Icier kept his focus on what was important as he walked down through the deserted wasteland of a planet. He'd been moving for about two hours now and he knew he was close to the base that the traffickers had set up. His mouth was getting a little dry in the heat of the desert, but otherwise, he was fine. Those people were horrible. Life was supposed to be sacred, and they couldn't care less about it.

So Icier was determined to give them the same treatment. There was a tickle in the back of his mind. The words from The Force being whispered into his head.

Wrong, wrong. Do not listen.

Icier ignored it. His mother had told him to respect The Force. To trust it, but not to listen to it. Maybe it was about time for him to do that.

The older man took a sip of the drink he had poured. It was shit, if he was being honest. Instead, he smiled. "Del, you have outdone yourself. Between the amazing drinks and the reinforced Beskar, I don't know what we would ever do without you." He lies through his teeth at the slightly younger man. The balding rat raised his own glass.

"Then shall a toast suffice, my friend?" He asks, his smarmy voice irritating the older man. Instead, he keeps the smile on his face. "Indeed. To a wonderful, continued relationship." They touch glasses, and the older man almost shudders. What a scumbag. He knows he doesn't have room to talk, not after bringing most of the children to this man, but still. Whatever happened to standards?

As he's pondering this, one of Del's random mooks rush into the room. "Boss, boss!" The goon yells, and Del frowns, grabbing his blaster and shooting the man right in the head. Pfft. What if he had important information? What an amateur. If he and his colleagues didn't need as much Beskar as they did, he'd probably kill the infuriating man himself. Instead, the idiot smiles as if he's done something brilliant.

"Apologies for the interruption. It shan't happen again." Del says, and the man takes a deep breath. Shan't? Really, he should just kill Del and take all the Beskar here. It's as these thoughts run through his head, that he feels it. He blinks.

...

He smiles. Someone strong in The Force was nearby. Very close, in fact. He's willing to bet that the random goon was coming to tell Del that a Jedi had barged into his base. Ah well. What Del doesn't know, is his fault and will come back to bite him horribly. The older man takes another sip of his shitty drink.

The taste does far more for him, now that he's got something to look forward to.

Icier huffs out a breath, as he looks at the dead man near him. He messed up, the other guy got away. Icier nearly facepalms. Now they'll know he's coming. He wished he'd known that his ability to hide within The Force only works if people hadn't already seen him.

"All powerful, my ass." He says, annoyed as he walks into the medium sized base. It was more hidden than he thought, but still easily noticeable once you got close. Icier hopes once he's done with the traffickers that he can find something to carry all the supplies he needs. It's as he's walking into the building that he stops in his track.

He's feeling something... It's like his mom is inside here, but... But that doesn't make any sense. Icier suddenly grows pale. His mother, if he's putting it into words... She feels like an ice cold shirt that fits just right. And while the analogy is pretty poor, it's the closest thing the can compare her to. Something that, while may be uncomfortable in a way, also feels right.

This feeling he's getting also feels like a cold shirt, but it's all... It's all wrong. The shirt is too tight. Too restricting. Icier doesn't know what this is, but The Force whispers in his mind again.

Danger! Run! Leave!

Well, Icier isn't leaving. Whatever is here, he's not afraid. Icier allows The Force to conceal him as he stalks through the base. There's the occasional guard here and there, but for the most part, he can walk through the halls with abandon. He can still feel the cold presence though. The never ending feeling of wrong isn't getting weaker, but it's not getting stronger.

Icier turns a corner and sees two guards talking. He stays out of their direct line of sight as he listens to them. "Damn kids won't shut up." One of the guards says, as he lights a cigarette up. The other man scoffs. "You're telling me. I'd prefer to be on the other side of the base. At least the Beskar doesn't whine like it's about to die." Icier's anger returns, but he pushes it down.

"Calmness. Balance. These are important. The Dark Side cannot touch you if remember this, Icier."

His mothers words repeat several times in his head. He needs to stay calm, no matter what. By being calm, one can find balance. By finding balance, one can attain peace. Icier hears a muffled yell behind the doors the guards are standing in front of.

"I swear, I'm going to give those damn kids something to scream about." One of the guards says, and moves to open the door. Icier quickly uses The Force and pulls both guards away from the door. They skid over towards him violently, and Icier quickly impales the guard on the left, while he chokes the man on the right to keep him quiet. As soon as he pulls his saber out from the first guard, he immediately impales the second.

Icier stands up and quickly moves to the door the men were standing by. He slowly opens the door, and he feels a large rush of emotion from The Force. His eyes widen as he stares at the kids inside the small, dark room. The kids all look starved and some are even injured. They're also from different species. Some he can't even tell the genders from; they're so rare or 'exotic'. Icier wants to throw up again.

"Hey, it's alright kids." He says, and gets the attention of a few of them. One with a pink skin tone, and large tentacles on their head, sniffs. "Please don't hit us. We just want something to eat." Icier pushes his rage down. Pushes it far. Instead, he smiles. Makes it as bright as he can as he kneels down to be eye level with most of the kids. Fuck... There must be two dozen at least...

"Hey now, it's ok. I'm here to save you from those guys." He says slowly. Some of the kids look up from the floor. Others don't even bother. One child that looks more like a reptile raises their snout. "Are... Are you telling the truth?" Icier nods, and then thinks for a second. Jedi were known for being peacekeepers and stuff, right?

He pulls his saber from his belt, and lights it up. Some of the kids eyes widen, while others suddenly smile brightly. "You're a Jedi! We're saved, we're saved!" One kid jumps for joy. Another child suddenly runs over to Icier. "That's so cool, have you ever fought a Sith?" Other kids start to ramble off questions, and Icier just laughs as he shuts his saber off, and puts it away.

"I'll tell you guys as much as you want to know later." Icier lies; he's got no clue what Jedi actually do beyond 'peacekeeping'. "For now though, let's get you guys out of here." He says, and he stands. The kids follow him as he walks back to the door and opens it. Still no other guards, he's grateful for that.

It's a bit longer than his first trip, trying to corral a bunch of kids, but they manage to get back to the entrance of the faculty. Icier sighs a heavy breath of relief once the doorway comes into view. He can get the kids out and to town, then come back for supplies. However, as the group inches closer to the doorway, a shrilling alarm sounds. Icier twists as he cups his ears instinctually, and the kids all scream.

A large, metal blockade starts to slide over the entrance. Icier's eyes widen. "Crap, move! MOVE!" He yells, and thankfully the kids all sprint ahead of him as fast as they can. Icier notices a tiny child, probably only five, trailing behind them. He quickly turns and scopes the child in his hands, and bolts as fast as he can. Most of the children have gotten out, and he leaps forward.

He's not going to make it.

"I'm sorry if you get hurt, I don't meant anything by it kiddo." He whispers to the child, before he tosses them through the air. Thankfully, they pass the blockade. Unfortunately, Icier doesn't. He hits the barricade with a painfully loud thud.

"Fucking shit!" He grits out, as he lays there on the floor. He can hear knocking sounds coming from behind the door, and sighs. "Is everyone alright?" He asks, hopeful that he didn't hurt a child by slinging them through the air. "We're all good Mr. Jedi, sir." One timid voice says. Icier nods. "What about you!? We can't leave you!" The alarm blaring overhead makes their words hard to hear. Icier sends out a soothing presence through The Force.

"Listen, ten miles to the east - you guys know what east is, right - there's a town." He says carefully. "You all need to get there now. I can't protect you. You need to go." There's some protests at first, but Icier just sends another wave of comfort to the kids. "Listen. I will be fine. I promise." Icier says, and the voices of protest slow, but don't stop.

"But we have to do something! We can't leave you here!" A lower voice yells. One of the older kids, maybe. Icier suddenly smiles. "Listen, my master is in that town. Tell her that I'm trapped and need her help." He says, and this time, there's no protests at all.

He hears movement coming closer to him. Icier stands to his feet. "Now go kids, go! Get my master!" He yells, and thankfully they get the hint. Icier spares them one last thought. He hopes they'll be able to navigate the desert. Icier pulls out his saber just as a small group of traffickers round the corners.

"Hold it! Don't move or you're dead!" One of the soldiers yells. Icier lights up his saber, and smiles. "Well, if you guys don't move, you're dead." He says.

The group fires at him.

It's around Del's third drink, that alarms start to blare. Del quickly seems infuriated. "Jo-Hann, what the hell is happening!?" He angrily asks his top right man over the radio. There's blaster fire, and screams. "A Jedi got through! He stole some of the product and-" There's more screams. The blaster fire is getting more and more frantic. "-Fuck, fuck! Jedi don't do that! No, no ple-" The radio dies. Hmm, well, color the man even more intrigued.

"Jo-Hann! Dammit Jo-Hann, what's-"

"So this isn't Jo-Hann, may I ask whom I am speaking to?" A young, snarky sounding voice says over the radio. Del practally glares at the piece of tech like it murdered his entire family. "Listen here you little brat, you've just cost me both my money, and my patience." Del says, and the man has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "Both are things that I value greatly, so unless you-" There's a snort. The man almost laughs.

"Yeah I don't care. Listen, I can kill the rest of your boys here, and then kill you." Jedi definitely are not the type to make threats. The man tries to see if he can sense the Dark Side anywhere, but he can't. Only The Force. "Or you can save me the trouble, tell me where you are, and then I can kill you." Del starts to scream into the radio. The man can't take it anymore. He's had enough.

"-AND I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD, ON MY-" The loud, obnoxious voice suddenly quiets. For a moment, there's nothing but the smell of hot, charred flesh from the bodies around him. (If he ignores it was him that did it, it's easier to deal with the smell.) The radio suddenly clicks again.

"Sorry about Del. He's quite the asshole, you see." Another voice pops in. It sounds older. Still male. But there's something about the voice that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Icier gulps softly. "I mean, I would say it's ok, but the bastard is a bastard, and the only good bastard-"

"-Is a dead one. Right?" The man asks. Icier shrugs, though the man can't see it. "You know, I like you kid." The other man says, and Icier doesn't know if he likes that. "Top floor, east side. Del's office is there. Why don't you come see us yourself?" The line clicks, and Icier frowns deeply as he stares at the radio. He closes his eyes. Top floor, east side.

...

That's where that feeling is. That damn, too cold, too tight feeling again. Icier takes a deep breath. He turns to look back at the blocked door. It's made out of something strong, because his lightsaber won't cut through it. And this was the only entrance he'd seen so far that led outside. The base was more of a fortress really. And to those kids, probably it was a prison.

It's that way for him now, too.

He has to hope that there's an override switch or button somewhere. And just maybe, it's at the top floor. On the east side. Icier calms himself. Deep breaths, in and out. If there is a Sith up there, he'll kill 'em. Then kill this Del person. Then he'll find a way out of here, grab all the supplies necessary for the Selsis and go home.

Icier can do this. He knows he can.

Icier carefully makes his way upstairs. There's not many guards/traffickers left. He's killed like three on his way here so far, and he doesn't think there's much more, if any left. He finds the door for the top floor and slowly pushes it open. The feeling is as strong as its going to get now (he hopes at least) and Icier steels himself as he keeps walking forward.

The grey walls are wider on this floor. They look nicer too. Icier keeps moving through the corridors as he makes his way to the east side. He makes a turn and sees double doors at the end of the long hallway. Each step feels like an eternity, as he gets closer and closer to the end of the line. As he nears the door, suddenly, the doors burst open, flying towards him. Icier brings out his saber, and cuts them as he jumps into the air.

He lands back on the ground, and stares as an older man walks slowly from outside the room. The man is wearing a similar military outfit that the rest of the guards and traffickers had worn, but instead, there were differences. Firstly, it looks much nicer than the other uniforms. Secondly, there was less padding, allowing for quicker movement. There was, however, bits of armor along parts of his arms, legs and stomach. Nothing fancy, but Icier noticed that it... It looked just like the blockade at the entrance.

Would his lightsaber not go through that either?

The older man smiled. He had black, short hair, but the sides were graying. He also had an eyepatch over his right eye. And, last but definitely not the LEAST, in his right hand, was a lightsaber.

A red lightsaber.

"Well, you look shorter in person." The older man said, his voice just as gruff as it was on the radio. Icier snorts. "You're definitely older than I was expecting." He says. The older man's smile turned deadlier. "Kid, there's no one left in this building but us." He says, and chuckles. "There's no one here for you to impress." The man says, and then looks up and down at Icier.

"So, I must admit, you are very, very interesting kid." He says, and stalks closer to Icier. Icier raises his saber. The man doesn't care. "I don't feel an ounce of the Dark Side around you, but Jedi don't usually do the whole 'take no prisoners' thing." The man says. Icier rushes the man. Their blades clash.

The man laughs.

"And see, the Jedi don't tend to attack first." Icier slams his blade to the left and it's parried away. He immediately jumps back and twists his body forward, striking the Sith several times. The attacks are all blocked, but the Sith looks surprised. "Well... Now I've gone from interested to suspicious kiddo." Icier growls as he strikes quickly now. Each hit is blocked, even when Icier is going as fast as possible. The Sith's look in his eyes is... It's... To say it's unsettling would be a massive understatement.

"The name isn't 'kid' or 'kiddo'. It's Icier." He says, as he backs up and enters a Makashi ready stance. The Sith shakes his head, but he's got a massive smile on his face. "You're no Sith. Yet you're not a Jedi." The Sith says, and then his smile turns to a grin. "Who trained you, Icier?" Icier's blood runs cold as he rushes forward. His attacks are erratic, but inside, he's doing his best to stay calm. Stay focused.

His assault actually seems to have forced the Sith to go on the offensive. Now the both of them are fighting for real, their sabers clashing left, and right. Up and down. Icier knows now what form the Sith is using; Niman. A very useful style, the sixth form generally takes a little bit from the previous five. It's got every base covered, from offense to defense, to speed and counters

It's biggest drawback is perhaps that, while it does everything well enough, it's not particularly amazing at anything either. Still, this doesn't seem to be a problem for the Sith fighter. He's really good, and Icier isn't surprised. Who knows how many years the man has got on Icier? Decades for sure. Icier knows he's a quick learner. He knows he's strong with The Force. But power doesn't beat experience.

Icier is trying to press the advantage, but the Sith won't let him. Icier, frustrated, goes back into Soresu. The Sith just chuckles again, blocking the faster blows that Icier lands. "I thought I'd seen you do these moves on the cameras." He says simply. "How does a ten year old learn to fight so well?" The Sith asks. Icier growls. "Fuck you!" He uses his free hand and tries to push the man, but the Sith quickly raises his own hand and the two clash - this time through The Force.

The Sith's amusement quickly turns to surprise as Icier wins the clash, and he's sent flying back. He lands on the ground, hard. The Sith grunts in pain, but then laughs. He slowly sits up, Icier keeping his stance. "Oh... Oh The Force is strong with this one." The Sith says as he stands up. The Sith then rushes Icier, and the two are off again.

"It seems I was wrong to treat you like a child." The Sith says as his movements get slightly faster. The force of his blows are hitting slightly harder too. "Allow me to rectify that, Icier." Where before, the two were around equal, now the Sith is pressing the advantage. It's taking all of Icier's speed to block the strikes that the Sith swings. Icier's arms are starting to ache, and his hands are almost feeling numb.

The Sith strikes downwards, hard, Icier quickly blocks it. The Sith slowly pushes down on his blade, and Icier realizes just how tall the Sith is. He's probably taller than his mother. Icier feels fear. He does, but he refuses to show it. He stares up at the Sith, his eyes hard. The Sith just laughs. "Now see, if you keep that up Icier, the darkness could creep in." Icier grits his teeth.

"You'd probably know all about the Dark Side, wouldn't you?" The Sith tilts his head. "I know enough. Enough to know that if you had used the Dark Side, you would have won." Icier's knees are shaking violently as he's pushed down more. The Sith grins evilly. "You know what I think? I think, you have so much potential." The Sith lets up his pressure, and quickly takes a few steps back. Icier corrects himself and returns to his previous stance.

"The hell kind of game you trying to play?" Icier asks. The Sith shrugs, and turns off his saber. "Nothing really. I'm not one for mercy, even on a child." The Sith says, and then points at Icier. "No, no I want you to get better. And one day, you can give me a real fight." The Sith says, and then starts to walk past him. Icier doesn't turn his back to the Sith. He slowly faces the man as he walks away.

When the Sith is about to turn the corner, he slaps his face. "Oh wait, I'm so rude." He says, and turns to look back at Icier. "For being such a good... Sparring partner, I've got two gifts for you." Icier raises an eyebrow. "What gifts?" He asks, cautious. "Well, firstly my name." The Sith gives a little bow. "Darth Sivicous. At your service." The Sith - Sivicous - then points behind Icier. Icier doesn't take his eyes off of him.

"Del's in there, right next to my second gift. The release button for the lockdown." Sivicous says, and then waves. "See you later Icier, I sincerely cannot wait to meet you again." The Sith says, and walks away. Icier waits. He waits for minutes before he actually, finally, lowers his guard. The Sith's presence was fading from his mind, so unless Sivicous actually had powers not even Icier knew Sith could do, odds are, he's gone.

Icier turns his saber off, but keeps it in hand as he turns around and walks towards the room he's been heading for this entire time. Icier enters the room, which was more of a study. There's a bookshelf with all kinds of books that Icier hasn't even heard of before. There's a couch and a few chairs, and a desk. And... And behind the desk is what he assumes to be Del. The man is dead; a lightsaber wound right through his upper chest, if Icier was a betting man.

Icier goes over to the desk, trying to ignore the dead body as he ducks his head under it. He can see a big red button, and reaches for it. As he pushes it, two things happen. Firstly, the blaring alarms finally cease, and Icier feels like he can breath again without that incessant noise. Secondly, he can hear a ship nearby start to take off. The pressure of the Sith, at the back of his mind, starts to get even further and further away, until it's gone. Icier, now alone and out of danger, finally fully relaxes.

Icier then turns his head to look back at Del. At least the man got what deserved, he supposed. Trying to sell off kids as product, what a piece of - wait.

Icier narrows his eyes as he stares closer at the man. Huh... This guy... He knows this guy.

Metai frowned as she stared at the Diathim child. She wanted to head back to her ship, but she wasn't going to get much more work done on it now. Plus, she wanted to leave the child with someone in town. Unfortunately, they have all done what most people tend to do in stressful situations.

They have all hidden and scurried away like little rats. Metai wants to facepalm. This is ridiculous. Icier had been gone for almost four hours now and you'd think she would at least have started to FEEL him coming back. Instead, he'd gotten just far enough away so that she couldn't easily sense him.

(Later, she'd kick herself for not realizing why. For not remembering that sometimes, The Force allows things to happen that shouldn't. She should have known that she could feel him an entire planet away if necessary.)

She was waiting on the outskirts of the town now, just hoping to see her son soon. Instead, she sees something else. Something rather shocking. A large group of children break into her line of sight. Metai is shocked, but at the same time, she sighs. Icier did at least one of the things he wanted. She walks forwards to the kids, hoping that none of these children will feel safe enough to hold on to her. None of them do, but she's hit with more unfortunate news.

"Hey, hey that's a lightsaber on your belt!" One of the kids says as they approach. Suddenly, they surround her. She knew kids liked Jedi, but not this -

"- And and, he said that he wanted us to get his master!" She hears over the voices of a dozen and a half kids. Her brain freezes. She stares down at the kids, who all instantly quiet. Good.

"What did you say?" She asks, and the kids all try and go into themselves. Make themselves look smaller. She grits her teeth. "What. Did. You. Say?" She asks again. One of the kids cries. "He said to find his master and tell her he needs help!" Metai doesn't bothering listening to anything else. She grabs the Diathim child from her legs, pushes her harshly to the pile of kids, and she's off. She uses Force Speed to run like a rocket down the desert path.

She's not going to let anything happen to her child. Ever.

Metai could throttle Icier as she watches him come out of the base. It didn't take her twenty minutes to get here, and he's perfectly fine.

Well, he won't be after she gets done with him. She stalks up to him, and he has the nerve to smile at her. "Oh, hey Mom!" He says, carrying a body. The confusion in her is just enough to get her to anger to subside. She tilts her head as she stares at the dead man. Icier follows her gaze.

"Ok well look, we'll both go back inside and grab what we need for the ship, but look at this guy." Icier tosses the man on to the ground. She can see the hole from where Icier stabbed him, but nothing else remotely seems important. Icier gives his mother a look. "Don't you recognize the guy?" She shakes her head. "Why should I? I assume he is the head of the traffickers?" Icier nods. "Yeah. He's also wanted dead or alive. We can get thirty thousand credits for this dumbass." Metai whips her head to stare at Icier.

"How do you know this?" Icier pulls out his phone. "I browse the ECHO-net a bit much-" Metai snorts. "That's an understatement." Icier waves a hand at her. "- And one of the things I like doing is reading." He says, and Metai agrees. He does read everything he can get his hands on.

"So this guy is on the top one hundred most wanted list of guys and/or gals in the galaxy." Icier says, and he shows Metai the man's information. Dellios 'Del' Grado. Wanted for trafficking, blackmail, the manufacturing and barting of illegal goods. The works. And yes, as it turns out, there's a thirty thousand credit reward on his head.

"So we get the ship fixed up, get this guy to the officials and then we've got some more credits to spend." Metai manages to smile at her son. Maybe she was a bit too angry with him before. He's a smart child, always has been. He'd never do something stupid. At that thought, Icier rubs the back of his neck. "Um, I... I don't know how to say it, so I'm just gonna say this quickly." He says, and Metai frowns as he closes his eyes.

"So there was a Sith in there doing business with him the Sith was named Sivicous and we fought and he almost killed me but instead he let me go and said I had potential and he wanted to fight me later."

Metai blinks for a second. The words he said was so fast that she didn't register them at first. But when she did...

She slowly turns to face Icier. He shrinks in on himself. He's terrified.

Oh, he's scared? He'll know what fear is like, once she's done with him.

Sivicous walks past the automatic doors, and nods his head at the dark figures sitting around him. "Well, Del has been dealt with." He says, mildly amused by the play on words. Sivicous then smiles. "I also met someone. A kid." One of the figures snorts. "I'm sure there was plenty of children there, Dellios trafficked a bunch of them." Sivicous shakes his head.

"Oh no, this kid had a lightsaber. He was also strong in The Force. Very strong." Sivicous laughs at the looks he receives. "I'll admit, if I didn't have a few decades on the kid, he'd might've killed me." The figure in the front raises a hand. "Tell me Sivicous, why does a young Padawan interest you so?" Sivicous holds back his laughter. He's talking to his master now, after all.

"That is the thing. He was no Padawan. But he was also not a Sith Acolyte." The other figures murmer, but the master raises his hand. Then, he sits back against his chair.

"Not a Jedi, nor a Sith?" He asks. Sivicous nods. "He certainly acted like a Sith at times... But he also seemed to be at least partially trained as a Jedi." The master's eyes widened at that. And then... Then he smiled.

"Tell me, what else do you know about this boy?" Sivicous smiled.

"His name, is Icier."

(A/N So yeah there's no way in hell that Star Wars has all this tech, but no phones or internet and stuff. So I'm adding that. The ECHO-net is what the Borderlands series calls its internet and I really liked that.)