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Arrival on Bespin
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| Caiya | Date: Thursday, 30 Jul 2015, 9:39 PM | Message # 1 |
 Trainee
Group: Users
Messages: 4
Status: Offline
| Caiya sucked in a deep breath of air as she walked past the security checkpoint on Bespin and quickly disappeared into the crowd of people moving through the indoor passages. She blended in quite well with the spacer crowd that she seemed to have merged into, despite having the hood of her traveling cloak pulled up hiding some of her green skin and facial tattoos from sight. The trip here had left her muscles sore and her body tired. The small shuttle had not contained much in the way of living space and the two dozen passengers had been corralled into a relatively small space.
But, she had made it. Made it from the midrim worlds. Made it away from the Empire. All in all a few sore muscles were a welcome reprieve if she didn't have to see the soldiers in white for some time. Now she had a chance to make her own way in the galaxy, and perhaps work on continuing her training in both medicine and in discovering more about this mysterious 'Force'.
After wandering aimlessly for what seemed like an hour she found herself entering one of the local cantinas and settled into a booth paying for a drink quietly before taking time to glance around nervously. It might be a suspicious habit but after spending the last few months on the run from the Empire, being jumpy was just a good safety precaution and one she couldn't let up on even if she had seemingly escaped from Imperial territory.
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| Jace_Varitek | Date: Friday, 31 Jul 2015, 5:15 AM | Message # 2 |
 Commander
Group: Administrators
Messages: 180
Status: Offline
| If Caiya was looking for a place to disappear, Bespin was a good choice. Jace Varitek had found himself there, in Cloud City's less glamorous "Port Town," for much the same reason. Tibanna gas mining was a lonely business that took you to some of the remotest places in the galaxy—a perfect occupation for a former Jedi. But remote though Bespin was, damned if it wasn't beautiful. Whenever he found himself on the planet, as he frequently did, he made a point of visiting the "city in the clouds," and this cantina in particular; the aptly-named Cantina in the Clouds had one of the best views, second only to the decadent restaurants on the higher tiers of the city.
Varitek, in his grease-stained spacer's clothing and the smell of tibanna gas about him, wouldn't be welcome up there. But he and the other "undesirables" in Port Town were mostly free from harassment here, save perhaps from the occasional Ugnaught trying to relieve you of your wallet, or a hard-drinking and free-shooting Shistavenan who accuses you of cheating at sabaacc, or any of the notoriously corrupt Bespin Wing Guards on the prowl for bribes—typical hazards in a place like this.
When Caiya entered, Varitek would be seated at the bar, his elbows resting on the counter as he looked pensively out the window, lost in thought. He often reflected on the choices he'd made in life that had brought him here. He knew that he long ago could have simply mind-tricked his way to a more comfortable life, but he didn't need his Jedi training to know right from wrong. And so he'd worked for his living, doing many jobs over the years that never seemed to end well. Varitek liked what he did now (the crew of the Sunrise were good people), but how long would it last? Sooner or later, he knew, some circumstance or other would require him to use the Force and reveal himself for what he was.
What he didn't know was that circumstance might have been developing in the Cantina in the Clouds at that very moment.
Jace Varitek
Former Jedi Padawan
Pilot of the gas tanker Taloraan Sunrise
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| Caiya | Date: Friday, 31 Jul 2015, 3:05 PM | Message # 3 |
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Trainee
Group: Users
Messages: 4
Status: Offline
| Sitting alone in her booth, Caiya found herself staring out at the clouds drifting out the viewport as the drink she ordered was sat on the table in front of her, cool drops of condensation forming on the outside of the glass as minuted seemed to slip by. She was lost in thought, too focused on what she needed to do next. Most people ignored the lone Mirialan sitting off in a booth by herself, just another alien alone in the outer rim. Nothing to see here. When she had heard about Bespin, it had been the isolation and the ease at which she could lose herself here that had appealed to her. But now that she was here, watching the clouds drift by, she wondered to some extent if she had chosen the right path.
Her reverie was not to last however as someone knocked a hand on her table causing her to jump back surprised and looked up at the man standing at the end of her table. He had an athletic build and his yellow lekku dropped down in front of his shoulders. He was dressed in a dark blue uniform trimmed with red and gold with a blaster attached to his waist and he leaned down on the table staring at the lone woman. "Well what have we here?" He asked looking down at Caiya. "Perhaps the lady needs some company this afternoon?"
Caiya straightened up in her seat eyeing the twi'lek who had approached her. "That will not be necessary." She replied politely. "I am simply getting a drink before moving on. I doubt I would be very good company to you."
"Nonsense!" The twi'lek said inviting himself to slide into the booth opposite her. "Now why don't you tell me your name to start off with?"
Caiya sighed and felt her mind touch the force as she lowered her hands to her lap. "You really should move along." She said her finger doing a motion under the table. For the briefest of seconds she thought she might have actually succeeded as the man looked a little confused but immediately continued as if nothing had happened.
"Move along? Don't be so harsh sweetheart, we have only just met."
"You should really move along." Caiya tried again hoping the suggestion would take root this time but the man continued to persist. Caiya shifted in her seat unsure if she should try again or not. The attempt at a more blatant force power might draw even more unwanted attention to her. As she thought about what to do she noticed the glass in front of her begin to shake and quickly placed a hand on it nervously.
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| Jace_Varitek | Date: Saturday, 01 Aug 2015, 0:29 AM | Message # 4 |
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Commander
Group: Administrators
Messages: 180
Status: Offline
| Master Windu had been fond of the idea of "shatterpoints," which, as far as Varitek had been able to understand, referred to a moment in time in which the choices one made could change the future in profound ways. As he often did, Varitek had felt that this was a fairly simple concept which the Jedi had given a fancy name and made unnecessarily complicated in order to preserve their monopoly on wisdom. In either case, were Master Windu here, he may have perceived such a "shatterpoint" at this moment, but Varitek had no such ability. (Nor had any such ability ever been demonstrated to his satisfaction—one of Varitek's many points of contention with the Jedi Order.)
But he knew a thing or two about the Bespin Wing Guard; namely, that they were on their best behavior in the wealthy upper levels of Cloud City, but that here in Port Town they were frequently corrupt and only somewhat less frequently (but far more dangerously) power-hungry thugs. Most of them would accept a bribe with a tip of the cap and send you on your way, but some woke up in the morning determined to put their stun baton to good use. Which of these best described the Twi'lek officer who'd made the Mirialan in the corner the target of his unwelcome affections, remained to be seen. Varitek felt bad for her, but he hadn't planned to intervene...
Until he'd sensed it.
It was a faint manipulation of the Force, like one sticking a finger tentatively into a body of water and sending the smallest of ripples out in all directions. But he was certain he'd sensed it—as certain as a Thranta could quickly be seen through the clouds during a tibanna gas run, and just as quickly disappear. He looked instinctively at the Mirialan and her unwelcome visitor once again, listening in more closely this time. He didn't bother to hide the look of astonishment on his face. "You really should move along," the girl was repeating herself, her words echoing weakly through the Force. Could this possibly be a coincidence? A mere chance encounter? Was it a trap? Or was it somehow 'the will of the Force' that he'd been taught about (but never seen in evidence)? He had to find out.
He stood, closed his eyes, breathed in deeply and summoned the Force, as he so rarely did. He then walked with purpose directly to the Mirialan's table, placed both hands upon it as he leaned in to get the Twi'lek's attention, and said; "You need to go. You're going to be late." As surely as the words reached his ears, so too would the Force reach into his mind—classic Force Persuasion, more commonly known as a 'Jedi mind trick,' executed correctly this time.
Jace Varitek
Former Jedi Padawan
Pilot of the gas tanker Taloraan Sunrise
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| Caiya | Date: Saturday, 01 Aug 2015, 3:29 AM | Message # 5 |
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Trainee
Group: Users
Messages: 4
Status: Offline
| Caiya shifted nervously in her seat, frustrated that she had failed to execute one of the abilities the holocron had mentioned, the ability to manipulate others. Her frustration must have been apparent because the Twi'lek leaned on the table towards her. "Now now. You should really give me a chance." He said. Caiya was about to respond when she paused and her gaze shifted towards the human male moving towards their table. She kept her eyes locked on him as he pressed his hands down on the table and spoke with the force filling his words to the Twi'lek.
Almost immediately afterward the Twi'lek man rose from his seat. "I need to go. I'm going to be late." He echoed, a tone she had never heard before entering his voice, and quickly strolled away towards the exit of the Cantina.
Caiya froze in her position, her demeanor betrayed that she was weighing the odds of possibly getting past the person who had just saved her from the harassment of whatever passed as local law enforcement out here on this planet. "Uh, thank you." She managed to say mentally estimating the distance between herself, the end of her booth chair, and the person leaning on the table as well as guessing at how fast his reflexes might just be. "You must be quite the person around here if they run away like that if you just tell them to."
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| Jace_Varitek | Date: Sunday, 02 Aug 2015, 1:57 AM | Message # 6 |
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Commander
Group: Administrators
Messages: 180
Status: Offline
| Varitek watched the Twi'lek go, then regarded the Mirialan for a long moment. He could sense her apprehension. So it wasn't a trap, then. Or if it was, it was more clever than he'd expect from the Empire. So who was she then, if not one of the Empire's fabled 'Inquisitors'? Was she a Jedi? No, he thought—she was far too young, and didn't seem to have the clear-minded control of her emotions that was among the first things taught to Jedi younglings. Indeed, he could sense anxiety from her more strongly than he could smell the drink on the table in front of him, and the drinks here weren't exactly weak, either.
And neither, perhaps, was the Mirialan as weak as she'd seemed. From the quavering drink on the table a moment ago, and the feeling of the Force gathering about her, Varitek suspected that she had far more power than she knew how to control. That made her dangerous. Not as dangerous as an Inquisitor, surely, but dangerous nonetheless.
Varitek took a step back from the table to appear less threatening. "I'm nobody," he shrugged. "But if I were you, I wouldn't hang around here. Your Twi'lek friend is confused, shall we say. But he won't be for long—sooner than later, he's going to notice that he doesn't know where he's going, and probably come back here for a drink. I know I would." He bowed to her in mock courtesy, then turned his back to her and made his way back to his drink, fully intending to finish it quickly and then leave.
She might not have believed it, but Caiya would know what she'd just seen. It hadn't merely been Varitek's words that had stupefied the Twi'lek and sent him away. Beneath the words had been something else, a familiar feeling that perhaps she'd felt in her private explorations of the Force. There was no question that the stranger had used a Jedi mind trick, indeed the self-same trick she'd been attempting to use herself. He had done it, and that made him one of several things, most of them threatening to her. But he hardly seemed threatening, did he? Caiya would not sense the slightest bit of malice from him.
Varitek had as many questions about her as she probably did about him, but this wasn't the place to talk. And if indeed this encounter was somehow 'the will of the Force,' then one way or another, it wouldn't be over yet.
He set his empty glass on the bar and sighed. "Put it on my tab?" he told the bartender as he pulled the hood of his grease-stained jacket over his head and turned to leave.
"Sure thing, Jace."
Jace Varitek
Former Jedi Padawan
Pilot of the gas tanker Taloraan Sunrise
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| Jace_Varitek | Date: Friday, 21 Aug 2015, 8:07 PM | Message # 7 |
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Commander
Group: Administrators
Messages: 180
Status: Offline
| (Just a note here for future reference, since this thread seems to have ended before it got too far along, I've decided to make some changes to the Varitek character and his personality, but I'll keep these posts up here as sort of a "non-canon" Varitek appearance. That is, this event did happen, but some of Varitek's internal thoughts and his behavior would probably be different now than how I've portrayed him here.)
Jace Varitek
Former Jedi Padawan
Pilot of the gas tanker Taloraan Sunrise
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