Spies and Strangers

Taanab was a quiet storm of a world for Constanta, its tranquil beauty and utilitarian sort of culture bringing her nearly to a homey presence among the agricultural plains and renegade meadows. The infinite views from a solitary hilltop were quite extraordinary at sunset. The breathtaking nature of it must be something akin to how it feels to be a child. Or how did it feel to be a child? She had forgotten, or been rid of it at the hand of those who ruled this world now.

That was the catch to it all: This beauty had been contaminated by the likes of the six-spoked insignia of the Imperial leeches. Yesterday the skies had been gray like the uniform of Taanab's current overlords, incubating a bubble of rage that had burst upon Constanta's visage in the moment she had held the man who had betrayed her family by the teeth. The overcast sky had served to cover her evening motions well, at least, and the midnight rains had likely made away with her tracks and cleansed the wounds that had ultimately released the man and his wife from their miserable existence. She had done well.

The red-haired woman was now finally within the compound of the spaceport, the grim, flowing garments of her black cloak folded inside her suitcase along with an unmatched pair of eyes floating in cases filled with a gel. The dulled cyan and beige of her pedestrian skirt rustled against the socks pulled over her knees, and the sheer blouse left little to imagination. Her bangs were brushed over her right eye in a fashionably convenient manner. She fit right in with the dreamy Taanab girls who thought themselves something to make it big offworld on the holograms. At best, most would end up as catalog models. The rest ended up returning home broke and rather disappointed--if they were fortunate.

It wasn't a very crowded spaceport, and was smaller by comparison to the ones servicing more populated and industrialized worlds, but it had an architectural charm to it that spoke of the local culture. Oddly, however, there appeared to be a surplus of Stormtroopers on the prowl. A sense of fear briefly overtook her and her face most certainly paled for a moment, but she brushed it off as she cycled through a rational thought process. Surely they couldn't have discovered the crime scene by now, let alone rushed to act on it. No, this had to be for a much bigger occasion. Situation: normal for the Empire.

Constanta decided to step aside and amuse herself for a bit before boarding her flight, stepping up onto a barstool at a diner counter near docking bay P-63. From her perch she could listen to the intercom announcements or be entertained by the scurry of men armored in white plastics, all while munching on a farm world sandwich.

The shuttle drafted gently to the ground in the planet's spaceport, but it was a few minutes before the ramp lowered to allow its occupants out. Enough time for the Cheif Superintendent and other low ranking officials who had come to meet the unexpected shuttle to grow nervous. They had received word of all flightsbeing grounded during their trip to the spaceport, which told them this was not a normal resupply mission.

As the occupants of the shuttle descended, the Superintendent broke out in a cold sweat. Leading the stormtroopers and storm commandos was an ISB Colonel, his white uniform catching the sun. Colonel Jenkins frowned as he saw who was meeting him, but he put the perceived slight to the back of his mind as he pulled out a hologram of the deserter. "I need to know where this man is."

"He... he did not arrive at his post today Sir," the Superintendent stuttered. "His home was empty when we sent someone to check on him. We have no idea where he is currently."

"I see," the Colonel replied. "Then it appears you have outlived your usefulness. Kill them."

Hevana and the rest of her platoon brought up their light repeaters training them on the Imperial officials. Before the superintendent could protest, they fired in unison mowing the officials down and leaving only the small stormtrooper escort alive. The four escorts immediately came to attention and fell into line with the rest of the stormtroopers as the colonel lead them into the spaceport proper. 

They had been spared for a simple reason: no one believed a common stormtrooper capable of rebellion. Their training erased such thoughts. The small twinge of concious Hevana felt at killing fellow imperials was quickly squashed, lest her own loyalty be questioned.

"Fan out and secure the spaceport. This planet is now under my command until the traitor is found."

Rundo was sitting at the spaceport his ship previously docked there for refueling. but when they began surrounding the exits he knew something was up. He could easily impersonate an inquisitor and leave but where is the fun in that. Taking to a solitary trooper he would begin radiating fear sending dark force energy to the trooper letting it radiate in his mind an burrow itself inside. Then Rundo would puff up on the guard creating even more fearful the guard causing him to flinch backwards to scared to draw his blaster. But before the man got any ideas he locked his hands in place using the force to stiffen his muscles.

"what's going on here"

The trooper would grunt rundo forgetting that he couldn't move. Then allowing the trooper to speak but it was more of a jumble of words and gasping. "Rebel... Deserter... Stop them" rundo would then pushing the Dark side energy. He would disappear letting the trooper go but letting the energy spread through his brain causing him to go insane.

The trooper would begin screaming as rundo would escape cloaked by the force attempting to blend in with a group of old men wearing crazily colored robes. Rundo had to find the rebels,they were obviously hiding. Letting through a telepathic phrase to all of the people inside besides the workers and the Imperial personell. The phrase was "The man in black and red, will be your light in the dark. Bring the rat so you can escape the cats" not very creative but it was coded enough for non rebels to not think to much of it.

Kaiza Pawaro

“He’s a Jedi!”

The call caused the heads of Hevana's unit to turn in the direction of the voice. While no one explicitly said so, the large, red and black-clothed man who everyone seemed to suddenly be avoiding stuck out like a sore thumb. Of course, there was no actual proof this man was a Jedi, but determining details like that were not part of the storm commandos' job. Their unit was specially trained for one purpose: taking down force-users.

"On me," Hevana called over her squad's comm frequency. Charging through the crowd Hevana pulled a canister grenade from her belt. Once they got into range, she tossed it toward the man.

It did not matter if he tried to block it or not, the accelerometer built into the grenade would set it off the moment the Force tried to change is trajectory. Otherwise, it would hit the ground and go off. The contents of the canister were a drug based off of the illegal deathsticks, and inhaling it would cause most sentients to get a high. More importantly, Force users would find themselves cut off from the Force. Her choice of her using this weapon did at least show she was attempting a non-lethal option first, at least until they determined the truth of his Force abilities.

Kaiza Pawaro ,rundo ,@vax ,

Her contemplation was brashly stirred by the roguish character beside her, obviously inebriated as he quarreled with a Mirialan about testing the Empire's attention to detail on lockdown protocol. It was none of her business, really, and she tried her best to ignore the conversation up until said conversation suddenly included her. His flattery wasn't necessarily unwelcome, but it was the wrong place, wrong time, and most certainly wrong idea considering the amount of alcohol he was gorging upon.

"I have a boyfriend," she casually lied, just to get him off her case. Intentionally she swiped her hand across her brow to brush back her bangs, and cast a glance his way out the corners of her eyes. She wasn't up for what he was suggesting, but perhaps he might be useful to her...

Her moment of implied flirtation was distracted from by a voice that seemed to emanate from everywhere--and yet nowhere. Constanta had experienced such mental communication before, but its message was generalized; untargeted. It was beyond the scope of her abilities and beyond her desires within the current situation, speaking with the minds of everyone in the vicinity. Hers was not the only head to turn about, and the piercing eyes beneath the laser-red of her mane stared down the "man in black and red". Had he really projected the voice? Or was he being framed as a diversion from a more intelligent action? No matter the case, the Imperials were now to be sure of a Force-capable being among them, and right on cue a squad rushed towards the man with the distinct clack clack clack of plastic boots.

Constanta subtly traced a stray finger across the shoulder of the drunk beside her. "But maybe you have a ship... where no one will find out?" she whispered seductively, switching her gaze between the Stormtroopers in the distance and the Mirialan's antsy entourage nearby. Something about that group made her tense--some sort of feeling she got that could not be described as chemical nor emotional. "It's too crowded here, don't you think?"

"He's a Jedi!" someone shouted.

"I most certainly am not," replied Aaz Tor Kree, somewhat indignantly. He looked around for the speaker, then realized they hadn't been talking about him at all. 

Kree enjoyed sitting at the counters of food vendors. He liked watching people. And there were certainly a lot of people to watch, suddenly, even for a man with no eyes. The Force shone strongly around two nearby young women in particular, who had a rather inebriated man between them, and Kree did not believe that could be a coincidence. His Force Vision took in the smaller woman steering the drunk away from the other one in a way that suggested she needed to be as far away from the newly-arrived stormtroopers as possible.

Interesting.

Kree picked up the other half of his toasted sandwich (a delightful blend of cheese and some sort of protein he'd never heard of before but was assured was both local and delicious), and jumped behind the counter as the grenade detonated. He expected to hear screams of panic, and so he did, as he helped himself to cranking up the exhaust vent above the grill. What he didn't expect was the sound of helmeted respirators gasping. He chanced a look from the kitchen and saw several stormtroopers surrounded by gas, trying unsuccessfully to move.

"Hey!" shouted the cook. "You ain't uhposed t'be back here!"

Kree arched an eyebrow. "That's Galactic Basic, is it? Look, first of all, this sandwich is delicious." He held up the half and took another bite. "Honestly," he continued, talking as he chewed. "You're wasting your talent in a place like this. Secondly, you see those stormtroopers? One of them just threw a gas grenade into a public space, and that tells me they're more interested in quantity rather than quality. And I don't know about you, but I've no interest in being taken for questioning today."

Looking out from behind the service partition once again, he spotted the second woman with his Force Sight and gave a gentle nudge with the Force, hoping to attract her attention. 


Kaiza Pawaro,Kaiza Pawaro,@vax,rundo,Hevana Martin,