While the City Sleeps (Open)

[Green Ranger]

Autumn blinked.

'War?' she asked, quietly. She hadn't heard of a war...but at the same time, she realized she hadn't been listening all that well, either. Her original goals were now intertwined with the fate of the child, at least for now...and much of her attention before meeting the boy had been trying to figure out how to get to the Jedi Temple. She hadn't thought it necessary to familiarize herself with the politics of the Republic. All she had was questions, and she didn't understand much of what was said. She felt...lost, moreso than usual.

'And...what do you mean by...this 'dark persuasion?'

 

[Darth Nyne]

He sighed, deeply, pushing back a bit of pain as he spoke.

"It's real simple you see," he felt like an old man lecturing "there's a species known as the Hutts, they're not happy with the Republic or the Jedi, so they're trying to take over."

Another deep breath brought in and an exasperation of pain came out.

"Republic don't like that much," he explained as simply as possible "so war happens, then in the past there have been a group called Sith, they represent the opposite side of the Force."

This part truly bothered him, talking about the Force was something he didn't do, it reminded him of where his family felt he lacked, and he felt they were crazy for being so tied up in it.

"They tend to be more murderous, and controlling. And are in constant conflict with the Jedi, who represent the Lighter aspects." The tension in his face began to show "So typically anyone showing dark powers is confined and turned to the light, or simply destroyed if they are too far gone"

Another long deep breath, wishing there was something alcoholic to keep him going.

"With a war on, and the efforts of the Jedi and the Republic spread across the front," he slowed a bit to ensure he was understood. "They Will Be More Careful About Inexperienced Users, To Ensure They Aren't Being Overrun!"

His point was made, and his lecture done, he was ready to move on and forget the Force existed again.

 

[Viggy]

Dmivo’s stood with his little legs planted firmly apart, arms crossed over his chest as he listened to the woman’s reply. What she said made very good sense, the Squib had to admit it at least to himself. He took a few deep breaths to try and rid himself of his anger, he knew his energy should be put toward more positive things.

The injured man addressed him, and Dmi turned his fuzzy blue head up with a thoughtful expression in those big yellow eyes. He thought hard about the man’s words, ignoring the talk between him and the Force-sensitive woman about the current war.

“War’s a seriations of big booma-boom battles, and somewho’s gotta fight the battles, righto yeah? Jedi-types, they’ll considerate our kiddo as a fine haggleprize. They’ll know he’s Forcey, big Forcey, they can smell that, and they’ll wanna teach him Forcey-control and stuffs so he can be a big warrior-type for ’em and kill dark-types. He's good age for train-trainin', just the factoidable that we's got him will make 'em let us in their nest, you bet.”

 

[Darth Nyne]

He sighed, another deep one, still wanting a drink he looked between the two, settling his gaze on Dmivo. "Fuzzy, go tell Kitty-man I can get him full clearance into the temples private hangar. They still have some things there I'm supposed to pick up" he gritted his teeth. "from my father's quarters." He slipped a small card from one of his pockets and handed it to Dmivo, looking at it would show a docking code that altered itself ever 30 seconds.

 

[Viggy]

Dmivo raised his brow in surprise, rather rudely swiping the coded card from the injured man to inspect it closely. “Hmph. You shoulda mentionized befores-like, since this takes care of problem-o about accessorizing penetration-rights to Jedi-type nest - problem-o you brought up. I’m sure you had reasonable cause-causes to withholdiate infos, but… I got my eye on you, yessiree. You… bet.”

Giving the man the hardest, most intimidating look a 33 inch-tall fuzzy blue alien can give, the Squib turned on his heel and marched out of the med bay. He went straight to the cockpit, entering without knocking as he had something of the utmost importance to deliver. He held the card up for Jiang.

“Human with cripplated leg relinquaited this, without even haggling. Dunno why he didn’t mentionize it in the first place, but he says it’ll get us into Jedi-type nest no problems. I dunno if I have full trusticles with him, he could be up to something. But if he is, then it beats me.”

 

[Jiang Winters]

Jiang had been busying himself by running through a diagnostic of his vessel's primary systems while flying simultaneously, when the cockpit door opened. His keen ears picked up light footsteps. If he had to guess, he'd say it was Dmivo. Or someone was being stupid enough to try to sneak up on him. A quick glance over his shoulder showed that it was indeed Dmivo who had just entered the cockpit.

He set the vessel to autopilot and unlocked his seat, then his seat about so that he was facing Dmivo. One of his fuzzy eyebrows arched as the Squib held up the card and spoke. "Hm, that is kind of odd." Jiang commented, as he gently plucked the card out of his friend's hand. "Oh well. It's probably not worth worrying about, and even if he is a problem, well..." The tiger-like alien gave a toothy grin - which showed off those sharp-looking ebony fangs of his - as he folded his arms across his chest and continued. "Then he'll have my sidearm and your Tensor gun to fight through, and if by some strange miracle he survives getting his face stripped off by that gun of yours, he'll have my claws and fangs to deal with, not to mention that Tae woman, Autumn. And you know what they say; 'Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned'... Speaking of which, what's your take on Autumn? I'd like to think that we can trust her, but I want your thoughts on her."

 

[Viggy]

Dmivo nodded with an oddly evil-sounding cackle at Jiang's assessment of the injured human as a potential threat. When asked about Autumn, the Squib had to think about it for a moment.

"I was angrified when she didn't listen to me tellin' her to keep outta the galley. But, respectable to her, she's just drivenated by emotition. Seems honest, sure, but... unpredictiatable. And her Forcey-stuff is kinda scary, no less."

 

[Jiang Winters]

Jiang gave a brisk nod of his fuzzy head in agreement. "Yeah, I hear you in the whole Force thing. I really ought to get a pet Yslimari, or Yslamari, or whatever those things are, just in case I get more force using-visitors... Eh, anyways, like I said I think she's fairly trustworthy. And like you said, she seems honest enough." He replied, as he turned his seat around and disengaged the autopilot after a chirp let him know that the Jedi Temple was close by.

"Alright, time to see if this docking pass thingy works. Here goes..."

He sent the docking codes provided by Mr. Cripple through, and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were accepted by the Temple's flight directors. "Alright, looks like that guy wasn't yanking our chain with that landing code. We'll be in the temple in about a minute." Jiang said, as he fiddled with some of the ship's settings and adjusted the thrust, while ducking into a landing lane designated by a series of markers transmitted to his ship's HUD by the Temple's flight control center.

As Jiang had estimated, one minute later, the ship was settling into a docking bay in the Jedi Temple. As the ship settled onto her landing skids, the Kasa Horansi pilot used the ship's PA system. "We're at the temple. Autumn, if you'd be so kind as to go fetch a Jedi or two and explain the nature of the boy's situation to them, I'll make sure he hasn't come around and isn't hard at work burning through the galley's blast door." He shut the intercom off and then powered down the vessel, then rose out of his seat and turned to face Dmivo. "When this is over, would you remind me to get that stuff I traded from you when we get back to the space port?" He asked suddenly, as he slipped past the Squib and headed towards the cockpit door.

 

[Green Ranger]

Autumn nodded quietly. She seemed suddenly...tense, but she quietly disembarked the vessel, regardless.

Eve nthe hangars of the Temple were grand in their own way. From small snubfighters to large freighters similar to Jiang's, vessels were dotted all over the area. Autumn was overwhelmed by it all...especially as the Tae had only a handful of ships of their own, and Taen skyships were hardly state of the art...

She looked around. Surely there would be some sort of official greeter, or something...she wasn't sure what a Jedi even looked like. As she stood outside the ship, looking around aimlessly, she realizd she wasn't the ideal candidate for this job.

* * *

It had been nothing. There had been noone there. He must have imagined it all...it was dark. He looked around the shadows, trying to figure out where the door was. It wasn't glowing from the heat anymore, so hehad to guess. He stood up, his knees shaking as he shuffled across the floor. Blindly, his hands searched the walls. The door couldn't be far. The heard a low hum he hadn't heard before...he was on a spaceship, wasn't he? They had to be flying. But where? His breathing quickened. He had killed the man-cat and the furry one...hadn't he? Maybe he was beng taken away. He didn't want to be locked up. He didn't like cages.

He stopped. He didn't know why he didn't like cages, but the thought made his skin crawl. The memory triggered something in his mind. There was a bright flash. Incredible pain. So many stars...little lines joining them all togeth-

When he came to, he was on the floor. His head hurt. The humming had stopped. He started searching the walls again, but his thoughts were all skewed. He had...remembered something? But he had forgotten it again. There had been something...his hands found the door, smashed in and heavily damaged by...him? Had he done that? He didn't know. He felt light-headed. He just wanted to get out. Heat, he silently whispered, placing his hands on the door. All around his hands, the door began to glow red hot once more. He just wanted to get out...

 

[Darth Nyne]

Lucius, forced himself back to his feet, there was no point in trying to avoid it any longer, he'd have to go into the Temple, he'd have to retrieve his father's things. Mostly because the codes on that card would expire after being used, and he wouldn't be able to return so freely again.

He hobbled himself out of the medbay, using the wall to support him as he began down the corridor. It was only when he passed by the galley, his hand hitting the door and feeling the heat emanating, that he stopped. It had to be him again, what was he trying to do he wondered.

"Hey, what're you doing in there?" Lucius shouted as he beat his palm against the door. "Your going to destroy something, stop, and I'll get Kitty-man to let you out."

By the Five Brothers how he hated force-users.

 

[Jiang Winters]

By the time Lucius had reached the Galley - which was really very curious, considering the Galley was in the opposite direction of the boarding ramp - Jiang had exited the cockpit. His keen feline hearing caught what the man said before the doors had even slid shut behind him, a chuckling sliding from his muzzle as he was called 'kitty man'.

"Call me that again, and 'Kitty' will use you as a scratching post." Jiang purred, a smirk tugging at the corner of his ebony lips as he padded up to the blast door, and kicked it twice with his boot since he didn't dare knock with his fist, not with how hot it was getting. "Hey kid! It's Jiang! Hold on a sec and step back from the door!" He shouted through the thick door, before striding over to the datapad still mounted to the wall and tapping a command into it, then plucking it off the wall and shoving it back into its pouch.

A few moments later, and the door groaned and creaked as the servos strained to lift the heavy blast door, but luckily, they were successful and the door slid out of the way before clanking to a halt. [The door itself would need to be replaced, however, as it was no longer structurally sound.] The Kasa Horansi's bright blue orbs studied the boy from head to toe for a moment, before he slowly made his way towards him.

"You okay? One of your nightmares went a little crazy on us, we had to lock you in there with it until it went away." The tiger-like humanoid explained, folding his arms across his chest as he looked down on the boy. He wasn't going to tell them they were at the Jedi Temple. Not quite yet; he wasn't sure how the boy would react to that news, and he kind of wanted to have a few Jedi on-hand before he let on to that little detail, just in case the kid reacted badly.

 

[Count Sam]

Ryo has been spending most of his time now in the jedi temple since he joined the jedi order, oh well meditating in the gardens of the temple always cleared his mind, and made him at peace with himself. but this time it was different.

Ryo was probably sleeping when he sensed something strange(by using the force) going inside the temple.He woke up in a terror, so it took him a few minutes to clear his mind, and put on his robe of course his lightsaber was with him.

Ryo followed the force which leaded him to the temple's ships hanger

"he...hello?he said out loud, as he reached his lightsaber.

 

[Green Ranger]

Autumn looked around. There had to be someone that could help her...she paused. A Jedi? It had to be...there were several trademarks of the Order. The robe, the small hilt of a lightsaber...Autumn frowned, her eyes fell to the floor as she approached the man. She really hoped that she had found a Jedi...the whole place was making her incredibly uncomfortable.

'Er...' she said quietly, a telltale quiver in her voice as she spoke, 'Are you....are you a Jedi...?'

* * *

The door slid open, and he nearly fell over in shock. The sudden burst of light was blinding...there was a familiar voice, but he put his hands up to shield his eyes. The voice continued...his eyes slowly adjusted, and he lowered his arms. The man-cat?

'You...' he stammered, 'Not dead...'

He seemed somewhat relieved for a moment, although his face soon turned to confusion. The man-cat said something about a nightmare, which clearly disturbed the boy. His eyes darted around the room, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. He...almost looked like he was bracing himself, like he expected to be hurt.

'I...didn't mean to...didn't want to hurt anyone...I'm sorry, i'm so sorry...'

 

[Count Sam]

"yes I am, and I would really like to know what are you doing here in the jedi temple " Ryo addressed the stranger his voice was emotionless. His grib was getting tighter on his lightsaber hilt,since he was highly suspecting that the lady was a mercenary, or a bounty hunter. "do you serve the hutts?"he added still speaking in his emotionless, and deep tone.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Just as Ryo was addressing Autumn, another Jedi - this one a rather powerfully built cathar Padawan - began to approach the landed vessel when he noticed the other Jedi had his hand on his saber. While he was by no means trained - he barely had a basic grasp of simple force powers and a bit of even more basic training with his lightsaber - he knew a potentially troublesome situation when he saw it, and so he figured he would stick his nose in and find out what was going on.

"Excuse me, but is something wrong here?" He queried in a fairly cordial tone. The cathar - one Jamall Mohatu - came to a stop alongside his fellow Jedi, as he looked at the woman before glancing back up at the woman. It was strange, he didn't sense nor see anything wrong with the woman; certainly nothing that would make him even think about grasping his saber, which hung loosely from the left side of his belt.

-=-=-=-

Jiang smiled faintly and took a few steps closer to the boy. He planted his hands upon the young Tae's shoulders as he stared at him with those unnaturally bright eyes of his. The young man seemed to be afraid, like he expected to be beaten and punished. The sight tugged at Jiang's heartstrings, and prompted him to slide his arms down and loop them around the boy, drawing him into a gentle hug as though the young Tae was a younger brother. "I'm fine, kid. You didn't hurt me." He assured him, as he let his smile grow warmer to make it known to the Tae that Jiang wasn't angry with him. "Everyone's fine. You didn't hurt anyone."

After a moment, the Kasa Horansi partially released the boy, but gently turned him so that they were both facing the same direction - down the corridor - and kept an arm looped around his upper back with his hand gently clasped on his shoulder, keeping him close in an almost protective manner. "Now c'mon, let's get off this ship. There's some people outside who can teach you how to control your powers. They're good, kind folks, you'll like them. I promise." The feline gently ushered the lost boy down the corridor as he spoke. He hoped that by staying right at the kid's side, he could keep him from feeling nervous. Or at least, make him feel a little less nervous about the whole affair.

 

[Green Ranger]

'The Hutts?' Autumn stammered, 'Er, no...I...I guess I don't serve anyone. I'm...we need your help...'

She trailed off for a moment, frightened and lost, when another joined the first, apparently another Jedi. Her eyes darted around, but she paused for a moment. She slowed her breathing, swallowing her nerves, before responding.

'There's nothing wrong...it's just...you Jedi, you are trained, and in turn train those adept at the Ar-I mean, your Force? We've...there's someone onboard the ship behind me...he needs help.'

* * *

The barest trace of a smile played across the boy's face at the news, although he was still quite shaken up. 'I don't...don't like hurting people,' he murmured quietly, a hint of relief bleeding into his voice.

He let the man-cat embrace him...the sensation was odd, and though the boy knew he probably meant well, he wasn't used to being touched. He felt...awkward, but somehow a bit safer. He didn't really understand the gesture at all. He nodded in silence at the man-cat's words, barely even processing them...though he let himself be lead on outside.

There were...lot of people around. He was in some sort of big hangar, and several spaceships scattered the floor, various people running around the area. Noone was really paying him or the man-cat any notice. Not even the three people closest to the ship. He started at the sight of one of them...a golden-haired woman with bright red and gold eyes.

He kept staring at her, his face crinkling up a little. He felt like he should remember her...but he couldn't place the memory at all. She seemed so alien, yet so familiar...

 

[Count Sam]

It was obvious now the lady was not dangerous. Well maybe she was a little bit weird, but she seemed inoccent after all.

"well if you dont mind we would like to have a look at him" he said to her in a serious tone,as his grib on the lightsaber started to loosen, but oh well he still could not fully trust her.At least not yet

she seems alright, but I still cant trust her he said to Jamal, but he probably reached him through the force, since he did not want the lady to hear him.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"I... think that's kind of what she wants us to do, since the guy needs our help..." Jamall said with a chuckle, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips for a moment before he brushed it away and turned his gaze to the woman. He ignored the other Jedi's whispers through the force, and instead spoke to the young lady.

"While the final decision lies in the hands of a Jedi Master, I'm sure we'll help you. Where's the individual in need of help?" The catharese padawan asked, as a strong-looking Kasa Horansi moved down the ship's ramp, leading a disheveled-looking boy down the ramp. A tattered-looking shirt covered the kid's torso, but underneath Jamall could make out what looked like a snug-fitting vest, not unlike the one the Kasa Horansi wore. Now that he noticed that, the boy's pants looked similar as well. Maybe they were friends?

"He's right here." Jiang replied, as he slowed to a halt near the Tae woman, though he didn't remove his arm from around the boy.

Jamall's eyes studied the lost boy for a moment, before turning back to Autumn. "So what seems to be the problem with him?" He asked, as he returned his gaze to the boy and offered him a slight smile, though the young man seemed rather preoccupied with the woman.

 

[Count Sam]

maybe I have been over cautions.Ryo thought to himself, as the boy that was needing help was taken to them by another Kasa Horsani, but oh well this one was not a jedi,but still he seemed to be some sort of a warrior, or at least that was Ryo's opinion.

Through the force Ryo was able to sense the disturption, and confusion inside the boy, but oh well that was something that anyone could sort out without the force.

"The boy requires alot of help.I am not sure if he can be trained to be a jedi, or not, but I am sure we will be able to take a good care of him"Ryo's tone was offical, and emotionless.

"well...after all the final decision belongs to the grandmaster, and the jedi councel." he added, still speaking in his offical, and emotionless tone.

 

[Darth Nyne]

Lucius hobbled down the ramp behind them, eyeing the two Jedi, he didn't trust them much, but he knew he had to get what he was supposed to be here for.

"Either of you know where the quarters of Jedi Knight Carnait are?" he spoke softly. "He died during the Alsakan Crisis, I'm here to retrieve whatever belongings he still has here."