That is when things went down hill for the Jedi, pretty fast. Being a Jedi in Nar Shadda was bad enough, especially with the fact that everyone had blasters and wanted a go at the law providing folk. Being a Jedi post order-66 on a planet full off people with blasters was even worse. The only thing worse than that was wielding your lightsaber during said times and identifying yourself as a target off interest. A group of thugs heard the blades and noticed the flash of a lightsaber and smirked at eachother. There was a heavy bounty on Jedi right now and they were wanting to claim. They all pulled out blasters, some big and heavy duty some not so much. They began firing down the Alleyway where the Jedi was standing. Of course more and more people began to notice the blaster bolts and their target.

While some people took the opportunity to run away others pulled out their own Blasters and began heading towards the alleyway. They would turn upon eachother once the Jedi was killed no doubt but in the mean while he was the target. They especially wanted to get him before the Hutts found out and sent their own people. Within minutes hundreds of blaster bolts were pounding down the Alleyway, the wall at the other side was even beginning to crumble under the onslaught. No-one wanted to be caught up in that without the abilities of a Jedi master.

Balkk Yarroq
Nar Shadaa
The same alley

'This is the first time anyone has called me overgrown, Jedi' growled Balkk. His 's' came out as a slight hiss, making the sentence longer than it needed to be. The bounty hunter was infamously short for a Trandoshan, standing at a measly five foot ten inches. He was slightly irritated that the Jedi had blocked a full round of stun shots. The Jedi usually weren't that good. But then again, the only Jedi he had fought had been inexperienced Padawan's who were usually being overwhelmed by droid fire anyway. Seeing as it would just waste time trying to reload the blaster, he put it back in it's holster and clutched the sword with two hands. There was silence for a few moments as lizard and man stood in the alley, almost daring each other to make the first move. He never took his eyes off of the Jedi, who seemed to be doing the same. A thought suddenly popped into his head. 'Not a Jedi? Nothing changes. Whether you're from some dead order or just a pretender, I don't care. I'm still going to kill you and hand your ugly carcass over to th-'.

The hunter stopped mid-sentence and his eyes narrowed. A group was forming at the mouth of the alleyway. They were of various races, some large, some small. All carried weapons, however. He realised what was going happen just seconds before it began. Time seemed to slow. as three bolts flew past Balkk's head and went straight into the wall behind him. He dived to the scum-covered ground, dropping his sword in the process. The group was slowly growing bigger and all were firing straight towards him. No, not towards me...Towards the Jedi.. The bounty hunter glanced to his left and saw his saviour, pushed against the wall - a dumpster. The bounty hunter began a quick crawl towards it, keeping his head low to avoid the ever increasing amount of blaster bolts that flew around him. When behind the dumpster, he went on one knee and kept his head down. To his right, a whole barrage of red and blue shots went past, all hitting the back wall. The wall was beginning to crumble before the Trandoshan's eyes, with large lumps of rock falling to reveal the fragile plaster beneath.

Fuckers...Trying to get my bounty. The Trandoshan felt behind his cloak and grabbed his stun blaster from it's holster. He fitted in a new round in seconds. He had been playing with blasters for almost 20 years now and reloading was almost second nature to him now. He knew he did not have enough ammo to take out all of them. If he started stunning a few now, it would save slug bullets later. The bounty hunter took a deep breathe and took a peek over the top of the dumpster. The crowd of thugs was still growing as more and more joined in the fun. The Jedi Balkk ignored and he instead took a few shots towards the crowd of assailants. A human immediately fell to the ground, entering a rigor mortis that was common in stun shots. He let loose an entire round, each shot hitting an attacker. However, where one would fall, another would step over the body to take it's place. A large Wookie noticed his presence and let loose a growl. It was clutching a crossblaster and took a few shots towards him. Balkk immediately put his head down below the dumpster, reloading as he did. The shots flew where Balkk's head had been seconds before and landed straight into the ground in front of him, leaving burn marks in the ground.

'Shit' gasped Balkk, amazed at his own luck. A shot like that would of killed him instantly. This time, he lifted his weapon over his head and blindly let loose another full round of shots. I can't keep doing this. There's too many. He filled in another round to his stun blaster. He had 3 rounds left. This time, before firing, he glanced over the dumpster. They had noticed him by now and a few were firing in his direction. Most directed their fire to the Jedi, however. He put his head down and let forth another blind round into the crowd. Two rounds... He fired blindly again, hoping his shots were hitting. Last round... Balkk hesitated. He rarely wasted this many rounds and besides, he might need them later for the Jedi. Now, it was time to start making a plan to escape.

Up. He glanced above his head. Balconies lined the buildings above him. All were too high and too unprotected to bother trying. If he were a Jedi, he could jump up there without a second thought and be gone. Down. The Trandoshan looked at the ground at his feet. Solid stone. He shook his head. Left. This was where the attackers were coming from and, more importantly, where the barrage of blaster bolts came from. If he were better equipped, he could of attacked them all head-on. But no. He had wasted a lot of credits on his star fighter, which at this moment seemed like a waste of money. Right. To his right, the alleys back wall that was slowly being tore to pieces by the constant barrage of shots. His sword lay on the ground, occasionally being scattered by runaway shots. As he watched a piece of stone fall off, revealing the plaster, the beginnings of an idea came to his mind. If he could get through that wall somehow, he could make his break away escape. However, he didn't know what was on the other side of the wall. A building, another alley, maybe even an abyss. He didn't know. However, it was his only chance of survival right now. He would need to get there without being shot to pieces. He also needed the wall to collapse before he could run through it.

So I'd better sit tight until that happens. He didn't care where the Jedi was now. All that mattered now was his own survival.

As the four undercover Jedi made their way through the bustling streets, Jerek breathed deeply. It felt good to be off the cramped and crowded troop carrier, even the smoggy air of Nar Shaddaa felt cleaner somehow. It was a liberating sensation, and added to the fact that his Master was up and with them on their trek, Jerek felt something he hadn't felt in a long time.

He felt happy.

It was strange, cerebral feeling, like the calm in the center of the storm. It was as if the walls of chaos still raged about his calm center, a peaceful moment that would inevitably pass. The youth turned his head about, gazing in turn at the companions around him. He peered at the unfamiliar Kolinn in front, whose dogged determination was guiding them forward. He looked at his master, Vor'loch, behind them, and felt his heart leap with the joy of seeing the Noghri up and about. Finally, the padawan gazed at Erin, graceful in her poise a stride, a sight in which the sandy-haired boy soon found himself lost.

A moment later, the youth realized that he had been left behind as the boy caught sight of Vor'loch's form retreating into a bar called Smuggler's Waterhole. Jerek followed him inside, and was at once assaulted with the dank and noxious tavern air. As he waded through the stink of alcohol, unwashed bodies and the smoke of cancer sticks, the boy wondered about the appeal of the bar scene. It certainly wouldn't be his first choice for a night out, but tailing Vor'loch into more than one such place had taught the padawan their importance for gathering information or holding a neutral meeting.

Jerek reunited with his companions just as Kolinn began to engage with a pair of seated patrons, the smaller of whom gave haughty looks to Erin while the size of the larger just made the boy nervous. The large one spoke, callously warning of what happened to naive strangers on Nar Shaddaa.

To say that Jerek was scared at that moment would have been an understatement. He was on a foreign planet, the Smuggler's Moon to be exact, in a disguise. Despite three of his fellow Jedi around, the fact remained that they were fugitives, were anyone to recognize them, they might wind up captured or dead. The large patron's callous warning struck a chord with the boy, the fearful outcome he painted resonated firmly with the youth's own uneasiness. Despite his fear, the disguised padawan stepped forward, placing himself between Erin and the large one.

"Have some respect," the boy snapped, at once surprised at the forcefulness of his own comment. With the attention on him, the sandy-haired youth continued, "This is—" He stopped himself before the words, "a Jedi," could form. He closed his mouth and forced it into a wan smile. "This is the daughter of Lord Arazel of Alderaan," Jerek announced, almost believing his own charade for a moment. "And I am her..."

The hazel-eyed youth looked at Erin as he searched for the right term, pleading for her help with his eyes.

Inuel was rather taken aback by the childs outburst "Servant..." Inuel finished. "If you came to throw names around, then you've come to the wrong place, saying that you're related to a Lord of Alderaan only makes you a target for the thieves and brigands of this world." he said, if they looked around, they would notice that several of the patrons were now trying to cautiously eye them up for potential things to steal. A Jawa poked his head up over the back of the table, only to find Renny get up and look him in the eye, before opening his jacket to reveal the proportionately large Scatterblaster in his jacket, a familliar, frightened sound escaped it's black face before it scrambled to get back to its drink.

"Yeah, if you want to survive on Nar Shaddaa, you need to make sure people know you're either dirt-poor or packing heat." Renny nodded. "That at least wards off the average scum with only a Vibroknife to their name." Inuel rubbed his beak with his robotic hand before looking at Erin, who had now been identified as the leader of the crew.

"Since neither of us really wants to sit here Reekshitting the other all day, let's get down to business. You have a name, I have a price, name the name, I name the price." Kolinn leaned over to Erin.

"I don't have a name." she whispered. "I think we're going to need to tell him we're looking for a Jedi."

Erin spent a moment simply examining Renny and Inuel after Kolinn had whispered in her ear. To blatantly ask for a Jedi felt odd - and not just because a bunch of Jedi were standing right here in disguise. They were outlaws now. One had to wonder if the Empire's networks had already reached Nar'Shaddaa, and if so, even bringing up the topic might attract very much unwanted attention. The patrons of the cantina wouldn't even receive a glance from Lady Niré Arazel, as she was faithful that her Noghri bodyguard threw more scares into them than was required to deter the scum. After clearing her throat, the young Alderaanian Noblewoman began to speak, hushed of course.

"You will forgive my being blunt, but this is a matter of the utmost importance. I seek a.. Jedi, somewhere here on Nar'Shaddaa. I have no specific details on this person, just to make this easier for you. Is there anything you can tell me?" Her voice was much more straight sounding and elegant when 'in-character', odd when compared to her more casual tones as Erin. 'Lady Niré' seemed chilled out, but at the same time carried a serious demeanour. Her gaze was focused, her expression calm, but her bodily stance was almost seductively relaxed. Oh, Erin was enjoying this so much...!

Things had been going smoothly. He had injured his opponent and possibly unnerved them when he blocked their blaster bolts, as the Trandoshan had seemed very confident that Joshua would be finished off by it. So everything had been going in his favor... right up until the wall of blaster fire erupted down the alley, most of it aimed primarily at HIM. Not only that but the number of blasters seemed to be growing by the second. Normally people would run away from a firefight so he guessed something else was drawing their attention. After he thought about it for a second, he could've smacked himself on the head if he had the time.

The damn lightsabers. Jedi were hated on Nar Shadaa, mostly because they represent everything the moon didn't, namely law and order. He silently cursed himself as he brought out his saberstaff and used it to help deflect the ever increasing barrage of bolts. He backed up while examining his surroundings. The ledges were an option but not a very good one. Too many blaster bolts for him to deflect while jumping and one hit in the right area could break his concentration and make him an open target for all the people here. The only other option seemed to be the wall being blast to bits behind him.

~~If I play this right, I might make it out alive. Not unscathed but alive~~ He thought to himself. First though he needed to take down a few of the idiots firing blasters at him. Putting his shoto away, now defending only with his saberstaff. With his free hand he began using the force to fling various, heavy objects down at the firing squad. He even threw the can Balkk was hiding behind, as he cared little if the bounty hunter died at this point or not. He briefly considered throwing the Trandoshan himself at the firing squad. After all, they were after a living target, so why not the lizard?

In the end he let Balkk stay where he was though and just threw a few more objects at them with the force. He sustained a few injuries but grit his teeth and fought through them. He glanced behind him to check the wall. it was pretty beat up but the space right behind him was fairing better since only a few bolts had hit it.
~~One shot, make it count.~~ he thought to himself, while reaching towards the wall and using the force on the relatively intact section. There was a crack before that section of wall flew Joshua, who jumped up and flipped over the section and landed behind it, keeping the section of wall close. Luckily for him the alleyway extended behind the wall and led to a street he could use to make his get away. Sadly cracks were spread along the wall, signaling a collapse very soon.

Joshua sped his way through the hole before pulling the section of wall back into place, hoping that would help the wall fall at a slower rate. Using the Force again, he put any heavy object he could find against the wall, turned his lightsabers off, and put them away, hidden from plain sight, before moving out onto the street. First thing was first: find some medical attention so that his wounds could be looked over, cause some of them were rather painful, but nothing he hadn't dealt with before.

Balkk Yarroq
Nar Shadaa


Balkk fell back in surprise as the bin he had his back to was picked up and flung towards the gang of thugs, scattering them and the bins contents across the floor. Another large metal bin flew past his head and went straight into the crowd again. The stream of blaster shots subsided although the occasional shot still blasted towards the Jedi, who was now quickly escaping through the wall. He watched as the Jedi pulled out a lump of the wall, jumped through and placed it inside again. Balkk got to his feet slowly. His heart rate was slowing and the pain in his shin gradually came back. He hissed in pain and leaned his arm onto the wall. His leg was held just above the ground and now that he could see it, it looked like a flesh wound. The heat of the lightsaber had cut a wound and then immediately sealed it again, leaving a thick welt of burned skin. Blood still oozed from it but not to the extent when the wound had first been cut. It hurt to walk on. But the pain wasn't unbearable.

The bounty hunter glanced to the mouth of the alley. The thugs were picking themselves up and already a small group were heading off to pursue the Jedi. They ignored the bounty hunter, too concerned with capturing their prize who was rapidly. Balkk wasn't in so much of a rush. He would meet Joshua again, he was sure. He knew what he looked like and what he sounded like. He walked to the back wall, that looked ready to collapse but his eyes were on his sword that had been scattered by various stray shots to the back of the wall. As he slid it back into it's sheath behind his cloak, he felt that familiar feeling. Someone was watching.

He turned his head. The thugs were all gone, apart from those stunned or on the ground. One solitary being stood in the light, casting a shadow down the alley that had just minutes ago been alight with blaster fire. He wore a hood and a long cloak that covered his entire body so his features were unseen by the bounty hunter. It just stood there, staring at him from the darkness of it's hood. The events that had happened around him hadn't effected him at all and Balkk had a feeling he had been standing there for a long time. The Trandoshan's hand fell the hilt of his gun and clutched it, ready to bring it out if there came trouble. This being was eerily calm and he didn't like it. The turned his heel and walked away. He was swallowed by the crowds in seconds. Balkk's hand dropped from his weapon when he felt it was safe.

The Trandoshan was uneasy. As he approached the stunned bodies and mess of rubbish, he quickened his pace. No need to get caught hanging around this mess. He saw the Wookie who had fired at him lay in a pile of rubbish. It's legs were trapped underneath an overturned dumpster yet it showed symptoms of being stunned. This Wookie had no doubt been hit by one of the stray stun shots. If it hadn't been, the Wookie would of longed escape. It's eyes still moved and glared at the Trandoshan as he strode past. Balkk gave it a small wink but still quickened his pace, which had developed a minor limp due to the pain on his shin. He did not want to be around when that Wookie could move again, for they were known to rip limbs out of sockets.

Once out onto the street again, he found himself pondering over what to do now. He mixed with the crowds once again, this time not concerned about the Jedi. Hunt down the Jedi seemed like a good idea but then, he saw another group of gungans cooking meat over a spit. His stomach protested loudly and Balkk gave in. He was starving and didn't care what the meat was as long as it was edible.

Food came first. The Jedi would meet his maker later.

-~- ~-~ -~- ~-~ -~- 
Eriadu City, Eriadu.
Shortly after Order 66 was given.
-~- ~-~ -~- ~-~ -~-

It was impossible. Unthinkable. What in the Force was going on??? Draknyia had barely survived the initial assault and now more troops were shooting at him from the western end of the hall. He could deflect them at the moment, but more were coming. The Jedi had thought that meeting on a planet which headquartered an entire army of Republic Clone Troopers would have gauranteed their safety. But within one instant, the opposite became true. And now a veritable wall of blaster fire was headed straight for him.

Calling upon the Force to focus his actions and increase the speed of his movements, he took up the body of his teacher with two of his arms before jumping and clinging to the ceiling, his Jedi robes hanging down like strange curtains. He quickly ignighted his lightsaber. It's pale bue, almost cyan blade cut a large hole above him and he swung through it with canny acrobatics, launching himself upward before flipping and landing on his feet on the next floor.

But this hallway contained a marked difference to the one below. It ran north to south. Seeing a balcony at the southern end, he ran toward it. Turbolifts opened and Clones rushed out just in time to see ...nothing. No sign of him remained. No one falling below the balcony. No Jedi hiding in any of the rooms. It was as if he had truly vanished.

Minutes later, a lightsaber cut through the turbolift doors on the highest floor of the Rebublic Diplomatic Plaza. Draknyia jumped out of it an found another balcony at the end of the hall which he used to jump to the flat roof of the building. There, upon dirty durasteel, he laid out Korin's body and tried the application of every healing and restoration technique he knew.

But it was futile. Not only had he drained much of his potential power getting to this place, but Korin's body was too far gone. The spark of life forever faded from her eyes. Despite this truth, however, Draknyia continued trying to heal her corpse. Time had lost all meaning to him, though. He was consumed by the effort to revitalize his teacher's body.

Osik, why of all the places did it have to be Nar Shadda? Beskad had hunted enough people on Nar Shadda, he had done enough jumping off atmosphere high skyscrapers. He preferred the woodlands and swamps to the concrete jungle. Everyone he was looking for money and someone to kill, that's what Nar Shadda did to people. They only thing that made this worse was the fact they were hanging out with a Jedi and they were looking for more just because his daughter-in-law was a damn Jedi. Well at least it would be an easy job, search and rescue, anyone messes with us they disappear; it was as simple as that.

"Aden and Kom'rk check out the local pubs, Kebiin you have patrol duty, set up scanners around the building and give us a scan of the area." Beskad said barking out orders to his most elite clone commandos. They were the ones he spent the most time with, they were lucky for that, but he would rescue all of his sons, several other of his squads had deserted, but not all of them got the chance to. Pulling out a holotransmitter a small robed Cathar came to life on it. "My Ad'ika we have arrived on Nar Shadda, we have rescued a Jedi already when I stopped to pick up my boys on Eriadu."

"That is excellent Bes'buir! I am glad to hear that. The Force cries out to me, Jedi are deftinitely on Nar Shadda, you must help them at all costs Bes'buir!" She said almost in panicing voice. Beskad shook his head and shook his hand.

"Do not worry my child, I will do all that I can to help them. I will not come back empty handed." He ended the transmission and looked at the giant tarantula spider thing. Yes they had rescued him, and yes he would tried to help him, but he didn't always have to like his cliental and he certainly didn't this time. "Let me just make it clear to you big guy, I will do all that I can to help you and whatever stupid Jetii on this planet, but if things get to hot, or any of my boys are in high risk I pull out. If you are compromised or threaten the mission, I pull out. If you are captured, or if we are both captured I will terminate us to make sure the enemy doesn't get their hands on any Intel. My and my buddies have a huge organization helping a lot of people who are just as big of targets as the Jetii. I rather any one of us die than risk the possibility of any information on our organization get out, understood?" He threatened, Jedi were suppose to be peaceful, but he wouldn't be surprised if the guy tried to take the offense and throw some words at him.

Either way, for now they both had the same objectives, stay hidden and survive, which was enough of a basis for him to work with. One of his commandos walked up to him, it was Tracer. "Buir my sweep of the area reveals that a Jedi had been spotted a klick or two away from here. Here's the surveillance feed I was able to procure from a security camera." Beskad watched the video on the datapad and cringed abit as the mob began shooting at the poor guy. Jedi had the Force, but when the firepower got to big they were worthless in his opinion.

"Try and see if you can locate any possible escape routes coming from that location and have Kebiin monitor them. I'll need you free to come with me and Spidey here to do some other recon." While Draknyia would draw attention to them a bit, he was big and scary and no one messed with big and scary. He himself was already scary enough, standing at 6'3, weighing at 325 pounds not including the armor, he was packing enough explosives and ammunition to take on a small army, and the fact he was Mandalorian made him a red flag of not to get in a fight with. No one was even going to look their less they were looking to get bricks knocked out of them.

For all the talk about how scary this planet was supposed to be, Nar Shadda didn't look like much.

It looked kinda like a junk barge on Coruscant, except the junk barge was the whole planet from what Zak could see. Now he understood why Master Deja said he wouldn't want to go swimming here. Everything was dirty, and the smell radiating from piles of refuse strewn along the dusty roads was a combination of rotting fish and humanoid waste. As the first wiff burned the inside of the youngling's nose, the boy shuddered with all the feeling of his skin crawling. "Eww..." the boy whined plaintively, covering his nose with both hands. "It smells like poodoo here," the Nautolan boy complained.

Being barefoot, he began paying particular attention to where he stepped.

Shadowing the two knights more closely than the adventurous Nautolan, the black haired Anzati reared his head back as though he'd just heard or seen something. Or rather, felt something. "Master, I..." Sor-Jan began, falling silent in awareness of what his own words might reveal. But the body language said what he couldn't. There was a disturbance in the Force.

While Zak didn't know anything about a disturbance in the Force -- what did that even feel like? -- the Nautolan was aware of a sound echoing from elsewhere. Another time, the youngling might have thought it was fireworks. But now he could say that it was a sound he had heard before. In the Jedi Temple.

It was a sound he wouldn't forget.

"Blasters," Zak noted, though the shooting, where ever it had taken place, had stopped almost as soon as the boy realized what he was hearing. The sound left the boy disquieted however, so he moved closer to Kraytan and Deja as they continued toward the warehouse that Master Kraytan had set out for.

Inuel was taken aback by the request, Nar Shadaa was the last place Jedi tended to come... And of course... He knew exactly where to find one. "Ummm... Haven't you heard that there's a bounty on Jedi?" asked Renny. "Any Jedi we would know is probably dead." he leaned back. Inuel looked them over again. I've got a bad feeling about this. He thought.

"First things first... Why do you want a Jedi?" he asked, giving Erin a look that said "I WILL know if you're lying, and you will not enjoy the aftermath of such a decision." Kolinn moved slowly backwards as he kept up that stare, she then whispered into Erin's ear.

"The Force is with him... I can feel it..."

A man had sat on the roof watching the exchange between the bounty hunter and the Jedi. His boss had seen it too apparently that is why he was here after getting a communication from him. There was something his boss wanted, and it had something to do with a group of Jedi who had not been accounted for in the raid of the temple. One of them had something, naturally he had not been told what however he didn't ask questions unless they were really important. Now if he knew a top secret move that could kill someone instantly he might have been interested. As it was, he didn't really care. Now he had been told that this bounty hunter apparently worked for him, though of course he didn't know it yet. He had almost had to even save the Trandoshans life. He hadn't worked with a Trandoshan yet. He had taken out a couple but hadn't worked with one. He ran along the rooftops jumping from one to another, his Trandoshan friend was apparently going for a bite to eat.

He jumped down into the street landing almost directly beside him. Embo merely checked the disk atop his head and adjusted it accordingly before speaking. "You should have shot him when you first saw him. Or used a detonator. You made a fool of yourself." He moved himself on front of the Trandoshan. "My boss is hiring you, and you now work for me. Triple your current pay and you might just learn something along the way. Your choice." With that he began heading off without even waiting for a response. He would accept, it was the logical thing to do. For triple pay it was a no brainer, besides. While he had kept quite in the waning years of the Clone Wars his name and reputation still held a bit of weight. Training in seclusion often did that to you, however if he was to be underestimated that would be at that fools expense.

Balkk Yarroq
Nar Shadaa


An entire womp rat had been skewered on a stick, cooked over an open fire for hours and sprinkled with salt. Balkk was impressed that it was just 10 credits, to say the most. The dirty Gungan's had done a decent job. He left the Gungan's stall and found a quiet area to stand and eat it. He leaned on a building at the side of the market and tucked in/ As he sunk his teeth into the meaty hide, he almost heard his protesting stomach go silent. Several minutes passed as Balkk silently went through the meat, his beady eyes watching the street in front of him. He heard a group of Weequay talking loudly about a Jedi they had just had a gun fight with and smiled to himself. If a large group of thugs had struggled to take him down, he highly doubted a small group of pirates with blasters could. He picked a bone from his teeth and flicked it to the ground. Now, for the limbs. As he began tucking into the thigh of the skewered rat, he felt a presence beside him.

He glanced around in time for the alien to begin talking in a low voice. 'You should have shot him when you first saw him. Or used a detonator. You made a fool of yourself' it said. 'You what?' answered Balkk, his voice slightly muffled by a mouth full of meat. How long's he been standing there? The alien moved to the front of him and for a moment, the Trandoshan wondered if he was being mugged. 'My boss is hiring you, and you now work for me. Triple your current pay and you might just learn something along the way. Your choice' said the alien. Balkk took an almighty swallow, clearing his mouth of meat. He winced slightly as a bone scratched the side of his throat. 'Who the fuck are you?' he replied, standing to his full height. The bounty hunter was slightly annoyed at the patronising ton of the aliens tone. His vulgar question went unanswered, however, as the alien was already waking away.

Triple pay? To work for this fucker...? His hand reached into his pocket and he pulled out his holo-communicator. He tapped a few buttons onto it and waited patiently a few moments. A stern looking human man appeared on the screen. 'Well? Is he dead?' demanded the man. 'No. Half of Nar Shadda is looking for him now' growled the Trandoshan. 'Oh, you useless pile of scales!' shouted the man, a vein popping out on his neck. 'What now? You're not getting paid if you don't kill him!'. 'Depends how much I'm getting paid' answered Balkk, already bored of this conversation. His employer was some high ranking official on Coruscant and quite a snobbish, annoying man. '10,000 credits is the agreed amount. And I'm not going any higher, you blithering lizard!' The man was shouting again, so Balkk turned off his communicator. He looked into the crowd. The wide brimmed hat was still visible in the crowd, down the street a bit. 30,000 sounds nice. And if I play my cards right, I can still get 10,000 off of that Corellian twat.

The piece of skewered meat was dropped to the floor, forgotten. The Trandoshan wasn't hungry any more. He was slightly suspicious, however. Last time he had trusted a dangerous looking alien he had been dropped onto a forest moon and spent two days thinking about his life. He shook the thought out of his head. That was years ago. I'll finish him if he tries anything on me. 30,000 credits will get the Jawa's off my back about that star fighter and leave me with a bit of money to update. The Trandoshan smiled and rubbed his hands together. This was going to work well. He squinted down the street and could still see the wide brimmed hat in the crowd. He made a decision.

He pushed through the street for several minutes until he caught up with his new employer. He walked in stride beside him and lifted his hood over his head. 'Who do you want dead?' he asked quietly. His hand reached down to his stun blaster behind his cloak. If the alien tried anything, he had a round to finish him off with and escape.

Embo shrugged, or at least tried to imitate one. He was used to subtle and sly movements so this one felt so alien to him. "We have many targets, our main one is a Jedi Knight among others who have apparently managed to escape Coruscant and the new Emperors net. We have not been told who it is, they apparently hold valuable information so he does not want us selling him to someone else. The power of information." He took a turn seemingly at random, however a seasoned hunter would know that he had obviously practiced this route or at least planned it several times.

He turned to face his new assistant. "I am Embo, you are Balkk. We get paid per head, kids are triple pay as the morality goes into question and are kill orders. Anyone who appears over the age of 16 is capture. 30,000 credits for a kill 90,000 for a capture." He turned and continued walking. They passed a Mandalorian and a Spiderguy, he tipped his head in the direction of the Mandalorian very purposefully however they had moved on too quickly for the man to respond. He knew they were there that was the most important thing that happened in the exchange. Finally they reached the space port. "You're on the run, land on Nar Shadda. Want to find a ship or information, where is the first place you go?" He knew, though he was going to see if his counterpart knew.

Draknyia had ditched his jedi robes in exchange for warboots a kilt and a sort of set of shoulder pads which contained a compartment where he could store his lightsaber. This get up revealed much of his body, and much of what was revealed was a testament to his combat experience. Scars from vibroblades and a couple of blasterbolt wounds. There was even an old electrical burn on the outside of his right leg, from his calf to just above his knee. The Arachnoid Jedi had aslo borrowed a blaster rifle from his hosts because, aside from knowing how to use it, it would help him to appear even less like a Jedi. And it was working. He looked far more like a merc than a Jedi.

When Beskad gave his little speech about abandoning him and protecting his intel, the Harch wasn't offended in the least. And he responded in an even and calm tone not betraying any emotion, not even the gratitude he did feel. "I understand. That is a very reasonable stance to take in your position. And I wouldn't worry about me. I haven't endangered a mission since I was fresh-faced Padawan." He had no issue with the soldier. Beskad seemed to have a good rapport with the Force, wether he knew it or not.

"Yes I can feel the disturbance. Whoever caused it is strong with... you know. They escaped it seems. We shall pursue them after, let the commotion die down a bit before sticking our noses into a crowd of blasters." Kraytan said as they continued to walk down the street. Deja remained quiet, no doubt she had felt the disturbance as well, but she was more focus on locating the secret hideout that was very close.

"Down this alley." She said as she took a tight left turn down a cold and scary alley. It was a dead end, or one would think. As they approached the wall Kraytan stepped forward and put his hand on it. After a few moments of concentrating he pushed two metal panels in and revealed a secret passage. "Stay close to us, things may heat up down here." Deja said as she let Kraytan descend first down the stairs. After what seemed like forever they came out in an underground Hutt Palace. There were dancers, weird musicians, and flashing lights, oh and many guards. They got several looks as they walked with their heads down towards the large Hutt on the far end of the room.

"Who dare approaches Jorga the Hutt uninvited." A protocol droid said. Deja pushed it aside with her hand and approached the Hutt, prompting the guards to move closer. The Hutt however raised its fat hand and halted them. Jorga ushered the droid closer and whispered to it. "What does Jorga who for the presence of Jedi Deja?" the droid said. As the word Jedi bounced around the room, many individuals looked on.

"A favor, I need to establish a secure connection with some associates on Mandalore." Deja said firmly. The Hutt laughed.

He whispered to the droid once more. "If this is all that you require to make us even Master Deja. Then so be it. Pajir will help you." A blue armored Mandalorian stepped out from behind the Hutt and approached the Jedi. He ushered them to follow him to an adjacent room. Deja didn't hesitate to follow and neither did. Kraytan. Once inside she saw a large holo projector table. The room was filled with state of the art equipment, probably off the black market of course.

"Who are you contacting on Mandalore jetii." The Mando asked. Deja was a bit hesitate to answer his question, because the less people who knew the better, but she was going to have to tell him anyway to establish the connection.

"I am trying to get in contact with Beskad Maximus." She said casually. Mandalorians were very good at body language and controlling it, because they always worked behind helmets, but her Force powers could tell he was surprised and very interested.

"Beskad isn't one to work with Jetii as far as I can remember." He said as he set up the connection.

"Well my sister married one of his son's and last she told me Mando's were big on the family thing." She said before a hologram came up of a Cathar woman.

"Who is this and how did you connect to our encrypted network?" She said paranoid a bit. Deja smiled as she recognized her sister. It took her sister a few seconds to recognize who she was talking to and she immediately changed her tone. "Deja? I'm so glad to see that you're okay! I was so worried when I heard about the attack of the Temple. Where are you? Are you okay? Is anyone trailing you?"

"I'm fine Anje, but for how long I am not sure. I am on Nar Shadda with a group of Jedi, we are trying to keep low, but our cover won't last forever." Deja said as she looked back at Kraytan and the two younglings. The Mando had moved to the door and had locked it, she could tell by the green light turning red.

"What was that for?" Kraytan asked as he moved his hand to his blaster.

"Your own safety. Jorga may have owed Deja, and a deals a deal, but you others are up for grabs. He's alerted the rest of his thugs, he plans to take you dead or alive."

"How do you know this?" Kraytan asked still not satisfied with the man's answer.

"He just told me to kill you all, I failed to respond. My duty lies first with Mandalore, and if you are with Beskad then my duty lies with making sure you get out alive, Jetii or not." This was a bit surpising for Kraytan to take in. However it could all still be a trap, but he didn't detect any lying in the man.

"The Force is still with us, Beskad and my cyar'ika are already on Nar Shadda. I will alert them to your location. May the Force be with you." The hologram disappeared as the sound of blaster fire bounced again the metal door. The Mando took cover next to it and ushered them to get down. Things were about to get heated up in here.

---

Beskad continued walking without really paying attention to the man or the Transdoshan. However his HUD was paying attention. It had scanned their faces and brought up their profiles. When they were far enough away he looked at Draknyia, "If we're lucky we won't have to deal with those two, but be warned they are here and hunting Jedi. They know something." Beskad said as the trio continued walking down the street. His communicator started going off like crazy and when he answered it was Kebiin.

"Two Jetii and younglings, Jorga's Palace, heavily out numbered, we have a friendly on the inside with them, a member of Clan Bralor." Kebiin said.

"Understood, I'll handle this, tell the others to be on standby if needed. Beskad out." He tapped away on his wristpad as he scan the location for Jorga's Palace. "Alright, we have four Jetii and a Mando pinned down in a Hutt's Palace brimming with guards. Tracer I want you to cut the power to the place, and coordinate with Kebiin to jam all their communications. Me and Drak are about to bring down the house. Sound like a plan? Good." Beskad wasn' the kind of guy who waited for answers, not when they had little time to spare. He began running through the crowd as he followed the path on his HUD.

After a bit of running he came to an alleyway, secret entrance of course. "Stand back!" He yelled as he bent down and fired his missile from his rocket. It hit the wall and exploded revealing the secret passage.

"Powers cut, comms are down. You have a three minute window." Tracer told them. He activated his Night Vision in on his HUD. He figured Draknyia could use the Force to see in the dark, or maybe his extra eyes would help.

"Yup, feeling that. Feel free to step in if you like..." Erin quickly whispered back to Kolinn, her curious eyes not daring to stray away from Inuel's intimidating glare just yet. Well, maybe not intimidating - it was definitely scary though. He needed to know why she was looking for a Jedi... He was Force-sensitive, but it sure didn't feel like he was Jedi! Now this might not be the best course of action to take, in fact it might be suicide, Erin felt she had to tell the truth. ...To an extent. Otherwise this matter could go nowhere. Her eyes darted to Jerek who had protectively come between herself and Inuel, then to Vor'loch standing guard, then back to the alien and the young human boy with him.

Erin lowered her voice yet again as she spoke to Inuel. Her fake tone disappeared, and she looked much more serious, "I'm looking for a Jedi, because I'm in the same boat right now." She began to explain, discreetly sweeping her long dress aside at her side-cut leg to reveal a lightsaber hilt, which she covered up just as quickly. "My friends here are still loyal to the Republic and myself, but there's priority to find a certain Jedi here on Nar'Shaddaa. All I know for certain is that the Force has guided me here,"

It may not be very convincing, but Erin's little lie had her in the hopes that she was the only one directly identifiable as a Jedi. That way there would only be really bad danger to one of them, and that was just fine with the brunette padawan. Her old master was a selfless commander and warrior during the war, and a younger Erin always looked up to that figure, and when at his side a few years later she would be just the same. They were weapons that protected everyone around them, and that was just how they liked it. It bordered on absolute stupidity now that there wasn't a galaxyful of Jedi to spare, ...but Erin didn't exactly have an off-switch - she would be that selfless idiot for as long as she lived, just like Sabalya was.

"If you know anything at all, I need information."

Being Jedi apparently meant really, really long stretches of boring, following by sudden sudden-ness.

Case in point, back in the Jedi Temple, Zak had to go through morning meditation, Republic history, astrogation, and attend a Jedi Master lecture before lightsaber practice. And, then, lightsaber practice was over in, like, boom. Done. Ignite the lightsaber, swing at a few practice droids, and suddenly it was time for physical science class.

The instructors said they got an hour of practice. Pfft. Fifteen seconds was more like it.

Now, they'd had the whole flight here. And then the whole walking here from the ship. And then Master Deja had been talking. Well, first, Master Kraytan was talking and then Master Deja had been the one talking. But, at the end of the day, it was adults talking. First to one adult, then another, then some random nerf herder on a holo-comm...

...and then the door was shut and someone on the other side was shooting at it.

The turn of events left the young Nautolan's head swimming as the transition from one moment of boredom gave way to an instant of panic. His stubby head tendrils bounced as the child jerked back involuntarily at the echoing stucco of blaster rife resonating from the door -- as the room suddenly went pitch black.

The dull, eerie red glow of the door -- heated by the blaster bolts -- gave an indication that their shelter was indeed temporary.

Okay, this was not okay. This was very not okay.

Dipping his hand into the water-resistant tunic that he wore, the boy gripped the training lightsaber that he carried. Dropping down to a low crouch, the youngling held the metal handle at the ready as he tried to recall some of that meditation-mumbo-whatever-y stuff. He thought he had a sense of where Master Kraytan was. Maybe.

And... Master Deja?

A preternatural calm transmuted the panic into a poised readiness. If he was called upon to act, Zak would answer that call with his lightsaber.

May the Force be with them.

Renny's head shot under the table to look at her unveiling her dress. His head hit the table as he saw her Lightsaber. Inuels hand then grabbed hold of his head and pulled him out "Control yourself, or i'll take measures... There are no laws against neutering slaves..."

"Ow, ow, ow..." Renny replied before Inuel let go. Inuel regained his composure and smiled beneath his beak.

"Well alright..." he said, with a single movement, he uncocked the blaster that he had stealthily cocked on his hip. "I know a Jedi... Although, i'm not sure you want to meet him. From what i've heard, he's not on the best terms with Jedi."

"Uhh... Boss..." Renny tugged at his arm. "Didn't he say he'd have you turned inside out if you told anyone?" he whispered in his ear.

"He said if I told anyone and it wasn't important... I'd say things have just gotten important." he then bent down and waved a finger to indicate that they join him in talking quietly. "A while ago, I helped a Jedi that had been exiled to disappear, as far as your records will show, he has been dead for about 300 years... I can take you to him... 1000 Credits, upfront."

Vor'loch could have cursed Erins naivety as soon as she informed the mercenary that at least she was a Jedi. Though it was a surprise that the merc hadn't just pulled out his weapons on them there were other beings who wouldn't be the same. There was a sense of unease in the cantina, when walking towards the door he acted quickly. A group of three Shivasten had turned with their blasters on them and he gathered the Force, something he didn't want to do, and pushed Erin, Kolinn and Jerek out of the way. The mercenary could look after himself. One of the Shivasten pointed "Get the Jedi!" Now they were definitely in trouble with everyone turning towards them. "Now would be an acceptable time to use your lightsabers my Padawans." He lowered his hand to his ligthsaber hilt, considered using it however he instead grabbed under his robes for his lightsaber whip.

He whipped it over their heads and activated it as it flared to life, people moved back as the swathe of yellow moved through the air. He curved it low knocking people off their feat, the lower power than that off a lightsaber meant that those unlucky enough to be in the nearby area simply got cuts around their shins and ankles. He flicked the blade off and pulled it back in. He then grabbed his regular lightsaber and activated it backing back bolts. He stepped forward and cut the end of a gun off one person, jumping up and onto his head to knock him down before performing a somersault around and down behind the main group of attackers, everyone else had abandoned the cantina. He released a short blast of kinetic energy knocking those at the back line were pushed into those on front and they finally noticed him as the fire became split between two fronts. He swore as he was pushed back onto the defensive.

He looked at the objects around him as adrenaline began to course through his body with the sheer power of the Force and everything appeared to slow down to him. He scanned the bar and saw a tap, followed it into a pipe in floor barely visible through a cracked floorboard. He concentrated on it, picturing it fragment and explode. It did just that, though the concentration allowed two bolts to get past his guard and strike his leg though the task was achieved as he winced. A slight spray was between the Padawans and the thugs. He was on the wrong side however so was completely visible though that wasn't an issue. He concentrated on Jerek, images of Tattooine. The ambush that had taken place, they had separated and met together again later. As he ran for the door being trailed and batting through bolts, he hoped the message got through.