OOM: Ghosts of Nar Shaddaa

[last_kallig]

(OOC: Lines in italics are taken from canon. Warning for genocide and adult content.)

Nar Shaddaa is a city moon, no nature here, nothing but duracrete, durasteel, and neon. The area Ibani has chosen to bring Garyn into it is relatively quiet but the noise and the smell of billions of people is only diminished, not absent.

She puts a hand out toward Garyn, in case he's overwhelmed.

Comments

[moonandstar]

Garyn knows a little better what to expect now. As alien as such places will always be to him, he's able to put his bravest face on. He simply nods at Ibani, smiling slightly.

It's all he can do to be ready for whatever comes next.

[last_kallig]

Ibani's brush against his mind is warm and proud, though her helm hides her smile.

"We need to cut some of the power to the vault. Unfortunately, a local gang has been siphoning off some of that power for years and I doubt they'll let us just walk up and shut the power off."

"I can probably get us there unseen if they haven't been especially clever with choke points."

[moonandstar]

"After which I assume we quite sternly persuade them to stop."

[last_kallig]

"Very sternly yes," There's amusement in Ibani's voice.

Ibani leads the way deep into the slums. For all the decor is strange, the air of poverty, crime, and desperation is likely familiar enough to Garyn.

There are quite a few career criminals sizing them up as they pass by. (Ibani hasn't pulled up a force cloak yet, too great a risk of someone running into them with a speeder.)

They're also being shadowed by a would be pickpocket, a Cathar child.

[moonandstar]

Indeed - it's actually a little comforting, as much as his childhood had been one to forget. But seeing catfolk in the sorts of places he usually sees them makes him feel very much at home.

He even has to restrain himself from turning his head to warn the child off in rude Ta'agra.

[last_kallig]

They turn into an alleyway and the child scrambles up a wall, then back down to follow them.

Ibani waits until it's just the three of them in the alley before shes stops moving. The child had been sneaking up on Ibani, perhaps thinking the weapon on her hip would be easy to grab and light enough that it's absence wouldn't be noticed.

"Not a bad job of sneaking, but your mind gives you away," Ibani looks right at the place where the child is hiding. They freeze, staring wide eyed. "You, you're real?!" Surprise and terror.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be?" Ibani asks, bemused. Given how rare force sensitives are it would certainly be POSSIBLE for a charlatan to pull off such a scheme.

[moonandstar]

"And if there isn't, is there a reason she shouldn't use her abilities on you right this second?"

He is, of course, bluffing. But even in his world, people are more afraid of wizards than they probably ought to be.

[last_kallig]

The child shrinks back against the wall. "There's a fighter with the Skull Crushers, says he's a Sith, has a blade like that one." The child points at Ibani's lightsaber. "But he wasn't that hard to sneak up on."

"The Skull Crushers, that would be the name of the gang that runs this area, yes? Tell me what you know of them, and I'll forget you were trying to rob me. And if you have information on that 'Sith', there might be something in it for you in addition to your life."

[moonandstar]

Garyn doesn't have anything verbal to add. But he's good with body language, particularly at communicating the phrase "You'd better do as we ask."

[last_kallig]

The child is thoroughly intimidated, and gladly spills tons of information about patrols, who's who , and the like. "

Ibani flips the kid a credit chip when he runs out of information. "Stay away from anyone with a lightsaber in the future, kid. Some of them are the kind who'd break your neck just for amusement's sake."

The pickpocket swallows heavily, nodding, and clambers up the alley wall. "Could be a charlatan, could be an initiate who managed to escape early in their training and acquired a lightsaber off a corpse."

[moonandstar]

"If it is a charlatan, it's likely a resourceful one," Garyn says. "We've done well to be forewarned, at any rate."

[last_kallig]

Ibani nods. "Might need to alter my cult's sector advancement to pick up this area sooner rather than later."

Yes, she does feel sorry for the poor kid. "Feel like being sneaky?" she asks Garyn.

[moonandstar]

"With a little help, perhaps."

[last_kallig]

Ibani chuckles quietly. "I can manage that."

She wraps both of them in a Force cloak, hiding them from the senses provided they move slowly.

Their route might seem strange at first, one where up and down are as much directions as left and right. She's not being quite as aggressive with their path as she would be on her own; Garyn can't cushion the impact of a three story fall, after all!

They ease their way past armed gang members until they reach a choke point. There is a large alien dozing on his feet at the guard post, what looks like a small canon resting at his side, but the droids are very much alert. Five of them, human sized and armed with blasters are on guard, two above Garyn and Ibani's position and the other three on their level.

[moonandstar]

If Garyn had anticipated the need for it, he might have looked for a way to acquire a Slowfall enchantment. As it is, he's willing to follow Ibani wherever she dares to go.

They're moving carefully enough that he can move with his blade already drawn - a blessing, given how quiet they need to be right now. He approaches the alien slowly and carefully, being mindful of Ibani's position. Her weapon is better suited for droids, after all.

He'll make short work of him as soon as Ibani is ready.

[last_kallig]

Ibani moves to take out the ones above first. The first never knows what hits it, impaled on a blade of violet plasma. The second begins to shoot, but it's much too slow to hit her as she leaps impossibly far across a gap and brings the lightsaber down.

[moonandstar]

Garyn is nearly as quick and efficient, but a good deal more ugly in the way he deals with his side of the action. There's a splattering sound beneath them as he finishes with the big fellow, and then a solid clunk to the head as he ends his conscious misery with the pommel of his blade.

He turns to Ibani and nods, gesturing for her to lead on.

[last_kallig]

Ibani finishes the last of the droids, leaving oil and metal in her wake.

She trots over to Garyn. "Further in and further down, if the blueprints are correct."

They reach another chokepoint, this one featuring a swarm of thugs milling around. One person is shouting, and sometimes beating, them into order though. He's a tall Mirialan, green skinned, with diamond tattoos across his cheek. Right now he's wielding a vibroblade, but there is the very distinctive hilt of a lightsaber at his side.

Ibani's feeling of curiosity slides against Garyn's thoughts. If he's an acolyte who managed to escape, well, she has some pity. If he's fully a charlatan, not so much.

[moonandstar]

Garyn treads quietly around the periphery, staying near the shadows. He's not as curious as Ibani is, but he still would like to know what caused this man to become what he is.

If nothing else, it may help to know if there could be any resolution without blood.

[last_kallig]

Ibani pulls a little trick with the Force, making her voice seem to come from everywhere at once. "So, you are the one who would claim the title of Sith for yourself. Do you dare to use that lightsaber that you carry, or are you afraid of it?"

The thugs start to scatter, but a snarl from the Mirialan halts them in their tracks. "I just haven't needed it yet," the Mirialan calls out, widening his stance. He moves like someone trained, like a professional. Once a soldier, perhaps.

He draws the lightsaber, its yellow-blade snapping to life with a hiss. He seems confident, certain. "Do YOU dare face it, coward?" he challenges.

Ibani laughs, the sound sharp, as she appears in the midst of the mob. The air crackles with violet sparks. Even the snarled curses of the Mirialan can't stop them from backing away from her. They may be scum, but they have survival instincts.

His stance wavers for a moment, his confidence shaken. He has been a loth cat pretending to be a Nexu, never imagining that he would someday face the real thing.

[moonandstar]

Garyn's sword is out the moment the screen vanishes. The first standing in front of him finds a blade at his throat before he knows there's a mer there to wield it.

"How much do you value the lives of your men? Or is it more important for you to dress like a man with power?"

[last_kallig]

"Force-blind," Ibani says idly, her helmeted gaze never breaking contact with the charlatan. "It hates you, that blade," There's an eeriness in her tone. Sometimes the Force just lets those who are sensitive to it KNOW things, which may be more terrifying than any raw physical result could ever be."You took it off its master's corpse and it KNOWS that."

"Shut up, both of you!" he snaps, clearly on edge. "What do you want?"

"Passage. We need to cut some of the power this base is drawing for purposes of our own."

"What's in it for me?" he dares to ask.

[moonandstar]

"A great deal of blood that is presently inside of you shall currently remain that way."

[last_kallig]

"Indeed," Ibani drawls. "And there are so very many ways for blood to be lost."

He swallows, his imagination filling in the blanks perfectly well. He lowers his blade and barks a "Stand Down!" at his troops.

They don't take much convincing, parting to clear the way toward the generator.

"I'd lose that blade if I were you," she says as they pass through. "Bad luck."

[moonandstar]

Garyn's own blade remains drawn as he makes his way through the crowd. He says nothing, however, merely shooting the leader a powerful stare. One that says "you'd better do as she advises" more intensely than words ever could.