.

Underworld Lower City

Maze

Elevators Up

.

On the trip up the vator, "What was he talking about black card and bounty?" asks Naruto

.

"Naruto, black cards have so much money they can kill someone, pay the billion credit fine and walk out in less time than it takes", imitating the slide of a card through a reader, "to eat a meal at a cantina,"

"as for the bounties, if he decides to post bounty on us," sliding his pointing claw finger across his scaled neck, "unless we have more money than he does to post a counter bounty,"

"then he just pays a larger amount over-riding ours at the BANK," making the finger-thumb motion for having money, "the BANK keeps the two smaller amounts and has the highest stand and its target gets hunted"

.

"No worries," Naruto remarks, "I lifted all the gear and credit sticks both of them had down to the black card that ass used to pay."

"He will have a hard time posting bounties from a bacta tank." Naruto mutters

.

the sudden tension of all four friends, makes him realize something could be going wrong, "Naruto all of their gear is sealed right?" asks Nameless

.

looking at the party, "Yea, why?" the curiousity on his face obvious to all

.

"Black cards are trackable and only the user has the codes to access it."

"Also the penalty for theft of a black card is death."

"Right now the only thing keeping us alive is that your seal scrolls block signals by holding everything wherever the stuff is stored."

.

"What do you think will happen?" Mack asks looking at Bo

shaking his head Bo replies "No idea."

.

Mack nudges Naruto, "Since the ride up is going to take a while, can you teach us what you can on that chakra stuff?"

.

"Sure, the basics take a while to figure out but accessing the chakra network is just a matter of me shoving a thread in

until you sense it, once your 'eyes' are open to it, you will need to map the network through meditation."

taking Macks hand "this may sting a bit, but it took these two only a couple weeks of practice."

.

"Ya", pipes up Nameless, "we found out the kid cannot meditate at all, being in constant motion."

.

"We are going to pay alot more attention, now we know of some of the applications of chakra." states Leeds

.

.

Underworld Lower City

Pit

Pitstop Docks

.

Trying to lighten the mood Leeds resorts to bringing in the latest gossip, "Met an outcast she-wookee that had a skin condition," catching everyones attention, "no fur, better looking than a twi'lek dancer."

"Very short temper, think her name was Sanfa", making a cautious motion with a spare tool from his belt, "she has a very dangerous long blade she dances with." he makes it move like sword

.

Naruto shows his datapad recording, catching the team up on what was said to Zabuza on the recon drop in the office, the team listens in, perking up at the details

.

when the vator arrives at Pitstop, the group is greeted to the view of triple the normal guards

the guards roaming around and scanning everything, ships swarm with several teams scanning all equipment and spaces

five times the party is stopped and scanned before reaching the vators going up to pit-edge, grimacing at the delays the team heads up to the edge

.

.

Underworld Lower City

Pit

Pit-Edge

.

As the team exits their Vator, allowing a decending team access.

They are escorted to a screening area, They are checked for crystals and ecorted to their storage area

Under an escort of small squad of Republic guards the team heads to unload their gear, noticing the numerous holes along the route, showing the locations of missing containers

the guards do a scan of the container when its opened, before allowing the team near it

finding nothing of note the guards gossip with the team, trying to find out why all shifts have been ousted from the barracks for the comprehensive search.

the team's show of the events at the assay office from their datapads have the brighter guards cursing at some of the events

the five stow the still carried gear in their container locker, they program the container, adding naruto to the access list.

.

While being escorted by the security team to the exit, Leeds shows Naruto how to access the news and holonet.

Meanwhile the other three members link in their pads into the holonet, the team starts pulling the latest updates on any major news in/on the city/planet.

posted logs show heavy losses in illegal gear for numerous parties, many were using military quality energy systems for faster/more dangerous mining

illegal items stored in containers and seized have been noted all the way from the lowest ranks to the upper ranks

sadly the highest just paid the fines or were disputing the seizure in planetary Republic courts

.

.

Underworld Lower City

Rewire

Nameless Tower

.

heading the party back to Nameless Tower in Rewire, the team settles in for a powwow after sweeping the area for remotes, bugs and droids.

clearing one of Nameless's rooms the team rounds up supplies of their foods and drinks, setting up the sensor jammer

.

"Now we have the packs but who can we go to that can pressure-treat and shape the crystals," Nameless starts out, "tuning them to the frequencies needed?"

.

Bo waves that detail aside, replying, "Pressure treating them to not shatter is not a problem",

"a slow decompression can be handled, but how do we sell them without blowing the deal and getting killed?"

.

"Unloading on the black market is out, and selling to a corporation openly would be putting our heads on the killing block."

"Could we deal with one of the shipyards directly?", Mack asks

.

Leeds thinks for several minutes as each teammate chips in with options

"One of the smallest shipbuilders or groups dealing with damaged components would be able to handle the crystals" Leeds chips in

.

Naruto got to watch the entire team haggle over the situation, "Do we have to sell right now?"

"The republic will be on edge watching for the corporations trying to bypass the Assay Office."

"The rumors of corps bypassing the republic rep will be bouncing around."

"Stuff slipping through cracks is normal here, but this is more than a few crystals!" Mack grumps.

.

"We will mine to keep the claim active and productive but the main moneymaker is not in mining,"

"Final production and support is where the profits are made."

"It would be terribly suspicious if we did not work the claim while we have it and also the duo may try to dig to the pool anyway."

.

"Anything on the critter samples?" Mack asks

"Living metal, an alloy never seen before, metal and crystal in odd amounts, layers and arrangements," Leeds answered, pointing to some of the results on his datapad

"the limits if replicated might add up to something not seen before."

Bo snorts, and grumps adding, "Science always tries to copy nature first, we just do not know what was planned for it with the duo."

.

.

Underworld Lower City

Rewire

Nameless Tower

.

five days later

meeting up after a mine run by the other four, Leeds having researched possible buyers while out of the pit

"I have several possibles on who to sell to, the main problem is who would have the money first," looking at the group Leeds pauses

"the second goal is not to get caught, as we would lose the claim." getting nods from everyone

.

"Several groups are out due to how they have been breaking the rules with us, it would end up with us losing in the long run."

"Tekworks/Unitech Corperation for building the first part of the mine, and running a second mine at the pool."

"Renraku Arcology for using the hunter trying to kill us and take it over our heat baked bodies."

"Czerka and Kelvarex Consolidated Arms have the worst reputations as money grabbers."

.

"Several of the smaller businesses are being circled by others, corps style hunting-scavenging."

"While Mitsuhama is having people leave like a sieve,"

"Blastech is also running short of crystal, smaller stuff though."

.

"The larger ones have been taking the crystals needed for their contracts, but I have limited details, its high risk, probably one or more takeovers."

"Others being shoved around are repairers with limited supply for customer's repairs."

"Stellar Wave Ltd is one of the best but is stalled out from completing its contracts, details are held tight to the vest there."

"Probably rivals trying to corner the markets and reduce the competition."

"Monopoly cartels are a constant problem here" Leeds mentions to Naruto

.

"How well and often can you do the 'clone' and 'henge' Naruto?"

"Not often, I have not been able to do what I could before arriving here,"

"in that combo about 5 a day, having to have food to refuel between each."

.

"Several people can be used as disguises, Naruto, do you remember several of the jokerz we took down in the mine?"

"maybe mixing them up using the faces of the corp reps for the mines with the Renraku rep tossed in."

"Possibly focusing on the duo-corp, they might end up thinking the deals are going sour."

.

"Slow down Leeds, or we may end up starting a corp war, selling the crystals without being caught is the goal", calls out Nameless

.

Naruto remarks, "different clothes and mannerisms are possible,"

"but how should I dress to be taken seriously without being a obvious, threat or con?"

seeing the sparking in Naruto's eyes "Well-dressed but not rich, bland would be ideal, quiet is key here." Leeds advises cautiously

.

.

O'Maki

HellCity

Lavaforge

.

over the span of the next month,

sadly several places try to rob, cheat or kill the new suppliers, they are each left alone in fading smoke

their mark gone like a breeze, and unseen by them a small hand picks up a comlink before skuttling back into shadows

.

"Would you like to purchase raw drive crystal?"

"What quality? flaws? Size? at what prices? How many?"

"High quality, no flaws, thumb thickness, 50,000 credits, six."

"Certainly, do you have them here?"

"No, I will have a partner bring them if we can arrange payment.."

pulling out a com link the seller acts as if placing a call for the delivery, releasing a chakra pulse

"Would you like a tour while we wait for your collegues arrival."

"Certainly."

unseen from the desk a hand drops from the sellers ankle

quickfinger-stepping under the desk, the seller and a guide exit the room for a tour

the small droid listens as an ambush is planned

it begins placing a series of paper slips in odd niches under the desk

if it could smile, it would, 'dispel'.

the explosion was sufficient to remove the selling clone in the confusion of the blast,

also putting the desk on a new floor, three floors above

the dealbreaker and his goons had a bad day,

the case carrying clone? it turned and walked back the way it came

leaving the local offices Czerka Arms Hellfire Ship Assembly wondering what happened.

.

one sale went well, till the buying manager thought

have a combat team track them down and 'relieve them' of the cred stick

sadly, murphey was laughing when the

Kelvarex Consolidated Arms combat team found only an empty closet when they stormed the 'room'

entered by the seller, a small droid carrying the cred chip through the vent system

exiting into a trandoshans carry bag outside the building.

"Statement does this qualify as a handbag now?"

.

the deal went normal enough, till TH-NG heard the Mitsuhama boss's next set of orders,

"Call manager Dagun at Czerka, I think the crew that blew up his assistant's office, are here trying the same deal, raw drive crystals for credits."

allied with Czerka, Mitsuhama Shipyard's manager tries to set up, track, and kill the team

TH-NG had fun clearing their computers of new designs, installation tips, upgrade tricks and adding flaws to designs under construction for the upper echelons own use

durning his Ramble Scramble of the system, TH-NG found the local manager used one of the workers in a bet at a casino in Makai City,

then had complaining workers and relatives sent to 'Afterlife', the fact that 90% of the remaining workers are slaves bound by explosive security chip to the Mitsuhama shipyard

was unwelcome news to the team when TH-NG reported in

TH-NG also cleared (relocated) a small supply of tracable and untracable cred chips (used as a slush fund), while making the local manager's embezzlement public to the holonet

once TH-NG was back with the team he raised a question, "Query did this qualify as a handjob?"

.

the most simple escape was using a pen to 'ink' the sensors and leave only a fading patch of mist

when the seller was confined to a separate room when both clone and 'ink' dispelled

with a hand helping itself to data from the desk of the dishonest manager of Blastech

.

"Well one of the good things we found out was Blastech was working with Killian Arms," Leeds chats, "they were short on crystal due to equiping an army for the Republic."

"Have you seen these stats for the DC-15s Sidearm Blaster, TH-NG got for us?", mutters Bo looking at the stats "They are using old weak crystal for these plasma blasters."

"What would they do with quality crystals and better parts?" humms Nameless, tightening up the design for faster use

"Who's next?" Mack and Naruto grinning at the group

.

.

Underworld Upper Region

Near Katana Tower

Shipyard Docks

.

after making an appointment "News on the street says you need crystals for your company to complete its contract" states the quietly speaking grey haired

youth, sliding his glasses to the bridge of his nose, eyes never leaving the company owner

.

looking at the human-humanoid cautiously, "Who's asking?"

.

setting a small case by his feet, "I'm a new supplier trying to enter the market without getting robbed or mobbed."

.

"Black Market?"

.

"Na, grey at best though." says the stranger

"You could call it a prank on the corps though, for you survival, for them failure and embarrasement."

.

"You are aware of my rivals trying to gut my company, and still want to deal?"

.

"How did the corps trap you in this problem?" holding out a palm upward, sliding the hand to the side leaving an opening for the chat to continue.

.

slumping back into the chair watching the youth, "Aya, the contracts for the ships and chips were easy, some of the components less so,"

"at this point I have the hulls and basic equipment, but the key components have dried up."

"Some are available, but at ten times the going rate or more."

.

"Some of the crystals can be sold to you, if you have reasonable rates for raw crystals."

.

"Raw crystals? How did you get raw crystals?"

.

with a smile razor-edged, "The corps have a backdoor, I slipped out the Back" states Naruto using Kabuto's face

"The republic rep is aware of something like this and is now hunting out where the opening is and it will soon be blocked."

"But that is closing the hangar after the ship has left in this situation."

.

greed warring with eagerness on his face the shipwright leans forward, "Problem is I can only pay a minor amount till the work is completed and the contract is completed and registered,"

.

"then the rest of the payment can be arranged or worked out." smiling naruto thinks 'hooked!' as he picks up his case

.

"I have to warn you, I am only a few short steps from losing the company," states the owner as Kabuto's form stands and heads to the door

.

tilting his head "Something can be arranged." the stranger says before he steps out, returning a few minutes later

after a hidden clone reports no sudden plans for backstabbing or relievement of the 'goods' has been planned

.

"Here is a crystal to work with, we can provide more but we will need money or other options."

smiling and pushing up his glasses, "What can you offer?" looking at the shipwright

looking at the odd smile across the desk, caution twitches the shipwright's nerves, "Let's see if this crystal can be worked with first." sliding the crystal into a pressurized tuner

.

"What difference is there?"

.

"The best crystals are in tune with and speed up the hyperdrive allowing a faster ship." the shipwright states offhandedly distracted by the work being done

"The crystals I get usually work, but are lesser versions that have feedback slowing the hyperdrive."

.

"Looking at the readings from the tuner, one of the best crystals I have seen yet."

taking it to the cutter for fitting he inserts the pressurized tray

manipulating the controls to pick up and set the cutting to get it started.

.

after the cutting he takes the main crystal back to the tuner, "Good, no flaws, and the crystal stayed in tune without any major harmonics." looking over the equipment

"This one crystal alone can finish the ship that has been built, with that complete I can pick up secondary options to continue constructing the same model Cruiser."

pulling a blank cred stick and putting it to implace payment, "Is this a steady supply? If so, what are you pricing the crystals at?"

.

the prices named make the shipwright go pale, leaning back he thinks on less used options that might make it more reasonable

"Might let you buy in as partners, if you have credits and you're interested?"

.

.

once the deal was finalized the shipwright had guests in some of his 'new' partners and a kid they brought along as mascot

had to be a mascot, they were not of comparable or compatable races.

Having a shift leader guide the party on a tour of the yard, he studied his new 'partners'.

.

noticing the mascot did not go with the tour, he turns to the brat as the child asked

"What started you up on making ships?" pointing a thumb at the dockyard

.

"I was what was called a capsuleer, I got caught in a wormhole and dropped far from the normal regions."

"I was compelled to try to get back in by my implants and blew up my ship, trying to cross the nebula shell surrounding my old area,"

"that region is a little over 100 light years across."

"The charged particles created by a massive supernova an eternity ago prevent entry and exit, so no going home by any direct method."

"Another ship was in the region and saved me, dragged me and the remains of my pod here.", pointing to an odd ship stuck in a corner of the ship dock

"They helped me pull myself back together, scrapped the implants that turned me into a spy-bot for one of the groups back home, then we went looking on what we could do for a ship."

"Even have some spare implants that they salvaged and de-bugged from my old main ship." pointing a thumb at some wall mounted decorations

.

"Got in good with a Trimexian after they picked me up, he helped me with an obsolete version of one of their recon drones"

"We took apart a salvaged Tsandak cube ship, linked the two up, added what was left of my old pod, then debugged the systems."

"Fine tuned the memorymetals best as we could though, needs more rare elements to go further."

"Not enough to get me back home in the microsystems though."

.

"What is a wormhole?"

.

"Best guess a pocket in space, use to be a theory that two black holes impacting can turn themselves inside out to form a conduit between places"

"They are a shortcut faster than even hyperspace, some might even span between galaxies." looking the kid over

the conversation and his comprehension and questions slowly taking him out of the mascot theory

.

"In my home space they are pockets where even star systems have formed."

"So my best guess is a weak spot in space, or an anomaly that gravity has formed or a combination of both."

"Back home I think when the core star blew in a supernova, it affected an entire cluster it was central in."

"The pockets collected some of the ejecta and formed new stars and planets across the entire area."

"Even forming in the pockets themselves, who knows if those are stable though." he mutters reminicing on home

.

"Wormholes were contantly forming and linking to random systems throughout the nebula."

"Some podders even lived in the micro-systems living, fighting, dying."

looking into the distance seeing memories of distant places, "Some may still be." says the old man

"Entire area was ten times richer than anyplace I've seen outside since I got here."

"The suns in their flaring, eject more material and constantly provide miners rich gatherings of ore."

"Assuming they can defend against ganking raiders and outlaw pirates."

.

"Those are only guesses, they do not teach this history back home, or keep those records."

ruffling the boys hair in passing, "Learn from the past, do not make their mistakes, you will make your own successes and failures."

.

.

Underworld Lower City

Merged-City Tube Transport

Rewire District

.

coming out of the cross-planet transport, the team notices that further on there are battered vehicles with people being forcefully loaded into the back of each

many look like people seen on the street earlier in the day

aside from themselves the street is empty of all people

.

Nameless curses hissing "Their doing a sweep."

"The pressgangs are gathering the dross up, anyone living on the street will be fair game."

Leeds mutters quietly, "I will have to check on who did the bribing to set this up, this was done on short notice."

.

"Weapons out," Nameless calls quietly to the party, "point them down but ready them,"

"if they try to sweep us up, shoot the leader, use grenades to their rear, back away firing, but use any cover to block their return fire."

moving steadily away from the sweepers, the team moves to a different branching sidestreet

distant eyes watch, looking for any profit

.

days later

stepping from nearby shadows to bar their path, "Nameless, word has it you have something." teeth showing, a young trandoshan stays near an open door

Nameless snarls at his name turned to insult, but he is use to the young arrogant hunters.

"No Kinslayer, nothing" looking at the young scalecrest, every shift watched with care.

.

"Yet you train again, perhaps others, old warmaster?" the young trand slides past his elder

.

Nameless's hand claws rest at the ready near his belt

hissing negative in the Dosh low tones "Just a brat, looking for his kin, chance dropped in."

.

seeing the risk not yet worth the hunt the young scalecrested trandoshan tilts his head away and shuts his mouth

he heads down the street, thinking to himself, 'perhaps the info on the hunted may bring a few favors in the right ears'

.

.

Underworld Lower City

Rewire District

Market Area

.

in areas around the market, shadows shift and flow

confident hunters move in surrounding the prey they choose to hunt

.

in one of the main streets on the sub-level, Jokerz attack from upper windows as shadows shift in alleys nearby

one joker slings two paint grenades at the walking forms below, items are dropped and weapons drawn as everything goes boom

as the grenades shockwave and smoke flow from the accessways on the main street nearby

racing forms run from nearby side-streets into the smoke expecting the hunted to be blind and damaged if not dead 'former' opponents

drawing weapons before even entering the alley access, watchers and witnesses dodge away looking for safety from the attack

spatters of paint coats the surrounding surfaces, forcing the attackers to slip and slide on the wet paint

fading smoke fills the passage, echos fading, the area empty around them, empty of their targets till hissing papers suddenly move the attackers

the secondary explosions slam the jokerz against walls and piping

permanantly ending the fight

the alley goes quiet, till shifting feet and claws scrape the stone as scavengers begin stripping anything of value

in the distance, only the clone's maker walks away

.

.

Maze of the Pit

Pit Claims Area

.

Shyriiwook howls and snarls greet the party as they enter the claims pit

"Leeds, word on the street is you are dealing with some of the lesser corps." rasping words are stated by the carried translation unit of the wookie pitboss

ears nearby perk at the start of the conversation

"Actually yes" pipes up Leeds looking up at the Wookiee Maze boss

"Why?" grunts the wookiee, as nearby eavesdroppers and gossipers listen

"You know we have a fire chamber, with crystals in it?," to this the wookiee nods, "We need to heat proof a droid or work out something to mine the crystals."

"Based on the rep and admin." glancing to the republic office and nodding his head "If we tried using their equipment their charges would be used to break the claim and take it."

the old wookiee nods in agreement, laughing at the odds, based on what happened less than two months earlier "Luck and living trees keep you." the old wookiee states walking back to his post

.

.

once Leeds leaves Pitstop returning to the edge of the pit above, large dominating forms in a clear area turn to Leeds vator-lift as the doors open

Large forms advance clearing a path to Leeds without obvious agression, when they stop near him the space widens "get in" one moans as it points off to the side

where an elaborate jetspeeder waits in the direction where the claw points,

"Where are we going?" asks Leeds of the towering forms of the two mandallian giants

"Cloudcrest" answers the second

"The boss wants to talk, you speak for your team yes?" asks the first giant

nodding, Leeds nerves are stretched almost to breaking

.

.

Cloudcrest

in the Crown

above the Gardens

.

ushered through several checkpoints Leeds is taken to a vaulted executive office, "Do you have samples of the new mineral?"

demands the old human elder seated on a luxurious commanding throne, seated behind a desk that had a higher value than Nameless Tower

.

very formally Leeds replies "What new mineral?" to the aged human sitting in front of him

'something is off, this elder has no force lifesign, but the body is warm, sweats, has a pulse'

'even subconcious moving shows indicators for Lorrdian bodytalk, this is no normal droid poser'

.

snorting the old man brings up on the side screen images of the fluid metal, "The cave that was at the end of your claim, provided samples of a new mineral."

"We got confirmation from the mine reps records, additional confirmation came from the droids that went in and verified the claims." showing cave views of where the pool was located

"You have no idea how expensive it was to have the systems sliced and all records of the last chamber altered before it could be noticed."

"Handily your team provided the needed material to.. distract the others."

.

"You're mistaken, It is not a mineral as you say, but a life-form."

"What!" shocked the old man leans forward

"Some sort of lava-heat-pressure adapted plasmid." elaborates the sullustran

"It has a metal crystaline alloy fluid body, differing from mynocks that have an electric-mineral form."

"And it was being eaten by the mynocks that crawled through the bore hole the bore sampler allowed access to the life form."

"They were eating the being alive."

.

Leeds looking the human over, quickly thinking to himself

'the fact that you are talking to us makes me think we did better than average locking the mine claim down from being taken away from us'

.

"Do you have proof of what you state?" demands the old man

"Of course, may I approach?" at the man's nod he carefully pulls his datapad out, accessing the recorded files he then hands it to the dangerous old man

giving the corp leader time to view the video files of the fluid metal sweeping through the mynock cave stored in Leeds datapad, Leeds continues the dialog

"Continuing to examine it, we found it able to eat mynoc remains, minerals and drink or consume mineral acids"

"Currrently it does not seem to be thriving or dying, but based on how long it has been known, we have not had enough time to gauge"

.

"Address me as Mason,"

sitting back and settling into his chair "do you have further samples of the lifeform?" asks the old man

bowing and nodding Leeds mentions "a few pieces flaked off in finding a way to keep it located in the chamber"

.

tilting his head, "if they are available for sale, what would you charge?" asks the human

.

"A fair price and a little stability in the maze would be nice. The current shifts within the mine have many planning to abandon."

"To let things cool and stabilize. Many think the corps are about to take over, or keep vast areas."

.

returning the datapad after copying the video files, the old man summons an aide gives a few orders to her

she returns the pad to Leeds, bowing and gesturing to a more formal door exiting the chamber

she guides Leeds out of the complex, heading to the artist tower where Leeds lives

without fanfare Leeds hands her a cylnder holding the bulk of the small flakes first gathered

she bows to the sullustran before leaving

afterward Leeds finds a one use comlink on his datapad

labeled only 'Largo'

'I thought he wanted to be addressed as Mason?' as Leeds closed his datapad.

.

a few days later a cred stick is delivered, totaling more money than ever seen to the team before

on a cred stick labeled 'Genom'

.

.

Underworld Lower City

Nameless Tower

Main Hall

.

an old rival and friend's approach sends nervous shivers racing in his spine

giving traditional greetings and salutes of honor ease Nameless's nerves, "Nameless, rumor mill says something odd happening."

"An odd boy from off-planet," looking at nameless via one eye as the two pace the corridor, "tests with odd results."

"Fighting is increasing as hunters shift and push in the shadows trying to.. ready hunting blinds to attack from."

the lone eye watching as he speaks, "Even in the Maze the dangers pile and shift like loose sand."

"Anything you can advise?"

.

Nameless nods "Later perhaps, with fewer listeners."

the two nod and shift their paths, parting to other ways

.

.

echoes from somewhere closer

.

"Master Windu, an assassin was stopped, while protecting the Senator of Naboo"

"The assassin had an acomplice that killed him with an odd dart"

"This prevented him from being interrogated."

.

"As for the dart I recommend your friend at the diner on level 411"

"Take your padwan."

.

.

in a deep diner a guest is greeted by the cook as he enters

cook and friends chatting, "Nicknames Heartburn", introducing himself to his friend's guest as the cook tossing and turning the food

woosh pale flames almost reach the roof

"Dang, don't worry I can spice it so you won't notice what happened to it"

.

later in the greasy diner on a metal coated world

questions are raised over a dart between friends

a place mentioned, warning of the customs

a friend watches the door close

.

.

turning to a shadowed form, stepping in from a side door

.

shaking his head, "You could have warned him." says the cook.

.

taking the empty seat at the table, "I am the first to retire in over 600 years"

"My master Dooku argued with me, even though he also left the jedi after I did."

"Others that planned to retire and announced their plans, were sent on final 'fatal' missions before they could retire."

.

"The jedi move and act only if they agree with a senate council 'request', if they acomplish more than intended,

it is by accident of the on site jedi 'exceeding orders', and is then reprimanded."

"The reputation of the jedi has fallen so far, it is only the past history that keeps them on this planet."

"Politics would have had them taken to a prison planet or exiled out of the Republic otherwise."

.

"Outsiders think the younger jedi are being used as expendable 'troops' to solve problems, or die trying,"

"sadly there may be some truth to the thought, as the order has been slowly downsized across the centuries."

"They do not train in the old powers and styles, saying they lead to the dark side."

snacking on the food previously ignored by his 'old' padwan, "The council has grown old, conservative and takes few actions."

"The council spies on my padwan and I, yet does not even attempt to block the multiple bounty hunters, or lift the numerous bounties."

"On the upside the profits of 'hunting the hunters' is keeping us and others supplied and equipped."

.

"The Council may send hunters, every 'retiring' jedi was eventually described as 'turned' to the dark side by historical accounts."

"Each was killed by the jedi eventually, inconvienent people are given a fancy funeral," a napkin drying his sweating brow from the spices used on the food,

"and become the next tale told to the learners, 'In their pride and arrogance they fell to the dark side'."

standing up from the booth, "their choices are him, Windu or both, to hunt us down". resting his hand on his friends shoulder

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the cook watches as his 'old' friend fades from view, before the door opens and closes, anyone exiting unseen to sight.

'That's new to me.' laughing as he returned to the kitchen

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omake

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trees miles high covering the entire planet, that is Kashyykk

and the squirrels are scar-ry, most call them wookiees

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