[Wildcards] Run-On #1: Origins

Trepus, Northern Hemisphere, Solyiat
Kiast System, Outer Rim Territories
35 ABY; 0812 Hours, Local Time

The Onderonian took a drag from his cigarette, quietly observing the trio that had been sparring with wooden approximations of katanas. The shortest of the three, a woman of smaller stature, appeared to be teaching a Zeltron with blue hair the finer aspects of swordsmanship. The dark hair was currently in a braid, the scarred visage bespoke of someone who was no stranger to battle. Occasionally, she would stop the Zeltron — who Celevon now recognized as the Rollmistress, Aurora Ta’var — sparring with the massive figure that appeared to be a Togruta to offer suggestions to improve the Zeltron’s technique, giving a demonstration to emphasize her words. From the description he had been given by Edgar Drachen, the Aedile knew this was the contact he was supposed to approach for an introduction to his actual target.

Unlike most missions he had been assigned, this was to offer the target a job rather than ending their existence. Still, it did not stop the half-Echani from observing his target. Despite the short stature, Yuki Suoh carried herself with the self-confidence of someone who knew themselves intimately, flaws and all. The feline grace of her motions bespoke of someone with extensive martial arts training and, in all likelihood, subconsciously moved without making a sound. A hunter.

Predator, a voice within his mind supplied.

The previous evening, Celevon had been given orders via a holo call from High Councilor Sorenn — the former Arconan knew Turel well enough to tell the difference between speaking to his friend and speaking to the leader of Odan-Urr, even if they were one and the same. The Commander of JTF Hoth had suggested approaching Yuki Suoh as an intermediary and told the Onderonian the locations that the woman could likely be found.

Drachen had completely ignored the fact that Celevon pointed out that he already knew Luna Okami, then ended the call to Turel’s amusement. The Assassin had chosen to approach near the end of a scheduled training session, since that was the only guaranteed time and place to find Yuki.

The situation had arisen due to the half-Echani’s frustration with all of the red tape involved to carry out operations, due to their close association with the Vatali Empire. This particular team was to be off-the-books

Their training session came to a close, respectful bows exchanged between the three of them. When Aurora walked off, the older female turned to face him and gestured for Celevon to approach. He dropped the remains of his cigarette onto the ground, which gave a satisfying hiss for a moment before the heel of his boot ground it to nothing. Nonchalantly, he gave the small woman the exact same cursory assessment she was in the process of giving him.

“While I appreciate the respectful distance during a training exercise that you were not invited to, you could have joined me and given suggestions to Ta’var,” Yuki spoke curtly, glancing at the hilt of Celevon’s own katana visible over his left shoulder. “I remember seeing you a few times since your appointment. What do you want?”

Though some would have taken insult at the brusque delivery, the Onderonian found it refreshing compared to those that chose to waste time with small talk. “I need you to deliver this datapad to Luna Okami. She’s been chosen to assist in a task of putting together a team of like-minded individuals.” A quirk of her eyebrow had the half-Echani elaborating. “The kind of individuals that work around or throw out the rule book and hate paperwork.”

The female appeared intrigued and looked over her shoulder at Keiji. “Very well. You are welcome to join me or return to your home, brother.”

There was no need for a response. The Togruta was just as interested as his sister was. A chance to play by his own rules? “What’s on the datapad?”

Celevon held out the device, a satisfied glint to his mercurial gaze. “A list of dossiers on possible members that could be recruited to such a theoretical unit.”

“And who exactly are you planning on leading this team?” Yuki questioned, taking the device before her brother could.

“Oh… I’ll leave that to decide amongst yourselves.”

Keiji’s Loadout

Keiji watched Celevon walk away from them after saying that mildly ominous line, then quickly turned his gaze over his sister’s shoulder. Although maintaining his composure, the Togruta was simply too excited to wait for his turn to read the datapad. Yuki smiled slyly at her brother’s attempt to not stare. She turned on the device and started to scroll through some of the names listed on the device. There was quite the number of them with some clearly being more attractive than others, yet all holding a certain appeal. A Jensaarai, some sort of “cowboy”, some con man, a Kiffar, and others that Keiji couldn’t catch.

“Keiji,” Yuki said curtly snapping her brother’s attention to her, “You never gave me a response. Would you like to join?” She turned around to face the taller figure.

“There would nothing more in this world that would bring me joy.” Keiji said bowing to her. He did so enjoy the idea of working with people that required little to no rules, no person constantly telling him that he must follow this rule of that article of this page. To have freedom to do his work his way finally without any major repercussions.

He had done work like this before, though for far more basic and instinctual needs. This was a chance to relive his glory days, but for a better cause. A smirk started to cross his face. All the things he wasn’t allowed to do were soon going to become legal under this new team.

“Well I believe we should do as Celevon told us. Go to Luna then continue on from there.” She replied tucking the datapad under her arm. Placing her wooden blade back on the rack, Yuki made her way to her ship. Keiji quickly followed suit as he wanted to get the team assembled as soon as possible. This was going to be the start of something glorious.

Luna’s Snapshot

Okami Training Outpost
Widreth Forest, Solyiat

A biting breeze of winter air rustled the trees outside the encampment. Luna stood on the edge of a flat piece of ground known as the training circle watching the camp’s healers train. As an elder and senior healer of the Okami clan, Luna took her mentorship duties seriously. She had returned to Solyiat with the House Hoth forces following the campaign on Nancora. Not needed by the Odanites for the time being, she took advantage of the opportunity to check up on the next generation of healers.
All Okami were expected to maintain their fighting and survival proficiency, healers were no exception. Luna raised her hand for the small group of Mandalorians to stop going through their combat warm-ups.

“I’ve been in a medbay for far too long these past few weeks, who is willing to be my sparring partner?” The woman inquired in Mando’a.

Before any of Luna’s assembled acolytes could reply, a gruff male voice rang out from behind the group. “I am.”

Luna turned around with a smile to see a hulking giant of a man with close cut hair and a brown beard brandishing a large sword. ”Don’t go easy on me, Takota.” She punctuated her sentence by pulling out her bo-rifle and extending it into electrostaff mode.

”I never do.”

The healer acolytes stepped to the outside of the training circle, expressions of near disbelief on their faces. In a clan of armored warriors, Takota stood out, he was hard to miss. The two combatants took their positions in the center of the circle and bowed.

Takota initiated the sparring bout with a quick charge to close the distance and a wide horizontal swipe of his sword. His older female opponent jumped back a full pace and swung the right side
of her extended bo-rifle up in a diagonal parry to deflect the blow. Metal collided with metal in a resounding clang that filled the training area.

The bewildered students began to cheer for the combatants, mostly for their fellow healer. Luna made it a point to reinforce the need to remain proficient in combat as well as the science of their profession. On a battlefield the enemy did not care what your primary job was and so even the medical personnel of the clan needed to be able to defend themselves. Today, the veteran healer was putting her words into practice by sparring with an objectively imposing warrior.

Luna shifted from side to side, probing at her opponent’s flanks with quick jabs of the glowing tips of her extended bo-rifle. Takota was always one step ahead, either dodging or parrying the blows with his sword. The Force gave the larger man a distinct advantage and Luna knew that, but that did not stop her from giving her all to reinforce by example the lesson she had been teaching the acolytes.

Takota caught one of Luna’s probing blows dead on and pushed back hard, forcing his opponent to jump back. The warrior took a step back himself with a flourish of his sword.

“You’ve gotten better with the bo-rifle since I saw you last, it suits you.”

“Thank you,” Luna replied with a slight bow, “but we’re not finished.”

Keiji and Yuki approached the training circle having been informed of Luna’s location. They stepped between a small group of students to see the fight unfold.

“Is that our medic?” Keiji inquired with a small amount of disbelief at watching the older woman hold her own against a giant of a man.

“Yes,” Yuki replied with a slight grin. “I think she’ll fit right in.”

Tarvitz’s Snapshot

Hidden Forge
Ancient Tunnels, Daleem

The constant thunder of falling water reverberated throughout the cavern. In this particular part of the network of ancient tunnels which lay beneath the surface of Daleem, the constant roar drowned out all other sounds. Some had described the effect as deafening, even disorientating, but Tarvitz was one of the few who seemed to enjoy it. Singular, relentless and unending, the echoing sounds helped him to concentrate in the few moments of solace his duties granted. It also helped that it disguised the noise of his work on the forge, when another of Odan-Urr’s members required that he craft some new weapon for them.

Over the past months, he had spent some time bartering and salvaging what he could to create this place. Augmenting the plasma forge and building a small selection of tools for use with the aging machine, Tarvitz had even found time to clear a section of the wall free of strange bioluminescent moss, to create a storage area for raw metals. All that had been set aside for today, and in the forge’s place was a wooden log roughly the height of a man. When it had been dragged into the cave, it had been almost three times Tarvitz’s girth. All that had slowly been whittled away over time, stripped along with the green-tinged bark by the two blades hovering either side of it. Each was slowly rotating about the object, making slight inclusions and charging away at the felled tree, adding to the carpet of wood shavings which dominated the stone floor.

Several meters from it, Tarvitz sat with his eye closed and his brow furrowed in deep concentration. While fully armoured as ever, the Jensaarai had somehow managed to cross his legs despite the heavy plating. Hunched forward as if in prayer, both arms were stretched before him, fingers twitching slightly with every motion of the knives. He had been at this for some time now. In fact, this was his third attempt to make something of note from the wooden surface. He was also waiting for his visitor to say something.

Tarvitz had sensed her presence from the moment she had entered the cavern. As stunted as his perception of the world through the Force was, the edges of a hard disciplined psyche was a difficult thing to miss amid the relative serenity of the cavern. She had been there for some time, simply watching this work play out. It was an act of uncharacteristic patience for Yuki Suoh.

“You can speak, you know,” Tarvitz said, sighing slightly as he worked one tool around the edge of the trunk, “Much as I appreciate the quiet, you’re not going to throw me off by saying ‘Hello’.”

“It is usually not a good idea to interrupt someone when they are playing with knives,” Yuki responded, walking forward into the sunlight of the cavern, filtering through the waterfall. “I will admit, I did not expect to find this.”

“Woodcarving?”

“Artwork,” she admitted, “Or if you were going to test yourself, holding several boulders over your head.”

Tarvitz chuckled at the thought. “There’s no end of opportunities to test that sort of raw power at the moment. It’s the smaller things which improve your skills, and the opportunities to create something rather than simply killing someone.”

He sighed and both knives stopped in their motions. With a simple gesture, the two returned to his hands. Setting each down either side of him, he blinked several times, and the green photoreceptor of his artificial eye sparked back into life.

“So, something tells me this isn’t a social call. You need me to fight once more?”

“Eventually, but for now we are just recruiting you,” Yuki said as she held up a datapad “I am building a unit. Do you want the long version or the short version of what it involves?”

“Let’s go with the short one for the time being,” Tarvitz said as he stood upright, towering over the smaller woman. Yuki barely seemed to notice, and that was something he had always appreciated. Either years of being with Keiji or her iron resolve meant she barely reacted to his scarred face or hulking form. It was a nice change from the constant staring or double takes among most clan members.

“The team is mobile, self-reliant and officially does not exist,” Yuki said, “Less paperwork, more opportunities to fly out to places and meet interesting people to kill.”

“By ‘interesting people’…”

“Iron Legion fodder, Sith and the criminal scum of the universe. We can probably add the Collective to that list now as well.”

Easy enough then. Tarvitz cracked a grin and then laughed slightly at the brief list of their possible foes. “I might as well be getting my old life back. Alright, I’m in.”

He turned toward one wall and retrieved a variety of items, and a copious number of weapons, before gesturing Yuki to lead the way.

Yuki turned to leave but stopped momentarily, looking back at the partially carved trunk. “What was that going to be, anyway?”

“Eventually?” Tarvitz shrugged, “Probably a statue of a Duros, Gand or something without a nose. Truth be told I was making it up as I went along.”

Yuki said nothing in response to that, and instead keyed her comlink “Keiji, prep the ship, I am heading back now.”

“That was fast,” Keiji’s voice crackled through the small speaker with a notable lack of surprise, “The engines have not even begun to cool off yet. Did you even need to ask him?”

“She could have just ordered me,” Tarvitz answered, raising his voice to alert Keiji that he was within earshot of the device, “But it’s the thought that counts.”

“I do not issue orders, merely forcible suggestions” Yuki answered, glaring back at the grinning Jensaarai, “Gently guided or forcibly driven, I just want results.”

Snapshot

The Queen’s Delight
Essadan
Kiast

Yuki Suoh slid silently into the Queen’s Delight bar deep in the lower levels of one of the floating cities of Essadan. It was the very definition of a dive bar. Poor lighting, smoke from a hundred cigarettes and cigars wafting through the air, the stench of sweat and body odour assaulting the nostrils, disinterested girls of various species dancing on raised platforms throughout the establishment. And far in the back, that hat sticking out like a sore thumb, was her target. She deftly glided through the crowd until she was within earshot of the smuggler.

“All in,” said a Rodian sitting across from the Human.

“All in,” said the smuggler. “Must be a peach of a hand.” A scantily clad young woman slid up to the table and poured the man a whiskey. Looking up from his hand he said “Oh, well thank you, darlin’,” as he flipped her a credit.

“Come on, Danner. Are ya in or out?” questioned the Rodian.

Taking a long swig of the fiery liquid, the man named Danner said “Perhaps the liquor has gone to my head, but I believe I will call,” as he slid his chips into the center of the table. With a sly smile, he dropped his cards revealing the Idiot’s Array. “Ain’t that a hell of a hand?” asked the smuggler.

“Why you son of a….” started the Rodian.

With a flash of movement, Danner pulled aside his long duster coat revealing the bantha ivory grip of an A180 blaster pistol. Tapping his index finger on the grip, he asked, “Do we have a problem here?”

Sensing that something deadly was about to happen, Yuki stepped forward and grabbed onto the smugglers coat, yanking him to his feet, and dragging him outside. As they exited the bar, she pushed him up against a wall and asked “You simply cannot seem to stay out of trouble, can you?”

“Darlin’, if you…” he started until he got a good look at her face. “Wait, I know you. What’s your name? Yogi? Yoshi? Yucky?”

“Yuki,” she said sternly. “And you are Seth Danner, yes” It was definitely not a question.

“That’s the rumour,” replied Danner.

“I have a job for you, you will follow me now,” she said as she turned on her heel and walked away. Momentarily confused, Seth stood there for a few beats before he shrugged and followed behind the enigmatic woman.

Snapshot
Biame
One of many Shockboxing rings

Tisto looked across the ring and sighed. His opponent was clearly a heavyweight fighter seeking to take the cruiserweight title in this particular ring, and the hundred thousand credits that came with it. The human appeared to have at least fourteen kilos on the Kiffar which, would have put him just two kilos over the cruiserweight limit. The human had no chance of winning in heavyweight, but the level of cutting he had done for weigh in yesterday had been ridiculous as he had pulled the same weight as Tisto. The man was not going to put up his best today.

Tisto fell into stance as the bell rung, his right foot back feet lightly planted, with his left shoulder blocking the most direct angle of attack. He dodged the heavier man’s left hook as it came in, easily ducking his head and crouching down as it went over him. The Kiffar was sure he could take several punches from his opponent, but at the same time he did not want to. While low, he sent out a right hook, hitting the human in the stomach.

Both fighters fell back, the testing blows having been launched. The human went low, hoping to use the same trick as the Kiffar just had, dropping face first into Tisto’s knee. Tisto then struck, not giving his opponent a chance to recover. He released several blows into the Human’s shoulders and back, each strike bringing a mild electrical charge. He could see the man tense up from the shocks, his muscles contracting due to them.

The Human shoved himself back, trying to put distance between himself and the Kiffar. Tisto followed him, his strikes hitting the man with an uppercut to the jaw. The Human’s eyes glazed over, and he slumped down to the ground.

“And the winner is Tisto.”

The Kiffar moved out of the ring, shaking his head. He caught sight of two people who were new to the crowd. A small woman and a large being in black armor, with what appeared to be montrals coming from the helmet.

Great, Tisto thought to himself. More mobsters coming to see if they can recruit me as muscle. Well… if it pays enough.

Tisto watched them walk over to him as he took a quick drink of water from a nearby fountain.

“Tisto Kingang,” came the woman’s voice. It was familiar but he did not recognize it.

“How much and what’s the job, lady?” he asked without looking. “I don’t do killing kids to scare an addict mom. I’d tell you to ask the last guy who tried to get me to do that but I’m sure the vacuum he left for you guys to slide into the underworld tells you what happened to him.”

“I told you he wouldn’t be of any help,” he heard the man say. “We saw his record, the man is a criminal. Swoop gangs, piracy, murder, and now underground fighting.”

“Yes, he would be a criminal. One who has spent his time since he was Knight Commander honing those skills we might desire,” the small woman said in her oddly musical voice. “I am willing to give even a criminal the benefit of the doubt. It has worked for me so far.”

“You said that before. But I still don’t see-”

“Alright, so I misjudged you then,” Tisto interrupted. “And now I know where I heard you before, miss.”

Tisto turned to face the two. “It’s Yuki, right? Who is the walking tank?” He paused for a moment and shook his head. You know what, forget it. That’s not important. The Clan needs me again? What is it this time? I fought the collective, so… I figured I would be forgotten to do what I want.”

“Where is Bell?” Yuki responded calmly. “We have no reports of her after the war.”

“Another dead friend,” the Kiffar replied. “What does the clan want?”

“We are making a team,” the man, clearly a Togruta now that he was up close, said. “For a mission anyway. We will see where it goes from there. For most possible recruits, we got a regular dossier. You were the only we got a dossier and a desperate datapad containing a criminal record.”

“Yet, you don’t want me,” Tisto asked evenly, unfazed.

“You seem like a liability because of the record and your willingness to help the criminal underworld,” Keiji replied honestly. “But Yuki is right, you do have a history of working for the clan, and considering you took out the guy in a short amount of time-”

“Oh, shut it. I’m in,” the Shockboxer said with a shrug. “My next fight isn’t for two weeks anyway.”

Snapshot

The Bounty
Nar Shaddaa
Outer Rim
35 ABY

The air was thick with smoke and the smell of alcohol. Droveth’s nostrils burned from the combination, but over the many years in these environments he had built up quite a tolerance to them. He shifted subtly, focusing hard to maintain his appearance without revealing his identity. Most of the densely packed patrons around him took no notice, already deep in their drunken haze. The Kiffar across from him, however, leaned forward and placed his drink down on the table.

“Not your kind of place, Ace?” Surely an unintentional rhyme. Alos hadn’t struck the Jedi as an overly poetic fellow.

“Just letting my drink settle, Alos. Haven’t had one in ages.” Droveth flashed a gold-toothed smile and shook his shaggy black locks out of his eyes. “Has to have been…what? Four hours?”

Alos let out a hearty chuckle and downed the remainder of his beverage. The Peacekeeper had spent a fair amount of time building trust with the Kiffar over the past three days, eager to find out any information he might have on the Collective. A trustworthy source had sent him here nearly two weeks earlier.

“So as I was saying: a couple days ago I was walking down that alleyway right around the corner, and I see this old, blind Twi’lek stumbling up to me. Says ‘Hey man, you gotta help me. Someone dumped water all over my bed.’ I didn’t have anything better to do at the time, so I figure ‘What the hell?’. I follow him over to his little rundown shack and I’m hit with this rancid piss smell. I mean it was bad. And I know immediately what’s happened.”

Alos had leaned in close, attempting to muffle the surrounding noise. Droveth had retained hundreds of these little stories and compiled them for later. After all, everyone loves a good story. He felt a familiar presence move closer, causing him to pause his tale. When the Jedi looked up a Togruta towered above the table, clad in his signature armor.

“It was the Twi’lek. His pants were still down.” Keiji stated flatly, then shifted his gaze to Droveth. “Come on, let’s go.” The Jedi sighed and stood from the table.

“You know, it would have been better if I told it.” Droveth patted Alos on the shoulder and grabbed his drink, raising it up in the air. “One for the road!”

The two Odanites made their way briskly outside into the cool air, and the Peacekeeper shook away his illusion. He rubbed his bald scalp and gulped down the beverage.

“I’ve been spitting out alcohol for almost a week just to sit at the table with that schmuck, so you better have a good reason to interrupt me.” Droveth groaned. The Togruta remained silent, as he often did when they were together. “So you just missed me then?”

“It’s a job. Off the books. I’ll tell you more when we’re with the others.”

“Others? A team? How considerate of you to pick me, you big lug,” The Jedi chirped enthusiastically. No one ever seemed to pick him for the fun stuff. “So who else we got?”

Daleem
Mouth of a Cave

The quiet pitter patter of rain softly cooed in the ears of the human, his bare skin pelted gently by the falling droplets. His gaze was not fixed at any one point, staring off into the horizon as one more storm blew through. His mind focused on the atmospheric phenomena, natural chaos with no motive other than to simply exist doing exactly what it was supposed to. Sariel often felt that nature could teach lessons if one knew where to look, and the human wondered if the rest of the galaxy felt the way he did. But of course, he knew this was not the case every time he saw another planet ravaged by war. An endless cycle, never to be broken as long as good men did nothing.

He cupped his hands and let them fill slowly with water. He thanked no one in particular for the blessing of a refreshing drink, and quietly sipped what he gathered. His muscles ached, having just gone through his morning meditation and training forms, and the rain was a pleasant way to lose himself in his thoughts and sore muscles. Short as they often are, the moment was over when the comfortable silence was disturbed by hushed whispers.

“This is the guy?” asked Keiji.

Yuki nodded at her companion, her eyes fixed on the human.

Sariel turned, acknowledging their presence with a nod of his head and a friendly smile. When they didn’t make any movement towards him, he tried waving them over, and when that failed he simply shrugged his shoulders and walked over to them.

“Hello.” he said, extending a dripping wet hand to Yuki, and then Keiji.

“Were you robbed?” asked Keiji, looking Sariel up and down and taking note of his complete lack of any clothing. Sariel also looked down, his smile turning to a half smirk, and shrugged his shoulders once more.

“The rain is more refreshing without damp fabric ruining the experience. Don’t you agree?” he asked, pointing out Yuki’s damp clothing and what Sariel assumed was a glare of discomfort, “What can I help you two with? Let’s go inside, shall we?”

The human grabbed his guests and led them into the cave, a small fire crackling inside with a pot hanging over it containing some sort of stew that had been simmering. Incense burned in the corner, and a small bed roll had been tidily put away and placed next to the incense. Sariel sat cross legged on one of three mats around the fire, offering the other two to his new friends.

“We are here to put a team together, off the books and without all the red tape.” said Yuki, “Interested?”

Sariel looked at her, then at Keiji. He stroked his chin and thought about it a moment. He made note that each was carrying a weapon, that each looked as though violence was no stranger to them, and each had found the man odd for enjoying nudity in the rain.

“I know you two are warriors of some kind. Death hangs on you like a blanket, and where you tread, so too shall death. But I am no warrior, no bringer of fatality or reaper of blood soaked fields. But I like you two, you make me smile.” the human got up and walked further into the cave, disappearing from sight for a moment only to reappear with three bowls.

“Tell you what, let’s eat and you can tell me more of this team over dinner?” he said as he began dishing out the meal.

Snapshot
Trepus Mine, Northern Hemisphere, Solyiat
Kiast System, Outer Rim Territories

A long sigh came from a female Togruta’s mouth as she stood outside the Hoth base in the cool tempted air, slightly shivering under her clothing. Awaiting any signal that her Master would be close enough for her to begin asking him questions, her gaze shifted from one side to the next, seeing nothing but a wind driven snow storm.

During her meditations, the Togruta began to gain insight to the Jedi Order, seeing visions of death, and eventual signs of decay and deception within the Order. She could not believe what she saw, but something within her heart bore a hole and filled itself with hurt and fear for herself. The Togruta had wanted so badly to become a Jedi and extend her skills to assist the Order, even making a name for herself in order to bring pride to the Togruta of Shili. With a deepened and building desire to speak out about her visions, she began to pace outside of the Hoth Base, vertical to the entrance way.

An unknown about of time past since she last saw her master this morning. In fact, it had been quite a while since she had last seen anyone from Hoth. Before the female could really comprehend the amount of time that which had past, she was greeted with sounds of steps across the frozen tundra. She turned to face whoever made these sounds, believing it may be Celevon; however, she was greeted with someone who reminded her of home. Another z’maakz? Her eyes widen with a half nervous smile as she blinked and rubbed her eyes to test the reality of what she saw.

“Errr… Hi,” her voice came out with a sudden crack of her voice and her face redden at the realization of how her voice reverberated around her montrals. Kordo… her thoughts spewed out a line of mental curse words, of which she was certain the male could hear.

The male Togruta gave a stern narrow glare as he watched the female’s face redden more just from his gaze. He let out a mental sigh and crossed his arms with a slight lean on his right foot. “I assume you are Vym?” He questioned her, even more so mentally when he wondered the validity of who she was and if she was really the student to the Aedile of Hoth.

“Y-y-yes sir. I’m Ozosi,” she stumbled through her words and gave a slight bow. As she raised back up, she smiled greatly, incredibly happy there was another one of her kin here. “And you are?”

“Suoh… Keiji,” he retorted back, attempting to keep a straight face. He found her response to his presence both comical and slightly embarrassing. Was this really one of the students of Celevon?

“So…” Ozosi’s face still redden as she started to speak out. “Do you know where Celevon is?” She seemed to be wanting to ask another question with the pause between the first word and what came out. The female had been very ecstatic in her reaction, but when she mentioned Celevon, her demeanor became very humbled and gave the impression of frustration. “I need to speak with him regarding… some…thing.” She paused between her last words, looking away from the Togruta male, and let her body follow suit in the turning of her head.

Keiji lifted one eyebrow in confusion, suspecting there was something much more pertaining to whatever reason she needed to speak to her Master. Just as he aimed to say something in comfort, footsteps came from behind him. Yuki walked casually up to her brother, leaning against the tall Togruta with a soft chuckle. She looked entirely too small, standing just beside her brother, but clearly there was strength behind her presence alone as Keiji quieted quickly in his attempts to consol the female Togruta.

“I happen to know where Celevon is,” the human said with a smirk. “But I have a stipulation to have you entertain before I divulge this information.”

Ozosi tilted her head, curious as to what this requirement may be. Yuki chuckled, pulling herself from her brother’s side, and walked towards Ozosi.

“You’ll have to join a set of fellow Hoth members in a team,” she finally spoke out the stipulation, as she stopped just short of a couple feet from Ozosi.

“A team?” Ozosi asked, still curious as to what this would all entail. “I’m sorry, but I need to speak to my master before I join any team…”

“Celevon is going to be working with us,” Yuki spoke with a cool tone, assured that the lone Togruta would join with just this little information, with a period of silence to soon follow her words. The Togruta female opened her mouth to speak out, but merely maintained the silence and gave an attempted mental confirmation she would consider.

“You will find your Master in the Main Hall. He seems to be having a heated discussion with another novice. I enjoyed watching for a time, but I have other things to take care of.”

Ozosi nodded absently to the smaller woman with a glance at the hulking man before she strode quickly to find her Master. She had much to think about and needed his advice.

“A bold move, sister.” Keiji said softly as the young Knight left earshot. “You seem to be taking quite a few gambles with these people.”

Yuki shrugged and looked up at him. “Do not worry about that. You get to keep all of these strange ones in line. I am just getting them together for you.”

As she stepped away from him and headed out into the fading light of the evening. “I am going home now. I need a drink. Have fun.”

Suoh Estate
Pearls of the Chosen

Yuki sat quietly at the small table that sat in the middle of a room of what seemed to be trophies taken off of fallen bounties. Robes of a Sith, lightsabers, crystal, tomes of learning and reached once again for the jar of off-white liquid sitting in the center of the table. The diminutive woman took a long drink from the jar before setting it back down. She knew the time was coming, a time she had put off for years and reveal the secret she had kept hidden.

The Augur stood slowly and gathered every bit of her courage as she stepped over to a simple cabinet. She took a deep breath before opening it to reveal a set of formal robes and two red and blade lightsaber hilts. Yuki glared at the robes in disgust and shook her head before picking up the sabers and igniting the blades. She stared at them, bathed in ice blue and pale red and smiled softly. “Hello, old friends. It is time to prepare to meet the others.”

The weapons extinguished and the woman attached them to her belt before turning back to the table. “I think I will have some more of that.”

Yuki took another drink of the liquid and winced as it burned its way down her throat. She let go of the jar and it floated gently back to the table, her amber eyes watched it the entire time. “They will be coming for me now.”

The door to the small room opened and Ruana walked in. “Mom? I thought you were leaving.”

The Augur walked over to the girl and smiled. “I am heading out now. Do not forget to practice your forms while I am gone and mind Celevon or Rowena if they come by to check on you.”

The teenager sighed melodramatically, “Yes, mother. Do you mind if I go visit Art while you’re gone?”

Yuki growled softly before she responded. “Do not call me mother, Ruana. It makes me feel old, but yes. You can go visit them as you like. I should be home in a few days.”

Ruana gave a happy squeak and hugged the small woman. “Thank you, mom. Be safe out there.”

It was Yuki’s turn to have a mirthful sound escape as she laughed lightly. “Uncle Keiji will be with me. You know how protective he gets.”

The Augur put a gentle hand on girl’s shoulder. “Be well, my love. I will see you soon enough.”

Trepus, Northern Hemisphere, Solyiat
Kiast System, Outer Rim Territories

Keiji took a deep breath and sighed heavily. The Togruta left the room where everyone had started to gather only momentarily to grab the rest of his gear. Doubt filled his mind as to why he was left to lead and to whether or not he would be even good at it. Keiji rubbed his forehead with weary frustration as he finished collecting what was needed.

“Something wrong, Brother?” Yuki asked stepping towards the goliath of a sibling.

“Nothing escapes you, does it Sister?” Keiji sighed explosively. “I think you’ve made a mistake for the first time.” The Togruta quickly put his hand out as if to mean no offense, but the strike had already swung and there was no taking it back.

“What do you mean by that?” Yuki inquired as her expression became more serious than normal.

“This whole leading thing. Honestly, I think you’d be better at leading them. Hasn’t it always been that way? You point and I follow? It feels weird for me to even attempt to maintain a group of people I hardly know," Keiji blurted out, returning her own expression at her. He didn’t know why, but an inexplicable anger had taken hold of him that moment.

“Because, brother, one day I will not be here any longer. It will be up to you to lead eventually. No one lives forever,” Yuki returned, voice frozen over.

Her words had formed into a blade that sunk deep into Keiji’s heart. She’s right. Even if you hate it you know she’s right. There will be a time you are without her. This is her way of preparing you. Death comes for all, and will at some point come for you, Keiji thought as the anger that controlled him drifted away. A new and sudden calm washed over him.

“That day though won’t be today. Not as long as I live,” Keiji replied with a nod. He pivoted and headed for the door where the rest of the group was.

As Keiji stepped into the open air, he sensed the massive amounts of tension that hung in the air. All the conversations stopped as people started to look at him.

“As all of you should be aware, we don’t exist. You’ve all been brought here because we each bring a skill, specialty or new way of thinking. Now some of you may have previous histories with each other, be it bad or good; it doesn’t matter. You are all now to work together for at least this one mission. We can talk about your troubles with others later, is that clear?” Keiji asked as he surveyed the group. A general series of nods came from the crowd. “Good, now our target is to retrieve a ship off of the Godless Matron. A deal is going down between the Black Sun and some third party. If we play our cards right, not only could we get the ship, but we could place ourselves into the favor of the group running the Matron as Black Sun is an… undesired group. We have a ride there but nothing back.” As Keiji said the last, a ship landed nearby and the ramp extended down.

Tarvitz said nothing as the matt black vessel touched down, his thoughts preoccupied as much with their target as the group they had assembled. He was hardly unfamiliar with working alongside the better elements of the galaxy’s criminal underbelly, or even Jedi when it came to missions on the part of the Clan. A few of those here he knew of only by reputation or the larger groups they represented, but more than a few were an enigma to him. Save for Yuki, Tisto was the only member he had previously fought alongside directly in one of their more desperate missions to salvage an enemy ship. The others, ranging from a figure in a broad-brimmed hat who had instinctively settled down in far corner of the room to a pale armoured Mandalorian, had split off into small individual conversations as they had gathered.

Confined to the small front room of the Suoh household, there had been little room to quietly observe or judge each figure in turn. What was clear, both from their mannerisms and their weapons, was that they were professionals of one sort or another. Whatever else might face them, they had certainly selected the right people for a covert unit.

“Usually it’s good manners to ask if there are any questions,” Tarvitz heard Tisto speak up as Keiji finished his speech, and the first of their number began to depart the building for the awaiting YT-1300 freighter.

“There will be time for that during the flight to the Matron, and for us to go over the fine details,” Keiji said bluntly, folding his arms and staring down the dreadlocked Jedi “You are not going to walk away now, are you?”

Tisto frowned, briefly caught off-guard by the response and then shrugged. “What the hell, it sounds like fun.”

He headed for the ship without further comments, following a younger Togruta and the Mandalorian. One by one the others seemed to make up their mind until only Tarvitz remained.

“Well?” Keiji asked, “Are you coming or not?”

“I have a question,” Tarvitz admitted, stroking his chin as he considered their options.

“And I said-”

“It’s not one which can wait, and if it helps you can answer it with one word.” Tarvitz kept his voice low, and his gaze occasionally flickered back toward the awaiting ship. Yuki had stopped, watching the two but said nothing. A few seconds passed before Keiji inclined his head, indicating for Tarvitz to continue.

“Are you sure that this will be enough?” He asked, “I’m not questioning your choices, it’s clear they’re talented specialists. The Black Sun though, they’re not exactly known for a lack of muscle, or an unwillingness to have their hardware solve problems. If you need a fighter escort or even a few extra swords, I’d be happy to call some favours.”

“No,” Keiji said, a little too quickly for all the certainty he was trying to convey, “No, we have a plan. Trust me on this.”

There was a definite finality to his tone, and more of a forceful one than Tarvitz might have expected. He could hardly blame Keiji given how much was riding on the success of this mission, but he kept expecting that there was something more to it. After a moment’s consideration, he decided not to press the issue.

“Really? Good to know then,” Tarvitz said, his face cracking into a grin, “I look forward to seeing what you have in mind to deal with them.”

Keiji seemed taken aback at the abrupt change in Tarvitz’s attitude, but simply nodded his thanks. Without further comment, they headed up the ramp and into the awaiting ship. It was hardly dissimilar to the hundreds of other YT-series vessels which populated the galaxy. Industrially spartan and built for efficiency over comfort, only the lack of exposed internal components and wiring fully separated it from the usual light freighters he had seen time and time again. Behind them, the ramp slid shut as the dull whine of engines sparking into life reverberated throughout the ship’s hull. Then, with an abrupt jolt, the ship lifted off of the ground, soaring upward into the heavens and quickly exiting the atmosphere.

As the trio made their way up the ramp, Droveth stood at the top with his arms crossed. He wore a disgruntled look on his face, a contrast from his normal demeanor. Yuki brushed past him swiftly, but the Jedi knew better than to voice his frustrations with her.

“Has any planning gone into this at all?” He barked at Keiji, “I mean, you and Yuki are fine. I’ve heard good things about you,” He motioned towards Tarvitz, his gaze lingering on the Ranger’s cybernetic eye just long enough to be uncomfortable. “But I had to give some naked guy my robes. There’s an old Mandalorian lady who’s supposed to be our ‘medic’. She looks like she could take my head off!”

“You can’t honestly say this is the worst situation you’ve been in.” The Togruta replied while Droveth paused for air.

“No, I’m sure they’re all capable fighters. Most of them. At least half of them.”

Keiji sighed and walked past the Peacekeeper, following in his adopted sisters footsteps. Droveth looked at the Jensaari dejectedly, who shrugged.

“I asked him essentially the same question.”

The Jedi pair walked through the remainder of the ship in defeated silence.

The group, save for Yuki and Keiji, had gathered in the main room of the ship. Each member had some relation to another, but overall the team was a mystery. Droveth knew more than he let on, but not much. Osozi was apprentice to Celevon, the Aedile of Hoth, but seemed reluctant to be there. Perhaps his involvement with its creation had something to do with it.

Luna was an Okami, but the Peacekeeper was embarrassingly ignorant to Mandalorian culture. What he did know was that she was a strong fighter and fiercely loyal. Tisto Kingang had a history with aiding Hoth and was a shock boxer by trade. Danner just seemed like a fun guy to have a drink with.

“Do you want your robes back?” Sariel inquired from beside the Jedi. Droveth could feel the dampness already through his cuirass.

“No, no, keep it. I insist.” The Jedi feigned a smile, shaking his head. “Can’t have you runnin’ around here with your bits all out. There’s ladies present.” The low murmur of conversation was silenced as Keiji re-entered the room. Droveth sat upright and held up his hand like a child in class.

“Stealth is our only option here, right?” The Jedi inquired, and the Togruta nodded. “Alright, where is the ship?” Keiji retrieved a holoprojector from a compartment and placed it on the floor in the center. The layout of the Matron illuminated the faces of the group with a pale blue glow. One small red dot appeared on the left side of the C-shaped vessel.

“This is where the deal is going down. We need to get in position at this point and wait for the Black Suns to arrive. They will have our ship.”