JEDI TEMPLE: HIGH COUNCIL CHAMBER.
Inside the magnificent circular chamber. Tikala, Mathorn and Jonathan arrived to see two Jedi masters with sad expressions clearly visible on their faces.
Bela Kiwiiks smiled as they entered, "Thank you all for returning so quickly." The Togruta's expression changed back to her previous sad state, but this time with a hint of gravity in her voice, "We have just been informed that master Buz has been kidnapped!"
The news shocked Tikala to the core of her being. "How? Is he alright?!" She asked, dearly hoping her Master wasn't held inside an imperial cell, badly wounded.
With a calm voice, Syo Bakarn began to explain the details, "We received the information from the SIS. It appeared he had been captured by a group of mercenaries called the Tenkan bounty hunter Syndicate."
"Do we know where they are now?" Jonathan asked, as more information was needed.
"We know their last trajectory. They were headed towards the Dathomirian systems," Bela Kiwiiks informed in a serious tone.
"So they work for the empire, go figure," Mathorn uttered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Not necessarily. According to what we could find in our data cores, they are an independent group based on the planet of Ord Canfre," Syo Bakarn elaborated the finer points.
"Ord Canfre... that's in the outer rim, a neutral system if recalled correctly," Jonathan remembered, thinking back on his upbringing, studying galactic history and star maps.
"Oh boy... That's a long journey," Mathorn muttered, exhausted by the mere thought.
"When will we begin our journey?" Tikala asked for further details.
"Within the hour. A starship is being prepared with all necessary equipment for your travel," Syo Bakarn told them straight out as a matter of fact.
"A Jedi starship?!" Mathorn asked, hoping for something worthwhile. If they were going to travel that far, they might as well do it in style.
"A U5 golden-ray yacht, equipped with concealed weapons, long range communications and high tech scanners. You will be flying as simple travelers," Syo Bakarn explained to the unsuitably enthusiastic zabrak.
"A luxury starship eh... Good enough, I guess," Mathorn muttered, satisfied with himself.
"Your cover story is as follows: You are a family and their human friend, who are on the run from republic law enforcement, on account of various crimes including theft and resisting arrest," Bela Kiwiiks elaborated the plan, "This will convince the mercenaries that you're no threat to them and that you're no friend of the republic. Are there any questions?"
"As criminals?" Tikala replied a bit perplexed.
"Don't worry sis... I got this part covered," Mathorn reply with a smile that quickly turned into a grin.
"We have no doubt that you do. But we advise you to keep it to a minimum," Syo Bakarn firmly stated.
"Why isn't Urr'Tar coming with us? He could be of great help," Jonathan asked, as the three of them had performed exceptionally well together in the past.
"Master Odoum wished him to remain here. She believes he could unlock the mysteries of Tythons temples by seeing from the perception of the ancient Jedi," Bela Kiwiiks told the three puzzled Jedi. In her own mind however, she was puzzled by this as well.
"Do you have any further questions?" Bela Kiwiiks asked again.
"I still believe the empire is behind it," Mathorn muttered a bit annoyed.
"No one can say for sure. We should keep an open mind on the matter. This kidnapping is very unusual... Master Buz would likely have sensed the threat coming his way, but was captured regardless," Syo Bakarn pointed out and turned his attention to the youngest in the group, "Tikala Xastra... You will be leading this mission. It will be your responsibility to save your master and make sure everyone gets home in one piece. Mathorn will pilot the ship and Jonathan will handle navigations."
"We will do our best to get Master Buz home, safe and unscathed," Tikala promised on behalf of herself and the others.
Bela Kiwiiks smiled softly as she uttered the remaining words, "To you are all I say, go now, go with all haste. Once you reach the Ord Canfre system, SIS will contact you on arrival. They may have uncovered more intel by then... May the force be with you."
Tikala and Jonathan bowed slightly, with the masters mimicking the gesture in turn. Mathorn failed to do so at first, before he too, politely bowed. Then the three of them turned and headed to the hangar in a quickened pace.
The Golden-ray looked old, yet polished to the point where you could use its durasteel hull as a mirror. It might even have been an expensive craft at one point in time. The vessel had a flat pentagram shape, with a spear like cockpit in the front and three horizontal engines to the rear.
It didn't take long before they were onboard and ready to lift off. The yacht featured eight rooms beside the cockpit: four small private chambers, a large living room, a small kitchen, a standard refresher and a tiny cargo hold. They each chose a chamber and unpacked what little equipment they had in their tool belts.
Mathorn entered the cockpit and initiated a quick flight check to see if everything was in order, before he engaged the engines and took to the sky, Tikala meditated in her private room, Jonathan sat himself in a chair in the living room, not having much to do navigation wise at this particular moment. Instead he used the respite to go over the recent events in his mind, smiling to himself, being a little proud to be chosen from all the brilliant Jedi for this mission. Then he thought about the siblings, feeling certain that no matter what, they would stand by him.
Some months ago, he learned to his horror that his own proud family, due to old feuds with other houses, had allied themselves with house Thul in support of the Sith empire on multiple occasions. He had even received an invitation to join the empire and become a Sith lord in his family's name and honor... to which he had declined without a second thought.
When he had told Mathorn and Urr'Tar the news, they hadn't cared. He was their aristocratic friend, whatever his family was doing, it didn't matter the slightest to them. Nor had it mattered to Tikala and the rest of the Jedi either, as opposed to his… biological family who had shunned him for not accepting the empire's offer.
DROMUND KAAS: MORTIS' CASTLE
Briza entered the magnificent compound that was the focal point of Darth Mortis' power. At the center of the compound, surrounded by thick jungle on all sides, the tall spike-like towers of the gloomy black fortress reached toward the eternally clouded gray skies of Dromund Kaas.
Upon opening the airspeeder door, Briza was met by the synthetic voice of a protocol droid. "Welcome Lord Briza. Darth Mortis is expecting you. Please follow me," the droid politely invited and showed her the way.
Reaching the chamber of the dark lord, Briza's blood froze. She could feel an enormous amount of dark power emanating from within the chamber. When entering the inner chamber, she noticed another Sith lord was present and standing next to Darth Mortis in the dimly lit room.
The tall man standing next to Darth Mortis, in the middle of the lavishly decorated yet ominous room, was human like Mortis. Besides the apparent age difference, which was considerable if you didn't take Mortis' dark side corrupted features into account, the middle aged man was wearing a light battle armor shrouded in a black cloak in opposition to Mortis' traditional sorcerer attire. His narrow face was a slightly pale nuance, while his immaculately trimmed mustache and chin-beard was jet black just as his long slicked back hair.
It was Darth Mortis who was the first to speak. "Thank you for coming so quickly. As you can see, you aren't the only one I have summed. This is Darth Imperious, one of my most trusted subordinates." He paused as he looked Briza directly in the eyes and continued, "Because of your master's demise, you will be placed under the influence of Darth Imperious, as he held the closest ties to Darth Veness. From here on, he will be your new master."
Briza bowed before the slender dark figure, "It will be an honor to serve you, My Lord."
"Rise Lord Briza, I welcome you into my innercircle," Imperious invited, in a tone that made every word uttered seem as if it had been carefully considered beforehand to emphasize some deeper meaning.
Mortis looked pleased when he spoke again, "Under the leadership of Lord Imperious, you will be instrumental in hunting down this new foe of ours."
"I will do what you ask of me," Briza accepted her labor.
"As we speak, I am assembling a task force to neutralize the rebel incursion. Since you already have first hand knowledge on the layout of the station, it seems only fitting that you take on a leading role in the impending assault, as well as the retaking of the Hellfire," Imperious stating the order in an indirect and somewhat expectant tone.
"Have our intelligence network identified who was behind the rebel attack?" Briza asked politely, wondering if any new information had been uncovered.
"Not as of yet. This is in part why a squad of Imperial agents will be assigned to the task force," Imperious elaborated in a calm voice.
"Lord Briza, as a reward for your sole survival and the retrieval of vital information. Darth Venness' penthouse and all the riches that comes with it, is yours," Mortis congratulated in an aristocratic fashion.
"Thank you for your kindness My Lord, I will not fail you," Briza promised and bowed deeply for emphasis.
"Lord Imperious will see to it that you succeed," Mortis assured while indirectly reiterating an order from an earlier conversation. He finished in a quieter voice, "I am tired now, you are both dismissed."
Imperious and Briza bowed before taking their leave. Finding an elevator, they both walked in. Briza pressed the button for the elevator to take them to the first floor.
As the elevator moved, Briza carefully asked her new superior, "If I may ask My Lord. When will the task force be ready?"
"The task force should be ready in eight standard hours," Imperious replied coolly and collected, his yellow tinted deep blue eyes staring straight ahead, "I suggest you go home and rest. I will call upon you, when you are needed."
"Of course My Lord," Briza humbly replied. Idle talk didn't seem to be in her best interest at the moment she thought, but at least she could go home and take her former Master's luxurious bed as her own.
MIDRIM: Near Nal Hutta, in hutt space.
A small outdated republic blockade runner was on its way through hyperspace. The vessel was painted red and orange, as it was the captain's preferred colors. The paint job didn't hide the numerous creators and burn marks that covered the durasteel hull.
"No, I lost again!" a zabrak exclaimed in frustration.
"Of course Teeth wins, Teeth never loses, Helgu should know that by now," a pink skinned twi'lek laughed triumphantly.
"That's impossible! You got pure sabacc twice in a row!" the tall wide shouldered zabrak uttered in disbelief.
"Luck is Teeth's middle name," Teeth cheered as he made a little girly victory dance.
A human male who was seated comfortably in a chair nearby, took a look over his shoulder at the pair of arguing thugs, "Of course he got it twice... he cheated. It's the exact same cards he used in the second half of the stack, check and fold the stack next time."
It didn't take Helgu long to find the exact same cards in the deck and suddenly the orange zabrak started to change color to red in pure anger, "I'm going to rip out your Teeth for this!"
"Let's... not get ahead of ourselves... the team still needs Teeth," Teeth tried to argue, but it didn't seem to have much effect on the much larger zabrak, who was mere inches away from choking him to death.
The human stood up and casually walked over, stepped in between the two and said, "Helgu don't break him apart just yet. We could need him if the Jedi suddenly got loose," Qaton pointed out. "But if Zak here could stop talking about himself in third person for a few seconds, I'm sure that would do wonders," punctuating the suggestion with a menacing glare.
Helgu cooled considerably down before replying in a cold and sinister tone, "I think I'll just take his share of the bounty."
That left Zak speechless as he pondered whether Helgu was serious in his intention to steal his share, through sheer strength.
"It's hard to believe the payday that's just sitting and waiting for us to come get it," Helgu said expectantly.
"Our client certainly is rich enough to make this kind of bounty, but if our guild leaders hadn't confirmed the wealth, I would have called it a fake deal," the human uttered his thoughts.
"Say Qaton, do you know who is hiring us?" Helgu asked curiously, if there was money to be made, he always wanted to know who it came from, so he knew where to go looking for more.
Qaton sighed and replied with uncertainty in his voice. "No... but from the look of that gloomy looking crystal device we had with us, he... is most likely a Sith lord of some description, who doesn't want the wrath of the republic coming down on him."
"And instead, it's us the republic is after," a slender chiss commented, as he walked down the stairs to the crew area. "This is too risky. If that device isn't working correctly, we could have an army of Jedi on our tail at any given time. If it hadn't come from higher up, I wouldn't have authorized the mission."
Qaton nodded in return, "My exact words, Captain Okan. But looking forward, once we have delivered the Jedi master, we're all rich!"
"I'm well aware, mister Hanson. I'm also aware that a living Jedi master is near impossible to keep unconscious indefinitely," Captain Okan replied with a hint of warning.
"Why couldn't we just karbon freeze him, like we used to?" Zak asked, a bit confused.
"We were specifically instructed not to do so. They said that the dark device should keep him asleep," Okan told them, adding his doubts as he continued, "Truthfully I don't think it will work for long, nor do I want to place my faith in a weird black rock."
"I'll just knock him out, if he moves too much," Helgu replied with a sneering smile.
"That reminds me, it's your turn to keep watch," Okan said firmly, indirectly ordering the big bounty hunter upstairs.
Helgu didn't like to just sit around and keep watch over someone or something, but he did what he was told without complaints. "Yes captain," he muttered and waded up the stairs.
Soon after, a female zabrak walked down the stairs. Her untidy mess of spiky dark red hair framing her once beautiful face. Black tattoos ran across her scarred orange skinned body in intricate patterns, from the roots of her horns, across her face, down her slender neck and disappearing underneath her tight gray tank top, which ended just above her toned belly. The tattoos reappear on her left shoulder, but where her right shoulder used to be, a prosthetic mechanical arm was attached in its stead. Dark green cargo pants only did a nominal job of hiding the mechanical exoskeleton that reinforced her leg structure all the way down, disappearing into large black tinted metal plated boots.
"Hey Zugi, sweetheart... -" Zak was about to continue his ridiculous blabbering, but was harshly interrupted.
"Call me that again! And I will wipe the floor with your brain!" Zugi threatened, her brown eyes slitted aggressively.
"Miss La'Mara, would you join us in a game of Sabacc?" Qaton invited, with a casual smile.
"From where! Do you know my last name?" Zugi asked, wondering if her personal data had been leaked.
"Read your freelancer contract, it's available for everyone with the technical know-how to access it," Qaton grinned knowingly.
"What else do you know about me?" Zugi asked in a dull voice.
Qaton smiled and began speaking in a calm but alluding voice, "Not much, aside from your high salary you ask for contracts, which everyone here, I might add, would be jealous of. And then there's your ruthless reputation as a murderer of course... is there any truth to it?"
"Test me and you will soon find out," Zugi said, challenging him with the warning clearly visible in her steel gaze. She then added in a calm voice, "I'm going to bed, you boys keep quiet."
Okan sighed, he particularly didn't like this zabrak. The rumors of her and what she had done to innocent people made his stomach turn, "Qaton, Zak... take a chair, we'll play sabacc in my cabin."
