[IC] Star Crossed: a Star Wars Story (BlueSky44 & Morose)

[BlueSky44]

"Questions that are difficult to answer? That is a strange thing to say," she couldn't help but say. Now she was curious as to what it was that he was referring to. Anything about the ships or whatever would they would easily be able to obtain the information on. So what was it that he was referring to? It didn't make much sense to her, it was just a bit weird to even really think about what else he might be looking for or whatever.

His next comment about her potentially joining them, all she could really respond with was shaking her head, "Usually I do not. Typically I have to do a few other things... That or just get told to leave the room..." she responded with a shrug. She typically only did what she was told to do. And usually if Jarothe had company over, she was typically meant to be seen most of the time and not heard. Hence why she had been a bit surprised by Raynor actually deciding to talk to her and actively trying to it seemed like anyway to her.

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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"Oh, you know us Jedi - our heads are always in the clouds," Raynor sidestepped. He wasn't going to lay out for her exactly what questions he was interesting in pursuing - he figured the hint would have to be enough. Anything bolder and he was worried for her safety, due to the presence of the guards. "Some masters spend so much time pondering questions that they'll fall into a meditative trance and forget to eat or drink or sleep for weeks, even months at a time."

Of course, Raynor had never really been that sort of type - his master tended to tell him that he needed to think more really, not less. "I would love it if you would join us - in fact, I insist, as long as that is alright with Jarothe. I would not wish to offend him." Raynor didn't give a reason for why he wanted Shocky to dine with them. He hoped he didn't have to.

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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She listened to his explanation, and she wasn't entirely too sure what to make of his words. He still struck her as incredibly odd, but she didn't really say much in response to his explanation, aside from nodding her head. His words were a bit confusing at times, but she figured okay, it didn't fully matter really. And she knew next to nothing about how Jedi were, so she didn't know what else to think. "...I guess that makes some sense... Though not sure why you'd want me to be around, it doesn't make too much sense to me, but okay..."

Her attention though swiftly turned towards the sound of a door opening, and the aide of sorts from before looked at them, sort of nodding his head a bit, before leaving the room. Shakka looked at Raynor now, "Looks like Jarothe is finished with his business from before, if you'll follow me, I can lead you to where you'll be joined by Jarothe once more for some food..." she said, nodding her head somewhat, before she started heading out of the hanger, and down another hallway, leading towards the dining area.

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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Raynor didn't answer Shocky when she asked why he wanted to have her around - he found that it was easiest to lie by just subtly telling the truth, and he didn't know how to apply that to this situation just yet. Saying nothing wouldn't be noticed too much anyways, particularly as it was time for them to go meet Jarothe for the evening's meal. If Shocky asked him again - or if Jarothe asked - however, he would have to come up with some sort of reasoning. If he hadn't been a Jedi, he would have just said that he thought Shocky was attractive - but such things went against the Jedi Code. The Jedi Order was clear - there was no emotion, only peace.

"Of course, thank you," Raynor said, following Shocky out of the hangar. He did wonder what sort of food Jarothe had picked out for them - the Jedi Temple tended to not have the most imaginative options, just ensuring there were options edible by all species, but otherwise it was easily repetitive and bland. Raynor didn't even know what his favorite food was. It had never even occurred to him to really consider that he might actually have preferences.

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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She didn't really say too much in response to anything else that Raynor said, or anything like that. Shakka just led the way along the hallway, remaining silent for the most part, before eventually she led the way to a somewhat large dining area. Jarothe was in the room, looking out a window as they walked in, and he turned to look at them. "Ah, there you are, well, did you enjoy seeing what we had in the hangar?" he asked Raynor with a smile, walking over now as he did so. He did seem to be ignoring Shakka's existence at the moment now.

"Well now, have a seat then," he said with a smile before he turned to look towards Shakka, finally acknowledging that she was even really there to begin with. "Leave, now," he said rather bluntly towards her.

"I uh... I...." she started to say, unsure of what else to really say in general, and she sort of just looked at Raynor for a moment. He had said that he wanted her to stay, but she had known that Jarothe likely was going to tell her to leave, so the question was, what was she supposed to do now? If she didn't leave, then Jarothe would get angry, so she sort of waited a moment to see if Raynor would say anything.

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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"Oh, I had a wonderful time. The ships are rather marvelous - especially seeing them brand new, before they're covered in carbon scoring," Raynor flattered. He was certain the way to a man like Jarothe's heart was through compliments. And he didn't need to be a Jedi to figure that one out. "I know that we had already planned on having me spend the night, but I would still love to take a tour of the rest of the ships in the morning - I was so absorbed that I hadn't paid proper attention to the other options available. Your assistant, Shaka - she really does know her stuff."

He gave Jarothe a smile, as he then transitioned into the next topic of conversation - namely, Raynor's desire to keep Shakka close to him and not out of his sight. He wouldn't admit it, but he was afraid that if she left the room, Jarothe would have her shipped to the Outer Rim, where Raynor wouldn't be able to help her. Jarothe would ensure that she thoroughly disappeared to save himself from having to pay a massive fine. It disgusted Raynor. "In fact, I had asked her if she would dine with us this evening - I must insist. Just where did you find her? She could put half of the engineers in the Republic Feet to shame with her knowledge."

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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Shakka was actually very much surprised by what it was that Raynor had said, not to mention he was the first person to really seem to want her around. Most of the time she was just there, doing what she was told and hoping to not to screw things up. Now here was someone who seemed to actually want her around, though for what reason she had no idea. She was a nobody, no one important at all, she lived in basically her own little world it seemed like. Just a person who wanted to explore the galaxy but was stuck and couldn't do anything like that.

Jarothe leaned back in his seat, a bit surprised and almost amused it seemed by what it was that Raynor was saying. "Oh her? Why do you seem to think she knows so much about the vessels? She mainly just repeats what she has been told about each of the ships, makes it a bit easier then to carry around something that actually has the specs for the ships and everything on it sometimes to just have someone state it. Several employees can do very similar things. Why do you wish for her to stay? She has other things she needs to do currently."

Yeah this was getting to be a bit of a problem really. She knew that Jarothe would likely question Raynor as to why he wanted to keep her around in general. This was getting nowhere she didn't think, so she said the only thing she could really think of really. "...I can leave, it is alright. I don't mean to impose or anything."

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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Maybe someone else would've given up, but Raynor was stubborn - too stubborn, as his master often reminded him. And once he had set his mind to something, he wasn't keen on changing it. One way or another, Shakka was going to stay. "What other things does she need to do?" Raynor asked innocently, feigning ignorance. "Surely you could spare her for the duration of this meal? I don't see why that would be any sort of an issue." Raynor was hoping to somewhat corner Jarothe - giving specifics on what Shocky had to do would be more likely to force him to trip up and admit that she was slave labor.

"As for why I'm keen on my attendance, it's what I said earlier - I think her insight and perspective is invaluable, beyond rote memorization. Anyone can memorize a list of facts. And if that reason is not enough, I enjoy her company," Raynor concluded, making an appeal to hospitality. But his patience was wearing thin. If Jarothe pushed again, then Raynor was going to push back - hard. The Council had sent him here to do this quietly, but he was fairly certain that Shakka would know where to get the evidence they needed, and the two of them could leave now. There wasn't a real need to creep around in the dark after Jarothe had gone to bed.

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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He seemed to think on what Raynor said for a moment, likely thinking about the best course of action to deal with this sort of thing. Shakka was a bit concerned as to how exactly he was going to react. Though there always was the chance that Jarothe would basically try to kill Raynor, but she kind of was hoping that he wasn't stupid enough to try something like that. Facing the Jedi in any capacity was a foolish endeavor, but going against one while they knew perfectly well who was there and what they were supposed to be doing? That was just asking for a death wish or something of the sort. Though he was the type to be fairly stubborn as well on an issue, so this could go either way really at least the way she saw it.

After another moment of thought, he spoke up, "Very well then, she can stay if you are so insistent," he responded, before motioning for Sparky to join them and have a seat.

That actually did surprise her a bit, but she more or less did was she was asked and sat down as well, a bit unsure of what to really do at this point. Raynor was a complete anomaly in her life and existence at the moment, and the Jedi seemed to be a bit more on the stubborn side then what she had been expecting. He definitely was a bit on the strange side, and she wasn't entirely sure what to expect to happen now.

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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"I am, thank you," Raynor said, forcing a slight smile. Raynor then took a seat, now that it was clear that Shakka was not going anywhere. "Now, back to business shall we?" He knew that this meal was a game of its own - a game of maneuvering. Jarothe's goal would be to keep Raynor from having any suspicions of him - and Raynor's goal would be to make Jarothe sweat, to trick him into making a mistake. Any opening that Jarothe would give him, Raynor would take. Anything that would allow him to place Jarothe under arrest and call the Jedi Council, and have them come at once. The Republic could seize Colbol Corp.

"I have spent the past few hours questioning Shakka - yet I imagine, you may have some questions for me?" he asked Jarothe.

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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"Well I don't have too many for you really, though a bit amusing considering usually those buying the vessels have all sorts of questions for me, as opposed to the other way around. I suppose my main question is which ships were you most interested in, your favorites of sorts or the like, and how many do you think you'd be interested in ordering?" Jarothe said rather calmly, more or less just going along with the simple business questions of sorts that would make sense for him and all.

She easily could have answered those questions herself since she knew at least one of those answers based on their conversations, but given the situation and all, she figured it was best to remain silent. At least at the moment. Then again, that was the situation she was used to, being seen and not heard. That was sort of just what she was meant for at this point, but she didn't make any more sort of comments unless she was going to be asked, these two had things they needed to discuss, though she currently was still going to be here to hear everything apparently.

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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"The Delta 7 and the 170 starfighters I believe are our primary interest at this time - larger support ships as well, perhaps some suited for medical craft, and other warships. Essentially, our standard order with the addition of the Delta 7," Raynor specified. "In terms of quantity... It's my understanding that you're under an exclusive contract with the Grand Army of the Republic. We'd like to purchase every ship that you have."

Raynor then paused, hoping to let that information sink in, to see if there would be any sort of a tell from Jarothe. "How many ships do you have right now, Jarothe?" Raynor asked, before smiling a friendly smile. "I'd like to be able to give the Council a count, so that way the appropriate funds could be transferred the next business day." And by getting Jarothe's count, that would be a key piece of information for the investigation - one to incriminate the man.

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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"We have around a dozen, though that is usually the only amount that we keep on hand, as our factories and all can easily build more ships on demand. We hardly even before the war kept anymore then that on hand, since we wanted to ensure that anyone who purchased our ships were pleased with their purchase before we built more to accommodate their full order. Old habits die hard, and it is very much still a policy that we tend to keep in place. Though doesn't mean we don't still do anything, as we always have several others working on designs and how best to improve the ships and create new designs," Jarothe explained simply to Raynor.

Something about what he had said struck her as a bit odd, since what he said was only partially true. She had been here for a while, so she did know a few things, mainly the fact that they always had a whole bunch of ships available at any given moment. Though there also was the issue of the fact that she saw Jarothe holding meetings with people who very much didn't strike her as being a part of the Republic Army. So she wondered what the full story about that was, but despite her curiosities she definitely knew better then to ask about it.

While paying attention to their conversation though, her attention shifted towards the door, and she tilted her head to the side, listening. To her, there was the sound almost like footsteps, but they weren't normal footsteps. They had too much weight to them, the first thing that crossed her mind instantly was that it might be droids, since that was what made the most sense to her. But... Why would their be droids here and right outside the door?

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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Raynor smiled falsely at Jarothe, committing that number to memory. He could somewhat see the shape of how Jarothe would try to defend himself in court, but truthfully Raynor wasn't a politician. He didn't know every expert detail as to how Jarothe would attempt to distort the truth. And even then, Raynor's attention was pulled away. He could feel something gnawing at him through the Force, some sort of warning, there was something wrong here, something wronger than they had realized, there was -

Pshish! The doors opened up quickly, revealing a small army of battle droids. They didn't hesitate to open fire at Raynor, not caring that Shakka was directly in the line of fire. Raynor's early warning from the Force had given him just enough time, and he threw Shakka with the Force out of harm's way. He had been as gentle as he could, continuing the fluid motion to draw his lightsaber, deflecting the blaster shots as best as he could. His number one priority in this situation was to protect Shakka, the innocent. But they were cornered. The droids had the advantage here. The only exit was blocked. And Raynor had the sense that mere battle droids weren't the only ones here for him - that something nastier, like Destroyers, could just be moments away.

"I see that we are not going to be coming to an agreement then, are we, Jarothe?" Raynor said through gritted teeth. "The Council will be disappointed."

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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"I thought it was obvious. I knew it was only a matter of time before the council decided to start investigating what was going on here. So you being sent here was no surprise to me. Of course I had to see about asking others to potentially help deal with this problem." Jarothe responded, having moved from where he had been sitting and had gone off by the wall.

Shakka was freaked out by the sudden chaos and then getting basically thrown a bit to the ground. With Jarothe, it was near impossible to predict what he did. She had known a few things about him doing business dealings under the table, but had no idea that it was with the Separatists, figuring it likely had more or less been with criminals or something like that, bounty hunters that sort of thing. This was getting a bit crazy to her, and she wasn't entirely sure what to do. There was one thing she did know though, and that was how Jarothe typically kept blasters everywhere in the building, all it would take was her spotting one somewhere in the room.

Looking around, she spotted one nearby strapped under the table, and without really thinking much about it, she managed to get over and draw the weapon. She'd never fired one before, and she was unsure how this was going to work out for her, all she could figure to do was point and pull the trigger. Jumping up onto her feet now, she pointed the blaster directly at the nearest Battle Droid, and fired. Her aim seemed to be on point though, as somehow the droid fell to the ground from her shot, something that surprised her a bit.

Then the whole realization of the fact that she just got herself involved in this situation hit her, and that was likely not going to end well for her at all.

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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"Dank Farrik, I hate a monologue," Raynor complained. He especially hated that Jarothe hadn't understood his clear sarcasm, but whatever. As annoying as a monologue was, at least it was a clear confession. Of course, Raynor hadn't been recording it. And he doubted Jarothe had been. But still, his word as a Jedi ought to be enough. Had he been cynical, Raynor might've figured that the Senate would be glad to seize Colbol Corp by any means - but for now, he was still optimistic and blinded to the corruption of the Republic. Many of the Jedi were.

His lightsaber deflected most of the blaster shots back at the droids, damaging a few of them. However, they were still greatly outnumbered. He couldn't just stay on defense forever - and it wasn't just himself he was worrying about, he had to make sure that Shakka got out okay. "Damn, nice shot," he commented, as Shakka took out one of the droids. "I sense there's more coming. Is there another exit, besides that door?" Raynor asked. Sometimes, people like Jarothe had secret exits and entrances. Raynor wouldn't have minded one of those right now.

He glimpsed an opening and rushed forward, sweeping his lightsaber dangerously, decapitating a small portion of the droids - but it left him vulnerable, a bolt hitting him in the shoulder. He grimaced in pain at the burning wound. He was just lucky it wasn't the side he carried his lightsaber with.

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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"No... Not unless you count the windows in this room..." she responded, unsure of what else to really say or do at this point. There were secret passages elsewhere in the building, but this was the one room that didn't really have any. Not to mention she wasn't exactly too sure about potentially jumping out of the building through the window, plus the odds of getting away on foot out that way were not in their favor. Her hand was shaking a bit and she was seriously panicking considering what she more or less had just done, and it likely wasn't going to end well for her.

Shakka was going to see about maybe trying to get another shot off, but she heard the sound of a blaster just barely missing her nearby, since it turned out Jarothe had found one of the other blasters in the room, and had tried to shoot her with it. While his lame attack attempt had missed her, a shot from one of the droids got a bit lucky at this point considering she was ducked down and trying to stay out of the line of fire. It ended up hitting her in the side, but she didn't really know what to do. They were outnumbered by a lot, and people were at this point seriously trying to kill them. Her aim trying to shoot the droids this time seemed a bit off and she missed all of her shots, but at least they didn't seem to hit Raynor or anything, so that was a good thing.

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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Raynor's eyes darted over towards the window. Outside, there were the busy lanes of traffic, people zooming by on their flying vehicles. It gave Raynor an idea. An ordinary person wouldn't have been able to do it, but he was no ordinary person. He was a Jedi, in tune with the Force. If he used the Force, he could push Shakka and himself far enough out that they could clutch onto one of the passing craft, and spirit themselves away from Jarothe and his droids. "You're not going to like this," Raynor warned.

He didn't give her another second though to really contemplate what he was saying, as Raynor sheathed his lightsaber and rushed, grabbing Shakka and crashing out the glass window with her. He could feel the ebb and flow of the Force around him, using it to guide his aim as he propelled them twenty, thirty, forty feet forward horizontally... and they hit the roof of what was essentially a taxi cab. The alien driver and passenger inside both started screaming as the cab spun wildly out of control, Raynor's muscles straining to keep a grip onto Shakka and the cab, to keep them from falling to their deaths... But at least for now, they were safe.

Somewhat.

"Jedi business, open the door!" Raynor shouted at the driver, who uneasily opened up the back door with a tentacle, the frightened passenger scooting as far away from the opening as possible, white as a sheet. "Shakka, get inside, now!"

[BlueSky44]

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Shakka Ven

15 pts (Neutral)

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She was very confused as to what he could possibly mean by that. The entire situation that they were in was not something that she'd call the ideal situation, just about anything would be better then this sort of thing. However the fact that he said that after she had mentioned the main thing being the windows being the only actual exit aside from the way into the hallway was more then a bit concerning. There were so many things wrong with what was going on. Shakka didn't really have time to ask, because the next thing she knew, Raynor had grabbed her and broke through the window.

The urge to let out a scream was very real, however she managed to stop herself from that since she figured they were probably going to end up dead anyway. By sheer dumb luck they had managed to get onto a car, though she doubted this would last very long. When Raynor essentially yelled at her to get in, she did so, and now she was wondering what the hell they were going to do. "...If you don't mind me asking, what are we supposed to do now?" she asked Raynor rather bluntly.

[Morose]

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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"Jedi Temple, NOW!" Raynor ordered the poor, terrified taxi driver. Luckily, he didn't have to ask twice, as the driver stepped on it. The passenger was quiet too, also scared to death. Some people were scared of the Jedi, but Raynor was fairly confident the fear was more of from the fact that two people had just dove onto his cab in the midst of heavy traffic. Raynor turned and gave the passenger his most charming grin. "Everything is fine."

"We get to the Jedi Temple, we tell the Council about what Jarothe did, and then he'll be arrested and you'll be free." He assumed that Shakka was on board with that plan. She had to be. It was the right thing to do. And she'd be in a better place. Raynor really felt that everything here was going to work out - that the will of the Force was being done.