"The bounty on your heads is-"

"Count yourself lucky. My young friend here is quite handy with a lightsaber, and I've no doubt he'd like to use it on you right now. So I'd start talking. Despite the path I follow, I can't say I'm too fond of you either at the moment. The sooner you speak, the quicker we are gone."

The Toydarian gave a defeated sigh and went quiet for a moment. "There is a man. Darren Lopek. He works as a cargo handler at the spaceport, for Vista View Planetary Travel. He is my contact to the Separatists. I don't know who he works for. He is an angry man. He loaned me the Trandoshans that were here. You must go to him. Big man. Tall. Blond. You cannot miss him."

Vax looked up at Sturn finally. "The next link in the chain, boy."

"He's an angry man? I'll show him anger" he muttered, interrupting the Toydarian, before shutting up and letting the arms dealer continue.
When they had all the information they needed, he let Grullo fly free, and turned to Vax.
"Nice going, old man. And you managed it without any violence. Well..." he paused, re-assessing his last statement as he looked around the shop. "None toward the Toydarian, anyway" he amended himself.
Before they left the shop, he turned and pointed threateningly at Grullo with the unlit hilt of his lightsaber. "You didn't see us" he growled. It wasn't a Force-augmented suggestion, or a mind-trick, because neither would have worked on the Toydarian. It was simply a threat laced with promises of bloody violence if the arms dealer reneged on their trust.

He headed out of the shop, squinting against the sunlight, and noting how dusty and charred his clothes now were. At least he looked like he fit in better on this kind of planet.
"Back to the spaceport, then, I guess?" he asked, looking back the way they'd come from. "It'll give me chance to pick up El-Tee and put word out that I'm selling a mighty fine ship with high sentimental value". He still wasn't willing to let that one go.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

With a grin and nod, Vax headed off. It wouldn't do for the pair of them to be seen together after exiting the shop so soon. Before he faded into the crowd that was bustling about, he turned back to Caden. "You did well in there boy."

Pushing the curtain aside, he viewed a Toydarian fluttering about, trying to right the wreckage of what had once been apparently a well-stocked weapon's shop. The alien gaped at first, seeing Deschain appear like a specter, but before Grullo could cry out in alarm, Deschain had wrapped him with the Force, holding him fast as he stepped closer.

"You seem to have had some naughty visitors, Toydarian... little friends of yours? It seems they made a mess."

"Yes. No. They came in! They robbed me! They-"

"They let you go alive? Decent of them, I'd say. Most robbers don't let their victims survive to run to the authorities. Mind tricks won't work on you, creature, but pain?" Deschain flexed his fist slightly and Grullo gave a shrill scream as the Force compressed his body.

"Darren Lopek! The spaceport! The spaceport! Please, sir! Let me live!"

"You've been a useful creature. I appreciate the help." Deschain turned and headed back down the hall. The Toydarian's pleas grew louder as he left it immobile. As he reached the exit, he paused slightly, then clenched his fist fully. Behind him, the words were suddenly cut off, replaced by a thick crunching, squishing sound that was quite unpleasant. A moment later, there was a thud.

The door shut quietly, leaving an even quieter shop behind.

Morality issues would have to wait, too. He could sense something again, something unmistakebly dark. He recalled the visions he'd experienced, of being torn between light and dark on this very planet, with faceless beings clawing at him to pull or push him to either side, leaving him little room for choice. It was how he felt now, and he knew he must overcome it to face whatever he was sure was waiting.
Making his way into the starport, he all but ran to his docking bay, barely able to focus now that the sense of imminent danger was growing blindingly.
He made his way up the ramp of Bloodshine before it had even fully lowered, and began stuffing personal effects into a bulky survival pack. He thumbed El-Tee's on switch, and let the droid boot up; he'd be running on auxillary processors, which meant many of his higher functions would be inactive, but he'd still be able to walk and follow commands.
Leaving all of his sets of armour except for one, which he slotted into a seperate hold-all, he turned to disembark, El-Tee following obediently in the wake of his recognised Master. He was just glad he didn't have to carry the droid out of here.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"In the meantime, let's find this Lopek fellow and see if he'll be easier to convince than our Toydarian friend."

He was, in a word, miserable about the fact.
"A Theta-class shuttle? Well, at least it'll be armed. I hope this covers the cost for what we'll need" he muttered, carefully showing Vax the bag of credits as El-Tee stopped beside him. There was a dormant look to the droids posture, as though he were only half there. "Don't worry about the droid" Caden assured Castor, remembering the last time Vax had seen El-Tee. "He's running on back-up processors only, til I can get his main drive operational".

He gestured for Vax to lead the way to Lopek, and realised to himself that he was submitting to the old man's judgement more and more.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"Look, I know who... or better yet, what the pair of you are. I don't want trouble here. Let's go in the back and talk, alright?"

"I don't like this" he muttered, so only Vax could hear him. He'd been focusing on shifting his sense of danger, so that he could better concentrate on his situation, and with a slightly clearer head he continued to follow Lopek and Vax.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"One of my boys says you did a number on Grullo's shop. A shame for his business, but that sort of thing can't be happening here. From the sounds of it, you two are... uh, unmentionables. That means one thing only: you're looking for a way off this rock. Guy I work for should be able to help you. He moves around a bit though, so it's hard to find him. I'll set up a meeting for you though. Go to Anoat. That's the next scheduled meeting point for... people like you two and my boss."

Vax gave Caden a long look, questioning for a moment, then turned back to the blond man. "We appreciate your help. Caden, shall we be off now?"

Still at the back of his mind, something pulsed steadily, as though something were warning him. While Vax looked at him, he let himself slip into the Force, trying to discern if there were any other Inquisitors here on Nar Shaddaa; he was sure he'd felt something earlier, but had dismissed it as his senses going into overdrive owing to the hostility of their situation.
"Yeah... lets get outta here" he agreed with Vax. "Uh... thanks for the help" he added, nodding appreciatively to Lopek.

He wanted off this rock, and fast. Even if it meant flying in a Theta-class shuttle. He'd done that often enough, it being his assigned ship before he'd been given the VT-49. Still, he felt like he was missing something crucial, barring the fact he hadn't managed to pick up a set of crystals. Though he'd privately resolved to leave his synthetic bloodshine crystals in his lightsabers while fighting at Grullo's shop.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

Vax gave the man a nod in thanks, then turned to Caden as they departed the holding area. "The shuttle is in a docking bay six bays down. We can transfer the funds electronically, but we should hurry. Something feels... off. Very off. The dark side is strong on Nar Shaddaa today, and it tends to unnerve me."

This, perhaps, might well be the first time Caden saw the older man ruffled at all. It was obvious that Vax wanted to be off the rock as quickly as possible.

"My accounts should still be operational, if you don't have the funds for electronic transfer" he said. "I hold several accounts all over the galaxy, and the Inquisitorius isn't aware of all of them" he pointed out, realising that his confidence that the Empire hadn't shut him out of his funds may come across as suspicious. "Good thing about working for Imperial Intelligence... you learn how to cover your tracks" he winked.

Without running, he hurried as fast as he could while keeping close to Castor, to make the payment for their new transportation, and get the hell out of Nar Shaddaa. El-Tee trudged along behind, blank as ever.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"It will be interesting to see who this Separatist is," Vax commented as they moved through the passageways towards their appointed vessel. "I can't think of many offhand who would be willing to partner with Jedi, even in desperation. Lopek did say he was a big timer back in the day though. I'm still trying to piece it all out."

Entering the bay let them see the shuttle in all its dingy glory. Despite the scraped paint and apparent disrepair to the exterior, the barrels of the forward quad laser cannons gleamed as if they'd been well taken care of. It was just as likely that the rear cannon was in good working order.

"There she is. What do you think?"

Despite the shuttle looking a little rough around the edges, he decided it would be better to be flying something inconspicuous and old-looking than a shiny new freighter. After slowly circling the ship once to check for signs of hull stress (a task Vax had likely already performed, but the pilot in him couldn't resist), Caden travelled up the boarding ramp and wrinkled his nose.
"Smells like something died in here" he commented to Vax, though he exaggerated. All he could smell was the fusty, disused aroma that most old ships carried, a mixture of old lubricant and settled dust.
Suddenly, he staggered backwards, almost knocking El-Tee back down the ramp as he crashed into the bulkhead.

A wraith stalked him, faceless and formless, black as night with a blade of fire in its shifting hands. It pursued him relentlessly, no matter where he turned, threatening to envelop him and suffocate him, then extinguish his life with his infernal weapon.
A shrill scream rang out from the distance, and another; piles of bodies rose into view in the shadows wake, corpses of the innocent deposited wherever they may fall.
"He's here!" a voice hissed, as if right next to his ear.

Caden snapped out of it, his eyes bleary from the intensity of the vision, or hallucination, or whatever it had been.
"Get your things and get strapped in" Caden said briskly, heading back down the ramp to retrieve his hold-all and survival pack. "We're leaving".

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot