Nar Shaddaa

With yet another Huttball victory under his belt Jo'ren returned to the Terror Star with a few things on his mind. There was the mysterious message in the vase, and the mission involving a Sith murdering Nikto and a Jedi. He decided to deal with the latter first.

Dialing in Alysele Cortes's he hit the call and prepared to be lectured at by some dumb do-gooder. He sent her a message first.

"Hey. Is this Alysele? Jo'ren Rath here. We need to talk."

A blue female appeared on the call, holding her own communicator. She was in dressed in robes rather fancier than usual, and her left arm was in a sling.

""Yes, this is Jedi Knight Alysele Cortess? And you are?" She asked in a crisp Alderaanian accent. He looks like a blue sith... but everything looks blue on holo.

Perhaps one day technology would advance to a point beyond blue holograms, but that would be many millennia away.

"Right you are. Like I said: I'm Jo'ren Rath. Lana Beniko send her regards, I'm assisting with her investigation and she suggested that I call you. Something about the Kintan Sunrise? I figure we may as well team up."

Unknown to Jo'ren, Republic R&D was busy working on a new breakthrough... GREY holograms!

May as well team up?[ What is this? Grav ball?/i] A part of her wanted to go on a tirade against his casual attitude... but she managed to calm herself down. [i]Master Shan told me that I can help with the peace talks if I talk to the Sith. Besides, I am meeting Ni, soon, no need to ruin my mood.

"Did Aspirant Benko send any new information besides the Sunset? I am planning on checking it out tomorrow, probably morning." She eyed the hologram which seemed to be abnormally big. Might be a bug though. "Would you care to join me?"

"That's the information she gave me, if anything newer comes up I'll let you know. Sure, tomorrow morning works. Sounds good."

He watched her Holo half expecting some trite lecture about the Jedi code. She seemed cute, but not in the way Thy was. "Mid morning then?"

"Mid or late, I need to confirm with another party." She seemed a bit stern, though not too bad.

"Did aspirant Benko say anything else that might be of import? Of the cult perhaps?"

"Alien cultists that hunt force users. Nikto. Not much more than that. Something about one of them almost killing you?"

He shrugged. Intel gathering was not his specialty, but if Beniko dug up more then she'd tell him.

"He got in a few lucky hits." Alysele bristled slightly. "He outweighs me about two to one, so those hurt." Looking closer, it could be seen that her left arm was in a sling. "Considering you know more about meme than I do of you, perhaps you could elaborate on your skills and specialtes?"

He supposed it was the accent that made her sound like a haughty brat. Remembering Lana's words he smiled.

"Shit happens. Even the best of us get taught a few lessons from time to time. And yes, I do know a bit about you-you."

He folded his arms behind his head, relaxed.

"I'm trained in Shii-cho and mostly physical skills. I'm a warrior."

You-you? What is he a jawa?

"True. Next time I'm going to be lecturing." Her voice was full of conviction... and arrogance.

"Shii-Cho is a nice style." If perhaps a bit dated. "I studied Makashi."You are on the moon for the peace talk?" She dovetailed into a different topic.

(OOC: He was teasing you for saying "meme" )

"Hah, that's the spirit." He could sense the arrogance, and knew where that would lead her. "Makashi huh, great for one-on-one. Do we know if this is just one guy or is there a group of them here?"

He nodded as she changed the topic. "Yeah, the peace talks. Plenty going on. Have you been to Nar Shaddaa before?"

"Benko didn't brief you much, then?" Wow, it is true what they about sith and cooperation.

"It is a cult. I only faced one opponent, but now that they know we're on the hunt, I wouldn't be surprised to see more of them." She bit back a final Azranak is mine. She can say that to his face.

"No, my first time here. Working security with the delegation. You been here before?"

Jo'ren shrugged, it was an amusing way of testing her knowledge. Although, Beniko hadn't told him that much about what the Jedi supposedly knew.

"When was your fight? I guess there could be more of these assassins around here, but there would have been more bodies by now. Still, assuming they're based on the Nikto homeworld it's probably enough time for some reinforcements to have arrived."

He shook his head in response to the question. "Nope. My first time too. We're both Nar Shaddaa newbies."

He's awfully confidant. Should I be worried? Nah, Sith tend to be overconfident.

"Yesterday evening. I don't know more about other victims, the Sith duelist and an attempted murder on me. Perhaps the aspirant knows more, or the Panthoran."

She flashed a brief, bitter smile. "Well, it's certainly a new experience for me. you been in any place similar like this?"

Jo'ren considered this and shrugged. "I'm sure we can handle a lone killer anyway. I wonder if you were another target or just in the wrong place? Either way you've got the guys attention now.

As for this place, no, not really. I've been to densely populated worlds before but nothing quite this dank. Plenty going on though."

"Benko offeremd my name as a victim to the killer through a third party." Her voice was deadpan as she said it. "I assumed it would be in my file you guys keep on me?"

Wow, this guy was not on top of the game. If nothing else, he's a big meat shield.

"Core worlds in my case and some... less populated areas. Plenty to do, yeah I can agree with that." Her arm was itching, but it was a damn pain to scratch in the sling. She ignored it for now.

"The Hutt's certainly have a unique sense of style, that much is certain."

"Hey, assume away Princess. Style ain't the word I'd use for the Hutts, but unique? Yeah. Have you played any Huttball yet? That's the one thing they do well around here."

Playing to her arrogance certainly seemed to be working. Maybe all Alderaanian's were like this though?

"I prefer the remote places myself."

"Well, can't say I have a deep and abiding love for them. Jungles are a pain to navigate." Especially in heels.

"Nothing is like the Hutts, quite correct. Your first dealing with them too, I assume?"

"Heh, I've become a fan of jungles. Never know what's going to leap out at you. Yeah. I've managed to avoid being caught up in Hutt business until now."

"Well, in case we need to go jungle diving, I'm going to give you the lead." She replied with dry humor.

"So, Huttball? Haven't played it yet." She returned to an earlier tangent.

"You got it Princess." He winked at her in amusement.

"Huttball is a lot of fun. Violent, fast paced. I'm playing for the Valkyries at the moment. Three wins, no losses."

"Princess?!" She bristled, before forcing herself to settle down. Galaxy Commando is coming up. You need to calm down. "That makes you the jester or the knight?"

Valkyires... "I think I know some of the players there."

"Whichever." He didn't seem bothered by her response.

"Oh right, you probably know Niall. Good player."

Aaaaargh!

"Fine jester. Niall is a good person." She hid her fondness for himas best as she could. "And driven. I hear good things are happening to the team?"

"Yeah, we're going from strength to strength. Niall has a good eye for plays. That crazy doctor too. My buddy Rem is the Captain. You should come and watch us play sometime."