No Way Home.

[Arthemise Xius]

The Smuggler's Moon. For all of the years Arthemise had spent exploring the galaxy, this had been, by far, her most terrible adventure. The crowded streets and cantinas were home to many different criminal organizations but one, in particular, scared her the most; the Hutt Cartel. Their 'Great Hunt', an endeavor to wipe the galaxy clean of force-users, had forced her mother to seek protection within the Republic but now Arthemise found herself in the middle of the chase. Just a few days prior a small band of criminals had taken her from the streets of Corellia and brought her to the moon in hopes of collecting a bounty with the Hutts. She had managed to escape them but there was one problem she hadn't considered. She hadn't taken thought as to how she was going to find a way off of Nar Shaddaa and back home to Coruscant. Arthemise wasn't even sure that she would be safe on Coruscant now that the Hutts knew she was out there. For the first time in her life, she felt completely and utterly hopeless...

There was a deep part of her that wanted to surrender; she knew that she couldn't outrun them forever and she had been left with limited resources. The blaster that was strapped to her hip had been busted in her escape and was mostly just for intimidation. It would shoot but often from all different directions, posing a hazard even to herself. Of course, she wasn't entirely sure of how to use it properly anyway and doing so would just draw more unwanted attention. It seemed she couldn't find anywhere to hide without someone watching her; she hardly looked old enough to be wandering the streets alone and no one really took kindly to orphaned beggars which is exactly what she had become. Her long platinum hair was tied loosely in a braid and her clothes, which had previously identified her as the daughter of a wealthy politician, were burnt and torn in her escape. Visible through the tears in her clothes were burns, clearly from a blaster. One, in particular, situated upon her thigh, radiated pain as she ran through the crowds of people.

"You can't outrun me you little thief!"

Arthemise looked back, her eyes meeting the angry Duros who shouted at her as he gave chase, pushing his way through the crowds to catch up to her. In her left hand, she held a handful of credits which she had stolen from his pocket; it was enough to purchase a satisfying meal but not enough to barter a ship off world. She picked up her pace not wanting to come face-to-face with the end of his blaster, shoving people out of her way in an effort to evade him. Just as he was no longer visible and she thought that she was safe, something caught the back of her shirt and nearly pulled her off her feet.

"Where do you think you're going, little miss?" Suddenly her heart beat so hard that it sent a wave of pain through her chest. Arthemise looked up to find an unkempt Barabel male, his fingers wrapped in the collar of her shirt to keep her from running. She recognized him as one of the crew members who had worked aboard the ship that had taken her to Nar Shaddaa. "Forget it! I'm not coming with you!" She shouted her response, drawing her head back as he knelt down to her level. When he was eye-level with her, Arthemise hit him in the forehead with her own as hard as she could.

"Son of a.. That's enough of this shit!" Her cursed, releasing her to hold his head in pain. When she ran, he chased after her. She had managed to thwart the Duros but now it seemed there was much larger fish to fry. There was a sudden panic present in her expression as she continued to push her way through the crowds, changing directions in an attempted to confuse him. Of course, she was much smaller than the Barabel, but with his blaster drawn and the threat of shots fired, it seemed the crowds were more willing to part and let him through.

It felt as though she had been running for miles, but this time she was much too afraid to look behind her for fear he would be closer than before. Every muscle in her body screamed for her to slow down but the thoughts that rushed through her mind and the memories of a few nights prior gave her enough push to keep running; it wasn't going to end like this. She rounded another corner, nearest to a street vendor, and nearly lost her balance before running straight into a wall; at least, it felt like a wall. She fell backward, credits slipping from her sweaty palms and rolling under one of the benches. Her eyes wide and breath heavy, Arthemise looked behind her to see if the Barabel was still there. She could see him making his way through the crowded street after her, but she made no attempt to run. Even if she wanted to, she lacked the energy to continue. Her hand reached for her blaster, stumbling to her feet and aiming it towards the Barabel, giving no regard to the person she had run over in her attempted escape. "D-Don't come any closer or I'll shoot you!" Arthemies stammered, the fear present in her tone. She gave him fair warning, placing a shaky finger on the trigger and watching him for a response. A few pedestrians stepped back out of her line of fire.

@Relent

 

[Camila Shan]

If there was any one place that Camila avoided unless it was positively necessary, it was Nar Shaddaa. Not really due to the normal reasons people avoided the Smuggler's Moon, stuff like drugs, violence, gangs, murder - none of that stuff. It was more for the simple reason that almost every soul on this world would jump her bones to get their hands on the shiny cylindrical tube that sat sequestered in the hidden pocket of her jacket.

All things considered, though, she looked pretty unassuming. Camila was wearing normal street clothes, just a throw-away tee shirt, a pair of old torn up jeans, a fitted leather jacket and some trainers. She had her own business to take care of regarding lightsabers, having acquired an extra one from a Jedi she had murdered on Devaron. He had died quite unceremoniously, Camila pilfering his sacred weapon to at least compensate for the waste of time it had been taking his life.

She had been making her way towards the bounty office when a commotion caught her attention. Some fugly Barabel seemed to be getting into a confrontation with what looked like a young human kid. To Camila, that meant only one of a couple things. Either this kid was a slave who had managed to escape, or she owed somebody money and they had finally caught up with her. Either way, Camila felt obligated to help her. Despite being a Jedi Exile, Camila was willing to help people. Sometimes. When she felt like it.

Audibly laughing against the sudden gasps of surprise from the street denizens as the girl headbutted the Barabel and started running again, Camila pushed her way through the crowd to follow when the running started up again. Camila understood the fight or flight response, but she thought the girl would have had better luck just trying to stand her ground. Running could only get you so far and clearly she wasn't very good at it, as her she'd been caught up with pretty quickly.

Slowing to a halt as she heard the girl yelling, Camila slipped into a side alley that was adjacent to the standoff. The few straggling onlookers were to focused on the drawn blasters to notice her there, and she had a plan to help the girl. Quietly reaching out with the force, Camila drew power into herself and unleashed a hard force push directly into the Barabel's chest. Since he wasn't expecting it by any means, he was hit with the full force and knocked back over ten meters. He slammed hard into the duracrete wall of a building, falling to the ground with a heavy thud, blood dripping softly from the corners of his mouth.

Reaching out again with the force, Camila used telepathy to brush against the young girls mind. Discretion was the better part of valor here, shouting would only draw the attention of any pursuers still left.

"The alley to your right," She said. The words would whisper across Arthemise's mind, leaving as quickly as they came. "I can help you get out of sight, but you'll have to trust me."

Camila wouldn't linger in the alley long. The girl would either come or she wouldn't, that was up to her. Camila wasn't still going to be around in a few minutes when some Enforcers showed up to investigate rumors of force usage. Should the girl follow, Camila would head further down the alley, taking the first turn she could find until they made distance from the scene.

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Arthemise Xius]

Arthemise struggled to steady her aim, hands shaking as the Barabel pushed his way through the crowd, closing the distance between them. Her finger trembled on the trigger, afraid that if she fired on him the broken blaster may backfire and hit someone else instead. By now the idea of staying hidden was thrown entirely out of the window, a crowd was gathering the watch the confrontation but no one seemed interested to stop them. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to get herself out of this mess; every muscle in her body was weak from overexertion and she doubted she'd be able to outrun him much longer.

Just as the beast was about to barrel into her he was thrown backward with incredible force. A few onlookers moved out of his way, watching in bewilderment as he met with a duracrete wall. She looked down to the blaster in her hands in a panic, wondering if she had pulled the trigger in error but she hadn't. Arthemise wasn't sure who or what had thrown him away from her; it seemed to be an invisible force and as much as she tried, she couldn't wrap her head around it. Whatever it had been seemed to have startled him just as much as it had startled her and he made little effort to stand giving her an opportunity to disappear.

While most of the attention was drawn to her assailant, her eyes scanned the surroundings for the perfect escape route; anywhere that would allow her to slip silently away from the scene. Of course, she wasn't naive enough to think that by escaping now their confrontation wouldn't bring more attention later on; after this, there was no way she was going to pass under the radar. Her moment of panic may well have spelled doom for her plans of escaping the moon.

"The alley to your right." Her attention instinctively moved to the darkened alleyway, but the voice startled her. It was like a whisper in her mind that was not her own and, for a moment, Arthemise felt another surge of adrenaline rush through her. "I can help you get out of sight, but you'll have to trust me." She shivered as the voice brushed across her mind again, alien to her own thoughts. She glanced to the Barabel and the slowly growing crowd of onlookers again. They were still distracted by the earlier events but she was running out of time; soon they would be looking to her and she wouldn't be able to run.

Arthemise tucked her blaster into the waist of her pants, taking a few steps towards the entrance to the alley to judge if anyone was watching her. When she felt safe enough to make her disappearance, she bolted towards the cover of darkness, pursuing a shadowed figure around a few corners before catching up to her. There was doubt in the back of her mind as to whether she should trust the woman or not but Arthemise felt an unspoken connection, even before she caught a glimpse of her face. This wasn't anyone she recognized and still, she felt compelled to trust her.

"Slow down!" She huffed, pushing her muscles to keep pace with Camila. "What happened back there? Who are you?" Arthemise glanced backward as they continued away from the scene, ensuring no one had followed them.

@Relent

 

[Camila Shan]

Camila made no attempt to make it easy to follow her through the darkness of the Nar Shaddaa alleyways. If this young girl was going to receive her aide, she was going to have to earn it. Not that Camila was particularly cruel or going out of her way to be so, it was more of a… test. If this girl deserved to be rescued she would push herself to keep up. If she didn’t, she’d fall behind and Camila would not look back.

With a vague idea of where she was going, Camila let the force guide her path. Planning and direction gave way to instinct and before long she was far and away from the scene - and the young one had managed to keep in lock step the whole way, it seemed. Promising.

Heeding the young girls exclamation, Camila slowed down to a meandering walk, confident enough that they’d gained enough distance for now. Raising an eyebrow at Arthemise’s first question, Camila looked at her somewhat.. Judgingly. “What do you mean what happened?” She asked, putting her hands on her hips. “I saved your ass, that’s what happened.”

Pulling a cigarette out of her jacket, Camila lit it and pointed her finger idly towards Arthemise. ”The more prudent question you should be asking is why.” Taking a long drag, Camila ashed her cigarette with a flick of her thumb. ”My name is Camila. What’s yours?” She gave the girl little time to answer before continuing. “You can stop looking around, no one has followed us.” Camila said matter-of-factly. “Your average Smuggler’s Moon goon can’t run any further than he is tall without getting more winded than a Hutt climbing stairs.”

Looking around, Camila spotted a hole-in-the-wall bar that looked skeezy enough that they could blend in unnoticed. On a planet filled with aliens, criminals and drug addicts, two human girls was hardly enough to attract attention. Hopefully, anyway.

"Come on, we can duck in there for a minute and you can catch your breath." She said, walking towards the bar. "And you can tell me what exactly is going on that you have thugs chasing you through the streets."

Camila didn't expect the girl to suddenly decide to stop following her, assuming curiosity alone was enough of a reason to stick around at least for a little bit. If she did bolt now that she was in relative safety, Cami wouldn't chase after her either. She'd probably end up in the exact same situation she had just found herself in only the next time, Arthemise probably wouldn't have an ex-Jedi shadow around to save her skin.

Hopefully she was smart enough to see that.

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Arthemise Xius]

It was clear from the expression on Camila's face that she was above answering what she deemed to be stupid questions. What she had really been asking was how the woman had managed to throw the corpulent Barabel across the street without so much as touching him; Arthemise was sure any normal person would have wondered the same. The sudden attack hadn't only surprised her, but an entire crowd of onlookers. Surely the local authorities would be dealing with a panic surrounding the incident. Of course, Arthemise was appreciative of the woman's help and decided the save the rest of her 'stupid questions' for a later time. Whatever Camila had done, it was obvious that she was a force to be reckoned with and Arthemise really didn't want to wind up on her bad side.

For the remainder of their journey, she was compliant, remaining silent except to answer Camila's statements. It provided her an opportunity to observe the woman who had saved her to determine who her motives may have been. She seemed too pretty to be a criminal and she wondered for a moment if Camila may have been sent by the Republic to retrieve her. It had been almost a week since she had been taken from Corellia and she was almost positive her mother would have an entire army of men out looking for her. Still, there was something about the way that the dark-haired female presented herself that led Arthemise to believe she wasn't a diplomat or even a Republic soldier. So, who was she?

It was more curiosity than trust that led her to follow the woman into the bar, sticking close to her side. Contrary to Camila's thinking, Arthemise worried that two younger women wandering around the slums of Nar Shaddaa would only bring more attention. "I don't mean to sound rude, but why does it matter?" She replied, pushing open the door to the establishment. She was immediately hit with the smell of sweat and alcohol, the music loud enough to drown out her own thoughts.

Ensuring she wouldn't lose her new friend in the crowds, Arthemise led them to a booth that was nestled in the far corner. The faux leather seats were worn from use and the wooden table that separated her from Camila was carved full of names, but it was comfortable. She crossed her feet and leaned back against the wall, watching Camila cautiously.

"It's all about politics." Arthemise had practiced this lie over and over again, in case she would need to explain her situation to someone. The bounty available on force-users was astronomical compared to the average man's salary which was enough incentive for just about anyone to turn her in. "My mother is a diplomat who works closely with the Republic. The men who brought me here from Corellia assumed that the Cartel would pay big credits for inside information. Fortunately for me, they never made it that far." Her left index finger traced one of the names carved into the wooden table, keeping her eyes in her lap to avoid giving away her lie.

@Relent

 

[Camila Shan]

“I guess it doesn’t,” she said as they entered the bar. Of course, Camila respected the guardedness. Giving away free information was usually a recipe for disaster, but that wasn’t a lesson Camila felt like teaching now. “But that was sort of your opportunity to decide what I was gonna call you. If you don’t want someone to know, use a fake name. Makes you seem less suspicious.”

Eyeing Arthemise intently as they maneuvered towards a booth and sat down, Camila nodded knowingly as if she had discovered something she’d already knew. “So I guess I’ll just call you Bubbles.”

Camila sat and listened to what Arthemise was willing to tell her, nodding sagely as the girl gave her story – like she understood her plight and identified with her unfortunate situation. In truth, the words themselves sort of slipped into one ear and out the other. They were not the important part here, they usually never were.

As was common for Camila, she fell back onto her Shadow training when she wanted to attain real information about someone she was not familiar with. Words were easy to fabricate, trying to glean intention usually required you to focus on things much more intrinsic and minute. Simply letting people talk was usually the easiest way to do it.

It didn’t take much to figure out Arthemise. She was almost forcibly avoiding eye contact, which everyone knows is one of the biggest tell-tale signs that someone is lying.. Or at least avoiding telling the whole truth. Fingers tracing lines in the table idly as she spoke probably meant her words were rehearsed. Original thoughts usually did not flow so… intently, especially with self-distraction.

“If you want to make it off this rock alive or not live out the rest of your days in Hutt chains, I’d probably just tell me the truth.” Camila said quietly, but with emphasis. “I can help you avoid both. This planet is not.. Safe for people like us.”

Camila let her last words hang, her eyes leveled on where Arthemise’s would be if the girl should be looking at her. The Force was easy to feel in those who did not attempt to hide it, although this girl’s was faint...raw. Camila doubted she’d ever been trained, and wondered if she was even aware of what she was.

“You won’t have to run anymore. But I will not waste my time with liars.”

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Arthemise Xius]

It was tragically obvious that Arthemise did not possess the talent to lie. Her body language deceived her and Camila seemed far too wise. If she tried to elaborate on her story, even if she could manage to maintain eye contact, she doubted the woman would believe her. There seemed little point in keeping the truth from Camila at this point; either route she took, there was a risk she'd wind up imprisoned by the Cartel. If this woman saw through her lies and decided to leave her behind, Arthemise would be stuck on the run; taking a risk and confessing the truth about her situation wouldn't necessarily put her at any more of a predicament than she already was.

"Fine," she looked up towards Camila, crossing her arms over her chest. "I wasn't lying when I told you that my mother is a Republic Diplomat, but that's not why I'm on Nar Shaddaa." Her voice lowered and she leaned over the table to keep their conversation from being overheard. Despite her even tone of voice, there was a hint of panic in her eyes as she watched Camila for her response. "The Barabel you saw chasing me took me from Corellia; he was looking to collect a bounty with the Hutts. Something about me being a force-user. Though, I wouldn't necessarily use that terminology as I'm not even positive what the Force is."

Arthemise leaned back in her seat, letting her elbows hit the table and resuming a more relaxed position. "Besides, what's so bad about being a force-user anyway? What do the Hutts even want with me? I'm not special." She went back to tracing the lines on the wooden table, clearly frustrated by the turn of events. She was doubtful that she'd make it off of Nar Shaddaa alive unless the Republic sent troops looking for her. Her eyes moved away from Camila, her face wrinkled in an angry expression as she let her thoughts overrun her mind.

 

[Camila Shan]

Camila's gaze softened considerably as Arthemise told her the truth, emotion pouring out of the young girl like someone flipped open the flood gates. Sometimes Cami forgot how easy her childhood had been. She'd never known anything other than the Force, being raised within the Order since she was an infant. There was never any confusion, no misunderstanding of what it meant to be able to draw upon it. She suddenly felt a tinge of pity for Arthemise, which was rare for Cami.

"There's nothing bad about being a force user," she said bluntly. "It's a gift and you should be proud of it." Camila paused for a moment, debating on what to say next. She supposed being straight forward was probably for the best. "And the Hutts want you for one of two reasons. Either A: They're going to exploit your abilities and turn you into a slave to do their dirty work, or B: they'll do what they usually do with us forcers and simply kill you."

Shrugging her shoulders, Cami took a cigarette out of her jacket and lit it. Smoking was probably the only negative habit Cami had, but she just never found herself able to quit. She figured she was going to die young anyway, why not enjoy stuff that was bad for you while you could. "I can get us off this rock, shouldn't be too hard. We just gotta hope that none of your friends have managed to figure out which way we went."

Cami pulled out a handheld commlink that was able to send text messages, contacting someone she trusted to get a ship ready that could do hyperspeed. "So what do you say kid, you coming or not?"

@MatureContentWarningx

 

[Arthemise Xius]

Arthemise wasn't quite sure what it meant to be a force-user, only that it had become a feared trait preceding the war. She had become familiar with the Jedi Order and their involvement but wasn't sure of their purpose; it seemed that their internal conflict, whatever it might have been, had caused devastation within the Republic. Because of this, Arthemise had always assumed they were a disreputable organization and hadn't blamed her mother for refusing their offer to train her within their Order. Beyond that, she had no idea what Camila had meant when she had said it was a gift to be proud of.

"I don't want to stay here but where would we go?" She ran a hand through her hair, her thoughts conflicted. She wanted to trust Camila but there was still a part of her that wondered what the risks would be. Surely, her help would come at a cost. Her eyes lifted back to Camila, studying her as she puffed her cigarette. "Would you take me home to Coruscant or somewhere else?"

Her eyes shifted to the entrance of the bar at the mention of being followed, reassuring herself that they were still alone. Injured and hungry, she was in no condition for another confrontation and running was no longer an option. Each muscle in her body screamed from overexertion but it had been a determination to survive that had kept her from collapsing. "By the way, do you really think they could have tracked us through that alley?" Her attention returned to Camila, expression soft but full of worry.

 

[Camila Shan]

"There's nothing for you on Coruscant." Camila said flatly. "I know where we would go. It's safe there and you'd be with people like us." Cami refrained from being any more specific than that, already taking the effort to lower her voice as she spoke. While the place they were seemed innocent and nondescript enough, she knew better than to truly trust any one or anything on Nar Shaddaa. Hutts had their slimy nubs into everything, even when you didn't know it.

"You'd be surprised what Hutt enforcers are capable of finding," she said in response to Arthemise's last question. "Figure you'd have at least figured that one out by now."

Rolling her eyes, Cami felt her com vibrate. Her contact had the ship ready and wasn't far from where they were now. Stashing the device back into her pocket, Cami cocked her head towards the door. There was no sense in lingering any longer. "That's us, kid. Time to get."

They'd been laying low for a good bit now and hadn't been found yet, so either they weren't going to be found or the door was about to be kicked in. Deciding to take her chances, Cami slid from the booth and headed towards the door.

She hadn't made it more than five steps when she saw the door to the cantina fly inward, knocking over some poor Twi'lek guy sitting at one of the tables. The imposing figure of a Barabel strode through the now battered threshold, holding a rather gnarly looking vibro-ax in his scaly hands. Apparently he hadn't taken the hint earlier and died. Would have spared him the inevitable pain he was about to endure at the hands of Camila and - hopefully - Arthemise.

The barabel seemed to be alone, that was a mistake. Probably looking to salvage some scrap of dignity back from seemingly having his ass kicked by a teenage girl. Obviously Camila wasn't going to let that happen. "Gonna have to fight him." She said under her breath. They didn't really have a choice, he was standing in front of the only feasible exit.

Nothing could ever go the easy way. Not even once.

 

[Arthemise Xius]

Arthemise wasn't really partial to the idea of trusting Camila. She hadn't known her for more than a couple of minutes and she wasn't entirely open about where she had planned to take her. Of course, she wanted to believe that Camila would take her somewhere safe, but there was a shadow of doubt that rested like a heavy burden on her shoulders. However, she was at least smart enough to realize that she didn't have much of a choice. It was possible that she'd be able to outrun the Barabel for a while longer, but eventually, he would find her and turn her in. Camila was right to assume that, if they stayed on Nar Shaddaa, her fate was certain; at least in trusting her, she had a chance at survival.

"Can you at least tell me where we are going?" Arthemise stood to follow Camila out of the cantina, but the words had barely left her mouth when the front door flew open. Her attention focused in on the Barabel as he marched inside, a vibro-axe rested on his shoulder. She pressed herself close to Camila, her stomach twisted in knots as she waited for him to spot her. With her platinum hair, it wouldn't be hard. When his eyes focused on them, she took in a sharp breath of air.

"There you are, you scrawny brat!" He turned to face them, already in a defensive stance. He pointed a scaled finger towards Camila, his expression wrinkled in anger. "And who is this bitch?" The Barabel shouted as he closed the distance between them. The Cantina had fallen silent as the crowd all turned to watch the confrontation.

Arthemise didn't want to take her eyes off of the ruffian for fear he'd strike at her, but she couldn't help but look up towards Camila for instruction. She wasn't sure what needed to be done and knew that the woman shouldn't use the Force for fear of drawing more attention. Her eyes wide in fear, the only thing she could think to do was to reach for the pocket knife kept in the cuff of her boot. Arthemise bent down to retrieve it, concealing it at her side in case she would need it.

 

[Camila Shan]

“If we make it out, we’re going to Prakith.” Cami said under her breath, her mind cranking its gears endlessly in an attempt to contrive some sort of plan of action to get rid of the massive wall of barabel in front of them.

She hadn’t really wanted to tell her outright, but Cami’s conscience overrode her sense of paranoid secrecy. If for whatever reason she wasn’t able to make it out of here alive and Arthemise was, the girl could at least know where should could go to be safe.

Camila knew that using the force would be both the easiest and least intelligent way to dispatch the giant lizard. On one hand, she could end the engagement very quickly – but on the other, it’d likely garner way too much attention from everyone around and they’d be in a worse spot than they were right now. The price for a lightsaber was still sky high on the Smuggler’s Moon and Cami wasn’t particularly interested in being murdered so some Cartel goon could buy a new totally sick racing swoop bike.

Out of the corner of her eye Cami saw someone standing near the bar with a vibrosword dangling off their hip. Her mind clicked and she got an idea. “Throw me your weapon.” She said firmly, applying the force to the man’s mind in the old fashioned Jedi way. Of course, as an Exile, Cami was a little bit more.. assertive with her application. The weak willed individual complied instantly, tossing Cami his weapon without much as a blink or a second thought.

Using her off hand, Cami nudged Arthemise so that she would stand directly behind her. It was unlikely the girl would be much help in a frontal assault, but perhaps if she distracted the lizard Arthe could catch him by surprise. Regardless, she wanted to make it known that to get to the girl, he’d have to go through Cami.

“Come on then, you oversized handbag. Do your worst.”

The Barabel didn’t take kindly to Cami’s insults and lunged at her with an angry hiss-roar, swinging his weapon in a heavy handed downward chop. Cami would sidestep his obvious attack and end up on the Barabel’s left side, using her sword to take a chunk out of his massive thigh.

Hopefully Arthemise would be able to follow up. Cami didn’t know how long she could last in such close quarters against a being so much more massive than she was.

 

[Arthemise Xius]

The ruffian roared as the blade bit deep into his flesh, the pain nearly forcing him to his knees in front of Camila. He was exhausted from the chase, but the promise of reward kept him on his feet. The Cartel would spare no expense to seize a force-sensitive, even one as young as Arthemise who hadn't yet made ties with the Jedi Order or their exiled forces. If she wasn't killed, the Hutts could manipulate her to their own advantage. Arthemise was a weapon, she just hadn't come to realize that yet.

"You can run, but I'll never stop chasing you." He snarled, his eyes directed to Arthemise who still took cover behind Camila. "I'll kill your friend and then you'll be lucky if the Hutts don't kill you. Stupid little worm." The Barabel struck at Camila with his axe aimed at her shoulder, pure hatred behind the force of his attack. His aim was to take out the older woman first and leave Arthemise defenseless, but without Camila there was no hope of her finding her way to Prakith.

"No!" She stepped out from behind Camila, raising her voice to the Barabel. With the blade in her left hand, she pointed it upwards to catch his forearm as his axe came down towards them. The small blade cut his attack as it bit into his muscle, causing him to release the weapon before it hit Camila. "You'll be lucky if we decide to leave you alive." She spat the words like hot venom as he clutched his arm, crimson blood soaking his hands.

The axe rested upon the floor and the Barabel took a step backwards to decide his next move. It wasn't practical to continue his advance, but he wasn't prepared to run either. Creating some distance would give him enough time to decide how to take back to the advantage.