A change in the winds. (Open)

[Jarak Kai]

-Deep Space-

Within an old and forgotten hyperspace corridor, the 'Phoenix' roared through the blue swirling tunnel towards her destination. Within the slanted cockpit sat a man who until recently, had been absent from the known areas of the galaxy. Yet this was to be the fate of all Jedi, now that Taris was no more and they decided to venture out. It suited him well, for he'd travelled a lot before he came to the Jedi and didn't miss a step in their new philosophy. It was also good to be away from the war, the encounter with Empress Krynn, victory or not, was littered with consequences he hadn't been ready to bare.

A quiet beeping noise chirps from the left console. He was arriving at his destination. The mind of a Jedi Knight was supposed to be focused, refined and somewhat soaked in wisdom yet all Jarak could think about was having some hot junk food. He'd relied on his own means in the recent past and it didn't make for very interesting meals. Nevertheless, he knew he'd have to make contact with the other Jedi eventually, though he only really knew one enough to call him a friend. He hadn't heard of Master Buggie's whereabouts for sometime.

The YT erupted from hyperspace to an unnamed world, stripped of any identity by it's neutrality and general purpose as a stop off for all spacers. Coming towards the atmosphere, there was no spaceport authority to speak of, just a couple of Starfighters no doubt housing the best pilots the controlling party could muster. Though he was happy to see a familiar ship in the form of an old Republic gunboat, though he wasn't sure if it had been repurposed for someone else. He passed by and landed without incident.

The ramp lowered and carbon dioxide filters chucked out what it hadn't managed to get rid of in space. Down the steps came a middle-aged human, male, about six foot tall and relatively broad shouldered. Upon the shoulders rested a rich brown cloak, lapping over a neatly folded white tunic, secured tightly by warm fabric and a brown leather belt around his waist section. In front of him waited a Rodian, dressed in a blue mechanical suit that had seen better days.

"What the krath is that? You some kind of monk of something?" The Rodian male uttered in Huttese.

"Do you greet all who land here with judgement?" Jarak asked in return.
"No, just those who don't carry blasters, wear flight suits or armour. They usually cause the most trouble."
"Well at least let me cause trouble before chastising me for it, first."

His reply only infuriated the Rodian, who knew he was being toyed with, but interestingly enough the comments about lack of armour or blasters and the Rodian's paranoia of something happening caused him to imagine that he wasn't the first of his kind to walk through here, but he wondered if the trouble had ended in their favour. One thing was certain, his ship's communications were faulty and he needed to access a transmitter, or at least buy the parts to repair his own. Unlike the Jedi of the Old Republic, Jedi these days often had their own possessions in tow, and as such Jarak sported a hefty bank account which was useful in times like these. He did wonder how the Jedi of the past got by at times.

He kept his hood up as he made his way through to the market sector. To his great surprise, the first stall was ran by a Bothan, who was more than happy to take some of Jarak's credits to satisfy the Jedi's unusual craving for junk food. With what looked like a Corellian Fold in hand, he continued shopping. He picked up a couple of things here and there, mostly spares to keep his ship's stores up, but came across an old woman leaning on the cracked edge of a building who's sandy walls matched the landscape of the planet. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something pulled him towards her wares.

"Hello there." He said in Huttese.
"Hello young man, I knew you had an eye for these the moment I set eyes on you." She replied in the same tongue. Her hair was wrapped back in a dried out leather garment and a knitted shawl rested over her aged skin and hung neatly from her bony shoulders. She was easily seventy years old by Coruscant making.

Jarak looked closer at the items, not seeing what had pulled his attention so at first, but then it hit him. Two lights, one blue and one red, or at least that's how he perceived them in his force-tuned sight.

'Holocrons'.

The chances that this woman was just happening to sit upon two holocrons from unknown origin, in an open market was bizarre and unlikely a coincidence.

"Do you have more of these ones?" He asked, not hoping to let on too much interest but she was a shrewd business woman and he wouldn't be able to hide the gaze he first gave them.

"A few, but I don't like to unload all my stock to just one man. I gotta let my wares travel to more than just one place." She replied, confirming what he was afraid of. From his time as the Sith Lord, 'Nakarus', he'd come in contact with many ancient Sith relics which survived millennia of Jedi and Sith purges by sitting outside of the galactic scene. He imagined that these two had evaded destruction by a similar means, but what was really interesting lay on the etchings of the cuboids. Both similar, yet both entirely different in their attunement through the force.

"What if I paid enough for them?" He said.
"I don't think Jedi carry much wealth with them, do they? Not enough for six of them, I'm afraid." She replied.
"What makes you think I'm a Jedi?" He asked.
"Oh deary, I imagine the lightsaber you're carrying beneath your robes would ignite a blade that'd match the depths of those blue eyes of yours. I can 'feel' when I'm near Kybar, and your weapon carries a most potent stone, if I'm not mistaken." She explained.
"You're a force wielder?" Jarak said, smiling almost. It was one of the most interesting moments for him, when he encountered those who lived through the force, more than just by connection, but without the tappings of Jedi or Sith, or any other teachings.
"I used to come from a dark world, you'd know it, and thus I shall not say it. My sisters and I all ended up on very different futures after the Empire came, but I think you of all Jedi would understand that I mean you no harm, in fact I've not used the force such as you do in sometime. I came here to live simply. Yet I left the 'weave' behind and embrace the force as a whole. You still have etchings of a different path to a Jedi upon you, but you emit light wherever you walk. I saw you coming some ways off. Perhaps you'd think about learning to hide that?"

Several hours passed, Jarak sat next to her, discussing her life, the force and all that entailed it. Two people who'd been on different sides of very strict creeds, from very different worlds. He enjoyed the company, mostly. Fortunately for him, he'd not only managed to persuade her to part with all but one of the light holocrons, he had managed to gain her trust to take away the ones which harboured dangerous teachings, but she also had a banged up crow level bolt. It wasn't perfect but it was more than adequate to fix his comm relay aboard the Phoenix. In turn, he'd left her with a substantial sum of credits. If she had any worries or money troubles before, she'd not worry after that.

On his way back to the ship, he began to wonder where he would get rid of these holocrons. He hesitated to call them Sith, because he wasn't entirely sure they were, but they definitely seeped with darkness, a darkness which recoiled at his touch. Clearly, the light within repulsed them.

[Rhoden Carbine]

"Lena Hollary!" Rhoden boomed warmly grabbing the Twi'lek and giving her a bone-breaking squeeze. "Rhoden! Let me go, you're going to kill me!" she gasped. Complying Rhoden beamed as she collapsed into a seat and glared at him. He was wearing his Carbine Shadowguard armor, though any marking which would have tied him to the Empire was absent from this set. Haly stood beside him also in her armor, Jorvan waited discreetly outside in the event of trouble.

"What do you want?" Lena asked as a rather poorly maintained droid set two more drinks on her table. Rhoden sat, Haly doing likewise and removed his helmet. He lifted the drink to his lips and drank, it was rather disgusting comparatively speaking, but he had had worse. "Ah." Rhoden said blinking and smacking his lips, "Well I'm putting together a network of informants--nothing too serious. Already grabbed Darnik, Gerys, and Halloway. There's a whole big spiel I've been giving, if you want it, here it is." Rhoden said leaning back in his seat and speaking as though bored, he threw a datacard on the table between them. Haly tentatively took a sip of her drink and began coughing violently. Patting her on the back Rhoden watched as Lena put in the datacard and began reading. "Well?" he asked when she finished.

"Hmpf. Fine, I'll do it. This had better pay well." Rhoden rolled his eyes but smiled, she had never been polite and did far too much grumbling about anything she could think of but he knew her well enough to see the kindness beneath it all. "Very good, if and when I require something an agent will contact you."

Not bothering to pay the bill, which Lena noticed with narrowed eyes, Rhoden and Haly stood up, put their helmets back on, and left. They attracted few stares, for their armor was not at all of Imperial design--and even if it was Rhoden doubted whether or not anyone would truly care enough to look twice unless to consider relieving them of it. As it was they had no difficulty making their way through the city--if it could really be called that.

Rhoden turned to Haly to speak but walked right into another man, "Oh, sorry there I--" Rhoden said turning to the man. He paused, the person he had bumped into was middle-aged and wore fairly simple robes--familiar robes. Rhoden tilted his helmeted head, "Hmm. You Jedi?" he asked, his voice neutral.