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Ithor, Tafanda Bay

Kal took the kick in the shin without a word and erected a Force Barrier. Then he saw Isani draw her own saber and ignite it, a cunning blood red spilling out of the emitter matrix.

"If you can't sense the light or dark in a person's signature, perhaps you should run back to your master and learn how the Force actually works," Isani informed Kal condescendingly.

Kal transferred the barrier from his left, right and behind him to the front, making an impassable, invisible wall between Isani and himself. He pushed it forward, trying to force Isani back and create some distance between them.

"Why should I put the effort in to do so when the lines are so clear cut?" Kal asked, following after the barrier. "You're a perfect example of black and white."

Corruo

Sephis watched as this beautiful young woman scrambled to cover herself in front of the Empress' pet. Sephis felt a mixture of disappointment and amusement.

"She took your uniform, then...? What was she?" Sephis asked "A Jedi? A rogue Sith? Could you ID her?"

Now that Morbella was healed, if she chose to, she could walk herself to the medical bay. Or the nearest barracks for some clothing. He needed to get details out of this officer before she scampered off.

Ithor, Tafanda Bay

Kal said nothing at that because Isani had a point. Kal, all of people, should know that, too. He was one of those shades.

"So, then, why did you come after me here?" Kal asked, dissipating his Barrier.

He only just realized, just now, that the restaurant was nearly vacated. Apparently, the locals had gotten wise. After the Sith had lunged after Daesha or after lightsabers had been drawn, Kal did not know. He only knew that this restaurant had become their battleground, and that it was stretching out into the pedestrian traffic ways and Kal and Isani departed from their allies.

"You said you weren't a ghost of vengeance, and yet here you are before me, attacking me and my own," Kal said.

Kal steeped himself into the dark side of the Force, not something that he did often, as of late. Shadowy creatures slid up out of the floor around Kal and Isani, surrounding them both. If Isani wanted to match Kal step for step, then he'd just make backup. They radiated pure evil, giving off emanations of cold and death to Kal, and most likely Isani, as well.

"If this was never about me, then what are you doing here?" Kal demanded to know.

Coruscant: Orbit -> Public Docking Hangar

Rokumasu's hands began to shake a little, likely from the sudden sense of nervousness coming over him. It wasn't a feeling he was used to. He knew fear very well, however. Even now, when he attempted to recall his first year on Nar Shadaa, that same sense of paranoia creeps slowly into is mind. He doesn't know how he would have been able to survive if he didn't have the Force to defend himself from the petty criminals that infest that wretched planet. Roku closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves and think only of the present. He wasn't on Nar Shadaa anymore. He had finally made it back to Coruscant, and once he is able to set up a meeting with the Master's of the Temple, he may be able to call this planet home once more.

As he piloted the vessel into the atmosphere, he couldn't help but scan the surface with his own eyes. The sunlight shining in between the pristine buildings, and the heavy traffic in the skies almost made him smile. Roku piloted the illegally modified craft into one of the space ports in the public hangar. The modifications weren't obvious just by it's appearance, but if an engineer or mechanic were to look it's parts over, they might find some "upgrades" to it's performance specs that the republic would seem fit to confiscate. Before exiting the stolen ship, Rokumasu did his best to erase any recorded flight data from it's memory banks. Even if it were traced back to him, he would be OK as long as it was never traced back to it's original owner.

With a brown cloak covering him from his shoulders to around his knees, and a hood to hide his face, Roku made his way to the line waiting to make it through the customs-like area of the dock. Ignoring the strange looks and curious side-glances by some of the other people in line, he waited patiently for his turn to pass through. Using a Jedi Mind Trick made it simple to convince the employee tasked with checking his identification to accept a fake identity. He wanted to avoid giving his real name, at least until he had made it past security, A precautionary measure, just in case his deeds on Nar Shadaa had spread to other systems. He walked towards a taxi that had been parked at the dock, likely waiting for tourists and such, and sat down in the back. A human woman sat in the pilot's seat.

"So, where do you need to go, mister?"

"The Jedi Temple, please."

"Of course. Just like everyone else." She shook her head slowly, and the taxi began to move.

Rokumasu wasn't quite sure how to respond to what she had said. His face reflected his puzzled response. "What do you mean, 'just like everyone else'?"

"It's been abandoned for years. Haven't you heard? Ever since the Jedi left Coruscant. It's only been a little over five years. I thought even the outer rim would have known this kind of thing by now."

He sat back in his seat, and could barely believe what he was hearing. He couldn't remember very much, but what he could remember of his being a padawan was clearly on Coruscant. He recognized this planet. It had to have been this place, this Temple. The taxi stopped, and the driver turned and looked at him, asking for some number of credits as his fee.

"Could you wait here for me? I'll only be here a moment."

"Alright, but your tab is still running. I'm not making any money if all I do is sit here waiting on you, you know."

"I'll pay you twice what I owe you."

The driver gave a wry smile, and nodded in agreement to the deal, followed by threats of what would happen to him he didn't pay. With his ride secured, he walked up to the Temple, which as she said looked as if it had been abandoned for years. He noticed the occasional sightseer, but beyond that, there was no one.

This can't be...How can there be no one here? But, I've come so far!

A few moments later, he returned to the taxi and didn't say a word, for several moments. The driver inquired as to where he wanted to go next, but did so in a nicer, softer, tone than what she had spoken earlier. It was obvious that he was upset.

Rokumasu looked away from and spoke as emotionless as he could. "The nearest Republic governmental office. I don't care which."

Corruo


Morbella's eyebrow raised incredulously. So much for her anonymity, but she should have known better. Her experience with the Sith on this ship had led her to suspect that their instincts fed them information that they had no reason to think, or suspect, with the evidence before them. Her identity was, for whatever reason, clearly more important to him than the escaping prisoner.

At least she'd have plenty of time to get off the ship while Morbella kept Sephis entangled here. "Morbella, Lieutenant." She answered curtly and unflinching.

Coruscant: Republic Building

Aside from the outside noise coming from the busy lives of the planet, and the sounds of the cab itself, the trip to the Republic Office was completely silent. Rokumasu didn't speak a single word, and neither did the taxi driver in return. At first, she had thought about refusing to take him at all, feeling that it was odd for him to not care where in particular he was going, as long as it was associated with the Galactic Republic. Roku was obviously upset, and the chance that he would attack the building in some way was present in her mind. However, she knew that there was little risk of a single man causing significant damage against a building with armed soldiers stationed to defend it. With that to ease her mind, and the promise of double the fee afterwards, she couldn't bring herself to send him away. As the taxi came to a stop, she turned to face him like before, again with her hand out.

"Well? It's time to pay up, mister."

Roku reached out his hand and handed her a very small amount of credits, about half of the original fee from after they had reached the Temple. She paused for a moment, looking at the money in her hand with a flustered look. As Rokumasu had begun to exit the cab, she began to raise her voice at him.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going? This isn't enough. You owe me nearly three times what you gave me!"

Roku stopped and looked at her, waving his hand from left to right slowly. "You will accept this amount, and forget you ever saw me."

"I will accept this amount, and forget I ever saw you."

He exited the cab, and watched as she piloted it away from him, with all of the credits that he had left on him. He would have paid her everything he owed her and more, if he had the credits to do so. He didn't need the money anymore. He had finally gotten away from Nar Shadaa, and Coruscant was the only planet he could remember clearly from before he had regained consciousness on it's surface nearly five years ago. He had nowhere else to go, and knew of no family he could return to. The Jedi was his only lead to his past, and possibly his only protection from any lingering grudges that the crime lords on Nar Shadaa may hold over him. He had nowhere else to go, and would much rather die than go back, a fitting ideal since going back would mean certain death anyway.

He approached the building, noticing two republic soldiers equipped with blaster rifles standing on either side of the entrance. He calmly walked towards both of them, with his hood down, his facial scar clear for all to see. The guard on the left took a few steps towards him, rifle at ease, facing towards his left side.

"Excuse me, Sir. I'm going to need to see some identification before I can let you go any further."

"I don't have any identification. I just need to speak with some people inside. I have a few questions I'd like them to answer."

The guard sighed, as if he had been through this a hundred times before. "Sir... I can't let you through this door, without proper clearance. If you would like to arrange a meeting with one of the personnel here then plea-"

Rokumasu didn't stand still for him to finish. Finding his way through all of the red tape wasn't an option, nor did he have the patience for it now. He began to walk past the guard in the middle of his instructions, but as he did so, the guard reacted quickly and grabbed a hold of his left arm.

"Hey! I said you ca-"

Roku's natural defensive instincts reacted on their own, his left arm grabbing the forearm of the guard, and his leg sweeping his feet out from underneath him in seconds. The other guard, still startled from the speed in which he executed the maneuver, called out to the other guards stationed inside, raising his rifle towards Roku. Using his lightning-like speed, Roku closed the distance on the surprised guard, robbing him of his rifle and tossing it to the ground. Grabbing him by the neck, Roku proceeded to slam him into the ground, still reacting from instinct. He regained his composure, stopping himself from choking out the soldier, releasing his grip but not allowing him to get back up. Only a few seconds later, the sound of footsteps found their way into the scene, as three guards rushed outside with their rifles drawn and aimed for Rokumasu.

"On your knees, and put your hands behind your head! Now!"

He never did like rolling the dice, having only his best guess to judge if he would survive an altercation or not. It was something he tried his best to never have to do. Unfortunately, he had no intention of killing anyone here. He didn't even mean for this to escalate like this, but it had. There was no other choice, and no going back. He didn't make it this far, finally arriving at Coruscant, only to run with the Republic chasing behind after him.

He got on his knees, placing his hands into the air, as a sign of surrender. His only chance of getting out of this was the slim possibility that the Jedi would discover what had happened, know of his arrest, and know him well enough to care. He was about to speak in order to at least make his intentions known, but before a single word could be spoken, he was hit in the back of the head by the first guard he had struck. The butt of the soldiers rifle made a clean hit, incapacitating Rokumasu.

One of the guards stationed there radioed in for a prisoner transport, as the others checked his person for any weapons he may have been carrying. A few moments later, one of the soldiers called what appeared to be the leader of the group over to him, handing him a sliver cylindrical item. He opened communications again, sending a new message on top of what he had sent earlier.

"Command, we're going to need that transport ASAP. We've confiscated what appears to be his lightsaber."

Ithor - Tafanda Bay

She flinched the moment her own breathing was cut off. Eyes glared down in contempt at the Sith Knight below her, her own fingers only tightening their grip. She was more than happy to play the game of 'who can hold out the longest'. What did concern her was the presence of the lightsaber hilt, now being held in the hand of her opponent.

Her gaze quickly searched for Kal to seek for aid, but instead found the blaster she had dropped earlier. She knew she couldn't just get up to grab it, so without further thought she removed her hand from the woman's neck and brought herself down to headbutt her in the face.

As she rolled off Rikka, she hoped the blow had bought her enough time before she had a chance to use her saber. Reaching to grab the blaster, she quickly turned to where she had last been and fired two shots in the hope of being lucky.