, however, were instant. And with a person like Beebs, the truth would come back to bite you in the butt for her own convenience much sooner than you'd like.
The bar was empty during daytime hours, and their "exchange" should be clear to take place out in the open, as Beebs' place normally only served "night owls". Soron surveyed his surroundings once more, eyes glancing past a small elderly Twi'lek man working about the night club, sweeping up before the night's usual crowd flooded in.
Soron's ears popped up as he heard the door to the alley entrance being opened. Swigging down his drink, the light that flooded in from the open door seemed to burn his eyes almost as bad as the liquid burned his throat; and Soron watched as BX, Nek, and Lerti walked inside, followed by a blue alien in a large brim hat.
Soron's breath caught in his throat and he almost started coughing up his drink.
'So that's what Beebs meant by "my old friend,"' Soron thought as his expression darkened towards his crew.
"Hey, Soron." Lerti addressed him from under her helmet, "How was your day?"
"What the hell happened!?" Soron hissed
"Soron I-" BX began.
"And you. I thought you were supposed to be smarter than this?" Soron cut the droid off as Cad Bane approached.
"You must be the captain I've heard so much about, then?" Bane drawled.
"Yes." Soron said taking a step forward, "I'm Soron Mekusa."
"Right," Bane said, barely paying attention to Soron as he stepped past the captain and glared up at the balcony behind them. Soron turned to see that Beebs had disappeared, the curtains still ruffling from where she must've slipped away.
"So…" Bane began, turning back to them, "Tell me your story again. You were hired by Beebs?"
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"Well, that went about as well as it could've, don't you think so Soron?" Beebs' voice dripped with honey as she held up a wrist comm that showed the crew to be scanning the area for listening devices Bane might've left behind, "Bane definitely got a scare when you three showed up, I bet. It's not good to drop in on a man like that you know? You should've just gone when I asked… And only when I asked."
From under one of the couch cushions, sparks suddenly burst to life and a similar sound could be heard from outside the door. But Beebs didn't flinch, she didn't even blink. She just kept starring at Soron.
"Beebs we-"
"No no. Hold on, Soron. Before you continue, I wanted to ask you a question. Now, what was it you said to the droid out there? Oh yes. I thought you were smarter than this?" Beebs snapped, and her long Falleen fingers curled around into a fist by her side. Her deep blue eyes were alight with fury. "Do you know what kind of connections you've probably ruined for me!? You gave me a guarantee that you'd leave this alone."
"I really tried to leave it alone, but it's different this time-" Soron started.
"Different this time!? There is no THIS TIME, SORON." A piercing whistle came from between Beeb's teeth as she breathed out slowly, closing her eyes as she exhaled. A moment later her eyes snapped open. "You know she's gone, don't you?"
Beebs' words were like a blow to the chest and Soron's gaze fell to the ground. His own clawed hand forming a fist.
"Soron? Look at me."
His gaze slowly moved up.
"You know she's gone-"
"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT." Soron suddenly bellowed.
Beebs' gaze darkened. The meeting with Bane had gone as well as any of them could have hoped. The holocron they'd been "sent to pick up" hadn't been sitting in his storage room for sometime. The original buyer now silenced or dead before he'd gotten his order and Bane had it had "slipped" Bane's mind to turn it over to the Empire. This didn't stop Bane from running Beebs a high price for the relic and twice as much if they'd wanted to know where it came from and what it was, which she didn't pay for. Now the four mercenaries stood at the mercy of their crime boss.
"Do you know how long we've known each other, Soron? I stood by you two, supported you two since the first moment you'd snuck out of your little backwater homeworld. Since we were all young, and innocent, and stupid," Beebs spat. "Dava's dead, and I woke up a long time ago. But you're still stuck in the past. That hopeful past where there were secrets to be uncovered in an endless galaxy far far away. Well, guess what Soron? Whatever Dava was looking for, whatever you're looking for exists. I'm sure of it. But I'm also sure you'll be killed trying to look for it. Or you'll be killed finding it."
"We all die eventually, Beebs." Soron replied.
Beebs laughed, "So that's the attitude, now is it? Well if that's the case, here," Beebs tossed Soron the intricately woven holocron from off the stim caf table between them, "It only cost me a portion of Bane's trust and a portion of your cut from your work today." She licked her lips thoughtfully, striding slowly forward, "Because if you think this is worth giving up your 'eventually' for then know this," Her hand shot out, grabbing Soron by the fur of his neck, yanking him forward until he was only inches away from her face, "This time has cost you Soron. This time has cost you a lot. In the game of economy, anything that isn't a rule but still affects the game is property, and for this? I own you."
She pushed Soron away. He'd made no effort to free himself from her grip and he made no effort to slow his fall. He fell back onto the couch behind him, looking down at the holocron in his hands; numb.
Beebs shook her head and walked back towards her drink counter, "I intend to keep my business going even if my oldest and dearest friend seems determined to run it into the ground chasing after Jedi-fantasies."
She turned to look at Soron and sighed, raising her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, "You and your crew are going to be doing some work for me for a while, half-pay to compensate for my troubles. I'll wire you over the coordinates and your cut in a few hours once you've cleared the SpacePort outside of Nar'Shaada." She glanced over at Soron's blank face, "I hate being this way with you Soron, but it's the truth… And it's just business."
She waved for them to leave.
Lerti, Nek, and BX had been watching quietly from over near the door but turned to leave as they saw Soron heave himself off the couch, holocron in hand.
Just as the four were nearly out the door Beebs spoke:
"I loved her too, ya know?"
Soron turned to look at her.
"I know. You were one of her closest friends Beebs… And I miss Dava every day. But this time," he held up the holocron, "This time I'm not doing this for her. There's someone else who needs my help. And even if I don't understand why, I'm still going to try."
With that, Soron and his crew left Beebs' upper room.
Even in the dark shadows of the staircase leading down, Soron could see the bruising on Nek and Lerti, and even some deep dents in BX.
"Are you three alright?" He asked quietly.
"We're fine. Been through worse," Lerti answered for all of them, "Are you alright?"
"Never better." Soron replied as the four of them made their way back to the Raving Titan.
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Cad Bane sat on the roof of the Incubus, waiting.
He'd suspected Beebs would know to knock out the listening devices he'd hidden. She was too paranoid for something as simple as that to have worked on her. But he also suspected they wouldn't be talking much about his interests. Not with a holocron in the room. And they seemed so conveniently unaware of the real money maker sitting right in their midst.
It made sense, though, because her larger bounty was only found in more...specialized circles.
He watched the dark-skinned Mandalorian woman walk down the alley heading towards the SpacePort with her crewmates, sporting the bruises he'd left her, and something else.
He pulled up the tracking device's output on his wrist comm and smiled. She probably wouldn't be parting with her helmet anytime soon. Not unless she decided to take the headgear's built-in comm apart or got her head blasted off.
Making his way through his list of potential clients also connected to his wrist comm, Cad selected a name further down the list and waited for the transmission to go through.
"Hello," Bane began as the comm connected, "I seem to recall you were looking for any information regarding the whereabouts of a Crimson Trisek? You're in luck, and from the looks of your bounty poster, she hasn't aged a day."