As Kalen Joss stepped out of the transport hub at Landsdowne Docks, he walked over to the speeder port intent on catching a lift to the bar near the medical where he was to meet his contact to be paid for his recent bounty. When all of sudden he bumped into another pedestrian walking across the busy entranceway. ‘Oh, I’m sorry about that…I should have been paying more attention’ Kalen said.
The figure turned, bright, blinding lights from the docks meant to illuminate the area mercilessly catching on the gold scarf wrapped around his bundled locs of hair. His scarred face was crinkled from the push, but softened immediately at the apology. He raised his hands in a universal – at least, in this galaxy – warding gesture of calm, flapping them.
“Ay, ay, no worries, hey. My bad too. You okay?” the Mirialan checked.
‘Uh…yeah’ Kalen said nervously.
He wasn’t fine at all, this galaxy full of new people and strange things was still wearing on him. Though he had been to 7 different star systems with different varieties of life and technoglogy with the last 6 months. Since they arrived back from…wherever they had been, Kalen had not been able to feel comfortable with anyone, anywhere. The Mirialan man infront of his seemed like a kind sort though, unlike many he had met over the past 6 months.
‘Yeah, Im fine. I’m Kalen’ he said as he raised his hand, palm out. Hopefully not making an insulting gesture in his species culture. They had had several aliens in their group, but they had mostly been Bothans, Rodians, Twileks and Zarbanites. This was the first Mirialan Kalen had ever seen in fact.
‘What’s your name’ Kalen muttered as he squinted up at the slightly less bright gray sky then the last planet he had been on.
The stranger’s pale, milky lilac eyes narrowed slightly as he squinted at Kalen, noting his stiff posture and the uncertain shift of his feet, the hesitant reach. He relaxed his own shoulders and mentally winced at his appearance, hoping to appear non-threatening as he spoke with a softer tone and smiled.
“I’m Ruka,” he replied, taking the offered hand and giving an awkward shake. He watched Kalen squint up, wondering at it. Was the man hungover? “Ay, uh, not to be rude or anything, or invasive, yeah, but you sure you’re okay? You lost?” When they dropped hands, Ruka instead waved around the spaceport. “I ain’t been to Aliso much, but I could probably help find someone or something.”
‘I’ve only been here twice before actually. But I have a room at the hotel just north of the medina….I’m uh…new to this part of the galaxy’ Kalen said.
And thats when Kalen caught the sense, the man infront of him was extremely powerful with the force. His ‘aunt’ had been the one to teach them the force ‘sense’ and ‘mind trick’ classes back in their rudimentary ‘Jedi Academy’ aboard the lost squadron. That small group of 5 ships, and just under 5000 people. That tiny group, lost, millions of light years away had been Kalens life up until 6 months ago.
His aunt had always said with a proper force sense ‘if anyone scans you, you’ll know’
Ruka was either a very powerful Jedi, a member of a species very strong with the force, or both. He decided to chat the man up as discreetly as he could. All he had heard about his kind was that all the Jedi had been wiped out twice in the last 50 years or so. This had caused him and the other ‘jedi’, who had survived their trip home riding the waves of whales, to remain quiet about their ‘training’.
Briefly, the Mirialan’s scar broken brows furrowed hard, and he squinted harder, debating if this was some proposition kriff; but he decided immediately against it. Kalen seemed too genuinely lost, and if he was new to Aliso and Force-Sensitive – and the man was decently powerful, at least enough to be a User, to Ruka’s trained senses – then there was a pretty likely conclusion of where this was going.
Then again, he was supposed to be working on assumptions and snap judgements. So…
“Oh, right, uh…” he gestured vaguely for them to continue walking, switching direction to head for aforementioned medina. “You mean the Aliso system, or the ‘Rim, or?”
‘No, I met a contact here before and I’m just returning now.’ Kalen said as they walked off
The Mirialan’s attention snapped away from Kalen as he spotted a somewhat familiar face. The towering visage of Furios Morega di Plagia had just entered the spaceport, the perfect person to assist with anything having to do with Aliso. Though Ruka only recognized him from the occasional report on the Ascendant Clan’s activities, a seven foot tall armored behemoth was hard to miss.
“Ah, Furios!” he shouted toward the Epicanthix.
The giant turned his head to identify who was calling his name. “Ruka?! What are you doing on Aliso?” he called back jovially.
“You know, stuff and things,” the Mirialan answered casually.
The Aedile of House Ventress approached the recently acquainted pair, his long stride making short work of the distance. “And who’s this?” he stated, gesturing toward the human amongst them.
Ruka gestured likewise and introduced the man to his fellow Elder. “This is Kalen. He’s a bit lost and could use some guidance on Aliso.” Kalen suppressed a shudder as this new face was exuding about as much power in the Force as the first. It felt uncanny that he could run into two such beings in so short a time.
Furios glanced quickly at the outsider and back to the Mirialan. “I can handle that,” he offered. “I was just making a pit stop on my way to the Sand Pit. Wait here and I’ll be right back. Need to grab something off my ship.”
Before either Ruka or Kalen could say anything, the tall Sith was gone, his cloak billowing with his faster pace. The latter was at a loss for words while the former gave a half-shrug. “I guess we wait.”
“So who was that?”
“Furios Morega,” the Mirialan eplied. “He’s one of the top brass in this city. A little bit of a loose cannon for my tastes, but effective at what he does.”
“He seems… friendly,” Kalen stated, unable to come up with a better word.
“To his friends,” Ruka replied, recalling the numerous reports of blood shed at Furios’ hands.
. A few moments passed before the Epicanthix returned with a large crate on one shoulder. “Thanks for waiting. Now let’s head to the Sand Pit.”
“Wait,” Kalen interrupted. “I have a contact I’m supposed to meet.”
The tall Sith didn’t even hesitate. “Just stick with me and you’ll meet your contact soon enough. I know everyone worth knowing in this city and right now I’m going to the Sand Pit.” He wrapped his free arm around the stunned Novitiate’s shoulders and pulled him along with uncanny casual strength that Kalen couldn’t resist. Ruka simply smiled and followed the two, curious to see what was in the crate and what Furios could possibly want in a sandy pit.
The Sand Pit 15 Minutes Later
As it turned out, the Sand Pit didn’t have any sand at all. It was a small, dimly-lit amphitheater with food, drink, and fighting on offer. The current bout was a no-holds-barred scrap between a Trandoshan member of the Saraask'ar and some unknown Weequay thug. As fists flew and claws tore, Furios Morega dragged the bewildered Kalen and Ruka to some empty seats, lugging his crate onto the bench and sitting down with a heavy thud. “I present to you…” he started with a gesture toward the brawl. “The Sand Pit!”
The Mirialan sat down, unimpressed with the barbaric display. “This?!”
The Epicanthix pulled a bottle of vodka out of the crate and passed it to Kalen, followed by another one for Ruka. “Just have a drink and enjoy yourselves.”
The latter took the bottle and set it aside while the former pulled the stopper only to get his senses blasted by the strong, clear liquor within. He turned the opening away from him to read the label on the Korada Chalice Distillery vodka.
Kalen, had only drank alcohol a few times before in his life. It was usually some awful fire water concocted by of the ships engineers. He had never been ‘drunk’ before. But if he was ever going to survive is this wild new galaxy, he had to start making friends at some point. Kalen took a small sips, and found that it wasn’t nearly as strong or harsh as previous types he had indulged in.
‘Whew, thats, uh…not bad…thanks Furious’ he said with a bit of a wheez, no knowing how to actually address the man.
Ruka’s friendly face had gone stoney and condemning the moment they entered the bar-cum-fighting ring and his eye only twitched at having a bottle placed in front of him. His scarred lips curled in a barely contained grimace of disgust as his gaze flicked, telekinetically floating the bottle right back into the crate from whence it came.
“I don’t drink,” he deadpanned, and looked at Kalen struggling slightly. “You might want to take it easy, there. Here.”
A quick look around and the Mirialan Master was levitating over a small shot glass and three tall glasses with a pitcher of water that seemingly poured itself from the nearest clean tap. All gently tinked down before them.
‘Holy s….are you a Jedi!?’ Kalen exclaimed as he watched the feat of force weilding the somber alien was performing right infront of his eyes.
He poured a small shot into the shot glass and placed the bottle to the side of the table before taking a big sip of water.
At the mention of the word Jedi, Kalen sensed a force flash from Furious to his right aswell. ‘Wait…are you both Jedi’s?“
Ruka blinked at the man, and a small snort left his otherwise extremely grumpy countenance.
“Ay, I mean, not exactly a Jedi…my husband is though. I just didn’t make it through their school, but I’m something like it. And if you ever need help, I’m there.”
He gave a little, stiff shrug.
Furios chuckled. “Jedi wish they were as awesome as me.”
He ignored the water and took another large swig from his bottle of alcohol. The match continued in the nearby arena, absorbing some of his attention.
“Though I do know a Jedi who moved to Aliso not too long ago. She’s married to a Sith, funnily enough,” he continued. “Won’t catch me marrying a Jedi though. Can’t stand all the talk of ‘peace’ and ‘harmony’.”
Ruka rolled his eyes, both at the drinking and at Furios’ commentary.
“Oh no, peace, how horrible.” The sarcasm dripped from his accented tone. “Good for them and they love, ay.”
Kalens head was a flurry of thoughts and contradictions now. He had thought that having heard that Jedi had been wiped out twice that there wouldn’t be many…but the stoic alien, just said he was married to one. And the snark aside, it didnt seem like Furious was openly genocidal towards them either.
‘So wait…the Jedi weren’t wiped out twice in the past half century?’ Kalen managed to blurt out.
Furious replied with a laugh ‘Oh no, that parts totally true…come to think of it, the Jedi have a pretty bad track record on avoiding being wiped out. We’ve had lots of light siders on our ranks these days.’
‘Uh…we?’
Both of his companions slowly turned their heads and stared at him for a moment. They were both wondering now of Kalen was a clone who had just dropped out of a tube in the past few days.
Ruka looked to Furious, being on his turf, he didnt want to step out of line, but this was curious indeed.
‘So, you’ve never heard of who runs this area of the galaxy eh? Me neither…But, are you like a clone, or just catch a lift here from another galaxy with some space whales…like what?’ Furious said before taking another drink, and pouring another shot for Kalen.
‘Uh, so yeah…about that…’ Kalen began to tell his story.
Ruka finished and said ‘Continue please Kalen…’
Several minutes later, after telling them both the key highlights of his life. Being the 3rd generation survivor of a group who had been lost in a far away galaxy 70 years prior. The small colony they had built on a desolate world there. The detection of the pod of space whales 6.5 months ago. Their harrowing journey across intergalactic space. How he lost his entire family and 4 of the 5 ships didnt make it ‘home’ to this galaxy. He also mentioned how his father had granted him the title of ‘Master’ only weeks before they had embarked on the journey home. All of it.
Furious, who surprisingly hadn’t taken a swig in a few minutes stopped him ‘Wait wait wait…so you mean to tell me, you’ve only be in this galaxy for 6 months…and you spent the rest of your life in a little squadron of 80 or 90 year old dreadnaughts, lost in a different galaxy…you said only 1 ship made it, how many were aboard? And how many force users?’ Digging for info casually now.
‘About 800 or so…only 2 force users, though some of the children aboard were adepts. I know several were being considered for invitations to become padawans in our 'in house’ academy before we left. Several dozen of us decided to remain in this part of the galaxy, some others headed coreward in hopes of finding long long family and the rest all found this galaxy distasteful in one way or another and booked themselves on colony transports headed for the outer rim. Within a month or 2 after we got home, our group had totally dispersed. I’ve just been doing contracts independantly in this sector since our group separated, did a survey and medical study on Uvul, and I’m here to collect payment for my second job’ not wanting to mention that it was a ‘dead or alive’ bounty he was collecting. Though, now, Kalen figured that Furious might actually know, or even be the boss of his ‘contact’.
Tahiri walked in the amphitheater, the Vornskr at her side sniffing the air carefully while she looked around for who she was meeting with. For Master Ruka Tenbriss Ya-ir to come to Aliso to speak with her was no minor thing. Most conversations with other clans were dealt with over holo-vids or comm messages. She felt both honored, and a little apprehensive that he was in person to speak with her. The last message he had sent shortly after arriving was that he was with her Aedile and another at the Sand Pit.
Sighing, she knew all too well that this was one of the few select places Furios enjoyed relaxing, but why Ruka would have followed him here of all places was beyond her.
Well at least I can do a quick check in with Furios, even though I know it’ll annoy him that I’m here on business rather than pleasure.
Glancing around the stands she quickly picked out both the tall green skinned Mirialan man, and her Epicanthix Aedile. The person with them she didn’t recognize, but maybe they were friend or acquaintance.
“Enjoying your day off, Furios?” the petite Togruta cocked her head in acknowledgement, and raised an eyebrow at the bottles on the table, both opened and unopened, along with the water pitcher. Straightening up a bit and bowing deeply to Ruka, “It’s an honor and pleasure to have you here, Ruka. Apologies if I made you wait too long, the reports for House Ventress were a bit tedious today.”
Then turning to Human sitting at the table, she smiled and bowed her head, “And who is this new friend? I’m Tahiri Drakon Night-Thorn de Morte Tarentae, member of the di Plagia, though you can simply call me Tahiri.”
‘Oh, yeah, I’m uh, Kalen. I’m shhhz new around here…I’ve come to collect a an bounty with Dath Kossir, these gshshsher fine folks invited me here while I was on the way’ the affects if the alcohol on Kalen becoming quite noticeable.
‘You’re collecting on one of Daths bounties? You?’ Furious said with a curious gaze. Tahiri also shifted her gaze to Kalen and raised and eyebrow.
Kalen didnt want to admit it, but he literally had the heart of the target of the bounty, wrapped in biofilm in a pouch on his belt.
‘Yeah, the data on the bounty pzzzzpuck was legit…and the tssssarget didnt even see me coming. A wretched fellow to beeeezh sure.’ Kalen didnt feel any remorse over the killing either, the man had fought back, and was guilty of killing 2 children of oue of Daths lab assistants.
As a guardian, the concept of justice was deeply ingrained in him. And also, he needed the work, he was quickly running out of creditd as his share of the sale of the ship had only amounted to about 4000 credits. Enough to survive for a few months, but certainly not a retirement nestegg.
Furious replied ‘Well then…its a good thing you’re with me then…atleast you know Dath with pay you if I’m there. Tell me kid, are you into marital arts at all?’
Kalen replied sheepishly ‘I’ve done some corellian kickboxing over the years’
‘Well then, go grab that chair over there on the second level’ Furious said pointing to a seat in the corner of the messinene. Go sit up there its almost my turn’ the big guy said. They stood and left Tahiri and Ruka to ‘watch the table’.
As if on queu, as he walked towards the seat Furious had pointed to he heard the ring announcer announce his name as the next fighter.
Several minutes later, when the announcer signaled for the first contender to enter the arena, the tall Epicanthix strode out to the sound of cheers. He had changed into a sleeveless undershirt, a pair of fatigue pants, and black boots, his usual dark armor stashed in some locker. When it came to the Sand Pit’s fights, he never bothered with the bulky affair as he treated these brawls like training to fight with neither the protection nor his trusty saber. That and it was quite satisfying to feel the impact of some poor sap’s face on his bare fists rather than gauntleted ones. Speaking of fists, he pumped his into the air as he slowly turned around to face the crowds all around him from the center of the ring. Most cheered louder at the display, having seen the Sith fight before. Others, including Ruka and Kalen, stayed silent.
“And his opponent…” the announced paused for effect. “Grumkaaaar Varbuuuuuk!”
A massive Dowutin shambled heavily into the arena, wearing nothing but a huge pair of grey shorts that stretched around his thick waist and meaty thighs, showing his burly muscles and orange skin. His large frame actually stood a few inches taller than his Plagueian opponent, a rarity in these parts of the galaxy. He also did little to appease the crowd, only eliciting cheers through his sheer size and the fact that he was one of the few who had the guts to actually challenge Furios to a fight rather than be fed as fodder. Most of the Sith’s opponents were simply big for their species and largely unhappy about being more or less forced to face him. Varbuk was neither, but was bigger and showed nothing but confidence that he would win, a good opponent for the Epicanthix who couldn’t help but grin. The Elder strode to his corner, loosening his muscles with some minor stretching and flexing, making the pattern of swirling scars lining his bare shoulders shift and slide over his toned physique.
Kalen, who had brought the glass of water from the table with him. He quickly realized why Furious had pointed out this particular seat, it had great sightlines on the entire ring. He had seen some cage fighting as a roadside attraction on Uvul a week ago. But this was clearly a much more organized and professional style setup here. The announcer then went on to list the records of each fighter.
Kalen took a sip of his water, trying to shake off the quesy feeling he was getting in his stomach.
‘Im giving 3 to 1 odds on on Grumkar, any takes on this action?’ He heard a local bookie holler from a few seats down. Kalen had faith in his new friend, and he was drunk. So he pulled out a few 100 credit pieces from his pouches and shuffled over to the man.
‘I’ll wager 300 on Furious.’ Kalen shouted at the man.
‘Only paying out 0.7 to 1 on him, are you sure kid? Way better odds on Grumkar.’ The bookie retorted.
‘300 on Furious’ Kalen repeated before the man eventually took his money and gave him a chit with his bet on it.
“Ay, ay, it’s fine, no worries, Tahiri,” Ruka assured, waving a hand at her. He cringed slightly, jaw tightening, at such a deep bow, but he’d had to get used to such formalities as a Proconsul before, and learn to respect them.
It was much easier and more practiced to bow back, like his noble husband had taught him years ago.
“Good to be here you, Tahiri.” His tone was more than a bit strained, gaze flicking with deep disapproval around the bar and fight ring. He looked back with a stiff smile. “Bril said I had to give you a hug for him when I saw you, but I’ll leave that up to you.”
Back in the arena, the starting bell rung and the Dowutin charged at the Epicanthix, who was more than happy to intercept. The near-human twisted out of the giant fist’s path and struck out at the extended shoulder, landing a blow right on the seam between his opponent’s exposed deltoid and triceps. A quick eye could catch a small spark of Force lightning being released on impact. If the blow had any effect, Grumkar didn’t show it as he turned to try again, launching his massive, orange fists one after the other with as much speed as he could muster. Furios dodged each blow with ease, leveraging his far superior agility to evade the strikes. Each returning punch struck the same spots on the Dowutin’ thick arms, that same seam between the muscles with that same nearly imperceptible shock. Those in the loudly cheering crowd who were familiar could tell that the Sith was purposely stacking up strain on those points, making the weight of each hit push through to the brachial nerve within. The repeated blows quickly began to wear on Varbuk’s large arms.
The larger contender roared and went in for a grapple with heavy, pounding steps, a stark contrast to his previous tactic of swinging fists. Furios stepped in and ducked the massive bear hug before driving his shoulder into the Dowutin’s groin, causing him to bowl over the Sith and flip onto his back with a resounding thud that elicited another round of cheers. Before the dazed fighter could return to his feet, the di Plagia launched a powerful kick to his bald head. He turned his back on the downed behemoth and raised his arms to the loud, excited approval of the spectators. The announcer started the ten-count, but by the time he reached five, Grumkar was scrambling back to his feet. His eyes were wide and nostrils flared with bloodlust while the crowd roared with bloodthirst. The Epicanthix simply flashed another hungry grin, glad that this fight wasn’t over yet.
‘YEAH! FURIOUS! GET HIM’ Kalen found himself caught up in the excitement of it all. The last time he had been a part of something like was his secondary school ‘Athletics meet’ on one of the dreadnaughts over 20 years prior. He cheered and clapped for his big new buddy to finish the Dowutin.
Varbuk charged at his opponent once again, this time aiming as low as his core could support to avoid being dropped on his back again. The Sith leapt up and out of the way before contact could be made and front-flipped over the charging behemoth, landing a kick on his large, exposed back in the location of a kidney. While he landed lightly on his feet, the larger fighter face-planted on the hard floor with another thud, skidding toward the edge of the arena. Furios gestured toward the crowd again in a sweeping motion, eliciting yet another loud round of cheers and applause as Grumkar slammed his meaty fist on the duracrete floor and clumsily returned to his feet more enraged than before.
The Plagueian laughed heartily and briskly closed the distance between himself and the Dowutin, his long stride making quick work of the gap. The battered, orange giant responded by stepping forward with a heavy right hook, but the Sith dodged, inside this time, aiming a shocking uppercut to the massive fighter’s solar plexus. The blow knocked all the wind out of the bigger combatant and dropped him to his knees, but before the rest of him could fall to the hard ground, Furios grabbed him by the sides of his head. With a maniacal grin across his face, the di Plagia head-butted Grumkar once, twice, three times, four. Blood splattered from the behemoth’s face and onto the arena floor as his big hands grasped weakly at the arms strongly holding his head in place. With one final head-butt, the challenger went limp before the Sith dropped him unconscious to the floor. The announcer started the ten-count once again as the victor raised his fists to bellowing cheers and applause while a trickle of his own blood poured gently down his face and he beamed triumphantly. This time, Grumkar Varbuk didn’t get up as the count finished.
Meanwhile during the fight
“Aye. No worries. Let him know that his hug was received and a hug is returned,” giggling a bit at the thought of them hugging. She knew Bril meant well, but there were times where sometimes he went a little overboard with some people. Though that optimism was what reminded her of her own youth, and was one of the reasons why she had stayed the way she was.
“Now onto the business at hand, you wanted to talk with me about something important. We can go talk else where’s if you’d like? No one here would dare to mess with anything at Furios’ table until he’s left, so his stuff will be fine,” she had noticed Ruka’s discomfort of the place, and wanted to make him feel welcome rather than uncomfortable.
Upon that note, they both heard and felt the pounding of the fight within the arena. Glancing over into the arena, the Quaestor shook her head, a chuckle rising in her chest as she watched how Furios fought his opponent.
“Well, he’ll certainly win this fight for sure. I have no doubts, although he’d better watch out or else he may very well get his back cracked. Or at the very least get some new bruises,” murmuring to herself, amidst the uproar of the crowd.
Kalen had cheered and applauded along with the rest of the crowd, right up until then final few headbutts. At that point, it appeared to be excessive, and for a few brief flashes, Kalen got a very Dark sense from Furious. He had realized quickly that his big new buddy had been very strong with the force, but now he was getting am almost ‘Sith’ like feel from him. He had sensed the dark flashes all the way from the second floor where he was sitting.
After hearing the final announcements, and shaking off his uneasiness, chalking the dark feeling up to Furious being in ‘combat’. Kalen went to the bookie and collected his winnings (510 credits on him 300 credit bet since the odds were so heavily in Furious’ favour). He then made his way over to the stairs and back to their original table. He arrived slightly before Furious did, and he overheard the end of chat Tahiri and Ruka were having.
‘Simply barbaric’ Ruka had said as Kalen walked up to the table.
‘The ending was kind of gross…I agree’ Kalen said as he walked up with a half smile. He took a seat beside Ruka. As he smiled and nodded at Tahiri, across the table, he noticed she was definitely ‘scanning’ him mentally. Her vornskir was also staring at him intently. Kalen refilled his glass(with water) and started to gaze around the bar.
‘So you’re a contractor these days you said Kalen?’ Tahiri said cooly.
Kalen said ‘Uh, yeah…just taking jobs as I can get them…only completed 2 jobs so far. But the bounty I’m on my way to collect, should net me enough to buy a little ship of my own…’
‘And some new clothes hahaha’ Furious said as he came walking up, still with a small trickle of his own blood dripping down his face.
‘Nice work friend, that was an, impressive finish.’
“I’m fine talking elsewhere, ay…” Even as he said it though, he clearly wasn’t moving, jaw locked and eyes narrowed on Furios and Kalen. “Kriffing fight rings. I don’t like it. This kid is from some other Galaxy, aint never none seen other people, and this is what he’s gettin’ show is normal? Barbaric. We gotta show him differently…”
The commentary trailed off as the others rejoined them, and Ruka went quiet as a guest while Tahiri addressed Kalen. His vaguely sightless stare bored holes into Furios.
Furios simply grinned at Ruka. “Can’t let a challenge go unanswered,” the Epicanthix stated, casually reclining into his chair and opening a fresh bottle of vodka to take a deep swig. “Besides, he just wouldn’t stay down.” The blood on his face seemed to contradict the relaxed way he spoke of his beaten opponent, who was being carted out of the arena on a stretcher by several droids.
Kalen was feeling a bit uneasy at the understanding that someone like this was so calm about head-butting such a large being unconscious. “Do you… uh… want to get that looked at?” he asked, gesturing to the Sith’s forehead.
“Huh? Oh, no need.” Furios wiped the blood from his face, pushing his hair back to show that the minor wound was already healed, with just a tender, pink mark showing where it had been. “This is nothing compared to the battlefield, plus I can heal quite quickly when I want to.”
Ruka sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Sith like Furios reveled in combat and were one of the many reasons conflict between the Clans would never truly cease. The fact that Kalen Joss had such a warmongering example as his first look at Clan Plagueis was of little comfort to the Mirialan and didn’t offer him much hope that the endless wars of the Brotherhood would ever die down.
Joss tilted his head slightly. “The battlefield? What battlefield?” From what he’d seen of Aliso City so far, the Sand Pit was the most brutal spectacle around.
Tahiri giggled. “Battlefields,” she specified with an amused smile. “Do you even still keep count, Furios?”
The Epicanthix shrugged and took another drink from his liquor. “My crate-load of medals do that for me.”
“Medals covered in blood,” Ruka commented dryly.
Furios’ grin widened a bit. “The galaxy is a rough place,” he began. “I know I disparaged peace and harmony earlier, but conflict is harmony. It’s the turmoil within men’s hearts being balanced out with action. Fighting is a way for the galaxy to maintain balance.”
Kalen did the ‘sidewaze puppy dog head tilt’ at this. He had never considered that point of view before. But it was generally accepted thaf the fit survive and the weak perish, the Jedi themselves had been formed under these premises. This new galaxy was filled with an endless amount of new knowledge that Kalen could seek.
‘An interesting concept…I was always thought that it was the Jedi who maintained balance in the galaxy…thats what were taught when I was a child…’ His mind wandered off to those days as a child running through the corridors of the Dreadnaughts, playing games and being forced to go to the makeshift ‘school’ in one of the repurposed cargobays.
“Fighting is kriffin’ fighting,” the Mirialan ground out, clearly trying to maintain a generally pleasant air and failing badly. “Violence ain’t balance, it just begets more violence. It’s poison, and it taints everything it touches, just like anger, hate. That,” his chin jutted at Furios’ red-stained visage, at the bloody ring, encompassing the whole bar, “is an excuse, ay. Addiction. Self-indulgent sithspit. You can train, meditate, practice martial arts, spar reasonably if you wanna get physical. But this? This is what makes the Galaxy a ‘rough place.’ We should do better, and our power, we owe it better.”
The Epicanthix’s grin didn’t so much as twitch. “If the galaxy didn’t need violence, it would never have developed violence, plain and simple. Grumkar Varbuk would never have challenged me in the first place. I train against bloodthirsty opponents because that’s what war brings me. If wars were only fought with sparring matches, that’s all I would ever need to practice. The galaxy’s conflicts are ever-present reminders that no matter how much better we think we are, we’re still just territorial beasts masquerading as civilized.”
Ruka scoffed. “You act fool like that, ay, ‘cause callin’ it inevitable is easy. You don’t gotta change a damn thing about you or anything you or society around you do if you call it just how it is. It’s not. Take some responsibility. Just because it been bad or is bad ain’t reason to ever stop trying to make it better. To give our kids better. That matters.”
Furios was more than happy to rebut. “What our kids need is to be capable when violence occurs, or any problem for that matter. If the whole galaxy turned to peace like you say, the next galaxy over would just tear us apart. The aliens who invaded our galaxy some years ago are the prime example. It doesn’t matter the scale, the ability to conquer foes will always be a necessity throughout the entire universe. When it isn’t, the entire universe will die because the desire for anything will have died as well.”
Kalen sat and listened with rapt attention to the 2 philosophers. It was a sign of the duality of the force and life in general. He thought about his padawan training back during his teens. They had been taught mostly in the Guardian and Consular disciplines, because thats what the 2 original Jedi assigned to the mission had been. But they had learned about the Jedi group known as Sentinels, who often followed a gray path, or atleast observationally studied the Sith.
Kalen had always been a good student, but at this moment he was wishing he had paid more attention during those lessons. His father and grandfather had been Guardians. But now, he became interested in the Sentinels path, if for no other reason than to have a chance to succeed or even belong in this galaxy.
‘What is the nature of Desire though? Its one of the most subjective things between people everywhere…very rarely do desires align, when they do, often true love or vicous massacres occur…’ Kalen said.
Furious burst out laughing. ‘The kid speaks…and he’s a philospher too.’ Furious pours Kalen a somewhat unwanted shot and took another swig himself. ‘What do you think Tahiri? Offer him a position?’
Kalen was starting to figure it out, something was up. Back home, they had had engineer distiller gangs, and some problems with low level extortion and theft. But over the 6 months he had been around, Kalen was starting recognize that there was an underworld element that was almost ever present. Not often referred to in public. But just the shear number of smugglers, pirates, rogues, dealers, gangs, and organized crime was being viewed plainly by Kalen. Plainly in the sense that, it didnt seem out of the ordinary at all, because he had no idea what ordinary was supposed to be. His optimism and curiousity left him open to new concepts of what right and wrong and just and unjust could be.
The Epicanthix got distracted by the sudden, low growl in his stomach and decided his business at the Sand Pit was more or less concluded. He stood from his chair and hefted the crate full of remaining bottles of vodka onto his shoulder.
“I have to drop this off at the bar and then I’m going to Mar’s for some noodles. Both fighting and moral debates make me hungry. You’re all free to join if you wish.”
((Insert tahiri post here))
Tahiri shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, listening to the conversation and suddenly getting flashbacks of her own Master and brother apprentice doing almost the same sort of argument. However, before she could interject, and possibly shoot a glance towards Furios to be nice, although that would just illicit a huge grin from the man, Kalen spoke up. She was impressed by the young mans spunk, though she tell he was a bit apprehensive at times and then completely on par with the wit.
She had noticed that Zuska had perked, licked his lips, and wanted to stick very close, when he had snuck a sniff at the new guy. The Vornskr was almost acting like a puppy again, and he only did that when he smelled fresh meat. The Elder opened herself up to the river of the Force around them, and reached out to Human to see what potential he had, and if she could get a sense of what he had told the otehrs was true.
The things that flooded from the man were jumbled at best, however she did ‘see’ what she had had a suspicion of; his naivety and optimism, with dashes of his intellect and keen wit. Then the exact thing she was looking for, Kalen had the potential to be powerful within the Force, however she felt the Light side had incredible influence on him. Tahiri felt that the Force had possibly, maybe in a sense led him to Plagueis. The ‘Why?’ of that possibility would probably never be answered. As for what she could do to at least help him survive within the Dark side prevalent clan, that she could do.
Zuska’s ear twitched towards the mans stomach rumble, and he licked his lips again. Looking between the taller man who smelled of fresh blood, and the one who had fresh meat in pouch on his hip, he wondered why he’d missed the hunt. Then looking up at to his alpha, he let out low rumble whine huff himself.
“You know, Furios? That’s the best thing you’ve said in a while,” smiling she patted Zuska on his and sent a mental note to him. The Vornskr wagged his tail, pushing his snoot into her hand, before heading towards the door himself.
“Why don’t you two head there first, and get an order of noodles started?” Chuckling, she cocked her head at Ruka, “We have few quick things to discuss and then, possibly, we can join you two right after. If Ruka is able to?”
“However, if what we need to talk about take longer than we anticipate, or,” the Quaestor sighed a little. “My other duties call, then at the very least, I’ll have to take a raincheck on the noodles.”
Producing a card from somewhere on her person, the petite Togruta flashed the Kalen a sincere fanged smile, and handed it to him.
“This is my commlink code, and the coordinates to House Ventress headquarters, along with a guest access code to land. It’s not on Aliso, and if you don’t have a ship, there are clan shuttles that do go there, just show the crew this card and they’ll get you there safely. Just, if you meet someone named Zuser, well… I just hope you don’t have a queasy stomach. If you meet Ro-Tahn, well he’s my brother, and is a bit better. Most everyone else flies by book, those two don’t. Just want to warn you.”
“Anyways, I may have a few jobs for you, and they pay well. So I’m more than willing to discuss your prospects, after my business has concluded,” winking and smirking at Kalen, she motioned for Ruka to follow her.
“Hopefully we’ll see you two shortly.” She headed for the door as Furios started to do the same.
The Mirialan nodded and rose, commenting with a steady look at Kalen, “Be careful and be smart. Just because you see somethin’ treated normal don’t mean it’s right, ay? You probably better off remembering your Jedi teachings. Act right for other people. You ever need something, you can get my comm from Tahiri.”
To Furios, he merely narrowed a cool, warning look, before moving away with the Togruta.
“You should keep an eye on that,” he muttered to her as they left.
‘I’ll take you up on that Furious offer too, but I do have to go see Dath and get paid for this bounty. Mind if we stop by his office?’ Kalen response as he finished his last gulp fron the water glass.
Furious sported a laugh at the notion. ‘Yeah, I do mind kid. Come for dinner, I’ll call Dath and tell him to bring all your money over to Mar’s. Where’s the proof you liquidated the target?’
Kalen squirmed, a bit nervous ‘Yeah, its in my pocket.’ He said in a low voice.
‘Perverting the fliffin youth I say…’ Ruka muttered.
Furious has been laughing at the kid who was apparently carrying around vital organs somewhere in his pocket to collect a bounty from Dath.
‘Haha, you’ll fit in great then Kalen. Lets go get something to eat…I saw you cashing in on a bet when I won, so thebfurst round of drinks is on you this time" Furios only said the last part to gauge Kalens response, he didnt need anyone to buy hima drink, and gladly would have fed the 'kid’ booze all night.
Kalen wiggled out of the booth with Furious. To be honest, Kalen didnt need any more alcoholic beverages, he was already drunk as it was. He was more interested in the meal and collecting his bounty. He had a nice refurbished Sheathipede he had his eye on and wanted to put a down payment on it before someone else took it.
“It will be my pleasure to by you a drink sir, you drink the clear liqour right?” Kalen look edde to curious.
“That’s right kid, and don’t ever forget it. Now let’s go get you your paycheck and some food in our guts.”
After paying their bills the unlikely new pals set off in seperate directions, intending to meet at Mar’s for dinner.
At Dinner
When Dath Kossir showed up after being beckoned by Furious. The scene was verging on the surreal. Dath standing receiving a human heart, wrapped in biofilm, and Furious almost falling out of his chair laughing. Apparently Kalen, had beem toting around his targets heart in his backpack the entire time. Kossir paid Kalen the 12k credits that they had agreed upon and departed.
A few hours later
Kalen and Furious were walking back to their lodgings. Well technically Kalen was drunkenly stumbling. As the darkness of the Alisoan night surrounded them, Furious pointed out a tailors shop that Kalen should visit tomorrow, claiming Kalen definitely needed some ‘new threads’. Certainly a new chapter in Kalens life had begun that day, though it would take him several more months to realize the full extent of what that new chapter would entail.
CREDIT REEL SCENES
-Furios eating a ridiculously large bowl of noodles
-Kalen blushing as the tailors daughter measures his inseem.
-Tahiri smiling as her Vornskyr tears apart and devours an Alisoan Vole.
-Ruka frowning disapprovingly and glaring at some drug peddlers on a street corner. She jedi mind ticked them into rethinking their life choices.