Nefarious on Naboo

The Jedi Council would not allow her to return from her diplomatic mission on Naboo. A part of her knew they wouldn’t the moment she placed the call to them on discovering Black Sun had infiltrated the planet. They understood she was nervous being a new Master and being off world with the first time with her padawan but they refused to let become a factor in fulfilling her duties. She was a full trained Jedi Knight, skilled and duty bound. Her former Master had softened the blow by asking an old friend who was in the sector to come provide some backup but until then Senna would have to cope the best she could alone.

Senna knew she had a softer heart then most Jedi, she had hoped to protect Tinki as long as she could from the darkness which infected the galaxy and caused men’s hearts to turn into destruction and greed. She wanted to keep his innocence in tact as long as she could and it was a selfish desire, his sweetness and incorruptibility was one of things which Senna loved about Tinki the most. He’d sympathised, like she had, over the boy who tried to take their lives. She’d been able to convince the authorities to provide protective custody for the rest of his family in return for his cooperation in taking down the Black Sun on Naboo.

The Black Sun obviously knew a Jedi was the negotiator but being a Twi’lek she had a unique ability to disguise herself, wearing camouflage in plain sight and no one raised a brow over it. She dressed in silk veils and cheerful ornaments, all the things she remembered her mother wearing as she danced in the cantina of her childhood. Sometimes she took Tinki with her on these fact finding missions, the exposure would happen eventually and best it did with her in complete control of the situation. Other times she left him behind when she felt the danger too great, instructing him to write short essays for her on a particular Jedi Masters teachings or the like. She knew you learned better actually being out and interacting with the Force but Senna knew her young padawan would be lost without a task to complete knowing she was out in a potentially dangerous situation.

Today had been a particularly good day in her fact finding mission, it had been a week since the attempt on her life and they’d been moved to a different part of the city – the negotiations continued via holo viewer though the attempt on her life had greatly soured the situation. She smiled to Tinki as she came into the room, a fragrant swirl of purple silk and sat on the stool and began carefully removing the makeup from her already lovely face. “The Black Sun haven’t fully set up their operations here yet, according to my sources it is one low level gangster. If we play our cards right we might be able to remove them entirely from the planet.” Her eyes shone with cheerful hope. “And how did your studies go today, what have you learned about shatter points?”

The golden eyes of the Jawa shone when Senna returned. Despite that fact that she was his Master, and he had complete faith in her abilities, he felt relieved whenever he saw her returned. She could deal with all the gangsters on the planet, he knew, but that didn't stop him from worrying.

What worried him more was her research assignment for him. The ability to detect shatter points was rare in the Jedi order, the only two known members currently able to were Senna herself and one other, a Jedi Knight named Dellig. There was very little information to be found anywhere apart from the archives on Coruscant, and he was far from those. He had toyed for an instant with the idea of making something up, but scrapped the idea almost immediately. It was wrong. And besides, Master Senna would know.

"Shatter points, yes yes. Very little. Hard to find, yes yes? Perhaps Tinki would be more use to Master Senna investigating as well?" His little voice held hope at this. It was unlikely Senna would be including him. He was young. But he was a fully trained Jedi padawan, capable of taking care of himself. Why couldn't he help her, really?

Senna smile gently. It had been a hard assignment that she'd set Tinki, so she wasn't surprised in the least when he admitted to having little luck unearthing any informtion on her unique ability. She herself had to track down the only other jedi known to have it to be able to find any answers and what an adventure that had all turned out to be. If she was really honest with herself, she wasn't expecting Tinki to have made any headway, rather she was trying to distract him from wanting to reach further and join her during her mission. What if something went wrong? She could protect herself but he might get hurt. In her eyes he as still the same youngling who tugged at her robes, who liked to be hugged, who'd she always sworn to protect.

As if he could read her mind, Tinki asked his Master a very reasonable quesiton that any padawan would. She could sense his hesitancy but the underlying edge of excitment, was he trying to tell her in his own way, he was ready to test his wings and learn to fly? She gazed at him in silence for a long moment, was she holding him back? Did she have a right to keep him sheltered under her cloak and deny him the experiences her Master showed her at this age? What was it that made her heart skip a beat as he looked at her hopefully...

"One day, I should commit my own learnings to holocron..." She avoided his question for a moment, not prepared with an answer just yet. A part of her wished there were other Jedi's here for her to turn to for guidance, to let her know her nerves were natural and remind her of the Code. She chuckled wistfully, momentarily distracting herself with other things, imagining Kor and the curl of smoke that always lingered around him, "... I cannot imagine the other Master would be so... proactive for future generations..."

She stood from the sofa, the glittering dancer chains jingling merrily as she moved to the window to peer into the growing evening. At first she thought it was a trick of her own memory but she could have sworn she smelt the fainter whiff of deathstick smoke on the breeze...

If the scent of the death stick smoke had been the first sign of his arrival, the sound of his voice was definitely the second. Strong, confident and sure as always, with that slight touch of an odd accent that always made it hard to work out which core world he was actually from. The third and final sign of his arrival was his presence. Death stick in his mouth, red ember bobbing as he spoke. Garbed in the robes of the order as he should be with armour underneath, a reminder to the harsh circumstances of life that lead him into the orders embrace in the first place. This was not the armour of a soldier he wore, however, but a suit of Jedi armour, probably dating back to the old Jedi wars, carefully altered to fit and then maintained through a studious regime of care. His lightsabers hung at his hips, with some kind of blaster rifle slung over his shoulder. It is perhaps the military look that makes him seem so out of place next to his companion, the female form far smaller than his own frame, dressed far more humbly, as a Jedi should be.

He looks up slowly, and his eyes meet Senna's. The death stick almost falls as his face breaks into a massive grin, and he rushes across the room to lift her up in a large embrace. Always stepping out of what is appropriate for a Jedi, he swings Senna around slowly and then lets her down. "I knew I sensed something familiar in the Force," he said with a grin. "It is so good to see you. Been keeping up with the tricks I tried to teach you?"

He turns back to his companion, and gestures towards her to come closer. "Alyea, if you ever worry that my ways will drive you to insanity, here is proof I can instruct someone and they don't turn out too bad. This is Senna, Jedi Knight, and while she was never my padawan, she spent several months under my tutelage. Senna, this is Alyea, the one poor person crazy enough to ask to be my padawan."

The Jawa had blended into the shadows almost instinctively as the stranger entered the room. He had not approached with the mild manners of the Naboo, nor with the silent strides of the child assassin that had tried to come for them so recently. There was a strange exuberance to this man, and the Jawa found that startling. He lingered in the shadows, barely hearing the words the man spoke. It took him a moment to realise both the man and his smaller companion wore the robes of the order, with lightsabers in clear sight. Who was this bizarre warrior Jedi? Perhaps more importantly, what was he wearing?

As the two were engrossed in the introductions to Senna, he crept out from the shadows, silent as only a Jawa can be, eyes roaming over the man. The armour and gun were maintained well, the mark of a soldier who knew his life would rely on them. The lightsabers were well crafted, the mark of a Jedi who was capable with the Force. This man was a wealth of juxtapositions. He turned his gaze towards the girl, the little gemstones in his goggles flashing faintly in the light. Was she looking at him? He could not tell. Her head was facing him, but he could not see her eyes. He crept forward a little more, reaching one hand out slowly. "Tinki, yes yes?"

The tension eased from Senna’s shoulder the moment her eyes had met his and she felt his strong embrace. Kor was never one to stand on formality but that did not bother Senna as it might have when they first met. They had been through much together in her younger years, he’d help craft her into the Kedi she was today and his presence now was familiar and soothing. The dancer’s chains jingled merrily once more as she laughed and returned the embrace with equal warmth and exuberance. “Kor Dellig! You have a padawan? She must be remarkable indeed.”

She glanced sideways towards the young woman, inclining her head faintly in greeting and then arched a playful brow at Kor once more, as her feet kissed the ground once more and she chuckled lightly under her breath, “You are both a most welcome. I am afraid, my old friend I am slightly out of my depth here. Whilst I am capable, I welcome the chance to once again learn from your… unique approaches.”

She smiled gently, as she spoke she had unconsciously plucked the death stick out of his mouth and with the flick of her wrist it was gone, concealed under her sleeve. Her hand dropped to settle on her Padawans’ shoulder. Tinki wouldn’t have been used to seeing an outburst quite like that from her and she hoped it didn’t tarnish his opinion of her as a suitably learned Master. She voice has returned to its usual soft composure as she smiled gently, “Allow me to introduce you to my padawan, this is Tinki.”

Alyea had been watching the events unfold from under her long bangs. It was clear she and Kor knew one another and their exuberance made her feel a little out of place. She had been nervous leaving the familiar confines of the temple but Kor told her he had a mission and she had to follow, after all, she’d been the one to ask for his protection. She watched the twi’lek with mild fascination, she was not dressed as a Jedi Knight. Instead, she was adored in purples silks and gold chains, Alyea had no idea if this was normal for her but a part of her envied the way she stood out both in confidence and beauty. She quickly checked her emotions and lowered her eyes once more, ever the silent presence at Kor’s back, flinching faintly as Senna described her as remarkable.

Suddenly a little hand came into the field of view and a voice as equally soft spoke into her thoughts. In surprise she gently brushed the hair from her eyes, tucking it behind her ear now she was being directly spoken too. She looked down the little jawa and the force smile naturally adorned her lips. It was the same smile she’d been wearing since Kytan died and Kor came along. Only in private with him did she allow it to fade and on the rare occasion be replaced by a real one. She gently took his hand in greeting, intrigued by the way his eyes sparkled behind the goggles, she wondered if that’s the way the duel suns looked as they rose on Tattooine.

“Hello Tinki, I am Alyea. It is nice to meet you.”

The first time he had laid his eyes upon Senna, Kor had been keenly aware of three things. The first was that she was a beautiful young woman. The second, that she would one day become a powerful and wise Jedi Master. The third was that no matter how she grew or changed, she would always be a thorn in his side for one particular aspect. His lips twitched faintly as she plucked the death stick from them, but he did not react. Not yet. It had been almost a game for the two of them years ago. Her hands were faster now, her movements increasingly deft, but she was not quite ready to take the lead in it. Not yet.

"Out of your depth? I find that hard to believe." From the moment they had first spoken, she had shown that the confidence required to get what she needed was nestled under her modesty. He could also tell that she had the skills required to back that confidence up. He knew the perfect facade of Naboo hid some shadowy pools, but he doubted there was anything here that could cause Senna much trouble. Her problem would be unfamiliarity with the situation, and he was sure he could remedy that. "Let's go for a walk, discuss what's going on," he said with a warm voice. "It'll give the young ones time to get to know each other." As he started to back out of the room, a grin plays over his lips. "And it'll give you a chance to get this back." Her lightsaber spun between his fingers, having lifted it from her as he hugged her, knowing she would take his death stick. "Maybe we can trade?"

For the tiny little rodent, this memory would be forever etched in his mind, like the memories of Senna when he was young, or the day he became her padawan. The younger woman did not have Senna's stunning skin tones or graceful curves. Her beauty was far more subtle, but still very present. The simple gestures of brushing her soft hair back, the smile that graced her lips but did not touch her deep, soul-filled eyes. And despite the fact that her voice was slightly rough from lack of use, the lyrical tones caused the Jawa's tiny heart to skip a beat. His eyes widened and his jaw slackened, if only for a moment.

With several quick blinks and a shake of his head, he tried to focus. "Alyea, yes yes? Nice to meet." He nodded his head quickly, the brim of his broad hat flapping like wings until he reached up with little paws to still it. His little droid beeped and whistled at him, informing him that he was making himself look like a fool, and he chattered back at it in Jawaese, telling it to be quiet. It was making no sense. Why would he need to be making a good impression with the other padawan anyway, besides the fact they were both members of the Jedi order?

So distracted was he with the newcomer that he did not even notice that Kor had lifted Senna's lightsaber, something he would not have allowed under normal circumstances. Instead, he shifted slightly from foot to foot, trying to think of something to say to the other padawan.

As with the council, Kor wasn’t going to let Senna believe she was any less capable of completing this mission. She smiled softly and nodded as he suggested the stroll, perhaps a walk to clear her mind and take in his council was just what she needed right now. She offered the two padawans another gentle smile, inclining her head to Tinki in unspoken advice for him to keep indoors and remain mindful that thy were still not welcome here.

She turned her calm gaze back on Kor and it faltered slightly when she noticed her lightsabre twirling between his fingers, unconsciously she touched her belt where it normally hung and a faint grin skimmed across her features as she advanced after him. “Kor Dellig…” she begun calmly enough and then as the door closed with a quiet whoosh behind them, safely hiding her nature form her padawan, spiked faintly in mild scolding, “…you know these things are going to be the death of you.” She gently reclaimed the hilt from his grasp but in return placed the deathstick, she smiled playful once more as she continued to lightly scold all the way into the turbo lift. “..How you’re padawan stands it I don’t know…”

….

The conversation had shifted somewhat by the time they reached the ground floor and began to move into the twilight streets of the city, her voice was hushed as her eyes continued to scan her surroundings for any suspicious characters. “This was meant to be a simple diplomatic mission, I don’t mind them. I like helping people get along, enable them to talk and sort out their differences for mutual benefit. This… business now, I am not able the right Jedi to deal with it.”

“As it stands, the Naboo delegate finds the thought offensive and somehow a slight on the current Queens abilities. The Gungan simply don’t care – they work independently and think they are untouchable by corruption in their cities. The attempt on Tinki and I are considered unrelated off world problems, I have been searching for more proof but to be honest…. I don’t know where to start.”

She paused and turned to Kor, the setting sun caused her skin to positively glow. She had a sincerity in her eyes, her voice was coloured with the vaguest hint of concern, perhaps she wasn’t ready to be Knighted yet. Senna has always been modest about her capabilities. She was quiet, humble of her capabilities – she was not the great fighter, she was not charismatic or strong enough to be followed blindly but she was content with that. She was glad her master had asked Kor to join her, perhaps he could make more headway then she ever could.

Alyea quietly turned her eyes to meet Kor’s. He was leaving her alone, on a planet she was wholly unfamiliar and with another padawan who fell into the same category? Her eyes widened faintly, silently asking him not to do this. She wasn’t good at conversation, especially since she’d kept to her rooms for so long in the temple to hide from the whispers and sympathetic looks. She knew her plea would fall on deaf ears though he was encouraging her to be more sociable again, wasn’t he? She took a gentle breath, nodded faintly and turned her gaze once more down to Tinki, she was not like other Jedi who had wide social networks but she would try for him.

As soon as her eyes fall onto the other pawadan she noticed his hat flapping in his enthusiastic welcome and unconsciously the corners of her lips turned up faintly in a rare, real smile. He was small but seemed incredibly sweet as he bounced from one foot to the other. Alyea spoke binary so as the droid beeped, information its master he was perhaps looking a little foolish and Alyea ducked her head once more to suppress a faint laugh. It wasn’t entirely wrong but it was rare to find his race amongst the order, perhaps he was shy or unused to company like herself.

She found herself beginning to warm to him as he chatted away to the droid in a tongue she did not understand. Perhaps an evening conversing with him would not be so bad, at least he didn’t seem to know about Kytan, maybe it’d be nice to be treated as a person instead of an event for a while.

“I like your droid,” she spoke quietly once more as the door to the room closed, she had an interest in technology and was taking pride in the slow, methodical construction of her first lightsaber, “.. I don’t recognise the model. Did you make him yourself?

Kor had been more silent than usual as they walked and talked, letting Senna bring him up to speed on the situation. He could sense the hesitation and nervousness, but he did not think there was outright fear. Was he helping, being here? Or was he a crutch for her to lean on and hide from learning?

The embers of his death stick had long since faded, and out of respect to her, he did not light another. He leant against the railing, looking out over the city, watching the shadows lengthen as the sun set. "I need some advice," he said faintly. "Coruscant. I've known something was wrong there for a long time, but it's taken me time to find it. I think it's related to the Hutt cartels, but I can't be sure. What do I do? Where do I find the evidence I need?"

It was a trick, of course. Similar situations, their roles reversed. Would she see the trick for what it was, or would she offer advice to help? Knowing Senna, Kor was pretty sure she would provide advice, and in the end, that advice would guide her to doing what was right here as well. He did not doubt her capability to ferret out what was wrong here. In time she would come to realise that she could see Shatterpoints in more than physical things. The Force would show her the weak points in their chains and their smoke screens.

Tinki had not led a particularly long life, and much of it he remembered well. The desert sands of his homeworld between his toes. The way to wrap the Jawa robes to stave off the worst of the desert heat. The growing warmth of twin suns cresting the horizon in a glorious dual sunrise. The sound of Senna's voice, gentle and soothing, suggesting she be his Master.

Now, Tinki had another glorious memory to add to those he treasured so. Kind and generous Alyea, his new friend, marvelling at the droid he had created. He shifted from foot to foot once more, chittering away excitedly about the various spare parts and technically discarded or broken parts he had created the droid out of. The body was a ruined training probe, the small spherical drones that fired little stun lasers at those just learning to use their lightsabers. The power core was modified from an astromech droid, and several of the useful apendages were included as well.

It was several minutes before Tinki realised he was rambling on and not giving her a moment to speak. His chattering came to a halt mid sentence, and his large eyes blinked several times, causing the amber lights of his goggles seem to dance and flicker under his hat. "But... but what does Alyea like, yes yes?"