Taral
Before Taral even knew what was happening, it was all over. The young sith pureblood had been forced to watch helplessly as the black-armored man took his father away. Now the seven-year-old was all alone. He had nobody to take care of him, nobody to protect him. The academy was his home for as long as he could remember. When the call was sent out for reinforcements on Ruusan, only his father stayed. And now he was gone. It was all Taral could do to keep the tears back. But even then they streamed down his face. He buried his face in his hands as his shoulder-length hair tumbled down. He had been hidden while his father fought the armored man and was, thankfully spared. But Nar Shadaa was no place to leave a child on his own. Taral had to find some way to get off-world. But how?
"I can't believe the door's wide open," said a female voice from the main hall. Taral was torn from his misery by scavengers.
"I can't believe that bounty hunter never showed up." Taral knew that wasn't the case. He did show up. These scavengers might just be his chance to get off-world. Taral swallowed his pride and approached the scavengers, his heartbeat quickened as he saw them. They were dressed in rags, likely dirt poor, and desperate enough to raid a Sith academy. They had to have been born on this world as he was. "What's that kid doing here?" asked the younger male scavenger.
"That's a sith pureblood. They're supposed to be extinct." The older woman explained
"Can… can you help me?" Taral asked desperately, tears still streaming down his face.
"What's wrong little one?" asked the older scavenger, kneeling down to meet Taral at eye level.
"A man in armor took my dad. I'm all alone now."
"What about your mommy? Can't she take care of you?"
"Mom went to Ruusan. She never came back." Taral had heard about what happened on Ruusan. His father had kept him updated. Taral knew his mother had died in the caves when Kaan set off the Thought Bomb.
"What's your name kid?" the younger scavenger asked.
"It's Taral. It means protector." Taral had a certain degree of pride in his name. It was his grandfathers.
"Listen kid, I don't think we can help you. I mean, we're struggling to get by ourselves. This academy is our last chance to score big," the younger scavenger said. The older one shushed him.
"Taral, you can come live with us until we can find you a decent home."
"Okay," Taral sniffled. "I don't think you'll find anything. Dad said all the important stuff was moved to Korriban."
"Just my kirffing luck." Said the younger man.
"Come on, Taral. Let's go. I don't think you want to stay here." Taral nodded and dried his eyes.
"I need to get some things first." Taral left to return to the academy kitchen. Reaching out with the force, Taral pulled his bag towards him. His father had done his best to make sure Taral would be prepared to leave the academy at a moment's notice. His whole life was packed away into a backpack for just such an occasion. He slung it onto his shoulders and returned to the scavengers. They were dutifully searching the main hall, desperate to find something, anything, to make this trip worth it. Taral could only watch.
"The kid's right," said the man. "There's nothing here. We wasted the trip."
"Don't say that. We found someone who has it worse off than us. We have to help him." The woman turned to face Taral as he stepped forward with his bag. "Ready to go, Taral?" Taral nodded and fell in step with the two scavengers as they made their way back to their airspeeder. Taral climbed inside with some difficulty and buckled in, clutching his travel bag tightly to his chest. "You okay back there?" Taral nodded as the speeder took off, rushing between the buildings on the way to one of the residential districts. Taral wondered if the showing off was for his benefit. Even if he was impressed, the young pureblood didn't show it. He did, however, marvel at the sites of the city around him. Soon enough, the scavengers arrived at their home building.
The woman landed the speeder on the balcony of their apartment and Taral was the first one out with his bag in tow. He waited for the scavengers to open the door and rushed in once the way was clear. The apartment was very sparsely furnished, owing to the low income of the people who rented it. There was a living room and a bedroom, each furnished just enough to fulfill their respective functions. On one of the tables beside the couch was a small stone carving that Taral recognized almost immediately.
"That's Darth Revan." He said, pointing at the carving.
"Yes," said the woman, "but Revan was the one who saved the Republic after the Jedi Civil War. We found that one on a trip to Dantooine in the old Jedi Temple." The man walked in and made his way to the couch, banging his knee against the table, sending the small carving flying. Just moments before it hit the wall, Taral reached out with the Force and caught it, bringing it to his waiting hand. "How…" the woman said, unable to finish her sentence.
"Dad said that the Force runs strong in us purebloods." Taral walked up to the table and set the Revan carving back on the table. He got up on the couch and set his bag beside him. "You got anything to eat?" he asked. The woman nodded and head off to the kitchen to prepare something. Taral appeared lost in his thoughts. Even the male scavenger seemed concerned.
"You sure you're alright, kid?" he asked, looking down at the young pureblood. Taral didn't say anything. He sat there twiddling his thumbs, thinking back to the loss of his father.
"I don't know," Taral said. "With dad gone, the Jedi might come for me. We need to get off-world."
"I wish we could, but we can barely afford to live here. Leaving's not an option. Besides, the Jedi rarely come here. Nar Shadaa isn't even part of the republic."
"Dinner's ready," said the female scavenger. She carried out three plates of food and set them on the table. Taral ate in silence while the two scavengers discussed their plans for the getting off-world. They had gathered enough artifacts that they could sell, but Taral knew getting off Nar Shadaa would be the only be the start. These scavengers didn't seem to have any marketable skills. The young pureblood had no intention of living as a vagrant. He thought about how he could help them get off-world. Nar Shadaa was on the outer rim, but Taral knew that soon the Jedi would come for the academy. If the Republic put up a reward for the locations of Sith academies, then no bounty hunter would be able to resist. It was only a matter of time before the Jedi descended onto the smugglers moon and found him. He had been told all his life that the Jedi were kidnappers, and brainwashers. He was told the story of Revan and worried that he would meet the same fate.
"Taral," siad the female scavenger, "You okay? You've only touched half your food."
"What do you know about the Jedi?" Taral asked, concerned. "If that armored man told the Republic where to find the academy, it's only a matter of time before they get here."
"Well," the female began, "I know that they're the guardians of the Republic. They're peacekeepers, and they are the antithesis of the Sith."
"That's what I'm scared of…" Taral said. "I'm not just a Sith trainee. I'm a Pureblood. What if they kill me." Taral started to tear up again. The female scavenger got up and hugged him. She started hushing him and he found himself calming down.
"It's okay, Taral. The Jedi don't kill their prisoners. Not even Revan, after all the things he did during the Mandelorian Wars, was given a death sentence. I doubt they'll kill you if you haven't done anything."
"Really?"
"Yeah. They're ssupposed to be just and righteous. Now get yourself some sleep. Tomorrow we need to head back to the academy and see if there's anything worth salvaging." Taral was at a loss for words as he headed off to the couch. He curled up beneath the blanket and drifted off to sleep. It was, however, only a temproary haven. He was too busy worrying about his father. Where did the bounty hunter take him? Did the Jedi know about the bounty? Did THEY post it? What if the bounty hunter came back to Nar Shadaa? Could Taral be his next target? And what about the Jedi? Would they want to finish the job they started during the Great Hyperspace War? Taral curled up and tried in vain to sleep, but he was too scared, too worried about what would happen to him.
Taral spent most of the night awake, each hour went by agonizingly slowly. The scavengers were preparing to return to the academy, almost oblivious to Taral, but Taral still wanted to go. As the scavengers made their way to their airspeeder, Taral shouted, "Wait for me!" He ran to the airspeeder before it took off and leapt into the back seat. They were underway rather quickly and Taral was hoping that they could find something worth enough to get off Nar Shadaa. They arrived outside the academy, the door still wide open from the bounty hunters initial intrusion. Taral cringed, wondering if the bounty hunter that took his father would be back to pillage the academy. Taral went ahead on his own, but the scavengers followed closely. He ran to the archives, knowing that anything of value would be stored there. Taral came to the door into the academy's archives, relieved that it was still sealed. The scavengers caught up quickly and immediately set to work trying to break it down. They set about the task by swinging seldgehammers at the massive stone door, but progress was slow. After an hour swinging away, the only damage done was a hole small enough for Taral to fit through.
"I can fit through that," Taral said, pointing at the hole. "Anything still in there might be enough to get us off this moon."
"Take this," said the female scavenger as she handed Taral a bundle of glow rods and boosted him up to the hole. Taral climbed through, holding on tight to his bundle of glow rods. He unbundled the glow rods and snapped one of them into activating. The shelves surrounding him were bathed in a yellow light. Nar Shadaa's Sith archives were not as vast as those on Korriban, but the teachings held there were no less valuable. Unlike the Jedi archives, all the knowledge in the sith archives was held on parchments, tomes, and even sheets of flimsiplast. Because these archives were constantly being added to, indexing them would be an exercise in futility.
Taral walked among the shelves, grabbing everything he could reach and once his arms were full of parchments and tomes, he would go back, slip them through the hole, and go back to repeat the process. By the time he gathered everything he could reach, he had gone through about six glow rods. He climbed up and out through the hole in the door and immediately helped the scavengers load everything into cloth bags. They were very careful not to damage anything, loading everything very delicately. They had filled two sacs roughly half Taral's height. "That was all I could get. It'll be enough, right?" Taral asked.
"You did good kid, this'll get us off Nar Shadaa for sure. It's just a matter of finding the right buyer on the deep net."
"How long will that take?"
"Usually about a month," said the female scavenger as she grabbed one of the sacks. Taral grabbed the other one and followed the female scavenger out to the airspeeder. Taral loaded his sack into the trunk and got into the back seat with the other sack. The other scavenger joined them shortly. They took off, heading for their apartment. After they landed, the scavengers took the sacks and headed for their room, with taral following closely. From there, they would catalogue everything they found and post it on a Deep Net auction site. The Deep Holonet was the usual home for black market dealers and the like. Because it is completely unregulated, it has become home to a number of Sith fetishists looking to expand their collections of forbidden sith knowledge. Taral helped out as best he could, but was not able to keep pace for much longer than an hour before wandering off to get food. After night had fallen, the job was done and Taral hauled himself onto the couch.
Taral knew a more peaceful sleep this time around, but he was awoken early by the female scavenger.
"Taral, get up. We've got a buyer. We're meeting them in the market." She told him excitedly. Taral got up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He hauled himself off the couch and proceeded to go about the business of getting some new clothes out of his bag. He went off to the washroom to get changed and emerged wearing very basic garb. It did nothing to hide the fact he was a pureblood, but hopefully the buyer would not care. The male scavenger was already set to go and the female lead Taral and her partner out to the airspeeder. They piled in and loaded up a few of the artifacts and manuscripts. "We're meeting the buyer at one of the cantinas. Should be mostly empty this early." Taral nodded.
The airspeeder made its approach and landed just outside one of the less popular cantinas on Nar Shadaa. Taral was the first out of the speeder, followed closely by the scavengers. The female lead the group into the cantina. Once inside, they were directed to a table by one of the wait-staff. Sitting there, waiting, was a red-skinned female twi'lek clad in brown and white robes. Taral froze the second he saw the lightsaber hilt on her hip. The female scavenger placed a calming hand on Taral's shoulder and led him to the table where he took his seat across from the twi'lek Jedi. The female scavenger sat next to Taral and the male scavenger took his seat next to the Jedi. "Thanks for agreeing to meet me. I'm Elara."
"We agreed to meet with a buyer. This is bantha poodoo."
"Yes, I understand the confusion, but the republic has a bounty on Sith artifacts. I could help you cash…" Elara stopped herself as soon as she set eyes on Taral. "That kid… is he a sith pureblood?" Taral nodded.
"And before you say it, no, we're not extinct. Just… really rare."
"Noted," said Elara. "Anyway, the artifacts you have could easily end up in the wrong heads the way you went about it."
"Well," Taral said, "what would the Jedi want with them? They're useless to anyone who follows the light side."
"Some will end up in museums but the more dangerous ones will be locked in a vault in the Jedi archives on Coruscant."
"You said something about a bounty on Sith artifacts," said the female scavenger. "Is the Republic that desperate to stop people from following Sith teachings?"
"Sadly, it appears that way. And as Guardians of the Republic, it's our duty to hold on to such artifacts. I've seen the deep net auction site, and I'd say your whole inventory could get you a place on Coruscant," Elara explained. Taral reached out with the force and determined that Elara was indeed telling the truth. Elara, however, was able to pick up on it. "Try to understand my position, little one. I gain nothing by lying to you or your guardians. It will take some time to process your whole collection, so I'll be calling in some friends to help me out. They might be a while yet. But, as a show of good faith, how about I pay for breakfast."
"But aren't Jedi supposed to forsake worldly possessions beyond what the order gives them?" Taral asked, confused.
"That's true, little one. But we do carry credits for various things. Like buying information or paying travel expenses. I took public vessels to get here, having no ship of my own." It made some sense to Taral after he thought about it for a while. "Besides that, sometimes we have to buy meals for long-term missions." It was only then that one of the waiters came around with menus.
"My name's Taral, by the way. In case you were wondering. It means 'protector' in ancient sith." Taral placed his order with the waitress and everyone else did the same. Elara dismissed the waitress and looked Taral dead in the eye.
"With a name like that, you might fit in among the Jedi order. We normally take them in much younger, but you are young enough. I can sense the power locked away inside you, but without training, you are squandering it."
"I'm not sure I'm totally comfortable with that idea," Taral said.
"Are you afraid to cut ties with your family?" Elara asked.
"These scavengers aren't my family. My mommy went to Ruusan and died. Dad was taken by a man wearing armor over a black coat with vibro-blades attached to his wrists."
"Your father must've been wanted for a while by the Republic."
"Dad was a teacher at the academy. He never hurt anybody."
"I'm sure the Republic had their reasons for posting that bounty. Last I heard, he was sent to a Tarisian penal colony. There are far worse penal colonies than that one, I assure you." The food had been brought to the table just as Elara finished speaking and Taral went quickly to work on his breakfast, stopping only to take a sip of blue milk. Taral finished before anyone else was even half-way through with their meals. "Taral, you really should consider my offer. The Jedi order will do everything it can to help you realize your potential."
"First," Taral said, "I want to know more about these friends you have coming to Nar Shadaa."
"Sirul and Shala?" Elara asked. "Well, Shala was raised on Manaan, where she was discovered by one of the Grey Jedi that occasionally recruits for us. She's a selkath, but she speaks fluently in basic. Sirul is one of our newest padawans, but he's twenty three standard years old. He used to be part of the Bortherhood of Darkness, but he defected after the war. Now, he's trying to reach the rank of Jedi Knight. He has experience in dealing with dark side artifacts."
"Did he train as a shadow assassin here?" Taral asked.
"Nope. Dathomir. He was an acolyte. I'm sure you would have much to alk about. Perhaps he could convince you that you have a place among the Jedi."
"I don't suppose I have a choice," Taral said. "I don't really have anywhere else to go."
"I'm sorry, Taral," Elara said. "I'll meet you back at your flat once my friends get here." The female scavenger took out a writing utensil and a sheet of flimsiplast. She wrote something down before handing it over to Elara.
"Here's the address. Do you have a place to stay here?" asked the female scavenger. Elara nodded.
"Don't worry too much about me. You're free to go. I'll handle the check." The scavengers got up and left, taking Taral with them back to their flat. Elara took out her commlink and imagecaster and called up Shala. The miniature image of the female selkath materialized on the imagecaster. The signal, however, was not terribly stable, and Elara had a reasonable suspicion as to why. "Shala, what are you doing on Ilum?"
"Waiting for Sirul to finish his lightsaber. How goes the investigation into that deep net auction site?" Shala asked.
"I found the sellers, but I need help moving the artifacts. I'd like you and Sirul to come to Nar Shadaa once you're done on Ilum. There's also a potential recruit here that I'd like Sirul to help with."
"That's great!" Shala said.
"There's more to it, though. This kid's a Sith pureblood."
"I thought they went extinct."
"No," Elara said, shaking her head, "they're not."
"I'll bring Sirul to Nar Shadaa as soon as he's done in the crystal cave."
"Thanks, old friend," Elara said before terminating the connection.
