Always on the move.

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol walked into the place, his dark reddish clothing drifting a bit from the outside breeze as he entered the confines of the spacer hangout. He made sure to tap lightly with his white cane, the intergalactic symbol for blindness, to sell the deception. He even threw in a brief stumble, just for show. It was all a trick of course, for he had adopted the habit of his people: to hide who and what he was from the galaxy at large. Even behind his grey, tattered blindfold, he was seeing things clearer than most of the residents of the bar. Especially the one, in the booth, back and to the right, which he perceived without turning his head in the slightest. The unfortunate Duros over there seemed like he was attempting to recover from a Cassandra Surprise. Sol could pick up little pulses of anguish, coming from the alien, without even trying. He ignored that, and stumbled his way up to the bar, avoiding the chairs and populace of the place without seeming to.

On his way up to the counter, Sol reviewed what had brought him here. He'd been working under Korgun the Hutt, a steward, or whatever the big hutts called their underlings. Sol, and his few Jensaarai, had been traveling for a pickup job on Geonosis. One of the "bugs" there had apparently decided to go rogue; to sell his services and any plans he could steal to the hutts. Allegiance issues wasn't really Sol's concern. What was, was his payment. Without pay, there would never be any growth for the Jensaarai, and that was what he had devoted himself to. They were too small now to try to do anything too much, but he had managed to convince Korgun to speak for him the slugs higher up in the chain. If Solomon didn't have the manpower to support a growth in his people, then he at least wanted access to the technology. He'd requested a bonus in his payment, after he dicovered it's purpose: Time from the science department. Sol and his Jensaarai, as well as a team of hutt backup, had managed to pull the extraction off without a hitch. A job well done. On their way back, Sol had been dropped off to show a certain petty crime lord on Nar Shadaa the truth of what happened to those who tried to cheat the hutts out of profits. He'd been subtle, but thorough about it, infiltrating the crime lords ships, implanting a virus which would respond to a signal that some pirates would send out when they intercepted the ships. The signal would cause the infected ships to lose engines, and shields long enough for the pirates to board and claim the cargo. Of course, the the cargo to be stolen was payment for a previously performed service the pirates had performed for the hutt empire. It was all one, twisted, interwoven web of crime. One that Solomon hoped to bring down someday. In the mean time though he still had work to do.

"Sol! Good news! You're friends arrived safely here on Nal Hutta." Korgun's assistant, Kol, a greasy, yet jovial toydarian, had contacted Sol shortly after confirmation of the mission being accomplished. "Korgun, will talk with his partners for you, but perhaps your chances could be improved...."

"Go on, Kol. I haven't got all night. "

"Night? It's mid-day here. Ah, right. You're still on Nar Shadaa."

Sol waited in silence. If he responded to Kol, it would only feed his nattering. How the talkative creature managed to keep up with his work, much less get assigned as an assistant, was beyond the Correllian-Miralukese Jensaarai.

"Right, ehh... get transport to Mandalore. Independent transport. Word on the street is that there's a group based out of Mandalore that may expand out far enough to encroach on hutt space."

"Well, we can't have that, can we. It would look bad for business. Why independent? Are the hutts too cheap to fund a ride for their best merc?" Sol gave a satisfied smirk as he made the comment. He knew that it would get Kol riled up.

"No! We can't send a ship for you, because if a the traced it back to the Hutt Empire it would alert them to you. And if you're so good why don't you buy yourself some garbage scow, and stop relying on us."

Sol's grin took on a more wolfish quality. "Are you conceding that I am, in fact, the hutt's best agent? Then why don't I get a raise?"

Kol was obviously getting annoyed now. Perhaps he was taking to long on this call."Gahh! If you really want to be the best, then stop playing, and get on your way. Conduct a search, try to find out who it is, then get out."

"Tell Korgun to press hard for me. I want something when I get back."

That was what led him, finally, into the bar near the space port, and into a complete alteration in how he moved himself. Now, for all intents and purposes, he seemed blind.

A race that Sol was unfamiliar with, was the bar keep. He spoke basic well enough though, though in a gruff voice. "Can I get you... You ought to be careful around here, blind one. This isn't the safest place for you."

"Is anyplace on the Smugglers moon? I need reliable transport. Anyone around here?"

The thing chortled, before holding out his hand. Ah yes. Credits. The grease in the galactic wheels... Sol acted just like a blind man, unable to see the gesture. He watched as the posture of the creature changed from confused, to embarrassed, as he realized he'd just made an optical gesture to a "blind" person. He seemed to be thrown off for a moment, before saying out loud, "There's a pilot that might be lookin to make a run. Six seats down the bar to your left."

"Thankyou."

Sol headed that way, always keeping up his charade, before sitting in the fifth seat, next to the man, which was open. "I've heard you're a pilot. I'm looking for travel."

It was a fairly blunt statement, aimed at the man, a human apparently.

[Jax]

Jax took a deep drag on the cigarette he was smoking, drinking in the moment and absorbing the feelings of the bar. He had felt the Mirilukan's presence before it had even walked into the bar, his connection to the Force remained strong enough to feel the unique vibrations that the alien let out. The pulsations had a perplexing quality to them, and it had intrigued Jax enough to make him turn his head. He watched him walk into the cantina, his visible form somehow perfectly matching the qualities that his vibrations had established.

Intrigued, Jax watched without looking while the man walked towards the bar, tapping a white cane. It was subtle, and only someone with finely tuned instincts would have picked up on it, but Jax could tell the man was only pretending to be blind. He saw him very convincingly fake a stumble, but it was the determined and direct path he blazed towards the bar that tipped him off. Most wouldn't have been watching him intently enough to notice, most wouldn't have had that deep feeling that there was more to this man than there appeared to be.

Jax returned to his drink, slowly sipping it in while the "blind" man chatted up the barkeep for a short time and then felt eyes upon him and realized the man was walking towards him. He sat down, (without struggling to figure out the parameters of the barstool Jax noticed, confirming his theory that this man wasn't blind) and turning to Jax he said, "I've heard you're a pilot. I'm looking for travel."

Taking another drag, he turned and gave the man a quick once-over, seeing a sense of purpose behind the grey blindfold covering his Mirilukan optical sockets, and it felt in tune with his Force vibrations. Satisfied that this man was not an immediate threat to him, he exhaled the smoke and said in his best cryptic voice, "I am a great deal of things, as I suspect you are as well. But I am indeed a pilot, a damned lucky one too. Where are you trying to go, and why all the secrecy?" he asked, hoping to probe into why this man put so much effort into deceiving a simple cantina on Nar Shadaa.

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol stopped. It was a rare thing for him to be surprised at something, but he was now. His appearance bearing mildly portrayed surprise at what was before him. His view of the man in front of him was a clear, if slightly more of a hazy outline than he was used to, but then something happened, and his sight failed him- Or so it seemed. The man seemed to vanish..., well, not quite. There was still a nearly translucent image of him there that could be made out, and there seemed to be a small amount of distortion surrounding this person. He could see well enough to manage, but his senses would have to be especially attuned should any trouble ever crop up. I slipped up. How can I call myself the Saarai-kaar, if I miss something as unusual as this!

All this took only a brief space longer than normal to realize, no longer than a typical person coming up with an explanation. The pilot's mysterious response hinted at more than it said. "No connection can be made to the hutts." was running through his mind.

Sol's features turned passive, and he glanced around the room aimlessly before returning his face in the general direction of the pilot, though not straight towards. "Secrecy? I see I am not the only one intrigued by something. Perhaps we could discuss this more on the way, no?" His lips curled up into a mild smile, referring to the "I am a great deal of things" comment from before, as well as the scar in this man's force connection.

"My name is Sol. I'm an enterprising man, and I have business in the vicinity of Taris. I need a ride up that way." He delivered the misdirection without missing a beat. He couldn't let information start spreading that a hutt agent was heading to Mandalore. In addition, it was all true. Taris was only a brief space past his destination.

The going rates in the galaxy were roughly 2000 credits for a trip like this. That meant that the rates here would be 4000 at least. The Miralukan wouldn't let himself be too soft though. He started off the offer at... "I'll pay you thirty-five hundred credits for the trip there, if you'll take me."

[Jax]

Jax's first instinct was to barter, it was fairly common knowledge that Nar Shadaa was expensive and usually easily double normal shipping rates. That, and Jax knew that he was easily the best pilot in this cantina by far; it wasn't a matter of arrogance, just most smuggler's didn't have a few scraps of force connection to supplement their intuition. It did rather come in handy sometimes. Jax scratched at his long goatee and eyed the "blind" man over carefully, and he figured he could probably squeeze at least 300 more out of the man for transport all the way to Taris.

But then Jax looked around him, and saw the mass amounts of smugglers and spacers who were looking for work, and remembered that his coinpurse was getting rather light as of late. Work had been scarce to find lately, as troubles between the Hutts and the Republic had brought scarcer and scarcer amounts of travelers to the slimeball that was Nar Shadaa, and Jax's normally rigid muscular form was starting to get skinny as a result of cutbacks he was starting to have to make.

And then there was the curiosity of the request in and of itself. Why would any man want to fly to Taris? It has been a barren wasteland ever since the Sith put it out of its misery during the Jedi Civil War many years ago; some would argue that it was a barren wasteland even before Darth Malak had turned his guns to the planets surface. What could bring such a strange man to such a curious destination? He said he was an enterprising man, maybe he had something to do with the foolhardy attempts to recolonize and rebuild Taris. If so, transporting him there could lead to some lucrative employment after getting him there. A rebuilding project team would need a good smuggler if they wanted to do it right.

After weighing all his options, Jax came to the conclusion that he couldn't afford to lose a job by being too greedy with the price. Plus, he'd welcome the chance to get off of Nar Shadaa for a while. So he looked at the Mirilukan and smirked, holding out his hand for a handshake. The Mirilukan still appeared to be trying to pull off the blind routine, so instead Jax grabbed his shoulder and said, "Allow me to show you my ship."

[Solomon Kurro]

"...Show you my ship"... Either he's dull-witted, careless, or he's aware of what I am.... The Miralukan suspected the last of the three.

He let himself be guided along. There would be no keeping up this charade once they were in the ship, as it just wouldn't be possible, but until then, he could try. It was at the ship that the real dealing would begin. That would be when he'd have to reveal some information.

In reality, Sol felt a bit uncomfortable letting the man this close. Here on the Smuggler's Moon, there were innumerable dangers for the unwary. Normally, he would be fine, but the way the man kept fading in and out of his senses made it difficult for Sol to get any readings off him. For someone used to seeing everything in a room, it was fairly disconcerting to meet a person who was separated from the force at large.

"This ship... I hope it's more stable than your cryptic remarks earlier, Pilot." He said it with a slight smirk, partly testing the man's resonse(who he still didn't have the name for), and partly in interest at some unknowable mystery surrounding this void in the force.

Sol also had to consider the fact that this could be a trap. He'd agreed fairly quickly to the job, but it was possible that he just wanted to get away. Most people didn't like this place that much.

[Jax]

"Ah where are my manners," Jax exclaimed embarrassed, "Please, call me Jax. As for the ship I'm sure you'll find her quite sturdy. She's a Mon-Cal DeepWater model, she's gotten me out of more than a couple of scratches in the past, and the fact that she doubles as a submarine helps double the escape route options if you know what I mean," he said with a smirk, his thoughts turning to some of his past scrapes.

"So tell me Sol, what business brings you out to the Taris system, are you part of the rebuilding effort, because if so you're going to need the services of a good smuggler, and let me tell you..." he trailed off as he saw two shady Rodians following them at a small distance. They were both carrying a battle rifle and it was clear they were looking for a fight.

"They're probably from Varga the Hutt," Jax said, reading Sol's inquisitive look, "I wiped the floor with him at the Sabaac tables last week and Varga is a notoriously sore loser. He's probably trying to win his money back the easy way. Quick follow me," Jax said, and he grabbed Sol by the shoulder and led him quickly down a narrow side alley.

Picking up their pace to a fast walk and a near jog, Jax led his companion down side-streets and past street vendors, trying to lose the thugs following them. But the Rodians stayed on their targets matching them move for move. Finally Jax lost his patience, and took Sol around another corner leading to a dead end alley smelling of grime and poverty. After rounding the corner, Jax doubled back to the wall and waited for the Rodians to follow, pulling his pistol from the holster on his hip. Holding his breath, he aimed the gun at the space at the start of the alley and waited.

Sure enough the two thugs rounded the corner, and Jax lurched out at them, kicking at the closest Rodian's knees, tripping him to the ground. The other thug, startled for a second, grabbed his blaster rifle and fired off an errant shot which flew over his left shoulder. Lowering his head, Jax charged the attacker and slammed into his chest in a crushing tackle, and drove him to the ground, knocking the blaster rifle from his hands. Jax raised his pistol to finish the mercenary off, but the Rodian kicked his hand, and jarred the pistol loose.

Springing up off of his, the Rodian threw an elbow at Jax, which he caught and twisting his arm Jax drove the merc back down the ground. Turning back behind him, Jax ran towards his fallen gun, but the Rodian held out his hand grabbed Jax's ankle and dragged him back to the ground. The two of them crawled through the sludge jostling for position trying to reach the gun. Both of them got a hand on it at the same time and they wrestled with each other, kicking and screaming trying to gain control. Finally Jax threw an elbow at the Rodian's face, throwing him off guard and allowing him to twist the pistol into his hands. Rolling over onto his back, Jax aimed the gun and fired three laser pulses into the thug's chest.

[Solomon Kurro]

And off they went, weaving through the streets, Sol following this Jax fellow. The Miralukan didn't bother dodging and stepping to avoid people much, but rather, let each light impact glance off, slipping through what crowd there was, while not completely dropping his blind pretense.

It was then that he noticed to thugs, rodians, following them. This could be trouble... Turning his head was nearly a useless exercise at best. With his force vision he perceived everything around him. Being through the various schools of the force, particularly his home planet's Luka Sene, had only sharpened his sensitivity. Work for the Hutts had only taught him alertness. He didn't bother mentioning them though, as he saw Jax glance back, and noticed the subtle shifts in posture from his realization of the hunt.

"They're probably from Varga the Hutt. I wiped the floor with him at the Sabaac tables last week and Varga is a notoriously sore loser. He's probably trying to win his money back the easy way. Quick follow me,"

Sol picked up the pace, as Jax led him down a trail of twists, passing crowded vendors and other obstacles for the pursuers. This was an opportunity to study him. Jax was still, very much, an enigma. It seemed more, and more likely that he knew of Miralukan traits. Where did he get that knowledge? Was he the sort to resort to violence here? It seemed so.

Sol stepped back a bit, getting full room to maneuver himself without crowding his partner. As the Rodians turned the corner Jax launched himself forward, tripping up the first before being engaged in a brawl by the second. Sol saw the first thug raising his rifle, but was already moving.

These were the kind of people he forced himself to work with: scum. It was also exactly who he was aiming to wipe from existence someday. That, or reform them to following a more benevolent way. This wasn't really the time for a lesson on "The strong serving the weak who serve the strong" ideology though, so wiping from existence would have to suffice.

Sol flipped his cane upwards, ground to sky, catching the rifle on the barrel, and knocking it up. He'd hit it just right to dislodge it from the grip of the hunter, but not knock it away, meaning that as it traveled up, it stayed in place, rotating like the hands on an old analog clock, and rolling back, over the rodian's shoulder. Sol, reaching out, managed to grab it by the foregrip with his left hand before bringing his cane downward with a rush.

Unfortunately, the rodian, anticipating this move, dove forward and tackled Sol to the ground. The Jensaarai trainer saw his opponent reach for a weapon, possibly a vibro-shiv, but that was fine. Despite appearances, Sol had everything in hand. He'd had a fair amount of training with his years with the old master that had trained him. That included swordsmanship, lightsaber training, and even some refinement on push, and pull,... grip type skills with the force. He didn't need any of that for this though. When the rodian tackled him, Sol's cane had been trapped between them, in a lengthwise position. He tweaked it's position a bit, aligning it under what passed for the chin on a rodian face, and used his leg to shove it upwards, driving the hardened handle up and even into the neck.

To add insult, as well as finality, to injury, Sol grabbed the whole head in his arm before wrenching to the side as hard as he could. He heard several loud pops as the neck twisted too far, snapping the vertebrae apart. He "saw" the life begin to fade instantly, watching as his perception of it changed from living thing to merely a thing.

Standing up he dusted himself off, before stooping to retrieve his cane. It looked like Jax had already managed to pump his opponent full of energy charged tibbanna.

Ok. He'd found his pilot alright. Alert, an experienced smuggler, and apparently, dependable in a fight. He would just take a bit more effort to secure, due to certain gambling grudges. Sol asked a question, dropping into a business tone of voice."How wealthy is this Varga. Should we count on thugs being around you ship too?"

[Jax]

Jax chuckled and said, "Well he's wealthy enough to afford throwing money at the sabaac tables and still have me tailed out of cantinas, so I'd say it's safe to assume he'll have a man or two at my ship. These two goons ruined their element of surprise though, so it shouldn't be anything we can't handle," he said picking up his pistol off the ground and returning it to his holster. He stood up and dusted off his pants, and after checking to make sure there weren't more mercenaries following them, he returned to leading them back to his ship.

Along the way, Jax sneaked a glance at his Miralukan companion. Sol had surprised him, for a man trying to portray himself as blind he handled himself well in a fight. And there was a burning desire that filled the air around him, and it seemed to fill Jax with a sense of purpose just by being in proximity to him. He seemed to have an impressive mastery of the Force; he could prove to be even more useful than Jax had originally thought.

They started to near the starport and Jax held out his hand, signalling to Sol that they should start to slow down. He put his hand on his pistol, and slowly rounded the final corner into the docking bay. The New Vertica public docking bay was arranged into five concourse, each with two rows of ten landing pads. Jax's ship was in the ninth landing pad on the left side of the first concourse. The two men walked slowly and cautiously through the throngs of travelers, looking for more of Varga's thugs.

Finally, as they were pulling up on the eighth landing pad, they got a clear view of Jax's DeepWater and they saw that there was no one at the landing pad. Jax breathed a sigh of relief; one street brawl was enough for him today.

As the two men walked up to his freighter, he held out his hand and said proudly, "Sol, this...is the Aria. Best damn ship those Mon Cals ever made, which is saying something I might add. Come on in, I'll give you a quick little tour," and as he said this, he noticed the two Trandoshans sprinting down the docking bay towards their landing pad, guns in tote. Jax let out a whispered curse, and whispered to Sol, "Here come two more of them."

He turned towards his ship and slammed the button that opened the boarding ramp, and turned back towards the new attackers, drawing his pistol. He fired off two shots at them, missing the mark only slightly with both shots. They responded by raising their rifles at the two of them and opening fire. It was clear by the path of the projectiles that they were still outside of their weapons range, as the laser pulses were flying anywhere but at their targets, but Jax and Sol still had to hurry.

The loading ramp extended down to the ground with an exhaled hiss, and Jax quickly stepped up on it and whipped back around firing off two more shots which missed their marks as well. "Hurry, up the ramp! I'll cover you," he shouted at Sol. This was going to have to be one quick take-off.

[Solomon Kurro]

"The Aria... I've never been inside a Deepwater. How does it-"

Jax was right. Two more thugs, and perhaps more scattered around, were approaching, fast. They were too far away to of be much danger though.

"Let's not waste any time then!" Sol dashed up the ramp, and found the door controls, standing by to hit the switch as soon as the smuggler, Jax, was aboard.

Once they were both on, he followed Jax dropping collapsing his cane to a length of eighteen inches, and hanging it from a sling over his shoulder.

He drank in the details, all the little features letting him know that he would struggling not to bug the pilot about every inch of his ship later on. Yes, Sol liked to tweak things. He'd engineered the designs for his cane, himself, a secret weapon hidden within it's handle, but there were bigger things he was working on than clever gadgets...

He wrenched his mind back to the moment before it could wander too far off track. They still needed to get clear of the system.

[Jax]

When Sol had entered the ship Jax fired two last shots at their pursuers just for good luck, and then turned and sprinted up the the loading ramp and into the belly of Aria. Sol shut the door behind him, and Jax led the two of them down the dimly lit main passage from the loading room to the cockpit. The smooth tile of the floors and walls were washed in the blue light of the standby lighting, which Jax found humorous in their current predicament as it gave the whole ship an aura of calmness and serenity, very contradictory to the current mood of her crew. Jogging slightly faster, he pulled up into the cockpit and swung around into the leather seat at the captain's position right next to his protocol droid co-pilot.

The silver plated droid turned its emotion-void face towards him and in a very coldly neutral voice it said, "Welcome back Captain Kel-Droma. Shall I start up the-"

Jax cut it off and shouted, "Yes Sheila, fire up the main engines for the love of the Force," and he started flipping switches and turned on the nav computer. Jax looked back at Sol as though, lost in the routine of starting up the ship, he had forgotten he was there. "Oh, Sol this is Sheila, my co-pilot. Sheila, our new patron Sol."

"My operating name is SI-4326 Captain Kel-Droma," the droid droned on lifelessly as it turned on the main power, the engines humming to life. "I find it hard to fathom that you require repetitive reminders to get it into your thick skull."

"I love you too Sheila, now hit," Jax said with a sarcastic smirk. And he grabbed the throttle and gradually eased the Aria off of the platform and into the night sky. Jax looked at the rear cam display and saw the Trandoshans fire a few last shots of desperation before slowing to a stop. Jax blew out a sigh of relief and pulled back on the throttle, pulling them higher towards the edge of the atmosphere.

"That was a close one," Jax said, not bothering to hide the relief in his voice. "But it's over now. It would take Varga a while to hire someone to follow us into space, and by then we'll be halfway to Taris. Oh, speaking of. Let's just set this nav computer to the Taris system..." he said, tailing off as he began to tinker with the nav computer, setting the cordinates for their destination. "Better strap yourselves in," he said as he finished, and after giving his passengers time to prepare themselves he pulled the hyperspace handle back and the Aria lurched back and then sparked into the faster-than-light travel.

Once the ship had reached the point where it could cruise on autopilot, Jax unstrapped himself and stood up, gesturing for Sol to follow him. He lead Sol back down the main hallway, and into the main crew briefing room. In this large room about 200 square feet big, their was a 3D map of the destination plugged into the nav computer in the center of the room, and off to the side of that about 5 feet away was a 3D display of the ship and a technical readout of all of her systems. On the other side of the room was two leather recliners placed next to a dejarik table, which is where Jax gestured that Sol should sit. The two sat down across from each other, and Jax crossing his hands on the dejarik board said, "Well now that we're not running for our lives, tell me Sol. What business brings you out towards Taris?"

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol found the interaction of the droid and it's master somewhat comical. His mouth turned up in a grim, but bemused grin at it all.

"Pleasure to meet you, Sheila." Sol said quietly. "Interesting vocabulary programming you have there." Did that droid really just say he had a thick skull? Seems he doesn't do routine memory wipes.

Predictably, they pulled away, escaping into the clear, as it would seem. Sol took up an empty seat and took the pilot's advice, strapping himself in as the hyperdrive leapt to life. There was a brief disorienting moment, as he felt the space around him seem to warp and stretch with the speed of their acceleration, but it passed nearly as soon as it began. Once the ship was secure, he and Jax headed back to a good sized room which apparently served as a kind of gathering area. Sol approached the table nearby, and took a seat across from Jax, easing into a comfortable position and tilting his head upwards just a bit, into a relaxed position.

"Towards Taris is correct. We'll be heading there, then doubling backwards a short space, a tiny fraction of the distance we'll have covered by then. We're going to Mandalore.... Generally, people don't like deception from employers, so there will be extra credits to cover that, and your silence on the matter of where we're from. thirty-five hundred upon arrival, another thirty-five hundred upon my departure, for keeping a closed mouth... I'll also be looking for a return trip." Sol paused a moment, trying to decide what to explain. Well, there goes nearly half of what I just earned...

"There have been unconfirmed reports of a mercenary group forming on Mandalore. My employers wish to gather a report on the situation, so they will know how to respond." Sol didn't really mind if Jax questioned him further. He'd made it clear that the profits would be considerably higher for cooperation. And truthfully, he wanted to find out a bit more about the fellow.

[Jax]

OoC: sorry Sol, I know it's been a while since I've posted, I didn't mean to keep you on hold, it's just I've had a lot of real-world drama to take care of this week. But as of now I'll be back on the once-daily posting track.

IC:

Jax took the information in that Sol was saying with a steady face, nodding at the specific details. 7000 credits in total?!?, Jax thought incredulously to himself, raising his eyebrows in shock for a short instant when Sol said he was raising his pay, He must have some really good secrets he needs keeping. And Mandalore, it wasn't exactly first on the list of places Jax wanted to go, but there were whisperings lately from other smugglers about bad things rising out of that place, this could be an interesting opportunity.

"I appreciate your consideration in the rising of your selling price. I like you, I like your spirit so I'll tell you what. I'll do it for 6000. 2500 when we get to Mandalore, and the rest for keeping your secrets. Please tell me though, who are your employers, and why are they interested in the political affairs of Mandalore? Are they Republic officials?"

[Solomon Kurro]

6000, hmm?... Sol focused on Jax, puzzled at why he would lower the price. "If that is your price, then so be it. I'll tell you who my employers are. It will encourage you to keep those secrets even closer hidden. I am currently being employed by the Hutt Empire. They've heard rumors of a group that may be forming on Mandalore, a group big enough to warrant attention from some of the higher up slugs. Naturally, they don't like that idea, so they hired me. I'm going there to covertly gather intelligence. They don't want their names mixed in just yet, so I'm to get there independently... I needn't tell you what happens to those who fail the Hutts. Neither of us would live long." The Jensaari didn't sound particularly worried. Despite what he said, he thought he would live long enough to slip in and "deal" with the top slug, if it ever came to that.

Jax knew of Sol's mission now. He also knew that Sol was one of the eyeless. He knew Sol was a competant fighter, and was versed in types of espionage, but Sol had not yet given away his advanced force training, or the lightsaber concealed inside the handle of his cane. Now, the miraluka wanted some information back from his transporter.

Without any more preamble, Sol stated something, looking for some kind of an explanation. "I can't see you as clearly as I can see others."

[Jax]

Jax nodded, rubbing his fingers down his neck. He had thought he had seen Sol give him a crossways glance for half of an instant when they had first met, and this had been what he suspected would come from it. "Yes that would be because you sense your surroundings with the Force rather than use optical nerves to actually see them, as do all Mirulaka," Jax said cryptically trying to ease into the conversation lightly. "The problem is, things get tricky for your folk when they deal with someone with whom the Force has had, shall we say a difficult past with? It's a long story, one that you shall have in due time. But suffice to say I had a curiosity for knowledge that burned too hot for the Jedi's taste. They likened me to Malak and Revan and said that I was too dangerous to be kept attuned, so they tried to strip me of the Force." Jax sighed and took a quick glance down at himself, and then back at his masked companion, "Almost worked too, except I was so rooted to the Force, so strongly attuned to it, that I kept just a sliver, just an echo's connection to it. I've tried a little meditation here and there but it still leaves me with a faint hint of the strength that was once there. And so to you, I am sometimes here, and sometimes I don't exist." A signal attached to the mapreader started calmly buzzing, indicated that they had entered the Taris system. Jax put his hands on his knees and eased himself out of the chair, "Ah, it appears as though we've reached our first stop. Let me just go plug in the coordinates to the Mandalore system and we'll be on our way."

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol was silent as the man left to go and input the last jump into his ship's navi computer. So the Jedi had tried to cut him off from the force... The names of Revan, and Malak, tickled something in the back of his mind, but he couldn't seem to place it. Things were beginning to fall into place though. The Luka Sene, his own planet's force using group, had once taught him a bit of history about, one of his race, Visas Marr. Little had caught his attention about this tale, he was to busy working on improving his perception skills, but what he did remember now, was that she had encountered some one like this, someone nearly cut off from the force. The story was fuzzy, and the details, non-existant, but it seemed possible that he may have stumbled onto a similar case.

To be cut off from the force...what a terrible thing to do. How arrogant these jedi could be. As if they had the right to judge what kind of knowledge was to dangerous. Either Jax truly had been strong in the force, at least as strong as Sol was himself, if not stronger, or the person doing the work had been incompetant. Regardless, things had been learned in their little chat. He put the thoughts away though. Soon, they would arrive at Mandalore, and he needed to decide how to start when he got there.

[Jax]

Jax finished setting the computer system to navigate back a step to Mandalore and then returned to the map room and to the table with Sol. He could see the shocked look of sympathy hidden a layer below Sol's face, and so he quickly changed the subject. He wasn't quite ready to divulge all the juicy details just yet.

"So, what's your plan once we get to Mandalore? Are we to dock at Keldabe, or should we be more covert about this? Who is it exactly that we're here to gather intel on?"

[Solomon Kurro]

Jax returned, and Sol quickly set about the business of planning. He smiled at the man's usage of "We're". Apparently, he'd taken a bit of an interest in the situation as well, and had decided to help out.

"Keldabe is as good a place to start as any. We'll dock there... if they'll let us." The mandalorians were a war like people. It could prove difficult to blend in, yet they were people who accepted all races into their folds. Most of the galaxy remained ignorant of their culture, but you picked a few things up when you lived in the outer rim.

He felt it would be unwise to hide his true nature from these people; they would likely resent it. Yet, on the other hand, few people could say they had heard of his own people, the miraluka, and he would likely attract attention.

"Decisions, decisions.... We'll start in the space port, Keldabe. There isn't a name of a group that we're going after, but there is a group forming out here. If we can find a contact of theirs, maybe we can convince them to come looking for us. If we can't, then we'll just have to snoop around till we get some tips, and can scout the area from the ground."

[Jax]

"Very well then," Jax said, "Well shall we head back to the cockpit? We've got about another minute or so before we're done with this last hyperspace leg." Jax led the two of them back down the corridor and into the small room where Sheila was waiting for them.

"Captain Kel-Droma, we will reach our destination in precisely...45 seconds."

"Thank you Sheila, strap yourself in buddy," Jax said warning Sol, "Re-entry always feels weird when you're not strapped in." And he strapped himself to his pilot's chair and slowly counted down in his head '4...3...2...and' and then slowly grabbed the hyperspace controls and eased them back up to their starting position and the DeepWater eased out into sublight flight. The blueish tint of the planet Mandalore filled their viewscreen and Jax grabbed the controls and eased them towards the planet. "Welcome, to Mandalore," Jax said with a slight hint of pride.

He searched through the nav computer, looking for reference points towards where Keldabe was located, and found the file he was looking for. He pressed a button on the side of the navcomp's screen and the readout gave him a pitch, roll, and yaw to execute to successfully navigate to the dock of his choosing. Following the computer's instructions, Jax slowly eased them closer to the capital city's docks. They were about almost ready to enter the atmosphere when they received an incoming transmission.

"This is Mandalorian air space. Please submit your ID credentials and state your purpose of your visit," said a rather irritated sounding Mandalorian.

"Submitting ID creds now," Jax said calmly. "Purpose of visit," Jax paused and slowly eyed Sol over thinking on his feet and replied, "We're sightseeing. A little R and R that's all."

"Please wait," said the Mandalorian, and then there was silence. They waited for a response, but none came, and Jax was beginning to get restless. Minutes passed with no response until finally, they got their response.

In the form of three pulses from an Anti-Air turret from the planet's surface. The three shots rocked the side of the ship, catching Jax completely off guard. He yanked the controls and turned them into a steep dive towards the planet's atmosphere, which caused the AA tower to erupt into a steady stream of laserfire. Just catching the beginning of Mandalore's atmosphere, the heat began to rattle against the sides of the ship, visible in slight red waves, and simultaneously the ship was being pelted with red laser pulses, filling the cockpit with a very ominous crimson tint.

Upon entering the atmosphere, the Aria's shields were almost completely ripped through, and as Jax leaned them towards the surface, the city walls of Keldabe, and the turrets on the top of those walls came into view. Searching for a reprieve Jax saw a lake stretched out in front of a forest a few clicks away from the city. Turning to his Mirilukan companion he said, "I'm not sure how much of this you're going to be able to see, but just trust me on this," he said. He then increased their incline, and sped towards the lake. Climbing a little higher for authenticity's sake, he waited for a few more pulses to hit the ship, draining the rest of their shields, and then took them into a steep dive, rapidly approaching the lake.

And then they splashed down, hitting the surface of the lake and falling a few feet below the surface of the water, utterly spooking several local fish. To an observer who didn't realize the DeepWater also doubled as a submarine, it would appear as though the Aria had just been shot down.

"Well that wasn't quite the smooth landing we were looking for, but it would appear we've managed to make contact with your group you were looking for, if instincts serve me well," Jax said, his sarcastic humor shining through. "Come with me. They're going to send out a scouting party to make sure we died in the crash, and we're going to want to run for that forest if we want to take out a Mando'a scouting group just the two of us."

[Jax]

THREAD MOVED TO THE MANDALORE FORUM UNDER NEW TITLE: ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY WALK INTO MANDALORE