spiderparlour | The saga begins!

The saga begins!

"You sure you're gonna be okay?"

"I've only been captured here once," he replied, fastening the outer layer of his robes. Light enough to move in, armored enough to give him some protection. And, of course, the right color palette to complement both his and Vette's skin tones. "And besides, I managed to get out of that one."

"And who made that happen?" she punctuated the question with a little 'ta-da!' gesture with her lekku towards herself.

"Both of us, but mostly you." It'd been early on, when he was still finding his footing. It was lucky he'd survived with only a broken nose. "And you are going to be saving me again, by getting that information I need."

Vette sighed, frowning as she glanced down to check the straps on one of her pistol holsters. Neither of them really wanted to be here right now, but it was the best place to collect information on Darth Baras' plans. Which, they both suspected, included killing him. "For the record, your boss is stupid and sith are bad at life."

"I couldn't agree more."

"Agreeing with me so much makes arguing hard, you know."

"You're so right about that."

"Ugh!" She poked him in the stomach with a sheathed knife before sliding it into her boot. "I mean it though, be careful. And if you do anything funny, save me a holo, okay?"

"I will be." Baras had agents on all sides--he knew that well enough, he'd been sent to kill several of them before. He'd be traveling into dangerous territory for a Sith today. "And I'll give you a call to listen in if I can."

"Great!" she chirped. "Oh! And if you see any of those--"

"Of course I'm buying the cheesy puffs, I want those too."

She threw her hands up in mock exasperation. "Then what are you waiting for? Go give 'em hell and get us some puffs!"

"Hell and puffs, as you command," he grinned, leaning down to give her a kiss. "I'll see you later."

They left the ship and went their separate ways, Vette off to check in with her old gang, and he took a route towards the Nikto Sector. The gangs there were territorial, but that wasn't the real worry. He was using the sector as a means to approach Republic-aligned districts nearby, and there was a distinct chance an SIS listening post would pick him up anyway. He had some valid excuses for being there, but it likely wouldn't make a difference in the Republic's thinking.

Besides, he wanted them to see him. He had his own allies on Nar Shaddaa, and they'd be watching what happened, and who reported back to Baras.

So. All he had to do was walk towards enemy territory.

And buy some cheesy puffs.

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"Good luck, then," he said cheerfully, utterly unimpressed. "It will be useful to have you with me, actually. By the time I got to the last one, the Republic had bought the building. That was awkward. This time I won't have to ask anyone for their passcodes."

Yes, he had done that. Yes, it had almost worked.

Saga gave him another look, just as unimpressed, and increasingly annoyed. "If they have, I'm leaving you outside and going in alone," he said. "I don't actually need your help."

"If you really must," he replied, not responding to the Jedi's aggression. "Just know that the terrorists made it clear they intended to strike again if their demands weren't met. So, any information that doesn't make it back to the Empire puts civilians at risk."

Which had been a real worry the first time he'd gotten involved with the counterterrorism response. Now, when he was mostly lying about it? Not so much. This was mostly just a time-waster that would be very obvious to the SIS, and perhaps reveal which of their local agents was secretly working for Darth Baras.

Still, it would be funny to wander around an empty warehouse with a furious jedi following him.

"Then I'll decide what information you get," Saga said. He wasn't backing down. He was stubbornly holding onto control of this situation... Though even he knew he hadn't had any control of it at all from the first second he met this Sith. So it was more that he was taking it back.

Not that the Sith seemed at all bothered. Saga couldn't help scowling a little.

"What kind of demands did they make?"

"It wasn't very clear, really. They don't like the current Dark Council, don't like some of the Moffs, and they don't like the Treaty of Coruscant." Remember that one? The treaty that was supposed to keep the Republic and Empire from fighting? That was going well these days, wasn't it.

"Either they're for more war with the Republic, or they want the whole Empire to go back into seclusion. Or," he leaned slightly closer to the Jedi, "they just want power, and this was an excuse to kill thousands and make them feel important." And this Jedi wouldn't know anything about attacking people to feel important, would he?

"Can't say I like the Dark Council, either, though I don't know them personally." Not yet, at least, though he had fantasized about taking them all down. Even he knew that would be an impossible mission, though, unless he could get them one on one somehow... He'd never mentioned that particular fantasy to anyone, for obvious reasons.

He resisted taking a step away, although he really would prefer this Sith kept his distance. "I'm not sure I blame them for their feelings, even if their methods are wrong."

He didn't attack first. Even if he'd killed a few people who were ready to surrender.

That earned another skeptical look. "In my experience, that sort of anger really isn't healthy."

Yes. He was aware how insane that would sound, coming from a Sith.

Matching that look with one of his own. "This coming from a Sith?"

"I'm a Sith who doesn't want to be murdered before I turn forty," he replied. "It's perfectly possible to have anger and use it constructively, but that's not the way to do it."

"You're giving advice now?" A Sith giving advice to a Jedi. That was definitely new. "DId someone forget to inform you that it's your job to kill me?"

"My job is to follow the Sith Code, at least in theory." In practice, everyone basically took the Code to mean 'Fuck you, I do what I want.'

"In any case, it says nothing about killing Jedi."

"So if I tell your fellow Sith that you're helping the Jedi, they won't object?"

It's not much a threat, he knows. It's unlikely anyone would believe him. And he doesn't even know who this guy is, besides being able to describe him as incredibly tall and covered in piercings.

"You'd be surprised what we can get away with," he replied breezily. "I've personally spared the lives of two different Jedi Masters, actually. And my master was delighted with the results."

True, Baras probably had plans to murder him once he outlived his usefulness, and was generally a torture-loving maniac, but really, that wasn't relevant to the argument right now.

"So either you're lying, or you're not telling the whole story." Saga shrugged again. He hated this conversation. This Sith was telling him exactly what his own Masters had told him all throughout his training, and it felt like he was being mocked. "But I don't care. Let's focus on finding that information you're after."

"Telling the whole story would make it even less believable." A day or so before he spared his first Jedi Master, he got in a fight with a lake. No, he wasn't high when it happened.

"I'd be happy to." They'd just crossed through the gates to the next sector over, drawing skeptical looks from the guards, but nobody stopped them. "The location should be..." He pulled out his datapad, checking the coordinates. "Not far. We take a left at that club over there, then it's half a block south."

"Then I'll keep assuming you're lying."

He was also very aware that there was a high chance he was walking into a trap. Abandoned facilities would be the perfect location for it. He stepped closer, trying to sneak a peak at the datapad, so he could look up the same location on his own. Not that he imagined he'd find anything incriminating just from that, because if the Empire was that bad at covering their tracks, they would have defeated them a long time ago.

And he wasn't turning back. No matter what he was walking into, he was seeing it through.

"So let's hurry up."

He leaned in slightly closer to the Jedi in return, giving him a coy smile. Really? That was his best attempt?

"I agree. Hopefully there will still be something of use."

There wasn't, really. It was gutted, far more thoroughly than the labs had been. They'd had more time to cover their tracks here. Even with one of those helpful little pocket droids he'd picked up during the Hammer Station operation, he couldn't find any listening devices or computer terminals left behind. Either they'd been thorough, or scavengers had picked the place completely clean.

"They were here," he eventually announces, "The layout is similar to the last one I saw. But they didn't leave anything of value this time." He stretched, arching his back a little after spending the past half hour or more bent over to examine the mess.

"Well. That's all. I think I'm going to take a break at that club down the street. Care to join me?"

Since becoming a Jedi Knight, Saga discovered that the rest of the galaxy caould be just as boring as a Jedi Temple. Take this place, for example: He was here with a Sith, an enemy, and yet all he'd been doing for half an hour was dig through worthless junk. Neither of them had come up with anything at all, aside from a small toy figure that someone had left on a desk. He held it up a little curiously. He couldn't recognize what it was of, but at least it was more interesting than the dust he'd found it in.

"Clubbing? Seriously?" He looked up. "Have you ever seen a Jedi in a club?"

Not that he wasn't curious. But this guy was toying with him, for sure, laughing at his expense. He was underestimating him. "I didn't follow you here because I want to spend time with you."

"True, but I've never been to a Republic club. It would be rude to assume, wouldn't it?" he grinned. "There's no emergency here, and I don't have any assignments right now. I think it's the perfect time to take a break." Really, he'd prefer if Vette was here instead. But she'd find this hilarious once she found out, so why not?

Speaking of, he should stealthily turn on his commlink, volume all the way down. Just to check in. "So, Jedi in tow or not, I'm going to the club. You can always say you're protecting the other patrons from me."

Saga didn't immediately answer. He kicked a pile of rubbish over instead, even though he'd already gone through it, and he knew there was nothing to find. "I have a few assignments," he said, finally. Though considering the time it was now, they would probably have to wait until the next day anyway. Still, he was a busy man.

"What's your name, Sith?" The polite thing to do would be to introduce himself first, but he wasn't in the mood for manners. He needed information. "And why would you want to spend time with a Jedi?"

Oh, look how clever he thought he was, not answering the question directly. That was cute. "I'm sure you do." And he was sure those assignments were very important.

"Rejalgar ha'Khorata." It had previously been just Khorata, but getting disowned for an unauthorized murder of a cousin meant that he got a special little prefix that basically meant 'used to be', or 'they hate me now, but...'

"And I haven't a single clue what your name is either, so why don't you tell me?"

Saga tilted his head slightly. "So even your family doesn't like you much."

It wasn't much of an insult - if he introduced himself that way so casually, he probably didn't care - but he still got the feeling he was being laughed at, and it was making him bristle. He knew he was supposed to be above it, but he still wanted a way to get under this guy's skin.

"Saganor." He made a slight bow, mostly out of habit. "Remember it."

"They most certainly don't," he agreed cheerfully. "Especially not after what happened to Syrron."

Yes, he was going to make the Jedi ask about that if he wanted to know more.

"Well then, Saganor," he also bowed, because it would keep things confusing for the Jedi. "I'm going to start walking towards the club, and you're welcome to join me.

"Do I want to know what happened to Syrron?" Saga asked. He was being dragged into further conversation and he knew it, but if he left now, he knew he wouldn't be able to let this encounter go. So when Rejalgar started walking, he followed.

He fell into step next to him, tilting his head to look up in his direction. "On second thought, don't tell me. You're a Sith. I can guess."

"If it makes you feel better, he thoroughly deserved being crushed to death by that ceiling," he explained anyway.

"He was a terrible cousin."

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