Topic: Years Long Gone: The Nemesis

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

I had unpleasant images in my sleep, but I would not be able to recall them. As I stirred from my sleep, my senses slowly returned to me. I could hear the low rumble of something; it didn't sound like an engine, though. There was very little smell in the room; the smell of clean wool near my head, the smell of light bacta fumes, and the smell of cool air. The air was cool and drafty, but I was quite warm, I could feel something on top of me. I had that odd taste in my mouth that reminded me of my lessons from my master as a padawan. I tried moving but I was stiff and sore.

"He's coming around." I heard a familiar voice say, "Go ahead and take off." I then heard a set of boots leave the room on carpet and through the whisk sound of the small door. I opened my eyes to a bright white light overhead which made my head hurt. After a moment my eyes adjusted to the light, but everything was still very blurry. I turned my head to my left and saw a large man standing there; Gromdlore.

"Where am I?" I asked in a hoarse voice. I could feel my strength flooding back into me.

"Welcome to the guest rooms at N.S. Transit." he smiled, "You're in the room for those needing medical treatment; we were going to take you to a hospital for a bacta tank, but so help me..." he shook his head.

"What?"

"Your wounds healed remarkably fast; I've seen less harmed people recover slow that you."

"Tell all the happened between the bridge and now." I said, suddenly sitting up and looking very focused; my strength was rapidly returning... I actually felt like I was getting stronger. Gromdlore looked me up and down, hesitating and looking concerned.

"You sure you're ok?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "You look... I don't know, but you just look strange, I can't put my finger on it."

"I'm fine." I laughed.

"Well, me and my men steadily retook the passenger areas as you were on the last stretch of your journey down the spine of the ship; it was easy with the confusion of the attack on the ship from outside confusing and demoralizing their forces. The shudders of the ship got worse with each pass the ships made; I had been First Mate on that ship for ten years, I knew the shields wouldn't take much more. We advanced more and more quickly as we moved forward on the ship; we decimated their forces utterly, the only left alive were the ones we captured at the beginning of the uprising. When we finally reached the bridge, we found the heavy security doors sealed tight and we didn't have the necessary charges or tools to breach the doors. We began to attempt a hotwire but it was going to take too long; those are the strongest and best encrypted security doors on the ship. The attack on the ship had stopped at this point for some reason, but we still worked fast to get through the doors and kept ready to surge in the second they opened. Then the strangest thing happened," he continued, giving me a suspicious look for a moment with this last statement, "the doors opened for no reason of our doing; as if someone had opened them from the other side, but when we secured the room we found that nobody had been near the controls."

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

"When we burst through the doors, guns blazing, I saw you kneeling next to their commander and him pulling his blaster on you. Thankfully my aim is pretty good and I was able to shoot his blaster from his hand. You then fell to ground after one quick glance at me as I ran up to help you; you landed pretty heavily on the floor, I was worried you hurt your head. When we found you, you had a mildly bad blaster wound on your shoulder which had been field-dressed and you were bleeding from the nose, most likely from hitting the floor face-first so hard. When we had our ship's medic inspect you a few minutes later, he found that your legs had suffered very bad burns somehow; he thought you would have scar tissue covering your legs most of your life. And what's more, the burns weren't that fresh but fresh enough to have been acquired in the last ten minutes of when we found you; it's a wonder you were able to move around all that time." he explained.

I pulled back the wool sheets that lay across my legs; my pants had indeed been removed and in their place was a wrapping of bandages. I began to rip off the bandages...

"What the hell are you doing?!" Gromdlore exclaimed, terrified at my behavior; on bad burns, the flesh can sometime fuse with cloth or bandaging and to remove bandages prematurely and recklessly can rip the skin right off the body... I was not concerned; I know my body. His expression melted from horror to bewilderment when he saw my legs were indeed good as new, as if nothing had ever happened to them, except for maybe their healthier than normal color.

"My peers can perform some amazing feats, Gromdlore," I laughed, "I got one of the more mundane gifts, but just as useful perhaps."

"So, I'm beginning to think that I was right to hold onto this..." he replied, pulling my lightsaber from his case! He held it out and I floated it through the air to my hand; it's touch in my hand was invigorating. "So you are the jedi..."

"Yes, I am." I laughed, "I thought you wouldn't figured that out a long time ago."

"Frankly, I've never seen a jedi, and all the stories seem so ridiculous that I assumed they were blown out of proportion by rumor. I see I was wrong. Do all jedi heal at such an ungodly rate?"

"No, not all; each jedi has his or her own gifts..." I explained, trying not to get too deep into it, "Most heal faster than normal beings, but not at this kind of speed or with such little scarring. I discovered early on that my gift was for the jedi meditation technique; I am a jedi consular, I have an affinity for the force though my skill in combat is more subtle. With this gift meditation, my body can naturally regenerate at an alarming rate, though sometimes this state goes far beyond meditation and becomes compulsory and something I can't control; that is what happened when you found me, my body and mind were essentially shutting down for a while so it could heal and reboot. It can be a bit scary sometimes because if it is bad enough I'll actually stop breathing and all brain and body functions temporarily cease; believe it or not, I've been dead a few times in my life, as ironic a statement as that is. Not as cool as many other jedi gifts, perhaps, but it wasn't my choice in the first place."

"I believe you, about the dead thing, because when I found you, you weren't breathing and you had no pulse; I thought you were dead. It wasn't until the medic began to inspect you that you began breathing again; he was scared half to death. Must be nice, but it doesn't sound very handy in a pinch..."

"It can be, depending on the pinch." I shrugged, pulling my pants back on over my under-garments and getting up from the bed.

"Tell me, how did you get those burns in the first place?"

"A catwalk gave away with the first blow to the ship during the attack; I nearly slid down into the relay system. When a power relay electrified the walkway that my legs were still touching, I got a nasty shock." I told him.

"Ah, I see. Most people would barely survive that."

"A jedi isn't like most people."

"Ok, and what about the blaster wound?"

"Ah I got that much earlier on the aft, you just must've not noticed it when I rejoined you briefly." I explained, "I got that while fighting Gren and I just wrapped it as best I could with cloth on hand."

"Yeah, we found his body; we were perplexed by the killing wound, a burnt hole strait through his chest, but I imagine that was the work of a lightsaber." he shrugged, I nodded in reply, "Once we took the bridge, we could see the debris of two unmarked gunships floating away towards Nar Shaddaa looking they had been in  a head-on collision."

"That's because they were in a head-on collision." I replied simply.

"Clumsy flying?"

"You could say that."

"I find that hard to believe, Karr," he said, shaking his head, "But since all of the records in ship's log were deleted up until we stormed the bridge and reset the auto-record, it'll have to do."

"Now for more of my questions," I sat down in a chair near my bed, across from Gromdlore, "What happened to the ship?"

"After we regained control of the ship, we came in range of Nar Shaddaa and hailed the escort division of Kabla the Hutts' operations here; she's the Hutt who runs this company. She got an escort and a few tug ships up there right away to help up get back in. Unfortunately, we were an easy sight and the local authorities demanded that the captives be handed over to them; they'll be busted out in no time on this lawless moon, I assure you. I sneaked you in as a crew member; according to the manifest, you were a simple cafeteria worker, who actually died during the initial take over."

"And Bulgren?"

"Who?"

"Their head commander."

"Ah," he paused, "Well... he committed suicide I'm afraid. He fell over in pain during your rescue, so we didn't seize him for a couple seconds. Right after we turned you over, we looked over to see him on the ground, holding a blaster to his head. He muttered something about it all being over and being as good as dead... then he cursed and shot himself. I may hate that bastard for what he did to my ship and my crew, but I wanted him to answer some questions... I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, I could have used the information he had." I agreed, sad to hear of such an end.

He stood up again, stretching.

"Well, I have a lot of paperwork and investigation related stuff to go through before I'm off for the day." he said, moving to the door, "I'll come get you when I'm done; in the mean time, you'll probably have to stay in this room... Kabla doesn't necessarily know you're here."

"And if someone tries to enter the room?"

"Let them in. Tell them your name. Just be nonchalant and nobody should bother you very much; they won't really care." he shrugged, clearly no stranger to this place, "I'll be back in a few hours."

He left and I was sitting in the room by myself. I couldn't really afford to meditate, lest I draw the attention of those eyes again. So I practiced. Push ups, sit ups, handstands, balance acts... anything to pass the time and to keep this new found strength in my veins.

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

After about a half hour of vigorous exercises, I sat down for a second to catch my breath. The strength had not diminished from my body despite the strain of the warm ups, but rather it felt as though it had grown; but I felt out of breath in spite of this, most likely due to my body regaining lost oxygen from the coma and from the exercises. As sat on the bed, I heard the sound of small repulsorlifts behind me.

"How long have you been in here, GR?" I said, turning to face her.

"As long as you have, Karr, but I've been charging for the last hour or so." she replied happily, "I'm glad to see you up and in working order. I've been working hard to keep things in order while you were shut down."

"Yes, things have turned out relatively well, and I didn't think it was all Gromdlore's doing."

"Him and the medical officer were going to take you to a hospital here on the surface; you wouldn't have liked that, I think."

"Customs, background checks, official reports on the event in space." I thought aloud.

"I suggested to Gromdlore that you be taken somewhere you would be secure and without nosy prodding." she beeped, pleased with her work, "I persuaded him from actually telling Kabla the Hutt that you're here. He was legally obligated to still submit any records or manifest that he had in his possession; I took care of that. I uploaded a hijack program to the collection mainframe; it will self-dissolve in a couple days, but in the mean time will allow me to alter any records."

"Good work." I smiled. GR-58 was an interesting droid. I had built her myself, "borrowing" a few parts from Republic intelligence and espionage droids; but I had built her into the frame of a small hover droid model that was commonly used as a personal helper/companion. What looked like a walking calender to most people was in fact much much more. She was no larger than a small basketball with a couple of strait antenna sticking in the air. Her core personality processor was similar to that of astromech droids, however, but with upgraded linguistic capabilities; over time I began to notice some odd personality quirks, but she was actually doing her job better and better so I saw no downside. I had uploaded her with a hijacking program that I had altered from a Republic hijacking program; it would make the droid a "master control", which would allow the droid to survey and alter all processed and stored information, except the difference was that I made this version self-destroy within a set parameter, leaving no trace and relinquishing the computer system of any invasion of privacy... I just used it complete missions; when the mission was done, the only reasons to continue control were bad ones, so I made it so that the program would dissipate completely, the last act being the deletion of all past code.

With all of this new information, I could see that the mission was going as well as realistically possible, especially with the setback in space. I laid down and did my best to get some more sleep...

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

Chapter II: Unaware on a Fishhook

I awoke to the sound of the door swishing open. Gromdlore walked in...

"Let's go grab a couple drinks." he smiled, clearly glad to at last be off duty, "We can talk about how I can help you while we're out. Don't try to kid me; I know that's what you need and I think I owe you a fair bit. I may not have any of your jedi mind-reading abilities, but I know what people need. Bring your pack."

I shrugged and followed him out. As we passed through the complex I could see that it wasn't terribly busy. The lights weren't very bright, but I wouldn't say it was dim. Things were kept relatively clean for Nar Shaddaa, but it still had the look of a somewhat dingy workplace; there were frequent signs and ads on the walls. The guest sector of the building had a few hallways of small rooms for guests of the hutt and crew members needing a place to stay briefly while on planet-side. We passed a small mess hall that looked like it hadn't been open in months.

"You don't have anything else you need other than your pack do you?" he asked as we walked.

"No, all I need is in my pack or attached to me."

"Good. I have to move you to a company apartment; it belonged to the former captain who fell during the hijacking. That room should be available to you for as long as you need it as long as you don't need more than a few weeks."

We passed through a small hallway and into what looked like something of a security booth for an employee's entrance; nobody was in the booth and his officer's card got us through the door. On the other side was an open roof parking lot for employee speeders; I could see towers overhead in the starry sky, dotted with many tiny speeders. The towers were not like the ones on Coruscant; these were much more angular, harsh looking, dirty, and some of the exterior lights weren't in perfect working order, but not so bad to the point of looking as if in complete disrepair. Many of the ships moving in the sky were very high up, but I could that they were large cargo ships; even so, I could see that the ships were unusually sparse from what I remembered from my last visit to Nar Shaddaa.

"Is it just me or is there less business in the skies than usual?" I finally asked as we climbed into Gromdlore's convertible speeder. His speeder had an open top with two large comfortable seats; it was a olive-green sport model with a yellow racing stripe down the middle. The design was stout with a bulky forward motor with exposed vents on the hood, and there were twin thrusters built into the back of the speeder like two rectangular fins placed towards the center; it shook a little as the engine gave a deep, throaty rumble as it turned on.

"These hijackings have had a terrible effect on a few sectors of Nar Shaddaa; this one has been hit very heavily, unusually so. Many of the hutts have locked their more profitable operations until the problem has passed; this was actually one of the rare times they've tried taking a passenger vessel, so most passenger vessels keep in operation. This was the first time they planned something so devastating though." he said, looking overhead and checking his guide-screen, pulling up into the air. As we moved up above the walls I could see that there were many brightly advertised towers around with a few less appealing and more bulky structures with large cranes and chimneys. We were some sort of commercial sector...

"What area of Nar Shaddaa are we in?" I asked, looking about for some form of indication.

"GR told me which sector you needed to be in, but she wouldn't tell me why." he replied over the rumble of the engine, revving as we pulled forward and upwards in to the airways filled with speeders and small vessels, "Lucky for you, you're in that sector, as is your apartment. I know this area pretty well, and if you need anything you just give the word; I owe you a fair bit."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, even getting past the whole 'saving our lives and ship' thing," he laughed, "You did something that had previously been unheard of; wrestling back a ship from the clutches of that organization. Nobody had been able to do that yet, even with armed escorts and guards; the hutts are furious. But our victory in space has caused a sort of a ripple; I'm afraid the hutts aren't very happy about it. The organization is going to be unhappy with this loss and will push back HARD, or so the hutts think at least, and the authorities on this planet are about as effective at putting an end to illegal operations as a blaster is at being a fork. I'm pretty much at your disposal because all flights with our company have been grounded until further notice."

"Who's your new captain?"

"You're about to have a drink with him." he smiled, "Kabla may not be very happy about the insult to the clearly threatening organization, but she is extremely pleased to have her ship back in decent shape, and that it was her company to land the first blow back on them. So I've been promoted and given my captain's license. I'm now Captain Herm Gromdlore."

"Congratulations! I'm still sad to know that your captain fell, but I'm happy for you."

"Yes, he was a strong rodian, proud and an effective leader."

"Well, you'd be doing a Mandelorian proud."

"You know of the Mandelorians?" he exclaimed happily.

"Only what I read in records," I replied, watching the towers drift by, "I've never actually met one, and their culture has been gone since the years of the Old Republic many many centuries ago; but you seem to fit the description."

"Well, you're in the company of one with Mandelorian blood," he smiled, clearly proud of his heritage, "I've got a little bit of Man blood in me, but I'm mostly Mandelorian and I can't really identify with most Men, I feel."

We continued to discuss a variety of things in regards to Mandelorian history and the stereotypical tendencies of Men and Mandelorians; it was pleasant to have a lighthearted conversation again, something I hadn't had since I last spoke to Ekul, whom I was beginning to miss. GR remained behind the seat; she was terrified of open-roof speeders with all the wind, it was too easy for her to get caught and flung away. She could fly fine but she had separation issues when it came to this sort of thing and was paranoid and nervous about open-air speeders.

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

We eventually pulled up into a small open parking lot in a large building that was somewhat tucked away between larger buildings; this apartment building seemed dark, reclusive, cold, and abandoned, which was perfect. There were several other speeders in the lot, half of them one-man vehicles and another quarter of them in such a state of disrepair that there wasn't much doubt that they were stripped for parts and left to rust.

"Here we are." Gromdlore sighed, turning off the speeder and getting out, "I know it's not luxurious but it'll be the best base of operation for you, I think."

"It'll suit nicely I think, as long as there is adequate power for a lamp, GR, and a few small pieces of gear."

"There is. It's actually pretty well situated and has acceptable accommodations; it just isn't very nice to look at is all." he laughed, leading the way into the building through the small side door; GR-58 nervously peeked out upon landing, but quickly followed once she knew we were stopped.

The hallways were broad and entirely metal, with dim yellow lighting that flickered often. Once in a while a cleaning droid would clunk by, the only activity still down here; I saw no sign of other tenants. Each apartment had an arbitrary letter-number assignment; we at last came to my apartment's door and I saw I was temporarily living in homely E-577. The door whined open; the room beyond was black.

The light switch flipped on.

We were standing in the doorway of a small apartment. The lights flickered for a second but shortly became constant. The room had a soft tan carpet on the floor that was actually fairly clean. The walls were wood paneling, but despite them being clean they were still somewhat run down and scratched. The lights were just a couple of ceiling-mounted white-yellow lamps that cast indirect light across the ceiling and the room. There was a small bed against the wall on the right, still looking in from the hallway, and a small table/desk directly ahead, but no chair. There was a large dresser and a small door on the left. Behind the table ahead of me was a large window with the blinds drawn. Behind the small door was an extremely small but very functional bathroom with a shower, sink, mirror, and toilet.

"This is nicer than I was picturing," I said at last, quite happy.

"Well Kabla keeps it for her lesser known guests, sometimes lesser known to even herself." he smirked in reply, "I've gotta make a couple calls outside; go ahead and set your stuff down and unpack what you will, then we'll get something to eat and drink."

I set down my duffel bag and my pack. The important gear that I did not need yet I stashed in a compartment I found under the bed; I had to pry off the cover and it fit back nicely, effectively hiding the compartment. It was in here that I stashed the Republic beacon and a backup of the files uploaded in GR and my belt-mounted PC. I put away my clothes. As I did this I could feel a soreness in my shoulder where the blaster shot had struck me and my legs began to itch a little. I knew what this meant. This meant that my wounds had momentarily caught up to my body; before this point I had minor feeling but general numbness. The healing powers of my stasis were wearing off and my body had to begin healing the normal way; I was already mostly healed but there was still more rest needed. As long as I returned to rest deeply within the next four hours or so, I would I fall back into the healing coma. I could induce the healing coma deliberately if I entered a deep mediation, but it wouldn't have the same potency or length or depth; for this reason I preferred to be back in time to enter the natural stasis to finish healing... and sometimes there were also unforeseen benefits to the natural stasis...

The light by the door blinked and a doorbell sounded; I could see Gromdlore's outline behind the clouded window on the door.

"What's up?" I asked, coming through the door. I had left my pack in the dresser with my extra clothes and my jedi robes; I always kept my combat robes packed on trips, though I rarely needed them, as I could usually do what I needed without them. Otherwise I was still geared.

"Let's get some food," he smiled, "I'm sure your starving, as am I." I did suddenly become aware of my extreme hunger; I hadn't eaten since I had left Coruscant. And off we went, talking lightheartedly again.

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

GR remained in the room; she wasn't a fan of going back out in the speeder, especially without my pack attachment. My pack had a hard casing that I designed so that GR-58 or any other similar model droid could latch in and become attached and flush with the surface of the pack; without this, GR was a nervous wreck.

As our speeder flew through the air, zipping through a hive of other speeders out and about during the nightlife. I remembered now the strange hours of the Nar Shaddaa moon; 4/5ths of the day was shrouded in darkness, and the rest of it was a dim polluted red light. This was uneven across the moon, of course, because the darkness could either be caused by Nal Hutta blocking the system's star or just facing away from the star. This sector was the dark sector.

We suddenly plunged into a large opening in the city, brightly lit with many colored lights and screens, all a flutter with many tiny speeders and a couple small transports; this was clearly the spot for nightlife.

"Welcome to the Hutt's Blindspot, as we locals call it." Gromdlore laughed over the roar of the wind and speeders, music could be heard all around, "We call it that because the hutts don't really come here much, though it's all controlled by them; as long as the money comes in they don't care what goes on here. Pick-pockets are a  problem sometimes, but we don't look like chumps so we'll be fine."

We set down in a small exposed parking lot on a pavilion about one third the way down into the Blindspot; we got out and headed down the one path, which was a broad and busy pathway lined with shops, bars, and clubs. Gromdlore led me to a shadier looking one towards the back. The interior was dark, lit with deep red and orange lights, but the booths were very private and the bar was very accommodating; a rich smell permeated the place and my hunger grew stronger.

"I know it's dim in here and it doesn't look like too much," he smiled, "But the food is some of the best human food you can get here on Nar Shaddaa, in my opinion. The waitresses are all twi'lek, but the cooks are all human, and I think that's why the food is so good by our tastes."

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

The food was indeed quite good; I hadn't had chicken and carrots in a long time. But as I sat, Gromdlore and I each too preoccupied with our food to speak, many thoughts passed through my mind. Old insecurities about my abilities returned, the sort I had not felt since my Jedi trials right after the-... the event with my former master. It was no secret within the order that, despite putting in more effort than all others in my class, I was one of the more challenged jedi knights. My gifts weren't in combat, and even those gifts that I had were difficult to control and had little observable effect; even for a jedi consolar, I wasn't particularly renowned. I wasn't often very effective by myself; my gifts were healing, leading, teaching, and strategy. The jedi trance, mental insight, mind influence, illusion, and self discipline were my strengths; my weaknesses were many more in number. I began to think that Master PannTher was right in thinking that it would be better to send a master... or at least a more capable jedi knight...

"You alright?"

I looked up to see Gromdlore in mid-sip with his ale, looking back at me with a concerned look on his face.

"Oh, yeah, I'm-... I'm fine. Just lost in my thoughts is all." I replied, shrugging off my thoughts and falling back into reality. Whatever my faults were, I would have to face them. I was here and it was my job to do, if I fell in trying to do it, then so be it.

"So... What now?" Gromdlore said at length, "I'll admit I'm at a loss at trying to find any leads here. The only people I can think of who would know anything of use about the organization are the hutts, and I don't think that they would be very compliant to reveal information to a jedi knight, particularly one they didn't know."

"The hutts won't be able to help me, not in any conscious manner." I sighed, deep in thought regarding our situation.

"Aren't you able to, I don't know, get visions or something? Can't you jedi do mystical things like that?"

"Well yes, and no." I laughed, "Yes in the sense that sometimes when we meditate we can gain visions or insight, and that has been something I've been able to do before, but our situation has a complication..." Gromdlore looked confused, not knowing what I little I knew.

"Like what? From what I can see, we're in approximately the right sector of Nar Shaddaa, but it's still much too large an area to search without any leads. The hutts won't help us, the Republic is out of its jurisdiction here without any solid evidence of crimes against their own property or citizens. We don't really have many leads; but I don't see this 'complication' of yours." he laughed, "We're high and dry, but no complications."

"I meditated on the vessel in space; someone else was watching the streams of the force. I won't get too complicated with this, but to put it short: if I meditate or actively use my powers to any large extreme, this being can sense me. It can now recognize my presence; if I tap into the flow of the force again or if I get in near enough proximity, it will know and know it is me."

"You mean it knows who you are?"

"I doubt it." I replied with relief, "It only knows I'm a trained force user, but now it can recognize me, and it can likely tell that I'm affiliated with the light side of the force."

"Light side?"

"Don't worry about it," I laughed, not wanting to get into that long description, "Basically means I'm not a bad guy."

"So is it a good thing that this being can sense you if it knows you're a good guy?"

"No way of knowing for sure until I discover the identity and affiliation of the being, but I doubt it is a good thing." I sighed, "I couldn't shake the feeling that the eyes were prying at me, and I sensed no love in them. I believe them to belong to a force user and one with no love for a user of the lightside."

"Meaning an unfriendly individual."

"Most likely, but like I said there's no way of knowing for sure just yet. In any case, it's best that I not pull that attention to myself if I can avoid it; I'd prefer to enjoy the freedom to move about without being hunted for as long as I can. What we need is a plan."

"Which is something we can't seem to get started on..." Gromdlore sighed wearily, draining the last of his cup.

I suddenly felt a shiver down my back; I could feel it's presence. Not near, but reaching out and searching. I could feel the eyes piercing the buildings. Why were they searching? I could only assume those eyes were searching for me. I calmed myself and closed my eyes...

"Are you reaching out? Should you be doing that?" Gromdlore spoke in a concerned manner.

"Quite the opposite actually," I replied, attempting to shut out the eyes as best I could, "I'm trying to shut the force out."

"How do you do that?" he asked curiously, getting lost in this thing that was completely new to him, "Oh! I'm sorry, am I distracting you!"

"Yes you are. Continue to do so please." I replied, "The best ways to do it is to just stop thinking, but not in a meditative way. Repeating mundane things in your mind with the most intent of focus is a simple effective way, and you don't have to be a jedi to do it; it helps you blend in with the background noise of the force."

"What are you doing now, then?"

"I'm listening carefully to every sound in the room, trying to discern the source of each and every unique sound I hear."

"So what do your thoughts sounds like?"

"Spoon on a plate... rodian coughing... waitress's shoes on the metal floor..." I spoke aloud, voicing every distinct sound that went by; still I felt the eyes peering about... they were searching in our area... "Waitress asking for a man's order... the soda machine's pressurizer switching on..."

... this went on for a period of time that felt like hours, but no doubt it was only seconds... I sat in silence, envisioning the room around me only using the sounds, monopolizing my thinking with the focus on the noise...

And then the eyes passed over me... they moved on...

I breathed a sigh of relief as they passed over our little bar in the pavilion... but then they stopped! I suddenly felt my blood rush and my heart race! I tried as best I could to keep myself from stirring but whatever presence was behind those eyes was interfering!... They slowly returned...

....... and then they were upon me... I could feel them borrowing into my being, feeling me and slowly beginning to recognize me... I no longer tried to hide myself from them; there was no point now...

..."I ssssseeeee youuu" a cold silver voice said in my head...

"It's a person." I said at last, suddenly getting up from my seat and opening my eyes. Gromdlore threw the money on the table and got up as well. But no matter how hard I tried, I could barely move with those eyes on me, holding me in place.

"It is? How do you know?"

"He sees me." I said urgently, "We must flee this place! We are not safe here!" As I spoke, the eyes released me and I could feel the force freely again; I sensed danger close at hand!

We ran out of the bar and into the open streets! I turned to face the main path and saw a large force of thugs moving to our location; they were scanning the crown, seemingly unsure of what faces to look for!

"Follow me!" Gromdlore said in my ear, trying to look nonchalant; he clearly saw the men combing through the crowd as well. If there was going to be a fight, I would not have it in such a public place...

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

Turning away, we pressed through the crowd urgently, but trying to not look too obvious! Behind us we could hear the men pushing through the crowd but they didn't seem to chasing us yet.

"Do you think they know what we look like?" Gromdlore asked me as pressed on.

"Hard to say," I replied, growing unsure and noticing that the pathway was quickly approaching a dead end, "I have no way of knowing without pretty much asking them."

"They'll know to look for me; I'd like to pretend that my identity as the leader on the ship is secure, but it's not. And I wouldn't be surprised if they knew your face too." he said, clearly getting frustrated.

We reached the dead end; the crowd was mostly dissipated here as they moved in and out of the nearby shops, but a small alleyway to our right was clear of people, yet much too cramped for any confrontation that would easily spill into the streets. We stood a for a second looking in all directions, trying to figure out our next move...

"Hey you two!!" we heard a voice yell behind us; we turned and sure enough the men were forcing their way through the crowd with renewed haste, looking at us and their hands out of sight on their hips! We turned and moved down the alley! Once out of view, if only for a moment, we began running! We immediately reached the dead end of the alley!

"Up this way!" Gromdlore urgently said to me, grabbing a small service ladder built into the side of building! He quickly climbed up and I followed, moving as fast as our arms and legs could take us up this dangerous bare metal ladder; I could hear boots on the metal ground behind us back at the entrance of the alley!

"Stop there!" the voice yelled again, "Get them!"

Suddenly blaster fire rang out, loudly filling the alley with the noise and sparking as the bolts hit near the ladder; one shot made a direct path at me, but holding out my hand and focusing I was able to reflect it off in a wild direction! We came over the top of the ladder to find ourselves on a long dark path that ran along the large air conditioning and environmental units on the tops of the shops and bars below; we ran towards the opposite side which had an opening into the night sky at the far end, but it was unusually dark at the opening...

We emerged into the night to find that while we were in the pavilion, clouds had moved in and the scent of rain was heavy in the air. We were standing a small landing pad that over looked the speeder parking lot we were parked in; this landing pad was likely for city maintenance workers. We stood for a moment, look around, but there was no where else to run; I could easily have leaped to a hidden ledge or down to the speeders again, but then Gromdlore would be left alone to face the thugs.

"No where to run..." the voice said behind us. We turned and saw a small squad of thugs behind us; all of them were man. All of them were rough looking, but the leader was the least armed of them and probably the one who flew them here. There were four thugs, armed with heavy rifles and blast armor; these seemed more capable than the ones that ran the mutiny.

"Hello, Mr. Gromdlore," he said, looking at Gromdlore, "Yes, we know who you are."

He then turned to face me...

"And you..." he was looking me up and down, "You must be the jedi knight. I've been asked to take you along to the Lady."

"I'm sorry, there must be some mistake..." I replied.

"Oh I don't think so." he smiled, "She said you were here, and would likely have Gromdlore with you. Since I see Gromdlore is here like she said, it's likely that she was right about you being a jedi too."

As he spoke, I began to probe his mind. I could feel his thoughts; they were intensely focused on Gromdlore and myself. His posture was that of someone relaxed, but I could feel his unease underneath; he was extremely jumpy. In his confused mind, I did see one thing very clearly; Gromdlore had a death sentense.

"The Lady?" I asked. I wasn't interested in his reply, I was interested in his mental and emotional reaction...

The moment I mentioned the name, a shiver ran up and down him. His mind was trying to shut the name out of thought, but his heart was still shivering with fear at the name.

"I-... I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to speak on the matter." he quickly replied, trying not to show his discomfort, "But if you come with me, you may find out."

"Well, see there's the problem. If I come with you, Gromdlore here will get the short end of the stick." I replied with a very serious stare on the leader; he jumped a little bit when I said this.

"Yes, I know that you have orders to kill Gromdlore." I continued, Gromdlore looking over at me nervously, "And I'm afraid I can't let that happen."

"This isn't negotiable." he replied, and I could even detect a hint of pleading in his voice, "I will see through my orders or die trying; you can't do anything to me that she wouldn't do worse. Please just come with us; you'll find that we're quite capable of taking you whether you come by choice or not. And I'm afraid I must ask you to disarm." He and his men had their blasters drawn.

"You can have my blaster when you pry it from my motionless, cold, dead fingers, you filthy bastard..." Gromdlore suddenly spoke up, loud and proud, like a Mandelorian. His fingers where itching, ready to quick draw his blaster at a moment's notice.

"My zealous friend here apparently share my sentiments..." I said, smiling grimly, my hand hovering over my saber hilt on my belt...

...rain drops began to trickle out of the looming clouds...

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

The air seemed charged with tension as we stood facing across from each other, both sides unwilling to draw first... The sprinkle of rain didn't fall readily, as if held back by observant clouds, now bent overhead like titans holding their breath...

Then the flash of light! The enemy leader's trigger finger twitched and in a blink of an eye Gromdlore's blaster was flung loose from it's holster! My blue blade flashed, shining white as I held it with one hand to my side, deflecting the first shot at Gromdlore! Gromdlore downed the furthest right thug with a flash of blaster fire and then jumped to the ground as more bolts flew over his head! I was growing tired of this nonsense...

I threw my lightsaber in a strait line, impaling the furthest left thug through the chest; as he fell to his knees, my blade melting his armor, I turned to the next thug! He lifted his blaster to fire on me, seeing his companion fall and me seemingly unarmed! With speed and determination he did not expect, I reached out with my hand and made a clenching gesture and his blaster rifle was crushed at the center, bent and sparking! I then pulled it from his hands and clubbed him with it, knocking him off balance and off the platform! The last thug fired at me, but I leaped into the air with a flip, my lightsaber humming through the air and back into my hand as I flipped, and I cleaved him across the chest when I landed! Only one remained; the leader.

I was now standing behind the leader, with Gromdlore on the other side of him. The leader was no longer firing and Gromdlore held him tight in his blaster sights.

"So... this is not negotiable?" I said, not at all joking; my lightsaber hummed at my side and the light sprinkle of rain sizzled on the blade.

"I um... BLAST THEM!" he suddenly yelled into his wrist mounted commlink! Gromdlore shot at this sudden movement and the leader fell on the ground, struck in the chest and dying. I looked up at Gromdlore, who looked back at me with a clear expression of confusion.

Then the roar of a small ship made the small platform vibrate! Suddenly a New Republic gunship rose up from beneath the platform, its weapons armed; its Republic markings had been removed!

I immediately turned and force pushed Gromdlore back into the narrow service entrance from which we had emerged! He shouted and fell back into the shadows where he would not be an open target. I then leaped into the air, landing on the viewport of the cockpit, startling the pilots and making them unable to shoot me with the small craft's weaponry! I frowned at them and shook my head, and then I climbed up out of their view and onto the top of the small shuttle-craft. Then they did what I had hoped...

The ship lurched violently backwards and side to side in an attempt to overthrow me from the vessel! I used the momentum of the lurching ship to sling myself over the wing and swing back under to hang just outside of the doors to the ship! I drew my saber to begin cutting through, but the ship sped off into the sky with violent speed and jolting, making any attempt to accurately pry a hole in the door very difficult! I clipped my saber back onto my belt and, holding onto a couple of safety ladder rungs just outside the doors, held on with both arms and legs as the ship rocketed through the sky, dodging traffic and taking us far out of the Hutt's Blindspot into the night sky! I held on tight for what felt like minutes of shaking and twisting. Slowly the motions become less and less often; they began to doubt I was still on board. Soon they ceased all together and resumed a smooth flight. I was able to sense only the pilot and the gunner inside and they were in the cockpit where they could not see me...

I drew my saber once more, the blade humming to life, and then jammed it into the door! I twisted it and pulled at it, cutting across the hinges and locks; the ship shook a little bit, most likely in surprise! I then grabbed the door, pulling it off of the vessel and letting it fall far below into the clouds and fog and swung myself into the ship! The gunner was just now popping his head into the back to see what the noise was. His eyes grew wide to see my white blade held at my side as I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into the back with me! I slammed him against the back wall, and when he tried to pull his blaster I impaled him! I then turned to face the now-open doorway to the small cockpit, but then the ship suddenly lurched downward, spinning wildly! The ship was in a diving barrel roll and well out of control! I was slammed hard against the ceiling, floor, and walls, but I quickly got a bearing as the ship plummeted and pulled myself into the cockpit! The pilot was pulling hard at the controls, trying to wrestle the ship back into control; he must've gotten up to help the gunner when I pulled the gunner back and the ship hit turbulence, which jarred the ship from its path without the pilot there to keep it on course! He was so panicked that he didn't pay attention to me; I knocked him hard on the head and pulled him out of the seat and into the back, taking his spot at the controls!

The ship was spinning wildly and it was plummeting fast! The sky outside the viewport was black with nighttime clouds and water speckled the glass, there was no way of knowing how far the nearest obstructions were without the instruments, which were now all flashing errors and warnings! I wrestled with the controls, trying to stabilize the ship! I attempted to calm myself and I could feel the ship and the air moving around it chaotically... with one well executed jolt of the controls and push of the thrusters, the ship pulled out upright and level again, but rocketing forward at alarming speed! I fell back into the seat with a sigh of relief, but my moment of easy breath was immediately interrupted by the sudden and startling rush of headlights appearing in front of me and zooming past me, rocking the ship in their wake! I had pulled out right into a flow of oncoming traffic!

Horns sounded and my instruments flashed large warnings! I reflexively dodged in and out of the potential head-on collisions! I was soon able to pull up and out of the traffic flow and bring the ship to a slow halt where I could at last breath easily...

I sat back in the chair, at last breathing regularly and deeply, relieved now that the ship was stopped and the instruments read that I was no longer in a traffic flow. I gazed out of the viewport for a moment, watching the light drops of water speckle the glass in front of the foggy black night; the clouds seemed to be holding back their tears reluctantly. After a moment of gathering myself, I got up, leaving the ship in auto-hover, and went to the back where I had thrown the pilot. I found him lying on the floor of the hold, his head twisted at an odd angle... I bent over him and discovered that during the wild spin he had hit one of the many hard surfaces of the hold at a bad angle and with considerable force, breaking his neck and leaving a large bloody bash in his skull; the blood was splattered on the spot of the wall where he had hit.

"Gromdlore, can you read me?" I spoke into my commlink, hoping I wasn't out of range.

"I read you, Karr, but there's a lot of interference." his voice replied, "Where are you and what the heck happened?"

"As for the first question, I was hoping you could tell me; I'm uploading my coordinates to your commlink now." I replied, "As for what happened. I had to push you to safety, I hope you're ok. I've commandeered their ship and now have a plan."

"Yeah, I just got your position. You're high over the Blindspot, stationary, right near a huge traffic lane."

"I noticed the traffic lane."

"So what's your plan?"

"It's time for me to meet our unfriendly hosts. The navicomputer in this vessel should have records of all the most recent flights; if my guess is right, then the most common stop point is likely to be their headquarters."

"That makes sense." he replied, "Where am I meeting you? You gonna pick me up or should I-"

"No, I'm going this part alone."

"Hey, if you think I'm going to let Mr. Big-Bad-Jedi do this all himself, you've got another thing coming!" he suddenly yelled, "I've got a score to settle with this 'Lady of Nar Shaddaa' and if you think I'm going to sit on the sidelines and-"

"I said you aren't coming with me, I didn't say that you didn't have a job to do." I restated, "I need you, Gromdlore. I can't be two places at once and I need someone's assistance right now, someone who knows this area inside and out and can do a very dangerous job that requires skill and stealth."

"Oh well, now that's completely different, isn't it?" he replied, sounding pleased, "Does this make me a Republic operative, Jedi Commander Karr?" He was clearly liking all of the action, like a Mandelorian.

"I'll ignore that last bit of silliness, though I will put in a good word for you with the Republic commanders who enlisted the help of the jedi. I need you to go back to my apartment and acquire the Encoded Republic Signaling Beacon I stashed under my bed there in a little compartment; you'll probably have to pry the compartment lid off to find it. Then, when I signal you with my coordinates once I'm inside their HQ, I need you to do a flyby, during which you'll drop the beacon on structure after you've activated it. Can you do that?"

"Can I do that? Is a rodian green?" he laughed, clearly confident, "I'm assuming this beacon thing will bring down the wrath of the Republic, won't it?"

"It'll signal the launch of a large strike force onto the HQ and blockade to prevent anybody fleeing the site. The Republic Elite Crime Force is just out of sensor range in orbit."

"Alright, and I'll be here to greet them and help them launch the attack, I AM a local afterall."

"Fine, Karr Xon, out..."

I then returned to the cockpit and sat in the pilot's seat, nothing had changed. I was placing an immense amount of faith in Gromdlore, more than I had placed in a non-force user in a long long time, but I had little choice; if the gunship was gone from the HQ for too long they would probably not let it back in without suspicion and so I didn't have enough time to fly all the way back to the apartment, but I had left the beacon back in the apartment. I felt hot and tired from the ordeal and suddenly a wave of weariness swept over me...

"Oh blast, not again..." I thought to myself as my vision faded to black; in a desperate fight against the oncoming trance, I was able to see the fuel meter of the ship read mostly full... and then I fell back into the chair, deep in a coma much out of my control...

[*<JO>*KarrXon]

The sleep was black and dreamless. In all of the action in the Blindspot I had forgotten about my need to resume my healing trance... so the moment I was no longer in danger, my body shut down.

I slowly felt my senses return to me...

I could hear the light tapping of water drops on glass, the hum of repulsorlifts, and the small beeps of a computer. My sight hadn't returned yet but my other senses were returning; I itched terribly bad on my shoulder and my legs as I sat in the chair. Soon my eyesight began to return to me and I could see the gray metal interior of the ship overhead. The cockpit was lit with the orange-red glow of the control panel; the viewport had a projected orange display on it that was just displaying transmission and traffic data at this point. I looked at the time and was relieved to see that I was only out for ten minutes; any longer and I would be risking suspicion. I sat forward and began pouring through the navicomputer.

After just a second I found the most frequent landing spot; a large tower overlooking the Blindspot with a couple hangars. This was such a frequent landing spot that the computer had an autopilot path directly to the appropriate hangar, so I switched it on and the ship pulled off en route to the HQ, giving me time to check my wounds and prepare; I would be in view of the tower in about five minutes.

I spun the chair around and pulled up my sleeve to check out my wound on my shoulder from the blaster shot in space; the small mark that was the remains of the wound on my shoulder was completely gone and replaced with an itch but was otherwise completely healed. I rolled up my pant legs and found my legs were also completely returned to normal.

I then took the dead pilot and sat him up in the chair; I took a helmet from the compartment and placed it on his head to hide his wound. The automatic pilot would be able to land the ship safely. I felt the ship duck down and I knew we were quickly approaching the tower and would soon be visible range. I stood in the hold for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to infiltrate the HQ once we touched down. I had no way of knowing how well they would be able to see the ship and the exterior, or the missing door under the wing...