Change of Plans

[Veloster Turbo]

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Planet: Ryloth
City: Lessu
Location: Outer Rim Territories
Coordinates: R-17

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Theme Song​

Khelsea sat in the pilot's chair as her ship pulled out of hyperspace. The trip had been pleasant, and Khelsea had gotten to know Aluae on a more personal level, and even if it was just small talk Khelsea felt like the two of them got along well. The planet Ryloth now loomed in front of her, and although she loved visiting different planets and seeing new things, Khelsea wasn't too keen on staying on Ryloth. She wasn't sure how Aluae felt about the planet, but the harsh climate combined with the unsavory nature of the planet's slave trade made Khelsea eager to complete the task assigned to her and Aluae as quickly as possible. Their mission was to find the dealer which supplied the Jedi Order with ryll - a weak form on spice used as an ingredient to create a number of medicines used throughout the galaxy. It was simple enough, they were to negotiate a new deal since the previous contract had expired, and Khelsea was given a significant number of credits to pay the supplier as either a down payment or a token of good will, depending on how negotiations went.

Lessu was one of the planet's two capitals, and it was there where Khelsea directed her ship towards. The Jedi contact should be less than half an hour's walk from the spaceport, and landing her ship Khelsea grabbed everything she needed and hopped out onto the solid pavement of the hangar. She waited for Aluae to join her, and checking her map Khelsea began traveling towards the north-east. The city was located in an arid climate with lengthy dry spells, and Khelsea dressed accordingly. She wore a semi-formal pair of skorts with a formal looking black lace tube top and an unbuttoned white vest over top. They were there to do business on behalf of the Jedi Order, so Khelsea's semi-formal outfit which fit their 'business' theme. As far as her outfit went, it left her stomach and most of her legs exposed, leaving no room to conceal a lightsaber. Khelsea remedied this problem by carrying her lightsaber inside her purse, and kept a concealable blaster as well. It wasn't a mission where combat was expected, but as she had learned, it was better to be safe than sorry. Preparation was one of the most important things before a mission, and Khelsea was as prepared as she could be. The rest would be left to her and Aluae's ability to improvise and think on the spot.

As they stepped out of the spaceport's main doors and into the heat, Khelsea put her glareshades on to protect her eyes from the bright environment. She turned her head to make eye contact with Aluae. "Well, here we go. Let's aim to be off the planet within three hours?"

 

[Sierrien]

Aluae had to admit, she really admired Khelsea. She was a strong woman, older than Aluae, had her own starship and always seemed so sure of herself. Aluae thought she could learn a lot from the woman- even if she was perhaps exaggerating Khelsea's good qualities or ignoring any bad ones she seemed to have. The way she looked at Khelsea was similar to how a younger girl would look up to a role model, or perhaps to a movie star. It was all smiles and Khelsea could do no wrong. Aluae being a bit of an airhead would have certainly helped lead to this; even as they made small talk and she tried to hide it by being as nonchalant as possible - she was pretty sure she seemed nervous anyways. But they still had pleasant conversation as they had made the trek through hyperspace to this planet of Ryloth - yet another planet she had never been to. She had actually done her homework this time and learned at least a bit about the planet, though.

It was despicable. Not only was the climate hot and arid, but it was full of slavers. That was what truly made her despise it; that anyone could take another sentient being and sell it to be a servant for someone else. It made her blood run hot just thinking about it; she wanted to petition the Jedi to come here in force and take the slavers down. That would.. likely never work, though. Even if they managed to take down all of the slavers, more would more than likely just rise up to take their place. There was simply too much money in it for a galaxy that allowed it; the Jedi would have to somehow simultaneously shut down most of the slave trade in every part of the galaxy for it to have a hope of sticking. And even Aluae had to admit that such a thought was incredibly naive. Seeing that they were coming up on the planet, Aluae moved back in to the small living area of Khelsea's amazing little ship to get changed in to what she was now deeming her 'mission clothes'. Her normal outfit was much more suited to training and fighting, but it didn't exactly make her look respectable. So she had been forced to spend some of her hard-earned credits on a new outfit - and she wasn't very sad about that, to be honest. She loved new clothes!

She had decided on a white dress that left her arms free, as it had a standard tank style top. It also had a loose skirt portion, and only went partway down her thighs before ending. She was only in a pair of tights so that no one would be able to stare at her legs, as that might have made her rather uncomfortable on a slaver planet. It made her look a fair amount more on the 'cute' side than 'professional', but she was a bit young to be looking truly professional anyways. It would also not hinder her motions if they were to get in a fight either, which was not expected but of course still possible. She had a white headband keeping her hair out of her face, and there was a cute white belt around her hips as well - which she had initially clipped her lightsaber to until she had seen Khelsea wasn't wearing hers, and then inquired as to why. Seeing the logic then behind the other woman's actions once Khelsea explained it to her, she would put her lightsaber instead in to her own purse before leaving the ship.

Finally they were leaving the ship on their way to the rendezvous point with their contact, but it wasn't until they stepped out of the spaceport that she would really feel the heat. Well, she was certainly glad she had picked white for this, but damn was it bright! She looked towards Khelsea as the woman spoke - damn, were those glareshades? That was such an incredibly good idea. She needed to get rich so that she could buy things like that and actually be prepared. Of course, then she'd also have to plan ahead.. she wasn't very good at that either. Still, she smiled warmly and nodded. Three hours sounded like more than enough time to her. "Agreed. I'd rather not be here any longer than we have to. And I'm hoping we don't run in to any slavers.. might be hard to explain my fist accidentally breaking some noses!"

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Khelsea playfully glared at the younger girl as she joked about executing her own version of justice if she found slavers. "Hey. No punching people, you're supposed to act as cute as you look. Why are you wearing tights anyways? I guess it's breathable material so it's not too hot?" As far as Khelsea knew, Aluae was more of an instinctual person than a thinking person, but it wasn't a bad trait at all. It was admirable, since she would always act on what she believed was right. However, knowing when to exercise patience would also be a valuable tool to have. Even with her light outfit, Khelsea noticed her perspiration within a few minutes. It was a hot city compared to what Khelsea was used to, and thankfully the mission didn't require her to wear protective clothing and she hadn't been stupid enough to dress herself in her armor.

The two female Jedi made their way through a larger street, and turned into a marketplace as the directions had indicated. Walking through the open stalls, Khelsea saw everything from clothing to organs of different species to drugs and weapons. As far as she was concerned, almost anything someone could purchase on Ryloth could be found here. Her guess hadn't been far off, as even slaves and illegally modded weapons could be acquired in the marketplace. You just had to know the right contacts and they would be able to bring you into several buildings where the goods were being stored. Khelsea stood still for a second, checking her directions on the chronometer worn on her wrist, which had a computer integrated with communications systems as well as maps and several other things. Right as she was looking up she felt an unfamiliar arm around her shoulders and turned quickly to look into the face of an elder human male. He looked perversely at her and as he tried to gently nudge her forward to go with him Khelsea ducked under his arm and glared. "What are you doing?" The man responded by telling her she's never going to get any clients with her attitude, spat at her feet, and walked away. Moments later, Khelsea realized she had stopped in front of what looked to be a prostitution stand. The man must have mistaken her for a worker, despite her being in possession of a suitcase and a purse. Who knew what the local custom was in Lessu, either way, Khelsea grimaced and rubbed the back of her neck with her arm where the man's skin had contacted hers. It felt disgusting and gross to be thought of in that way, especially by an old man.

She made a face at Aluae and they moved away from the stall before any more unfortunate misunderstandings occurred. Finally undisturbed, Khelsea quickly figured out the rest of the directions and they moved through the marketplace again. Passing a butcher, Khelsea noticed that the local cuts of meat looked more or less the same as the ones found on Naboo, but that was likely because raw meat was generally the same color. Regardless, Khelsea wasn't too familiar with Ryloth's fauna. Finally exiting the marketplace, Khelsea brought up the misunderstanding that had just happened. "Well, that was embarrassing..." The girls continued walking, and made their way up a set of spiraling stairs towards the heart of the city.

 

[Sierrien]

Aluae stuck her tongue out at Khelsea for calling her cute - which only made her look even more cute, of course. She looked down at her tights as they were mentioned, then back towards Khelsea. "Well, I didn't want to walk around on a slaver world with bare legs, and have all these creeps staring at me.." She had thought it through! A little bit, at least. They started to move again, soon enough finding themselves in a black market, which was selling all kinds of odd things. Things she had never seen before. All kinds of weapons, different foods, clothing, armor - it was all new to her. And yet she quickly found that were things she wanted - a rather cute outfit caught her eye, and she bit at her bottom lip as she considered going in to buy it. Khelsea stopped and pulled out her map, and Aluae told her she'd be right back, before ducking in to the building for a quick 'discussion' about the price of the item. Khelsea continued on, with Aluae not too far behind her and now sporting a back-pack that had whatever she had purchased in it. There was a smile on her face that disappeared as she saw a creepy old man put his arm around Khelsea's shoulders, and then he seemed to.. think she was a prostitute?

Khelsea dealt with the old man at least, and spit on the floor before the two of them moved on out of the black market finally. It had been an interesting time in there, certainly - and Aluae had somehow managed not to punch any slavers. Likely had something to do with Khelsea telling her she shouldn't, and she had figured out that it was likely in her best interests to listen to the older girl. She seemed a lot smarter and wiser than herself, and it was usually better to listen to people who were smarter than you. That's what she had learned, anyways, in her time being alive. So now they were outside, and Khelsea had just mentioned that it had been fairly embarrassing to be mistaken for a prostitute. Well, she had to agree with that. "See, if I didn't have the leggings on, they'd be all thinking the same about me, or some slaver would be trying to snatch me!" She nodded seriously, looking like she might actually be worried about someone trying to snatch her.

They moved on then, following the map that Khels had been smart enough to bring along. It didn't take them too long to move through the city, even with a few pauses to look back and make sure they weren't being followed. She wasn't sure why anyone would follow them anyways, but they might as well check just to be sure. No one was that they could detect, even when Aluae tried sensing with the force. Arriving at their contact point, they quickly discovered that their contact they had come all this way to meet simply wasn't there. Aluae blinked, looking around the building they had just entered. She was mostly just looking for a person and ignoring the general state of the place. She was somewhat of an airhead sometimes, and it tended to show.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Aluae mentioned her leggings as a deterrent to keep creeps away, and Khelsea made a face. As far as she was concerned, it didn't make much of a difference. It was tight fitting, thus it still outlined Aluae's long legs which were a likely attraction for the opposite gender. "It's the same thing as not wearing tights, you were just lucky you stopped walking somewhere else! Besides, I'd figure the other girls are a lot less well dressed... or a lot less dressed...?" As she turned to face the girl, Khelsea couldn't help noticing Aluae's new backpack. "What! You went shopping while I was being harassed? What did you buy anyway?"

As they moved through the city, Khelsea noticed Aluae was keeping an eye on their surroundings. It was something to be commended, since Khelsea usually liked to be alert and aware of anything that happened around her. Aside from the mix up in the market, their trek through the streets of Lessu was uneventful. In fact, they made it all the way to the contact's location without another incident or stoppage. What was surprising was that when they entered, the door was unlocked and as far as she could see and sense, the building was empty. They weren't late, but for whatever reason, the contact was just not where he said he would be.

They waited patiently for over half an hour before Khelsea decided that they couldn't stay there and do nothing indefinitely. The interior of the building was mostly bare, and its two floors were mostly clean. There was no signs of forced entry or conflict, and it wasn't like someone to just forget a massive business deal. "Well, this is strange. Is it possible that something went wrong?" After checking out the window to see if anyone was approaching the building, Khelsea decided it might be best to do a big of investigating. "Let's take a look around, and see if there's anything important like a note left for us?"

 

[Sierrien]

Aluae shifted the backpack and let out a giggle towards Khelsea, nodding sheepishly and even managing a bit of a blush as Khelsea noticed she had been off shopping. "In all fairness, I didn't know you were going to get harassed! Next time, I'll be right there to punch the creeps in the nose!" She grinned fiercely, then pointed a thumb back towards her backpack. "And to that end, I bought a new outfit so I will look more bad ass instead of 'cute', so you can't stop me from punching people!" She looked rather serious about the last point - as though she actually believed that Khelsea had stopped her from punching people solely because she looked 'cute' in the outfit she was currently wearing. Then they were through the city and where they were supposed to meet their contact - who wasn't even there.

So they settled down to wait. After five minutes, Aluae started to pace. She wasn't anxious - no, she looked more bored than worried, actually. This had already been a boring assignment - she had still looked forward to it, because she would get to spend time with Khelsea, but she had hoped they could turn it in to more of a vacation and just get this part of the deal done quickly. Instead, their contact had simply not shown up, and now they were stuck waiting. After twenty minutes and no sign of him, it seemed apparent that something was up, though neither of them had an idea of what that was. "Well. Maybe I'm going to need this new outfit sooner than I thought I would. I'm going to change; give me a yell if anything happens!" With that, the young airhead found a private room, feeling with the force that no one was in it she would quickly change and place her 'cute' outfit in to the backpack.

She returned out in a brand new outfit, which was an entirely new look for her. She thought it made her look rather daring and ready for a fight, though things like this were usually best left to others to judge. So she would strike a pose, her lightsaber strapped to her belt, and smile at Khelsea. "What do you think?" she asked, hoping that she hadn't just wasted what little credits she had previously owned. It likely showed on her face, as well. And then, they were back to business, with Khelsea pointing out that something might have gone wrong and they should search the building for clues, perhaps even a note. So search she did, for all of two minutes before she found a rather obvious note sitting on the counter. She had actually been sitting on it earlier when they were waiting, which was likely the only reason Khelsea hadn't seen it.

Now she blushed a bit, and tried to hide it by grabbing the note and quickly running it over to Khelsea, to put the focus on the note instead of her blushing face. "Khels, look at this!" She let out as she pointed at it. 'It' turned out to be a ransom note, where someone claimed to have the son of the owner of the building they were in - who was obviously the contact they were here to meet, to anyone who wasn't an airhead - and that if they wanted him back, he'd have to bring a large sum of money to meet them. The time stated was in about half an hour, and the location was deep in the seediest, darkest part of Lessu. Full of all kinds of the worst the galaxy had to offer; it was likely their contact would get killed if they really had gone in there alone. Aluae looked towards Khels then, a look that said this note had gone entirely over her head all over her face.

"Do you think this has anything to do with it?"

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Khelsea looked at Aluae’s outfit, and couldn’t contain her smile. It almost seemed rude, since Aluae looked to be serious about changing her outfit to fit her ‘fierce’ personality. But if anything, it might have been even more suggestive than before, which would of course draw unwanted attention. The new outfit showed off her body, outlining her curves and revealing parts of her upper thighs and stomach. It looked good, but Aluae was probably going to get even more stares and head turns than before. In the end, Khelsea just said “you look good, but I think you’re just as eye-catching as before…”

As for where the rebel contact was, it turned out that Aluae was sitting on a ransom note of sorts. They had probably missed him by two or three days at most, judging from the timestamp. It was an unfortunate event, and extremely inconvenient. It was probably risky to contact the Jedi Order over open channels, and they probably didn’t have forces to spare anyways. Khelsea wasn't sure what to do initially, but she was sure that she didn't want to return to the order empty handed so the only option was to meet the ones who were holding the contact ransom. If they wanted money, the Jedi Order had prepared the payment for the shipment alerady. Perhaps that could be put towards the rescue fee, and they'd be able to negotiate a new deal for much cheaper. Khelsea knew that it was mostly wistful thinking, but it was a possibility at the very least.

"I guess we'll have to go now if we want to make the deadline. What do you think? Go and rescue him or leave?" Khelsea gave Aluae the chance to offer her opinion, since she looked a bit confused. There wasn't any time to waste, but at the very least the girl deserved to know what they would be getting into. "It'll probably be dangerous too..." Pending Aluae's approval, they would make their way to the contact point immediately. Khelsea checked the coordinates, and found that it took them back to the market area, which they had passed through on the way. Her guess was that they used a large area so they could hide under cover and observe whoever showed up to exchange money for their hostage...

 

[Sierrien]

Aluae looked down at herself, blinking at khelsea's words. This was eye catching? She supposed it did show off a bit more skin than the last did, and was made tighter as well. However, it also had a nice cape that would cover her from behind and she could use it as a cloak of sorts. She had thought this outfit through at least a little bit, even if it was something of an impulse buy. She was happy with it, and besides that she was glad that khelsea thought it looked good. She would count that as a win.

They had more important things at hand though, and khelsea made a quick explanation that it would be dangerous if they were to go and try to make it to this meeting. Aluae only had to think about it for a moment before nodding firmly. She wasn't one to steer clear of helping someone because it might be dangerous for her. It would most certainly be much more dangerous for their contact and his child if they didn't intervene. They'd be lucky to live through it. So Aluae wouldn't hesitate; she would choose to try and rescue him. "Rescue him. We can handle the danger." She smiled warmly, looking confident of that.

Khelsea pulled up the meet location on her map and then off they went, back to the same market they had already been in - though the market was rather huge, and they weren't all that close to the path they had walked through it in the first place. Instead it would take them through seedier and seedier parts of the market, much more dominated with slavers and gun runners than anything else, with armed thugs watching over each shop so that no one tried to steal anything for fear of being shot. They had made it just a few minutes early, and would quickly see their contact as they themselves moved in to the stall of a greasy looking Rodian. He seemed to be selling mostly slug throwers, though all of them were clearly unloaded except the rifle he was hiding in his lap.

Across the way from them, one of the larger stalls they had seen so far was situated. It had a dozen armed guards and a rather ominous and dark tent set up in the middle as well, which was likely where the leader was waiting for his ransom with the kidnapped child. Their contact had stood out like a sore thumb to them because he was nervously clutching a bag and staring at the tent from in front of another nearby stall, clearly working up his nerve to go in and make the exchange. Willing himself to believe that in turning over the money, they would actually let him and his son go free. Aluae moved in close to khelsea, pretending to be discussing the guns they were 'looking at' in order to whisper to her. "I count... Lots of guards. You weren't kidding about it being dangerous. We need a plan..."

She had basically dragged khelsea in to this because of her own sense of justice; she wasn't sure how the other woman felt about the situation, but she did know that khelsea wasn't about to just leave and make her deal with it one. It wasn't fair at all to Khels, asking her to put her life on the line like this. With a bite of her bottom lip, Aluae shifted slightly and whispered again. "If this is too much for us to handle, we can go back to the ship and find another place to get our supplies from. Just say the word."

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Khelsea was glad that Aluae was so confident. It was similar to the time they had met, when Aluae selflessly jumped in between the Royal Naboo Police Force and a group of terrorists. It was brave, but at the same time Khelsea hoped that the younger girl would show a bit more restraint today. They needed to tread carefully and navigate their way into a position of strength, which would be much easier to negotiate from than a position of weakness.

They walked back into the market, which was exactly the same as it was half an hour ago. Business as usual, which was unsurprising since they were on a world famous for slave trade and other illegal activities. It wasn't good to just assume things without facts, but Khelsea was pretty sure the police force was probably corrupt as well, so the two Jedi weren't going to be getting any help from anyone. As they entered a shadier section of the market, the items for sale changed, and Khelsea could tell that there was much more tension just from the looks on everyone's face. Many people were openly carrying weapons, either as protection or as an unsaid threat.

Khelsea was taking in the situation and noticed immediately the man who looked as out of place as they were. She wasn't sure if Aluae had spotted the man yet, but they needed to intercept him before he put himself into an even worse situation. He was clearly distraught, but the likelihood of getting his son back and walking out alive was little to none. "That's our man. Black shirt. Red pants. In front of the stall with knives on the display." They made it over to him and were just steps away from approaching him when somebody directly behind them spoke. "You know, this probably isn't the place for two young girls to be." As the voice spoke, Khelsea felt a hand with an iron grip hold her in place, and a split second later a man put himself between Khelsea and Aluae, holding them both with one hand. Khelsea looked at the man, and groaned mentally. It was the same guy who had harassed her in the market earlier.

 

[Sierrien]

Aluae shifted her eyes over to the man that had to be their contact. She hadn't noticed him herself somehow, so it was good that Khels had noticed where he was. The other Jedi motioned and they started to make their way over to him, and had actually nearly made it there when there was suddenly an arm around her shoulder with an extremely hard grip. It stopped her forward momentum as well, and she heard a rather lecherous voice speaking about how two young girls probably shouldn't be in this place. He wedged himself in between herself and Khelsea and Aluae's first thought was 'By the Force this man smells disgusting!'. She had to fight to keep from retching, his stench was so revolting, not to mention how he had his gross arm around her shoulders and touching the new clothes she had just bought! Not only that, but as she looked over at him she was surprised to find that she recognized him. This pervert had tried this exact same move on Khelsea earlier! What did he do, walk around trying to feel up girls in the black market or something?

That certainly seemed to be his plan as his hands started to drop, seemingly either going to try and hold them by the hips or make a grab at their rears. Long before his hands made it anywhere near their hips or rears though, Aluae was quick to make him regret letting go of their shoulders. She let out an angry growl as her left foot came up and then stomped her heel down hard on his toes. And then as he made a pained yelp and institutionally shifted in to a bit of a crouch she spun on the spot, the force speeding her motion and leteting her add in a lot of extra momentum as she ended that spin by slamming her right fist as hard as she could right in to his jaw. A bone in her hand actually cracked and fractured with the impact, which sent the lecherous old geezer hard on to his back, out cold and now missing a couple of teeth.

Aluae was seething mad that he would try to make a grab at her rear, clearly, though she was now a little bit regretting what she had just done. Most of it was her hand; it was her primary lightsaber hand and she would have to heal it before it was usable again, which would take considerable time because she wasn't the most skilled at healing. Her left hand came up to hold it against herself as she grimaced, then gave a little shudder and looked towards Khelsea. "I need an emergency shower break." she complained to her friend, while gingerly rubbing her fractured hand and not even mentioning it. Showering off the grossness clearly took precedence to healing her hand.

She would also come to regret it as a small girl punching a man so hard she knocked him out was not something you saw every day, and had drawn quite a bit of attention. Most of the men guarding the drop off point and their contact as well all looked their way - and due to their proximity to the latter, he was seen by all of those guards. They quickly started over towards the trio, their weapons all coming out as they made their way over as well. Since they didn't have too far to go, there wasn't even really time to run away without the guards being able to just shoot them in the back. "Well, it's about time you showed up. Hand it over." One of the guards called out to the contact they had come all this way to meet, beckoning with one hand towards the satchel of credits the man had while his other had a blaster pistol trained on the man.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Khelsea watched as Aluae knocked the old lecher out, and winced as the younger girl broke her hand doing so. As the crowd looked towards them, her heart skipped a beat. Their contact had been noticed, and they were no longer hidden by anonymity. The mission had complicated itself within the last hour, and on top of that Aluae's hand was hurt. Due to their close proximity to the contact, Khelsea and Aluae were slowly ushered towards the leader of the gang.

They were definitely caught up in a sticky situation. They still held the briefcase full of money, which was originally meant for their contact. Even if they could pay their way out of the situation, it would be a failure if they didn't manage to finalize the deal. Besides, Khelsea had planned on using the situation to gain the trust of the higher ranked members in the Jedi Order, and to show that she was capable of completing important tasks without supervision. Now, they were stuck with a briefcase of money and a group of criminals with many weapons ready to fire on them if they decided to make any sudden moves.

After being brought to the leader, Khelsea expressed that her and Aluae had a business proposal for the man they had just detained, and that they were not interested in any sort of trouble. However, things weren't that easy and soon Khelsea had to give up the briefcase of money. They had promised her and Aluae safety in exchange, but Khelsea knew that they had only bought themselves a little bit of extra time by giving up their claim on the credits they carried. As far as their safety was concerned, they would likely be killed as soon as the crime lord decided they were no longer useful.

The two Jedi were marched into a building, down a few levels, and put into a holding cell. The guards locked them in and left, but returned about twenty minutes later with the man who had been their contact. He was locked in a similar cell, across from theirs. From what Khelsea could see, he looked distraught.

 

[Sierrien]

Aluae gave up easily enough with Khelsea, though she was a bit upset about having to hand the briefcase over. Well, they'd get it back, she resolved. Luckily the men had no idea they were Jedi and didn't have the wisdom to search them before depositing them in to their holding cell. What could two girls, one with a broken hand, really do? She was waiting by the bars of the cell when the men brought their contact down as well, concentrating on the Force and bending it to heal her hand. She wasn't going to be healing a break in twenty minutes though, so it was still rather sore and broken when the guards returned and she had to stop so that they wouldn't notice she was doing. They turned and deposited their man in the cell opposite them and Aluae looked towards Khelsea. "Oh, screw this." she let out, before turning and pushing both her hands out. The Force flew out from her powerfully, slamming both of the men hard in to the now closed bars of the opposite holding cell.

One was knocked out, the other merely dazed as Aluae grabbed the lightsaber out of her purse, holding it in her left hand. It was not her primary hand, but she hadn't been foolish enough not to practice with it on the off chance something happened to her good hand. She was certainly glad she had now as she quickly used the lightsaber to cut through the bars of the holding cell, before moving out and aiming a hard boot to the side of the guard's head that was still stirring. Her eyes shifted then to the contact that they had been supposed to meet this whole time. "I'm done with subtlety. Hi, I'm Aluae, this is Khelsea. We're here to get you and your son out of this so we can get down to business."

She shifted her lightsaber on her belt and quickly found a key to the holding cell off the belt of one of the guards, opening it up and waving the man out. "Alright, you stay with Khelsea. I'm going to go kick some ass." She shifted her eyes towards Khels and gave a light nod before she started forward, clearly intent on walking right out of the holding area and simply taking down any thug she encountered until she got to the head honcho, where she could get the child and their money back. It wasn't so much a plan as it was Aluae showing that she had a bit of a temper that would only stretch so far before it broke.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Khelsea jumped to her feet, using the Force to restrain Aluae to the best of her ability. All she needed were a few seconds to try and talk sense into the girl. "Stop. You can't just go out there and cut everyone up, not to mention that your hand's broken." Looking at the cut up holding cell, Khelsea considered the possibilities. "Well, I guess we're going to have to leave now that they know we're not weak and helpless. Let's take a look and figure out where the rest of them are..." Khelsea led the way cautiously out of the room, using the Force to probe and sense where other guards were. They were a fair distance away, but they'd come looking soon since the other guards wouldn't be returning thanks to Aluae. Khelsea decided to sneak out with Aluae and try and force a settlement, but it probably wouldn't be safe to take their contact with them. She briefly went back to let the contact know that they would be back to help, and left to rejoin Aluae who had probed further ahead.

Finding a ventilation shaft, Khelsea suggested that they climb that and exit through that way, assuming it was the same size all the way through and they would be able to fit. Eventually, they made their way out and exited through a backdoor without being noticed. The low security clearly showed how little of a threat they felt the two girls posed. Khelsea jogged lightly to a section of the street and used the Force to jump up onto a balcony which overlooked the building they were held in. It looked small from the outside, but Khelsea knew how deceptive it was and how far underground the building stretched.

As she watched the building through the open windows, she realized something wasn't right. The contact stood in front of the leader of the gang, and he was given what looked to be about half the amount of credits the briefcase had contained. They shook hands and he left without even glancing at the kid. Khelsea glanced at Aluae while thinking out loud. "Uh... I think we just got sold out. And they might be looking for us soon..." In fact, Khelsea could see that the leader was giving instructions and multiple groups of three to four thugs exited the building, moving quickly with a purpose.

 

[Sierrien]

Aluae let out a 'hmph' as Khels used the Force to stop her from storming out, and then tried to talk some sense in to her. Like FUN she couldn't just go start cutting people down! She was pretty sure that counted as an awesome plan, and she was an officionado on awesome plans. Albeit a self-proclaimed one. "Oh fine!" she let out in a fairly broody and upset temper-tantrum voice, before she grew quiet and crept along after Khels. Hey found a ventilation shaft to leave through, though Aluae was also upset about this as it messed up her new clothes.

She continued followed Khels and also used the Force to jump up on to the same balcony, glancing around before crouching and peering through the window. At first she couldn't make any sense of what their contact was doing; had he just sold his child to them or something? Why would they give him money back? And then Khels explained that he had just sold them out and that the thugs would come looking for them soon. "Can I beat them all up now?" she asked, her eyes shifting back towards Khelsea. There was no 'I told you so' in them, but rather just an innocent desire to beat up all the evil jerks and get their credits back. And then beat up their jerk of a client just for good measure. "These jerks deserve it."

And then without waiting for an answer - there was no time as she heard a door under the balcony they were on opening and the footsteps of one of the group of thugs exiting the building. If they talked now, they would be heard. As soon as the door closed Aluae turned and jumped down in to the middle of them, using the Force to buffet her fall. She made a quick spin and slammed her Lightsaber good and hard in to all four of them with her left hand, two on to the back of their heads and two hard in to the temple. All four went down, but two of them required another good hard smash of her metal Saber hilt to knock them out.

She looked up and called up to Khels, then. "Come on, you're missing all the fun!"

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Aluae had jumped ahead again, but Khelsea had grown to both admire and dread her assertiveness. In this case, she had managed to knock out four thugs with just one good hand, which was very impressive. Not wanting to leave her friend on her own against a big group of enemies, Khelsea levitated herself over the balcony and landed lightly on her feet. Sensing movement, Khelsea sprinted ahead of Aluae, launching herself into a flying kick. Strengthened by the Force, Khelsea felt the crunch and heard a few ribs break as she connected solidly into the man's chest, causing him to black out from the pain without even having time to make any noise.

The second thug was surprised for a split second, but had his blaster out and ready to fire very quickly. Having no other alternative, Khelsea used the Force to throw off her assailant's aim, sending the blaster fire wide and high to the left. Using the same technique, Khelsea launched herself into an aerial assault on the shooter, leading with her feet. However, the man had quick reflexes and seeing what she had done to his mate, he spun quickly to the side and brought the hilt of his blaster down on Khelsea as she flew past him. Khelsea winced but made no noise as the attack glanced off her shoulder, tearing the skin and left her with a light laceration. As Khelsea landed, she used the Force to launch herself into the air, avoiding the blaster fire once again and upon landing, Khelsea shoved the man with the Force. Surprised, he flew backwards for a few feet, hitting his head first on the exterior of the building behind him. He connected heavily with a crack, and Khelsea wasn't sure if he was dead or not but she was sure he wouldn't be able to attack her for a lengthy period of time. Just for good measure, she took his blaster as well and signaled for Aluae to hurry.

They had made too much noise, and the other enemies were surely alerted. It was time to go incognito again, and despite knowing that her injury wasn't bad at all, Khelsea felt the urge to check on it. Heading down the next alley, Khelsea hopped up to the rooftops, using several balconies for launching points. There she took in the surroundings, and noticed that their turncoat contact was moving swiftly away, most likely alerted by the sounds of blaster fire and fighting.