Ask Nar Shaddaa City of Dreams

[Maxims Tionson]

City of Dreams​

A lightsaber.

Word on the streets was that some kid had pulled a lightsaber on some muggers and that was... well it was short sighted. That being the most polite term Max could really ascribe to the action if he was being honest with himself. Pulling a lightsaber should, in his opinion, only ever really be a last resort but what was done was done and all that could be done was to look towards the future.

And ensuring the kid in question actually had much of a future left to actually see. Because word on the street was that a bounty hunter in the area held a grudge against Jedi and they were looking to take out their frustrations on the new Jedi in town.

By all accounts this bounty hunter was something special and someone who really didn't care about the age of his victims.

Lovely fellow he was sure.

Rounding the corner, Max cursed as the bounty hunter began to lower himself down into the alleyway with his jetpack. His blaster pistol was raised, pointed at what Max could only assume was the Jedi in question. It was a Mandalorian bounty hunter and he looked every part the seasoned professional and wasn't that just amazing? And here was Max trying not to out himself as a Jedi too.

Fantastic.

"Kid! DUCK!"

Grabbing the first thing to hand, Max tossed a can he picked up from the ground. Fortunately for him it was nearly full of some foul smelling liquid, which splashed against the bounty hunter's visor, causing him to mess up his landing. It wasn't a lot but it should be enough to help the kid get a move on. And to help him out, Max reached out with the Force and Pulled the kid towards him while the bounty hunter was busy trying to clear his vision.

"Well? Come on let's go!"

He really hoped this kid wasn't one of those young Jedi who wanted to fight everything out and was smart enough to run with him.

Spoiler: Bounty Hunter

@Reddsentinel

 

[Ejanni Aodh]

Ejanni wasn't sure how he had gotten into this situation but here he was, cornered like a wamp rat with a hungry orphan reaching for it. He should have never drawn his masters saber, but the thugs wouldn't relent. They just kept trying to snatch what little he had left that connected him to the world his master had once shown him.

Gritting his teeth, Ejanni's hand slowly reached towards his saber as the bounty hunter kept shouting his tirade about how "he was an ancient enemy of his people" and "today is the day I truly start the path of Mandalore". He would've moved faster if not for the blaster being waved in his face as the Mando gesticulated his rage through agitated hands as he lowered into the alleyway via jetpack.

It had been a stupid mistake. A mistake he was now about to cost him his life if he didn't think of something fast.

"Kid duck!"

Thankfully that "something fast" was a shout and a can hurled at the hunters head, spilling a foul smelling liquid that nearly made Ejanni hurl as he dashed past the confused man. He skidded on his feet as he felt a sudden pull forward, seemingly coming from a middle-aged man just in front of him.

Ejanni didn't need any further convincing, and barely heard the man as he began to run at a breakneck speed around the corner. He craned his neck back to make sure the strange man was following before speeding off into the maze of alleys the Mando had initially chased him through.

@Nefieslab​

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Alright so he had the kid.

That was good.

The rest of it? Not so much.

Cursing under his breath, Max ducked on instinct as the Force screamed at him, managing to avoid being hit in the back of the head by an enraged Mandalorian before they were round the corner, the line of sight broken for a second. Cursing mostly in his mind now that he was running hard, Max reached out to the kid, a fellow Jedi from the feel of him in the Force, and spoke to him with telepathy to avoid giving the game away to the Mando chasing them.

Through the window!

Sprinting harder, Max thrust his hand out, a pulse of the Force shattering the window in the wall ahead of them, the shards hanging in midair to the sides slightly. Once both himself and Ejanni had charge through the opening, he sent the shards flying back towards the pursuing Mandalorian, which earned him some louder cursing from the bounty hunter.

What weapons or equipment have you got kid? I don't think we're going to lose him without a fight.

Even now the wall with the window behind them exploded as the Mandalorian used explosives to power through, even as Max opened the back door for them to rush into yet another alleyway.

@Reddsentinel

 

[Ejanni Aodh]

Doing his best to jump through the now shattered window, Ejanni nearly caught himself on some stubborn glass. The rush of things was almost too much for the young man as he continually pushed his already screaming legs onward towards the back door of the abandoned home they shot through.

Ejanni had not used telepathy with his master all that much. It had always been so strange to have another mind press against your mind and impart an idea or sentence. It was even stranger now, three years later, as a complete stranger seemingly pressed on his mind with the force, first calling out the window, then asking about his possible weaponry or equipment.

Without answering back Ejanni shook his head, continuing to press onward as the shouts from the Bounty Hunter behind them grew louder. In all honesty the lightsaber he flashed had just been the hilt, and that's all it had been since the day it was damaged and his master was killed.

Craning his neck as he ran, he used the force to push over a few crates and barrels to block off the alleyway behind them, gaining them some time as even Jetpacks had limited use. Urging himself onwards Ejanni took a left deeper into the mazelike alleyways of entrances to homes and seedy shops.

@Nefieslab​

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Alright so running through the alleyways wasn't doing it.

Sure, it felt like they were managing to stay ahead of the damned bounty hunter but there was just too many alleyways and too many advantages the Mandalorian could have over them in an instant with his technology. They needed a way to get the edge over him and one way that Max could think to do that was to turn the tables on him.

So far he and Ejanni had done nothing but run from the bounty hunter because neither of them wanted to engage in combat. Ejanni likely out of being ill-equipped according to his answer to Max's earlier question and Max himself due to his uncertainty that he could beat such a driven Mandalorian in straight combat without fighting to kill, which he was loathed to even push towards.

But who said the Jedi had to fight every battle straight up?

Spotting something that looked like it might be a good option, Max grabbed at Ejanni's shoulder to get his attention before gesturing to the open door coming off of the alleyway that seemed to lead into a slum residence.

Through the door.

He pressed the thought with urgency and he would let Ejanni go through the door first before following hot on his heels. But rather than continue running down the hall into the residence proper, Max spun on his heel and hid to the side of the door on the inside. Drawing his stun baton quickly, he activated it as the Mandalorian darkened the doorway and made to instinctively follow Ejanni before Max lunged, stabbing his stun baton into the exposed side of the Mandalorian.

Max thought it was over and that was why the emerging hidden blades caught him by surprise, cutting upwards through his chest clothing and armor almost immediately. Of course he flung himself backwards but the result was the same, a large but thankfully mostly unthreatening gash up his torso from waist to collar bone.

The Mandalorian was not immune to the electrical attack so much as he was forcing himself to work through it to continue. Cursing, Max rushed off after Ejanni as the Mandalorian spared a moment to destroy the stun baton before continuing the chase.

Okay so he's tougher than I thought.

@Reddsentinel

 

[Ejanni Aodh]

What had Master Jan said all those years ago?

"Stay away from trouble, only deal with it when it comes to you, and you will be prepared for it."

Ejanni wasn't sure if this situation was proving his master right, or deeply wrong as he ducked inside the doorway his strange savior had pointed out. The inside was packed ceiling to floor with cots, intermittent snores and chattering in alien languages surrounded him as he looked about, searching for the mini corridors that the cot stacking formed.

Seeing a not so clear path forward Ejanni charged ahead, knocking into others and vaulting over the unconscious forms of the poor who resided here. He heard the charge of a stun baton behind him but didn't dare look back, the old man seemed to be able to handle himself, and all Ejanni had was a broken saber!

Ripping through his mind at a mad pace, Ejanni tried to remember the layout of the lower-city he was now prey in. Closing his eyes he stopped at the slum-house's font door, breathing in deeply and letting his memory extend to the last couple days. The images of a small starport and crowds of people came to mind. If he could escape to their, he could sneak on a vessel like he always did.

Grinning, Ejanni pressed the door's control and ran through it, only looking back long enough to see the older man running after him, a nasty gash on his chest. Paling in the face, Ejanni ran back into the maze of alleyways at a full tilt, he had to get to that starport.

@Nefieslab​

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Alright so fighting the Mandalorian bounty hunter coming after them was somewhat harder than Max had expected but that was fine because he honestly didn't want to fight the damned man at all. He just wanted to get himself and the young Jedi to safety and right now this Mando was making life difficult for them.

Which, in hindsight, was pretty much Mandalorian historic relations with literally every other political faction in existence.

Including other Mandalorians.

Truly, theirs was a fascinating race and culture but he would leave that to the Jedi historians and stories of them living through this he could and would leave to a cantina after a few drinks. Thankfully the kid had the good idea of heading towards the star port and that was where Max had actually gone ahead and parked his ship.

"Alright kid, I've got a ship on the port, if we can get to it we can ditch that guy." he spoke aloud as they reached a more densely populated street, reaching out to pull the kid back to a more reasonable pace, "There's too many people here - he'll lose us unless we draw attention to ourselves."

As they pressed through the throngs of humanity and aliens towards the entrance to the port, Max had something else to say.

"Speaking of drawing attention - what happened?"

@Reddsentinel

 

[Ejanni Aodh]

Ejanni was almost home free. He could almost smell the freedom on the air has he made his way through the choked widening streets as the starport came in view. Either that, or it was the smell of the unwashed masses about him he smelt. Either way, he was almost off of Nar Shaddaa, and almost free from the looming shadow of the bounty hunter. The last two hurdles were the very same bounty hunter, and this strange man.

Ejanni listened carefully as the man went on about his ship, and his pointed ears perked up as he voiced aloud the fact that the throngs around him were ample cover. Eyes darting back and forth, Ejanni whispered back.

"Drawing attention? No idea what you're talking about. I pick pocketed him, that's all. You must have me confused with someone else."

Master Jan had always said to not trust strangers immediately, even those who had at first helped you. The man could use the force, that much was obvious, but did that make him trustworthy? Was it possible that this man was a Jedi like Master Jan?

Shaking his head lightly, Ejanni began pushing his way through the crowd at a faster pace, hoping to keep a few bodies between him and the old man. Calling back he said

"Tell me what dock you left your ship and we can meet up there, two are easier to find in a crowd than one right?"

@Nefieslab​

 

[Maxims Tionson]

... no idea huh?

Really?

Did this kid seriously think that he was going to fall for that load of bantha dung? The kid had literally managed to get a Mandalorian, of all people, so riled up that he was hunting them both down. That on it's own could mean that the kid had managed to steal something valuable to the Mando that the kid didn't know the truth value of.

But the bounty hunter had been ranting and raving at some stages about how the kid was the mortal enemy of his people and only two groups really fell into that category. Firstly was the Sith; Mandalorians hated the Sith with such a passion that even Jedi couldn't say they were as antagonistic towards Sith as the Mandalorians were.

Secondly? Jedi themselves.

"Alright kid we can talk about your terrible lying skills when we get to the ship." he declared with a small shrug, "Probably not the time for a conversation about this kind of thing anyway. Docking bay D24!"

He broke away from the kid as he made his way around to the docking bay through a shortcut he knew of from walking this same path many times before. The kid might get there before him if he was lucky but Max's ship was locked down tight and without the access codes it wasn't moving.

However even as he moved he could feel something different in the crowd.

A sharp, focused, malicious intent that was approaching. The Mandalorian was following them into the crowd and pushing his way through harshly. He hadn't caught sight of either of them yet but Force damn did this guy have an iron rod up his backside about him and the kid.

@Reddsentinel

 

[Ejanni Aodh]

The older man had acquiesced far easier than Ejanni anticipated. He almost let the surprise show on his face as he stole away into the crowd around him, disappearing from the old mans sight. Letting a wry smile cross his face, Ejanni began moving towards Docking Bay 2, a notable spot for it's large spice-runners and freighters. If Ejanni could sneak onto one of those, then he'd be home free!...well as free as one could get in the Outer Rim.

Without looking back Ejanni began moving surreptitiously through the crowd. Finding larger aliens or groups to hide behind and shadow for meters at a time. Every now and again he caught sight of a familiar armored figure, shoving and cursing his way through the crowd as he hunted him down.

His heartbeat quickening, Ejanni began moving at a faster pace, stealing into shadows and falling in line with others as Docking Bay 2 began to appear over the heads of those ahead of him. He just needed a little more time.

@Nefieslab​

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Cursing himself, Max knew that the bounty hunter was not going his way. Instead he seemed to be doggedly following the direction he thought the kid was going in. Part of him wanted to just get to his ship and forget the kid. It seemed like there had been a mistake and the kid was nothing even close to a Jedi but that this was nothing he could listen to.

Even in his own mind he refused to accept that it might be an option for him.

Instead he reached a taxi rank and waited impatiently in line for a few seconds until he spotted just the right opportunity. When the driver got out to help a passenger with their bags, Max moved. Dashing forwards, he leaped over the edge of the speeder's passenger side door and grabbed the controls in the driver's seat.

He felt bad about stealing but he was going to give it back later so he didn't let it distract him as he flew off in the speeder. He flew low, the repulsors knocking over the bounty hunter as Max caught sight of the kid not too far from the bounty hunter. Max opened the passenger side door beside the kid.

"Get in the speeder or start learning how to out-fight a mando, kid." he barked out as he glanced over his shoulder at the Bounty hunter, who had drawn a vibroblade and was now charging forwards after them, "Time to decide if you trust me or him more kid! Get in!"

@Reddsentinel