Takeover Of Helka

Slums Of Metellos

Light cloud of smoke filled a small apartment in a slum, the place where the poor, crippled and misfortune one’s lived. A man sit near a screen smoking a cigarett, he was dressed in common black clothes at the moment and seemed quite busy. The street was filled with an unspeakable stench, which didn’t even spare those in their apartments. Carus had to stand the stench for a week already and there could be many more at this rate, he had committed a small time strike against an imperial convoy near Borleias, but with a bad result. Many of his brethren as he called them had died in the battle because he had made a major miscalculation, the survivors had split up like after every attack they committed. This time they retreated to their holes with a sad look on their face and the scars to prove the painful feeling of defeat. Carus had argued with his lieutenant before splitting up to their separate hideouts and split up with angry looks on their faces.

"You are in charge and you made a major mistake when you told us that we could take that convoy out, but you didn’t even listen to what the others had to say and now Roert is dead because of it."

Galos ,Carus`s only lieutenant left alive had yelled at him and accused him of the death of his other lieutenant Roert. Carus had made a mistake, but he was too damn prod to admit the truth even to him. Carus was the founder of these raiding exiles because he was one and he wanted to get back at the imperials for destroying his life only because of his different ideals. Carus had once been a politician within the empire, but he had begun to see things differently and more radical as many had said. The outcasts had few successful raids at first, but then they had many disappointments and few successes. So far the loses had been small, but now they had suffered a beating as if they had only been bugs beneath the imperials heel. Carus hadn’t expected a force to be waiting on the planet or it to arrive so soon to the aid of the convoy, but it did.

"Damnit I couldn’t possibly have known about those damn reinforcements they were going to have Galos! Do you think that every single raid or life is dancing of roses? Did you? I know that this is fucked up, but shit happens and now we have to split up before more imperials appear to chase us... we will sort this out another time and you should pay more respect to me when you are talking to me..."

Carus had yelled at Galos on the com link as they had fled the battle scene and then reappeared from hyperspace, after the argue they took their own destinations. The issue wasn’t over and Carus didn’t like the way it would continue, but at the moment he was sitting in a dark apartment smoking a cigarette as he was getting the camera view to the hallway where his apartment was. He had assembled it in fear of imperial agents and had made sure that anyone who would touch it would have a nice shock as he would be alarmed so that he could drive the thief off with his blaster. He feared that not even the Fegal Companies would notice imperial agents or assassins even within their territory unless they would be on a official visit. Carus knew that Fegal was trying to keep a good relationship with the imperials and it was truly common knowledge since the Fegal Companies would never stand a chance against the imperials. Carus blew smoke out of his mouth as he had his cigarette between his fingers, which rapidly pressed they, board buttons. Carus had actually made one hell of a security system into the apartment as always at his hideouts because he couldn’t seem to sleep peacefully at nights without the knowledge of alarms around him. Carus finally got the camera working and smiled slightly, he left the screen at that view and went off to activate his other small systems. Carus then fell on his bed, which was quite uncomfortable, but there was no crying in the situation because when he began raiding imperial convoys he knew his life would be like this.

After few hours the system went off waking Carus from his sleep and he jumped up on his feet, he had his blaster out in an instant and he looked around with fearful eyes. There was no one in the room, there was someone on the door. Carus swallowed hard with a dry throat, this could be the day that he died and he would die in a miserable hell hole like this. Carus went to the screen and looked at the camera view, but it wasn’t there. Someone had taken the camera out, Carus had only one way out and it was trough that door. He walked to the door slowly and reached at the handle until he pulled the door wide open pointing at the hallway with his blaster. Carus was going to say something, but the words were caught into his throat as he looked at a bizarre looking man, which had an odd feeling about him. Carus saw that he had no weapons expect a cane in his hand and Carus had clearly the upper hand if there was going to be a fight, but the man just looked at him behind his glasses. Finally Carus was able to get the words out and there was a slight tremble in his voice.

"How the hell are you and what do you want? I am have no time for games or wasting my time with unknown people..."

Carus stood in the door way with his blaster pointed at the odd stranger with a slight sweat on his face.

"Well in that case, I'll be on my way."

The man at Carus's door turned sharply on his heels and took a step away from lethal blaster that was pointed his way. He took another step, then paused.

"However, I suggest you turn the safety off that blaster. You're going to need it."

To Carus's surprise, he heard a sharp click, and he looked down to see the safety on his blaster pistol had suddenly shifted from the on position to off. Why the safety had been on in the first place was a mystery to Carus.

The man, was walking slowly down the hall, his head starting to disappear into the darkness as the jet-black hair faded in the dim light of the ghetto's hallway.

Carus flicked the safety on the blaster back to on. He started to turn into the room, then suddenly stopped. He never used the safety. He had NEVER ONCE used it. And now, as he flicked the safety on for the first time, he realized that it did not make a sound as it was activated.

Meanwhile, Tir Esias continued marching back down the hallway. With each drop of his cane, he counted under his breath, waiting...

wrong char...

Carus quietly pondered what had just happened to hm and what was that odd man after, then he suddenly rushed after the man, if the man knew who he was and had seen his face on the imperials wanted list he could report about him. Carus couldn`t help still wondering how the safety had clicked, but wasn`t going to wander about that since there was a threat moving away that had to be stopped. Carus heard the man`s cane hit the floor behind the corner and rushed around the corner, he looked at the man walking away rexaledly. There was something most disturbing about him and the way that he acted, Carus began walking after him with his blaster on his belt.

"Stop!"

He shouted at the man and the man stopped, but didn`t look at him.

"Who are you and what how did you do that back there? Usually Jedi`s have such abilities, but you are not one..."

"Stop"

Tir Esias complied with the command, bringing his cane to rest on the moldy carpet under his feet. As he did so he muttered "42."

"Who are you and what how did you do that back there? Usually Jedi`s have such abilities, but you are not one..."

Tir Esias did not reply. He stood motionless for a moment, as if wondering whether or not to respond to Carus's sudden change of heart. He twirled his cane once, then turned.

"42" was not too bad of a time.

"Mr. Jardec, I've come to warn you that Fegal Security forces are at this present moment preparing to raid your pathetic excuse for a hideout, arrest you and your meager band of ruffians and extradite you to the Galactic Empire."

Tir Esias let that sink in.

"Rac Fegal is not interested in angering the Empire, and harboring terrorists, even failed terrorists, is not a way to endear yourself to the Empire."

If Tir Esias could see, he might have noticed that Carus's face showed no sign of distress at this news. However, Tir Esias did not need sight to gage Carus's emotions. The Force allowed him to get a much better read of a person than a simple look at his facial expressions would ever get. And though he was trying to hide it, Esias could feel a twinge of fear emanating from Carus.

"I suggest that if you wish to avoid this fate you rouse your minions and come with me."

Carus looked at the man first with disbelief and amusement on his face, but it quickly turned into a face of fear and wareness. He looked at the man, he acted somehow oddly and he wore the glasses as, if he was blind, but for a blind man he seemed to move oddly well. Carus put his hand on his blaster as it was still on his belt, the words had affected him greatly, but this new offer was either a bluff or his only way to survive. The man spoke the truth when he said that the Fegal Companies didn`t want to anger the empire, but more likely to have a strong friendship with it since it was right next door from the empire. Carus stepped forward cautiously with interest towards this man and his intentions.

"You are correct about Fegal, but why are you so interested of me and my group? How do you even know of us? We have been cautious without announcing our name outloud, we have taken every safety preparation available... but most of all where should we meet and how can I trust your word? You could be an imperial and lure us out together to wipe us out for good."

Carus took his blaster out, but didn`t point at Esias with it all tough was ready to raise it up and shoot this possible imperial spy.

"Now I want answers, why are you interested of my group and I? And where is this meeting place not to mention how can I trust you?"

"Carus."

Tir Esias let the final "s" syllable draw out in a hiss.

"Carus, Carus. Trust is such a fallible concept. To trust someone, you must acknowledge the fact that they are strong enough to hurt you if they wanted to do so. In many ways Carus, it would be bad if you knew enough that you had to resort to trusting me."

Tir Esias twirled his cane and titled his head upward in thoughtful expression.

"You have no reason to trust me, no assurance that I am not an Imperial agent trying to lure you out of a secure hiding spot, but..."

Tir Esias flicked his wrist and brought Carus's blaster pistol flying from his hand courtesy of a force pull. Tir deftly snatched the weapon out of the air without looking at it.

"Don't you think I would have already done that?"

He dropped the blaster to his feet and kicked, sending it sliding across the grungy floor back to Carus.

"Now, if you want to escape Fegal security, I suggest you rouse whatever minions you have left.."

He reached into his jacket, and removed a datapad.

"..and meet me at this docking pad in two hours."

And with that, Tir Esias turned and strode off into the dimly lit hallway...

Carus was amazed as his blaster flew away from his grip, but kept a steady attitude and face trying to not to show his nervousness that ate him up from inside piece by piece as this stranger seemed so calm. As Esias sent the blaster coming along the floor Carus was glad to have it back and picked it up, as for what the man sad it seemed very reasonable since if he was an imperial spy Carus would be dead right now or taken down at least by imperial troopers or Fegal droids. Carus looked at Esias for a while after his force trick and nodded slightly to Esias last comment.

"I’ll be there stranger"

Carus stated quickly as he himself turned away rushing towards his apartment in a hurry in case the droids or mercenaries were already in the building and hunting him down. Carus quickly packed his personal items and checked his blaster before stepping out, he walked the hallway quickly, but calmly as possible, but he kept looking over his shoulder and almost shot a man when the man came out of his apartment. Carus quickly pulled out his com link as he descended the stairs down to a small and stench lobby on the floor level. He quickly contacted the only one of his men on Metellos, the rest of them were hiding in other Fegal worlds such as Fresia and Ruan, which had been taken over `for the good of the people` like Fegal ever cared anything more than profits all tough he had made few lives better with the increasing number of industry and infrastructure on the planets. His comlink beeped few times until a nervous, but steady voice answered.

"Carus? What is it? I thought we weren’t supposed to contact each others until we had been hiding long enough or something serious happened..."

"Exactly, something serious is happening and we need to leave like the rest of our brothers and sisters in the Fegal worlds. Fegal wants to give us to the empire since he has no need for criminals and foes of the empire inhabiting his planets, which exactly doesn’t please the empire. They came for my apartment or so I think, I believe it’s being torn apart at the moment and the whole perimeter is searched soon enough. I would have been there and probably dead, if I hadn`t been warned by a stranger... and this stranger is really strange..."

Carus said as he walked out of the door and looked around couple of times before disappearing into a side alley from where he took many turns until entering a heavily crowded area. Carus disappeared into the crowd, continuing the conversation with one of his lieutenants Treaz. Treaz was a female Iridonian and had been one of the last to join the movement since she was never sure of stepping up against the imperial agenda. Carus lighted a new cigarette as he passed trough the crowd into another alley after keeping a long pause in the conversation.

"Are you out of there already? Make sure you aren’t followed since we have an important meeting with that stranger..."

Carus said before blowing a smoke cloud in the air and leaving it to slowly fade into the alley.

"Almost, but someone warned you about Fegal`s movements? How could they have know what Fegal was up to and how can you be sure this just isn’t another set up like we had just few days ago? What is this stranger of yours is an imperial or Fegal spy?"

"So I thought first, but why would he warn me about Fegal and wanting me to follow him?, besides I think that he can use the force.."

"The force? Are you sure he wasn’t a Jedi? Not even some sort of a renegade Jedi?"

"A jedi he was not, but he surely knew how to use it since he took by blaster away just like that without moving a muscle of his body. What comes to the meeting I think I am willing to take that chance since he seemed to have more up in his sleeve than the force and I am going to find out not to mention that you are coming with me."

Carus quickly stepped into another empty alley and looked around making sure he was alone.

"Meet me at docking bay two, he is expecting us there under two hours deadline it seems so I think it would be useful to be there early, if it’s a set up, but in any case you must first send a warning to all of our comrades..."

"Very well Carus.."

They both closed their comlinks and found themselves a public transport to reach docking bay two quickly as possible from other sides of the slum area that they were hiding in.


Docking Bay 2


Carus kneeled down behind few boxes looking around and then seeing a woman’s figure with her jacket hood over her head not to mention the horn tips pointing out under the hood. Carus lightly knocked one of the boxes with his fist to get her attention, she turned her head and then kneeled slightly beginning to quickly walk towards Carus while keeping her head down. Carus looked at his sides as she approached and then smiled as she was kneeling before him. Carus then nodded to his right towards the landing bay and they both crept to the side of the boxes to take a peek towards the landing pad. They both looked around seeing few shut off maintenance droids with a fuel line besides, Carus looked around with a worried face.

"He isn’t here yet or he is just hiding..."

"But if he is hiding this might be a set up or his face isn`t just popular in public I guess..."

Treaz retorted with a cold tone in her voice as she tried to spot movement around the landing pad.

Those blessed with sight often rely on that sense as if it is the only one that matters. Their other senses are each powerful if utilized correctly, but far too often an extreme over reliance on sight dulls a person's response to the other ways his body interacts with the world. Blind persons, forced to use their "lesser" senses to the fullest in order to survive, often can feel, smell, and hear things that would go unnoticed by a fully able person. Tir Esias, being blind, did possess an uncanny ability to understand the stimuli that the environment provided for him... but it did not manifest itself as the ability of heightened sensory perception.

For Tir Esias, there was the Force.

Since his early childhood, as began to lose his sight, he began to reach out with his mind to compensate. The Force had been a crutch.... then morphed into a tool that Tir Esias used to his benefit. He had no formal training, but for most of his life developed his ability to manipulate the Force via simple trial and error. His raw strength with the Force was amazing, and by substituting willpower for technique he had managed to accomplish many impressive feats. However, nothing could compare with Tir's progress since his recent training with the Jedi Master Vodo Baas aboard the Noir Soleil. Given proper instruction, and immersed in the actual techniques of manipulating the force, Tir Esias had become a force to be reckoned with. Tasks that had once left him gasping for air and collapsing to the ground were now no more difficult than quick jog down the hall.


Therefore, Tir Esias did not need an elaborate set up to locate Carus as he arrived at the docking bay. He did not need to employ cronies to watch out for him, or set up a detailed surveillance network.

He sat down in the small fuel depot next to the landing pad and waited. He drew in the powerful life energy that swirled around him and waited, trying to do his best to imitate Vodo Baas as the Master Jedi extended his perception of the Force outward. In all respects it was a crude copy, but it would be sufficient.

As Carus approached the landing pad, Tir Esias sensed his familiarity, and recognized someone accompanied him. Carus's emotions did not appear to reveal any hostility, at least openly, and so Tir decided he had not come with the intention of trying to "deal" with the stranger he had met.

Not that he would have been able to, even if he had wanted...

Tir Esias allowed his perception to drop, and he stood up, resting his weight lightly upon his cane. He picked up a com-link that had been sitting next to him and tapped a sequence into it. Then satisfied, stepped out of the depot and into plain sight in the center of the landing pad.

After while of looking around the area Tir Esias appeared to the empty landing pad, Carus and Treaz exchanged uncertain looks. They both kneeled lower and tried to speak with a low voice, but Carus knew that there was something strange about Esias and that he could use the force so as he had heard that many force users could do extravagant things so it would be no wonder, if Esias could hear them all the way from there.

"He was here waiting for us, he seemed to be just hiding and I can’t blame the man if he is a criminal or a renegade, but there is something odd about him that just gives me the chills. He seems confident and knows everything, no original agent or Jedi would be like he is, he seems too confident as, if there was something else backing him up... but this is just a hunch..."

Carus shrugged and got up getting a scared look from Treaz.

"What the hell are you doing?! It’s an open ground, perfect for a sniper or just to get your picture on a surveillance camer.."

Carus quickly pulled her up by her shoulder all tough she didn’t at first stay up, but then looked at Carus with angry and Carus turned to her with a serious face.

"As you joined us, you and like every one of us swore to die for each others, but most importantly for our cause and now as your leader I command you to follow me. Should this be a set up then we will die for our cause unless you are going to betray me now are you?"

The sudden change and seriousness of Carus`s voice confused Treaz, but she nodded uncertainly as Carus stepped away from her to the open. With Treaz on his heels with her blaster hand ready Carus walked towards Esias, they stopped before him and Carus looked at Esias trying to inspect his movements, if this indeed was a sick imperial game it would be here where it would end. Carus slightly spreaded his hands on his sides to show that he wasn’t going to point Esias with his blaster like the last time.

"Well here we are, more are departing to a certain meeting point, but now I want to get some answers and first of all who or what the hell are you? But most of all are you alone on this or who do you work with or for?"