Seven Sins Bar The Shame Corner
“I must be going through a midlife crisis,” Turel remarked to no one in particular as he swished his Corellian whiskey in its glass. The Jedi Master sat alone with his thoughts at the bar as he waited for his contact. The rest of the establishment buzzed with the usual music and the dull sounds of indistinct conversations.
When Cora reached out to him, he knew the job would be challenging, but Nar Shaddaa? Hutt territory? Turel must have lost his mind. He’d taken on bigger risks, but not for years at this point. Though, if the Sentinel were being honest with himself, it was nice to get out of the Praxieum for a while and out in the field.
Turel thumbed through his datapad, absently reviewing dossiers. He mostly knew his partner for this mission by reputation. They had met in person a few times but this would be their first time working together.
Starosta Erinos strode through the Shame Corner with his arms hidden within the sleeves of his cloak; it covered most of his tunic save for the middle, offering glimpses of the tailored fabrics designed in homage to the Jedi of the High Republic era – primarily black and mahogany with gold trim, and the symbol of Clan Erinos showed proudly in the center of the chesnut-colored sash worn around his waist. It was his first time visiting the station since the incident with Ira, and he made sure to stop to have tea with her sister, Avalon prior to leaving to meet with his teammate.
The trek to the Seven Sins Bar was short. Upon entering, he quickly scanned the establishment’s interior until he found the person he was looking for. Turel Sorenn, his master’s master, was a man Bril had always wanted to know more about, but life always had a way of getting in the way. Maybe now, they’d have the opportunity to get to know one another. As he approached the polished table where Turel was sitting, he lifted his hand in a wave.
“Oi, Grandpa Sorenn,” he began, “Master Cora said I’d likely find you in the bar.”
Turel grabbed his chest with an exaggerated gesture, “oh my heart, I think it’s giving out FROM OLD AGE.” He shot Bril a deadpan stare and let the sarcasm linger for a moment. “Seriously, did Cora tell you to call me that?”
Bril tucked his arms behind his back while he waited for Turel to finish, the corners of his mouth upturned in a slight smile. “Don’t worry. It’s a term of endearment,” he explained, “And no, that was my idea, but something tells me it’d amuse him.”
After a moment or two when silence began to settle between them - the silence of unfamiliarity - he shifted topics. “How are things at the Praxeum? I heard the war in Odan-Urr territory has gotten pretty serious.”
Turel sighed, “it feels like things are always serious on Kiast for one reason or another. What’s the saying? War, war never changes.” The Jedi Master stared at his glass absently for a moment. His face broke into a smile as he switched subjects, “Things are going well at the Praxeum, my students are eager as ever. They make me feel ancient sometimes.”
“Right. It makes me wonder if lasting peace is just an illusion, something to keep hope alive so the galaxy doesn’t seem so … helpless.”
If his time in the Brotherhood was any indication, then conflict seemed to be the natural state of things. Change, often violent in nature, defined the lives of so many. “We’ve reached a tentative peace on Selen following the defeat of the Pretenders, but I’ve had the haunting suspicion that that won’t last much longer.
"Seems like that’s a part of the territory. My own student has me scratching my head at times. Especially because she’s reaching that rebellious age that I hear people talk about so much.”
He cracked a smile upon thinking of Morra, his young apprentice. The girl was brilliant and resourceful, and as difficult as she could be at times, he was happy to see her going through this process of defining who should would be not just as a jetii, but also a person.
“The price of peace is vigilance, as they say,” Turel replied in an understanding tone. “I find with rebellious students it’s helpful to remember your own time as a student. My mentor takes great pleasure in watching students give me the same treatment I gave her.” He smiled, “I like to think I turned out okay.” He took a sip of his drink and made direct eye contact with Bril, “so tell me about this student of yours.”
“That’s definitely true. And it isn’t hard to remember my time as a student since i only joined the Brotherhood two years ago. My tutelage began a lot earlier than that, of course, but yeah …” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Morra is great! She’s so intelligent. A genius, really. She’s compassionate, thoughtful, and driven. Resourceful, great with people. I learn from her as much she does from me.”
Turel laughed as a rush of memories came flooding back, “that sounds a lot like my old apprentice Cora. I am certainly a better Jedi because of his influence.”
“Likewise. I’ve learned so much from him and Ruka … I still do. Honestly hard to believe that he isn’t that much older than me. I still feel like a child in comparison,” he admitted, smiling while rubbing the back of his neck. “So, Cora told me there was a mission you could use some help on?”
Turel gave a scheming glance left and right to make sure no one was in immediate earshot, “how would you feel about crashing a Hutt auction on Nar Shaddaa?” The Jedi pulled a datapad out of his earthen toned satchel and handed it to Bril. “There’s an artifact on the docket that might be of interest to you. Something we could liberate…for safe keeping of course. I need to secure some files on the host’s local server. Figured it would be a win-win for both of us.”
The ex-gangster was both dreading and thrilled by going back to his old stomping grounds on the smuggler’s moon. In a way it would be a test of how much he had made peace with his past. Also, he couldn’t say no to sticking it to the Hutts any chance he could.
An artifact? Turel knew exactly how to get his attention. “Nar Shaddaa, huh? I’m sure they won’t like two tuyetii crashing their party. Likely to be heavily defended, as well.”
Bril reached out to take the datapad, which Turel handed to him after he’d finished looking over the mission details. The auction was being held by a crime boss named Ulekk the Hutt. And what item was the center of the event? Some item scavenged from the remains of a High Republic-era ship, but it didn’t say what, only that it was Nihil in origin. His heartbeats quickened at the thought.
“New finds related to the Nihil are rare these days. Highly coveted. We’ll need to be careful ”
Buzzing apprehension drifted across the Force’s thread and into Bril’s mind, prompting him to regard his master’s master with an inquisitive look. What was he so nervous about?
“Careful, right.” Turel took a sip from his drink he had no intention of going in guns blazing, “I have some ideas on that but we’ll have some time to case the place and find the best approach. Ideally we get in and out without them even knowing but things rarely go according to plan.”
“I can scout the area without drawing attention to us with Kesh, my tanarook companion. Are you skilled at stealth infiltration? I’m not the best at it, so I could be your lookout while you’re inside.”