Galaxy's Edge Space Bar

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

~Rathien~

Rathien leaps through the trees, carefully looking for signs.  He notices a more solid-seeming figure diving between trees and levels his Entroper, firing a shot.  Dirt and wood explodes outwards from the point of impact.  He chases after the figure through the tree branches for a good fifty yards before stopping suddenly.  He looks around the forest, images still flashing and flickering.  What he'd suddenly noticed was the lack of trail beng left by the glimpses he was following.  An individual running that quickly and carelessly would leave a trail of broken plants and scuff marks at the very least.  Rathien cannot determine any type of descernible trail, and another thought occurs to him...he had all but decided that the AI had not set a trap at all...this impression was acting as a lure, drawing him forward.  He stays perched on his branch and mentally chastises himself.  Of course Tobias would lead him into the trap he'd lulled Rathien into believing did not exist.

He takes a deep breath and begins analyzing the ground...finding a real trail would be difficult with all the random shrapnel and damage caused by the light-shot, but he cannot continue to chase illusions.  "Tobias....I know you can hear me Tobias.  Your illusions are rather faithful, I believed them for a time...this is what your abiological lackey set up isn't it?  Was I running toward a nasty surprise?"



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~Raile~

Raile raises his glass and takes a long swallow instead of merely a sip, and falls silent.  Garreth did not seem to think it possible...perhaps then it was not.  "But is it truly wrong to want at least one person to remember you and mourn and honor your passing?"  The mutter is quiet, only under his breath, and is nothing more than a voicing of his inner monologue.  He doesn't even realize he's said it out loud...perhaps a side-effect of the strong liquor.

[Darth Revan]

Garreth shook his head very slightly, at hearing the words spoke by his friend. It seemed he did not value himself enough to believe that only a loved one would care enough about his well being. Garreth felt a great sadness filled with pity. This Jedi had placed too much importance on others' views of himself. Garreth asked, "If you don't mind me asking, how were your trials handled? Where did they take place?"

[Terenia]

Tamora crunches across the gravel to her ship, thankfully avoiding more life threatening situations. When she reaches the exterior hatch she calls out in one of the few Yeerkish words she knows without Zorish's help and the hatch melts open, ramp extending. With one last look around her, she hefts the box and trudges up the ramp, sealing herself in.

Dropping the box on the floor she makes her way over to the portable pool, peering over the lip to ensure that Zorish is still there, still safe.

"I missed you," she breathes, dipping a hand into the pool liquid and lifting him to her ear.

[Gaz]

Julian nodded. "Yep. I'm from a 'verse where people have spread out to other worlds. Believe it or not, both my folks were human as anyone. Doc figured one or both of them carried the Myth gene. My father said soon as he saw me he knew I belonged in those tournaments, started training mr as soon as I could lift a small sword."

[Aluminator (Kit)]

Salem laughed lightly when he heard Rathien call out. He was impressed that Rathien had realized he wasn't following a real person, but the hunter still didn't know what he was getting himself into. Salem could just see him, standing on a tree branch some distance away. It was almost too perfect.

His chuckle turned into a cough, which he quickly stifled. When he pulled his hand away, he had a brief glimpse of it before it went invisible again- it looked like he'd been coughing up blood. Great. He pressed his eyes shut and leaned his head back against the wood of the tree. He tried to steady his breathing once again.

Without responding, he reached into the utility belt he was wearing and drew out a bright orange cylinder. After an awkward moment of trying to move towards the opening of his little hollow, he settled for flopping onto his side, half in and half out of the tree. He drew his grav-pistol, and with a grunt, heaved the cylinder into the air. He held up his gun, aiming at it as best as he could, its stabilizing blades snapping into resting position along the barrel of the weapon as he did so. When the cylinder reached the top of its trajectory, he fired, sending out a short-range pulse of antigravity, which picked up the cylinder and hurled it in Rathien's direction in a high arc, as if it'd been thrown by a Vam-Chi warrior.

With any luck, the cylinder would fly relatively near Rathien- though he could already tell that his awkward angle had affected his accuracy. It shouldn't matter much. He hoped the distractions from the Illusors would keep Rathien from seeing the cylinder too early- but then, it was a bright orange cylinder flying through the air.

Salem watched it closely. Once it'd reached what, from his vantage point, he judged to be its closest point to Rathien, he sent a thought-speak command, detonating it. Rather than giving off heat and shrapnel, it instead exploded with a deafening bang and a blinding flash of light.

For a moment, he was blind- his 'glasses' had prevented the flash from affecting his eyes directly, but it had managed to temporarily white-out a large portion of his display. He tore them off his face and, gritting his teeth and steeling himself, pulled himself back upright inside the hollow of the tree, letting out no more than a soft whimper as his leg screamed in protest, his glasses clutched in his hand.


Al grinned, "That's really cool, actually. You've certainly got the build for it." He looked quizzically at Julian, "That myth gene... is that a common thing? It strikes me as something I'd like to try out at some point. What exactly does it do?" He smiled, "I mean, aside from the awesome and obvious."

[Gaz]

"No one's really sure exactly, there are still studies to figure it out. Been around for a while though...Myths first started showing up after folk started expanding to other worlds. There's a group of folk who use that for their campaign about how we should have stayed in our place. Not a popular group. There are some who think it's a side effect of some sort to medical experiments or gene experiments. Morgan, poor guy, got into trouble with a radical group trying to prove the government was behind it all. Something about undermining the purity of humanity or some nonsense. With Andromeda and a few others they did prove that non-Myths could be altered into Myths. As for how many of us there are, we're in the minority, but there's still a fair number of us."

Julian finished off his coffee and made a signal at the bartender for some more. Julian scratched under his chin in thought.

"Not sure if that made much sense. In the tournaments, my father gave me the nickname Chess, cuz of the part horse thing. Was born with a tail, but that got to be a nuisance so once I was able I got it surgically removed. Seemed to be a popular change for the lady fans."

[Terenia]

It takes Zorish a few moments to crawl into Tamora's head and seize control. When he does, he immediately pours over her memories of the past few hours without him. His anger spikes when he witnesses the battle that broke out.

<<This is why I should not leave you,>> he says, pulling Tamora to her feet and over to the main computer console. <<You're going to get yourself killed on your own. Especially depending on those rebels.>>

<<Those rebels gave us enough supplies for a year,>> Tamora points out, not mentioning how relieved she is to be back in the passenger seat.

<<Yeah.>> Zorish glances over to the box, then back at the holoscreen. <<After tricking us into a life of exile.>> With a sigh of exasperation he enters the command that allows the engines to thrum to life.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

~Rathien~

Rathien looks around, trying to distinguish reality from illusion...trying to locate tracks.  He sees atypical movement a ways behind him and readies himself to spring in that direction when he spots a strange orange blur flying through the air.  His vision resolves it into a cylinder of some sort, hurling vaguely in his direction.  The cylinder glances off a branch and bounces straight at him.

Rathien bares his fangs and dives off the branch he'd been on toward the forest floor right before a blinding flash and ear-splitting crack detonate right behind him.  Even the reflection from the plants around him is enough to turn his vision white and then purple.  His ears go numb just as he loses his vision to the light, and he hurtles into the ground, rolling haphazardly unable to control his fall pristinely.  It had been a hard jump in the first place, an effort to get out of the way of whatever the cylinder had been, but without vision or audition, he couldn't know where he was in relation to the ground.  He kicks awkwardly in an effot to flip out of the roll, but his toe catches on a root or a sapling or something and he careers sideways, his lungs suddenly burning as the tree his chest slams into drives the air from them.

Rathien's fangs are bared as he tries futilely to suck air back into his lungs.  After what seems like an eternity, his lungs balloon open and he feels the blessed sweetness of oxygen returning to his bloodstream.  He spasms on the forest floor, finally collapsing into a semi-fetal heap.  He doesn't have any liquid sensation in his ears, so at least his ear drums had not ruptured.  His vision begins to return, but nothing more than blurry images, lights and shadows.  He gropes at his waist for his Entroper before realizing it had been in his hands.  It had been wrenched free somewhere along the line.  He immediately commands his ARC to locate the weapon's unique molecular composition.  A light immediately begins flashing on his visual output, the holo-emitter still miraculously intact, and he gropes, trying to get to his feet before tripping and stumbling.  He crawls on hands and knees, throwing himself on the glowing dot.  His arms writhe underneath him as he works to pull the weapon out of the underbrush, desperate to have it in his hands at least, even if he can only see vague shapes and hear nothing but muffled white and brown noises.

With Rathien's vision so blurred, he has no hope of knowing which images are illusion and which real.  For the first time in quite a long time, he feels fear.  Losing the Dream, that holds no fear for him.  Everyone eventually lost the Dream.  The thoughts...the ideas of what Tobias might do with him if the "trader" caught him alive, those are the sources of his fear.



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~Raile~

Raile looks up from the table and glances into Garreth's eyes before taking another long drink of his whiskey.  He sits silent for some time before finally speaking up.  "My trials...they were in the field.  I don't know how much I can tell you without imparting knowledge you do not want.  Felucia is an unpleasant place.  To fight a battle there is horror.  My Master and I were assigned to that wretched planet as Republic Generals.  To us...those of us that were there, the battle was known as Kway Teow three.  To the rest of the Republic, it was just another battle that no one paid attention to or cared about.  Master Slone was charged with the Capital's Primary Outpost defense, Outpost three was thought to be a secondary target at most.  We were wrong.  The droids came at us hard...there were so many.  I fought alongside my Clone troops until a man, or rather an Anzati as I soon found out, appeared with a crimson lightsaber."

He shakes his head, taking another long pull from his tumbler.  "The world around me seemed to vanish, it was him and I...nothing else.  It didn't even occur to me to think about where he'd come from or why.  He defeated me...or near as such that it doesn't matter.  He could've killed me...likely should've killed me, but he wanted to dine on me you see.  He hovered over me...probosci ready to achieve their purpose...he thought I was unconscious."  Raile pulls opens his gi and pulls back from Garreth a bit, indicating that Garreth should look down.  An angry red, perfectly round scar is easily visible on the right side of his lower abdomen.  "He thought I was disarmed as well.  I had my saber hidden behind my back.  As he knelt over me, I ignited it.  It was the most blinding pain I've ever felt, but whereas the blade pierced me non-vitally, the angle of it carried the blade through his chest.  Despite the blinding pain, I felt satisfaction...almo st happiness.  A sort of contentedness as well."

Raile covers himself again, still not meeting Garreth's eyes.  "He screamed, the look on his face was somewhere between indignation and disbelief.  He sprang off me and ran into the mushrooms.  I couldn't even move aside from extinguishing my lightsaber, let alone give chase.  It should've been a lethal blow, but he was Anzati.  To this day I still do not know whether he lived or died."  He finally looks up at Garreth.  "The Council and my Master both thought that the battle and my acts constituted trial enough.  The Order was desperate after all.  Not enough Jedi to do what needed to be done.  The Council conferred the level of Jedi Knight upon me once I was well enough to stand before them... that was all."

[Darth Revan]

Garreth nodded his head, "I see. You're very lucky to say the least." So this Jedi too was improperly tested. The fact that Garreth's tests were decided on the battlefield worried himself whether he truly deserved his rank. Though he knew what he went through, and knew the lessons he learned were truly sufficient. This Jedi though, he wasn't certain that he shouldn't have been tested further; but as he stated, there was no chance. He'll just have to learn those lessons as he grows. Though he seems very resistant to learn what he doesn't like to hear. Garreth keeps his doubts and thoughts to himself, giving off only empathetic and joyful emotions to be read.

[Terenia]

<<You realize they've ruined us, right?>> Zorish asks lowly as the ship slowly lifts off. <<They kill us in one timeline, exile us in another. It is as if they are trying to ensure our misery.>>

<<Is it that terrible to admit that you care about me?>> Tamora responds. <<I care about you. You know this. You can see it so easily. Don't I deserve the same?>>

Zorish is silent for a long while, flying the ship in slow circles above the bar, higher and higher.

<<I suppose,>> he finally says, <<that is the one advantage of all this.>> A small smile appears on their shared face. <<I do care about you, Tamora. Very dearly.>>

With that, he aims the ship skyward and disappears amongst the stars.

[Aluminator (Kit)]

Al rolled his eyes, "There'll always be new things, and there'll always be people around to protest them. Even if those things are badass half-animals."

He glanced towards where Julian's tail would once have been at it's mention, then smiled at his face, "So to you the tail just got in the way?" He laughed, "That's understandable, I guess. Not a tail expert myself. I've always wanted to see what a tail'd be like. Do you mind?" Without waiting for an answer, he clenched his face, and with a theatrical grunt, sprouted a tail- it seemed to shoot out of his backside and then hung down the back of the stool. It was a horse-tail, maybe half the size of an actual horse tail, and a combination of light and dark brown.

He looked over his shoulder at it, swishing it idly, then darted a quick glance at Julian. "Awright," he said with a grin.


Salem sat for only a moment before moving again. First he stuck his display glasses on the top of his head. He then leaned forward, gritting his teeth and trying not to move his right leg. He pulled up his cloak and right pant-leg and unstrapped a weapon, slowly, gingerly. The weapon looked a little like a poor imitation of a small submachine gun made of copper pipe. Once it finally came free of its straps, he leaned back, breathing more heavily than he should for such a simple action. He re-holstered his grav-pistol and struggled into a position closer to the opening of his little hollow, his leg screaming in pain. He'd deal with it later, he thought through the pounding in his head. For now, he had to move. if he had stunned Rathien, it wouldn't last long.

Still holding the copper 'gun' he drew a breath. He reached up and grabbed both sides of the opening, and drew himself shakily into a standing position using his arms almost exclusively. He stood for a moment, holding tightly to the tree as his vision went momentarily dark. When it passed, he was left feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Glancing down at the weapon in his hand, he noticed blood dripping from the barely-visible tip of the gun. That was odd. Guns didn't usually bleed. He'd have to look at it later.

Shaking his head, he snapped his glasses back onto his face- they were displaying again, only a strange discolored splotch appearing where his grenade had exploded. He could see no sign of Rathien. Probably not good.

He activated his left hover boot and pushed himself towards a nearby sapling, and an angle that looked like it might give him a better view through the foliage. He was right- he could just see a figure struggling with something, and some kind of blinking display. The distance was maybe fifty yards, through foliage, and Salem wasn't exactly confident in his coordination at the moment. This was far from ideal. Still...

Holding on to the sapling with his left hand, he took aim with his right. His hand was shaking. He let out his breath, letting his mind relax. He couldn't tell if it was his no-doubt intense concentration, or simply the fact that he was about to pass out from his injuries, but the world seemed to fall away, aside from the figure in the distance and the copper gun.

Salem pulled the trigger. With the pumpf of compressed gas being released, a narrow projectile, barely two inches long, shot forth from the gun and through the woods.

[Terenia]

Zorish and Tamora's Bug Fighter has barely disappeared into the nothing of Z-Space when a new Yeerkish ship appears above the planetoid that houses the bar. This one is a Skimmer, and substantially larger than a Bug. It is not the Skimmer that Corliss left in, however. This ship has seen significantly more wear and tear, as noted by the Dracon scars along the metal plating.

The lobster-like ship makes its descent slowly, scanning the area to get a sense of what might be going on at ground-level. When it finally settles into the gravel of the shipyard it is in a strategic location -- close enough to the bar for an easy escape, but far enough away to avoid most weapon fire. The ship hums as it shuts down, the bloodred lights fading into darkness as the landing struts take the weight of the ship.

"Well, this should be fun," the sole occupant of the ship mutters, brushing back long blonde hair with her fingers. Ordering the hatch open, she checks her dual holster, ensuring that the Dracons there are well-powered.

She hops off the ship, locking it behind her and taking care to watch where she walks. Despite the fact that it has been months and months since she could morph, she still prefers to go barefoot. Her morphing outfit is gone, however, replaced by jeans and a simple blue tank top that doesn't quite hide the deep burn scars on her left shoulder.

Peering around nervously, Terenia makes her way to the bar, hastened by the sounds of a scuffle in the nearby forest. <<That would be just my luck, getting blown up within two seconds of arriving here,>> she murmurs to herself. <<Myitt would have a field day.>>

Pulling the door to the bar open, Terenia peers inside, looking around for any familiar faces -- either friends or foes.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

~Rathien~

Rathien finally manages to wrestle his Entroper free of the undergrowth.  He changes his display to show other non-plantoid lifeforms large enough to be sentient.  The display shows a glowing dot less than fifty yards behind him.  He immediately looks in Salem's direction, his eyes beginning to clear some, but still unable to see more than blurry shapes, albeit in color instead of black and white.  The dart is much too small for his addled eyes to pick out.  He doesn't see it glance off of a small sapling between himself and the injured humanoid, sending it tumbling.  He does, however, feel the dart pierce the side of his neck with the extremely lucky shot.

Rathien grunts and hisses, snarling as one hand shoots to his neck, ripping the dart free before leveling the weapon in the direction his computer says Salem is in.  "Tobias!  TOBIAS!"  He fires three times in quick succession, one-handed and with his compromised senses.  "What the hell was that?!"  He clutches the dart in his off hand, maintaining enough presence of mind to keep hold of the dart for further analysis, should Tobias run off.



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~Raile~

Raile feels the positive emotions radiating from Garreth, but holds to his serenity.  "Experiencing joy at another's injury, I know it's wrong, I knew it was wrong when I felt it.  Only compassion.  That thought, that feeling...it is my only regret, aside from the senseless deaths of the war.  That goes without saying.  We allowed ourselves to be enveloped in that war, acting as commanders and generals...  Most of the enemies were droids, but I do not know why the Coucil allowed us to be involved at all.  It seems to go against teaching...and look where it got us."

[Terenia]

Terenia notes a few vaguely familiar faces, but no one that she has any direct conflict with. Slightly encouraged by this fact, she steps fully inside the bar and makes her way to the counter, sitting in one of the many dilapidated stools.

"Just water for right now. Clean water," Terenia tells the bartender. She isn't quite yet comfortable enough to drink anything more substantial than that, and she even sniffs the water suspiciously when the bartender procures it.

"In all fairness, it hasn't killed me yet," she murmurs to herself, taking a sip. When she is satisfied that the water won't be poisoning her anytime soon she leans back in the stool, looking around and listening in on the conversations nearest her.

[Darth Revan]

Parker notices Tamora returning to the bar. She's changed her clothes for some odd reason and seems to have misplaced her shoes. He looks to Zoshonel, pats him on the shoulder and says, "We'll talk later."

He follows her into the bar and takes the seat next to her. He puts up two fingers signifying he too would like a clean glass of clean water. He removes his helmet, revealing his shoulder length dirty blonde hair, stubbled jaw, and tanned complexion. He takes a sip and leans his head in her direction asking, "So, lost a taste for alcohol? Passing out in the parking lot help you decide on that?"


Garreth nodded his head, "Yes, it does seem odd that the Jedi would join a war such as that so easily. The Council is dead set against joining the war going on in my Time. Though I suppose its extreme proximity and lack of Jedi casualties may come into consideration. Though with Revan's capture, I'm certain that will change." He sits back and says Revan's name fairly loudly, giving it emphasis. He obviously holds him in high regard.