Posers (Jedi)

[Sisk_Renelo]

KWILAAN SPACEPORT
NABOO
1627 HOURS
QUIET SPEECH COMMON ROOM​

Vin sat back in his seat, the holographic layout of the Kwilaan Spaceport spread out in front of him on the hologrpahic pad that dominated the center of the room. Several areas were highlighted in red lights, standing out in stark contrast from the passive blue that dominated the rest. He sighed slightly, and adjusted the bantha hide jacket he wore over the loose fitting red shirt and tan pants. His knee high boots were a dark brown, the same as his jacket, and made from the same material. At the small of his back his lightsaber sat disguised, various odds and ends making it look like nothing but a decorative prize and disguising its true purpose. On his thighs sat two heavy blaster pistols hung in low slung holsters, and a vibroblade hung prominently from his belt. He'd combed his hair in a rakish style, hoping to complete the transformation from Jedi to devil-may-care scoundrel.

"According to the most accurate intelligence Naboo Intelligence can give us, these are the areas most likely associated with the slaver ring. It could be one, it could be all, but it doesn't change the objective. Shut them down." He spoke plainly and at a steady pace, allowing his words to sink into the two across from him. He'd never worked with these two Knights before, but they had come recommended from their fellow Jedi and therefore Vin had allowed them to accompany him on his mission. And even if this turned out to be as simple as he hoped, he would never miss a chance to teach. Part of a Jedi's life was to continuously learn from all situations and challenges, constantly bettering themselves to serve the galaxy as whole. With a quick look at the two women across from him, he continued, his Corellian accent giving his voice a hard edge. "We're to do this by any means necessary, as Naboo Security doesn't have the manpower or resources to shut them down. As fits the code, I would prefer to do it nonviolently, but sometimes that is not possible."

His hand waved through the image, and the city wavered slightly before converting to a closer view of the spaceport. With a few motions of his hand, he highlighted a storage room just off the main concourse. "If things go badly and we get separated, we meet here at the fallback point." With another wave, a route highlighted from the fallback point back to the Quiet Speech. "If the Force wills it, we turn in the heads of the slavers to the Naboo Security Forces, and make sure the slaves are given the chance of a better life." He stood smoothly, his head turning from one of the girls to the other. "Things might get... unsavory. I need to know that you'll be able to watch and not interfere until I give the word. It will be difficult, I assure you, but being willing to stand by for a moment might mean the life of a thousand others."

 

[Mistress]

The whole ordeal stole Lutomi's thoughts back to T'Sadai, the youngling she rescued from the slave traders and from the Sith Executioner Xanthus, not long ago. Lutomi spent half her time retrieving the child after Xanthus attempted to derange her mind, and the other half convincing Xanthus to leave the planet with its people further unharmed. It was odd, the outcome. The Force had cried out to her that this man is redeemable. Xanthus ultimately chose to leave after he learned that Lutomi's sister, originally his Acolyte, suddenly suffered under severe duress. The exquisitely crafted custom Lightsaber which Lutomi now possesses just so happens to belong to the Sith Master. The ordeal was still fresh in her mind. She had only recently received word that T'Sadai was returned to the Jedi, by Lutomi's sister who is very much alive. The news was such a relief. However she feels her sister is not safe, as their Projective Telepathic bond has been broken.

She is a Sentinel. She is not accustomed to receiving code lectures or even innocent reminders without earning them by her actions in the field. Everything she's ever accomplished was put into her personnel file. She was debriefed after every mission, every encounter. She's more than proven herself a calm and collected head on her shoulders. Coming from Sith training in her youth, she has ever been harder on herself than any Master ever was or could be. Her honor, and her promise mean everything to her. If she makes a promise she will try to keep it no matter the cost to herself. So she doesn't toss about her word lightly, but after careful consideration. It can be coaxed, but she would rather weigh the expense before a binding commitment.

"With all due respect, Master," the Knight began, her tone not aggressive in the least. "To be honest, isn't such plotting a bit premature? I shall not lie; I've always preferred it best that I allow the Force to decide my actions, not some predetermined pact. I especially wouldn't want to have my thoughts torn between keeping my promise to you, or following my better judgement at the time in question." She has worked with equally serious Jedi Masters in the past. She always found promises to invite emotional conflict, or even halt a person in their tracks when they truly should have moved. "Forgive me. It's not my intention to imply that I do not trust you or your judgement. I most certainly will."

 

[Emerald Iris]

Naboo. Memories, powerful memories were here, and Sionann had to mind her thoughts to avoid being swept up into the past. A calm breath left her lips as Master Galan began to brief them. This also marked yet another time in which the near-human was working side by side with one Lutomi, and just by watching the other knight, Sionann could feel the concern, then again she wasn't the only one.

For a Sage, and one who is almost always waist deep in the greater mysteries of the Force, Sionann was much better equipped to dealing with the Sith and the Dark Side, rather than the moral disputes of slavery and politics. To her this was an area of great unfamiliarity and it confused her as to why she was chosen for this. It was true she knew Naboo very well, and that she was very well known for having a vast amount of patience and control, but that was really all that she felt that she had going for her. Her hand patted the large pouch on the back of her utility belt, to make sure that her saberstaff was still secured, before she wrapped her off-white cloak back around her body, hiding the rest of the somewhat risque attire that she wore underneath. Long she had figured out that hiding herself in plain sight was the better option, passing herself off as a foreign and exotic noble, or a performer if Neve was with her. Sionann was deciding what role she had to pick at this point, especially since Neve was not with her, while Master Galan continued his briefing.

They had an escape point, to fall back to, and she took note of all the buildings or side routes that could be taken if she had to move alone. The silver haired knight then listened to what Lutomi had to say, bringing her concerns to bear and she could not help but nod at what the Sentinel Knight had to say, however the fallback option was still a rather good plan to have.

"S..so we know how we are going to leave and what it is th..that we are going to do," Her famous stutter was ever so present as she voiced her own building concern. "How are we g..going to get inside without the use of aggressive force?"

 

[Sisk_Renelo]

Vin smiled slightly, and pulled two duffels from underneath the table, and handed one to each of the Knights. "Lutomi has enough of an edge to her to pass for a slaver with me. However, Ms. Ione, I'm afraid you do not." Inside Lutomi's bag was a set of rough spun clothes, a tan sleeveless tunic and black pants, with a black cape with red satin lining to complete the ensemble. Sionann's bag contained something a little more... risque. "To infiltrate the slavers, we're going to pose as potential sellers, with you as our 'item' of sale." He waved his hand and pulled the zipper of the Knights bag open, revealing a slave girl's dancing outfit, along with a full body robe to cover it among the normal population.

"With this being the hub of the activity, a few more slavers and their wares should go unnoticed. Don't worry, Ms. Ione, I will be carrying your normal garb with me. Once we've reached a safe location, you can change again." He motioned to his outfit. "Blasters visible please, keep your blades hidden. Each of your outfits has a hidden pocket to carry them. Lutomi, yours is along the right shoulder, and Sionann, yours is sewn into the lower skirt." It was a gross exaggeration to call the small amount of fabric he had handed Sionann a skirt, as it was merely material that fell along the front of her legs, attached to the skimpy lower half of the outfit.

"I apologize for the outfit, Sionann, but I'm sure that you can tolerate it for a short time." He truly was sorry, but it wasn't any worse than anything he had been made to wear over the years. Long ago, when Vin was 17, he had been forced to play a pleasure slave to Master Valay's Kauti Noble on an infiltration assignment, which had required him to walk around for a week in nothing but a risque cut pair of pants and boots. It had not been a fun assignment. At least he had prepared to allow her to carry her lightsaber with her instead of being held in his pack.

"We will move to the first possible location, and if the slaver's are not there we move to the next location. We present ourselves as members of the Hell Hounds and present Sionann as our auction. If they don't buy it, a little mind trick should be more than enough to get us inside. If not that, I have a decent amount of credits to bribe our way in." He pulled his shoulders back and continued. "Lutomi, remember to stay confident and in control, while Sionann, please keep your head bowed and remain as subservient as possible. I don't want them to take you away for processing."

 

[Mistress]

Lutomi sighed quietly. 'There it is!' How belittling that he should think this an acceptable request! 'The male dressing up his trophy, to parade his personal conquest down the street in public eye. Men! Truly there must be something erroneous with the genetic structure of the male!' Lutomi sneered just a bit as she looked away momentarily.

Sitting back in her chair, not making a move for the duffle, she crossed her legs in her seat. The arm of the chair supporting her elbow, she rested her chin upon her fingers. She looked at him again, her expression quite vacant just holding her stare. Inside her spiked something else! Had he set that scanty rag in front of her, she'd have wrapped him up inside it in the blink of an eye, Jedi Master or not. He is a man first and foremost for sure. She fancied him dressed in it, and thinking how maybe some local pig's wife wouldn't mind to keep a little trick of her own tied up inside her pantry. Any woman forced to put up with that lifestyle has every right to revolt! Sionann and herself could too pull it off! They could sell him! And just what is he saying about her anyhow? Is she the frumpy wall-flower type? 'Miss Congeniality perhaps? Fine!' Her eyes narrow just a hint. 'Men!' She did not speak a word. Her newfound emotion may be difficult to keep in check, but in check she did keep it!

'Don't do it, Sionann! Put him in his place!' she thought as she gazed in the other Knight's direction.

 

[Emerald Iris]

If Vin was listening to Sionann's thoughts when he was explaining the so called plan, his head would probably start spinning. It was true the silver-haired knight had no idea what she was getting into, but the thought of something going wrong crept into her head and that lead to all sorts of potential bad scenarios. Surprisingly, the outfit didn't bother her that much, after all clothing was just that, clothing. It was not a representation of the true self, at least according to Sionann, rather just pieces of fabric used to project a representation that was on the surface, or what one wanted..

That was when she caught Lutomi's glance and the message was not entirely lost there. This plan had quite a few flaws in it and Lutomi was not on board, entirely.

"M..Master Galan," She cleared her throat, turning her eyes up to the Corellian. "It is a good plan, y..yet do we have any other options?"

 

[Sisk_Renelo]

Vin shook his head slowly. Strong willed, these two. With a look at both of them, he spoke again. "What is your problem with the plan, mistress Lutomi? Are you unhappy that we're not going in dressed in our robes and battle armor, announcing ourselves as Jedi and storming their defenses?" The look on her face had riled something up within him, the Corellian part of him that still rose to the surface despite his best efforts. "Or are you upset that I didn't give you the dancer's costume?" He let the Force seep into him, lending gravitas to his words.

"And Ms. Ione, if you see a flaw in my plan, please, speak your mind. I won't hold it against you." He gave her a small smile, to reassure her. And then the thoughts running through Lutomi's mind came to the surface, and he turned on her again, the disappointment in his voice obvious. "Do you think that this is pleasurable to me in some way, mistress Lutomi? That I will allow my baser instincts to rise to the surface? That I'm giving Ms. Ione this role because I have some desire to belittle and insult her?" Despite her best attempts, he was a Master Consular, and the brief glimpse of her thoughts had been enough. "I assure you, I can keep it in my pants for one mission."

Straightening his back, he allowed his jacket to fall around him, covering his weapons and draping him roguishly. "If either of you has a better plan, let it out. But I have meditated on the possible paths, and although the Force has been cloudy, the path that we are on seems to be the one that leads to the best outcome." He had spent the whole trip here in meditation, delving into the possible futures, peeling back the layers until he had found one that resulted in all of them coming home. Also, the Jedi needed to build goodwill throughout the galaxy with the Sith pushing against their enclaves and spreading lies about them to the people they had once defended. "If you don't agree, or don't have a better plan, you can stay here and I'll do it alone. We are in too precarious a position to allow petty differences to divide us, and I will be damned if I allow your insecurities with my gender to stop this mission."

 

[Mistress]

Mistress, she always preferred the title over Master, but wondered how the hell he knew that. It wasn't in her personnel file. Lutomi's eyes fell upon the Jedi Master once again. The look of having been caught with her hand in the cookie jar stole fast over her countenance. But frankly, she found it refreshing. It is probably evident that it has been quite a long time since Lutomi ever stayed on a planet long enough to make any impression on anyone, aside from how people perceive the Jedi to be, in general. Not anyone outside of family ever got to experience the woman inside. Everything was a serious mission. Every day was serious. Death is all around.

The rage behind the rant of the Corellian man could be felt by the Knight. Mischief crept into her eyes. At the intensity of his seriousness, the Knight found it increasingly difficult to control herself. He mentioned controlling himself for this one mission with them. 'For one mission! I won't be following you on your next mission then,' she thought to herself, knowing that the Master Consular, as he announced himself to be, would know exactly what she thought as she came to realize it herself. Oh, how she fought off the jocularity she felt at first, fighting with her blood pressure to keep a straight face. Suddenly she could not control her breathing any longer, and Lutomi burst out in laughter. It escalated quickly into a fit of laughter...until tears manifest into the corner of her eyes and she didn't try to stop smiling after that point.

In fact it felt damn good. She hadn't realized just how much she needed it. Therapeutic, after losing her lifelong Telepathic connection to her twin. It was a state of loss that had no words to define. And all at once her memory and that typical feeling of remorse caught up with her as usual, and Lutomi stopped laughing. She also stopped feeling like laughing any longer. And Lutomi stood. "Well..whenever you're ready, Master. However you trust it to be." Her next smile that she rendered him, was entirely forced. To distract him and herself, she opened the bag he had just moments before set before her, and she fumbled throughout it.

 

[Emerald Iris]

The slang of Master Vin 'keeping it in his pants' went over Sionann's head like a starship orbiting the planet. It wasn't that she was naive about such vulgarity, it is more so she didn't understand all of the terms used for it, and the comment about being belittled was also odd. What was so belittling about posing as a slave if it was being used to do something potentially very beneficial? His small smile to her while he turned on Lutomi was a little unsettling, almost as if to her that he thought she was a bit too naive for this kind of work. Be that as it may, Sionann spent half her time snooping around the outskirts of the Dark and Light Sides, looking for solutions to far more important problems, and sometimes the experiences she received back were enough to make even a Hutt cringe. She was used to the unsettling nature of the universe. Thoughts back to her life long project made her cringe a little while the other knight began to crack up in laughter.

Shaking her head, letting silver locks flail lightly, Sionann snapped back to reality as Lutomi calmed down and said her piece and threw at that smile she had towards Vin that could prove her lack of faith in the idea, but at least a willingness to go along with it. "I can assure y..you that there is nothing belittling me about this plan. If it is a concern for my modesty, don't be, it is just cl.clothing after all," She said that now, but once again eying the outfit in the bag, it really left very little to the imagination and she held back a blush and skirted past that issue right away. "My b.biggest concern is what what if something goes wr..wrong, I do not want to risk any lives if we can, ours or otherwise. I think I can g...get out of being pro..processed," That much she knew, all slaves once processed had a transmitter placed on them and once they fell out of line...click..and boom! Of course she had no intention of having such a device installed in her. "But, I am worried if the S..sith are involved. It could change things drastically. Or some other big name involved."

 

[Sisk_Renelo]

Vin understood her concerns, and agreed with them, but this was not the time to overthink things. The Jedi were on the run from the Sith, and even stretching out his senses he could detect no dark presence in the port, not even the barest flicker of the dark side. Yes, there was hate and anger, fear and sorrow, but there was not the telltale burning of the dark side. While a dark force user could be cloaking his force signature, cloaking himself in the force meant that he would not be able to detect them unless he dropped his own protection.

He shot a dark glance at Lutomi, and although she was absorbed in her bag, he was sure that she felt it. "While it is a valid concern, Ms. Ione, at this point in time it does not matter if the Sith or the Hutts are here, for we have brought no identifying marks except our blades, our IDs are expert forgeries, and the ship's databanks have been purged of anything that might give anyone an idea of where we came from if we are to fail." It was always good to cover your bases, just in case. "But we are Jedi, Ms. Ione, and we can not fail. There are people out there counting on us and we can not let them down. We may be on our back foot, but that does not mean we can not fulfill our mandate as protectors." His tone was calm, yet direct and forceful, the pitch precisely tuned to instill confidence, a byproduct of his many years as a diplomat and consular.

"And you, mistress Lutomi." He whirled on her, his voice becoming deeper and quieter. "I understand that you may not have confidence in me, but you can trust my record, my skills, and the Force. They have not failed me or my fellows yet, and I do not intend for it now. And for my next mission, after the way this one has started off, I do not believe that I would request your presence." The thoughts that flowed from her were unguarded and easily readable, not even requiring a true probe to read, coming off of her in waves as they were. "For I can tolerate a great many things, mistress Lutomi, but your attitude is not one of them. You do not have to like me, but you do have to listen to me."

 

[Mistress]

In ruffling through the bag keeping herself seemingly occupied wearing her fake smile, the familiar strangling sensation of remorse calmed before the terrible emotion could totally grip hold of her. Like a dragon, it does so know how to break one in half. That feeling she had suffered not many nights ago. In short, Lutomi could be diagnosed as currently unstable. For the first time in her entire life, she has been unable to meditate. 'Its so silent everywhere, every day.'

Her ever chatting twin through Projective Telepathy, having been recently silenced and entrapped in a darkness she cannot determine, unable to rescue her, unable to locate her, has left Lutomi feeling numb on the inside since the discovery of her loss. Vin's expression, his passion, anger toward her even in his misunderstanding of her state of mind, has mentally snapped Lutomi back into her surrounding world. It is refreshing to suddenly feel again. And there he was further expressing himself, so emotional after she had only been joking with him. She truly hadn't meant to rile him up this intently! She looked back at the Jedi Master and smiled once again quite softly, this time genuine. It did feel good to be able to sense someone else besides her own self-destructive feelings of permanence and numbness. She wondered if she could ever express her honest gratitude to him.

She wondered if his emotion had perhaps overshadowed his intuition at the moment. "Master, I do believe you have studied me. But I have not the liberty of studying up on you prior to this formal meeting. I say, it is my first impression that you have no inkling as to how you effect me." She looked him dead in the eye as she finished, "But I do hope to make myself clear by the time this mission is over; if I fail, I promise to make it a mission all it's own."

She followed in suit to go wherever he should lead next.

 

[Emerald Iris]

Failure was not possible for a Jedi? A bit extreme, but it was true, no matter how much Sionann disagreed with the concept. She knew the dire circumstances the Order was in and the loss of even one of them was a huge blow to their ranks, but she did steel herself for any and all possibilities. Vin's words were confident, giving his years of experience as an orator and diplomat, neither practice which the Sage Knight was all that good at, but she acknowledged it. Of course when he spoke back to Lutomi again it made Sionann quirk her eyebrow lightly. He was being too relaxed with her and a bit too gruff with Lutomi, and of course Lutomi was a bit rougher around the edges as a Sentinel than Sionnan was, but still it made the near-human shrug as she got to her feet to go turn and change into her outfit, letting her ears listen to the conversation while she found some privacy from their eyes.

Neve would tare Master Galan's throat out if she saw me in this, Sionann let a jest boost her confidence as she began to undress from the more exotic attire that she actually wore, folding her utility belt into her tunic dress along with her boots and detached sleeves. At least I will be able to change afterwards, she continued to remind herself, starting the very short process of putting on the slave dancing outfit and it's extremely revealing design. Everything was very easy to put on, after all there wasn't much there, and that was when she hid her saberstaff inside the front portion of her skirt. It was at this point Sionann was actually very thankful that her genetics had blessed her with a nice pair of hips, or else she would have ended up using the Force to keep her skirt from falling off. It was bad enough that even with that the band of her skirt sunk just enough to give that edge before revealing too much. Not much belief in clothing....but this is absurd. Maybe Lutomi was right, Master Galan should be wearing this wait...that much exposure.

Sighing to herself, then taking a deep breath to remember her earlier statement about clothes and not seem like a fool, Sionann slid back out into view after Lutomi and Vin had their brief exchange and she interrupted anything that they were saying at this point. "Th..there is a small pro...problem with this." Her voice was still at least holding onto some confidence as she began to point around her body.

The silver-haired knight showed the several lightsaber scars that she had along her neck, upper left shoulder, and around her thighs. Sionann then turned around and showed the multitude of damage that had been done to her back over the years with the several claw scars that she had from behind attacked by tiger's similar to Neve and the obvious one that was from a deep gash that she took from when her body got blown up against the Ghost Avril's loading strip, courtesy of one Sisk Renelo.

"Do you b..believe they will consider me d..damaged goods?" She asked wondering if her body damage would cause a problem. However, for Sionnan and her extremely fortunate appearance these scars did not look as bad as she thought them to be, having blended a bit better with her skin than most other scars would for a normal human. They were noticeable scars, but certainly not hideous ones. To her, at least, it was enough to raise some concern.