The Vertical City. Nar Shaddaa. They call it the Smuggler's Moon—an apt description based on the myriad of sentients shuffling back and forth with their illegal wares and hidden weapons. The narrow streets below you criss-cross endlessly, soaring miles above the planet's surface. Exposed and uncovered, the streets offer a nearly perfect setting for someone with some skills with ranged weapons. Your own vantage point, standing on the ledge of a towering structure of glass and steel, offers you a dizzying view of the cityscape.

Your eyes scan the distance for enemies. Snipers could be set up in almost every building. The streets are plagued with violent gangs and the general riff raff of the poor and destitute. The streets may be an ideal place for blasters, but the winding streets are difficult to disappear from. An opponent would be easily boxed in and simple to finish with a few quick slashes of a lightsaber. The moon is dangerous—even for a Jedi.

Turel closed his eyes for a moment, taking in the cool breeze and soft cacophony of city noise that was the very pulse of night time in Nar Shaddaa. The familiar sensation evoked mixed feelings in the old thug turned Jedi, it brought him joy to see the moon looking more and more like its old self with each visit. At the same time the familiarity of Nar Shaddaa brought about a deep sadness for it was not the same, the smuggler’s moon he grew up with was gone forever, a casualty of the Vong.

An impatient male Togruta sat a few meters from Turel on the roof fiddling with a strange plant he found on the way to this part of the city. Most likely one of the species to populate Nar Shaddaa post Vongforming. “So, what kind of resistance should we expect?”

Turel opened his eyes, pulled out of the moment of enjoying the flowing life of the city, and returned to watching the exterior of a shady nightclub through a pair of macrobinoculars. “Two bouncers at the front door, two more near the coat check and I’d say at least six guards inside the club itself at various posts. The back room-” he lowered the marcobinoculars to shrug, “-probably a dozen or more armed thugs.”

The Torgruta rolls his eyes in irritation, “Pssh, Nothing I can’t handle. I still don’t know why Celevon insisted you come along on this contract.”

“Well Lex-, do you mind if I call you Lex?”

Lexiconus glared back at the Obelisk Knight with his ruby eyes, “Very much so.”

“Good, well Lex, I’m here to keep you out of trouble. Nar Shaddaa can be a tricky place, even for a Force user. You go charging into a club like that and you’ll end up a pile of disintegrated ash on the floor.”

The Krath shook his head and returned to studying his plant specimen. “I can complete this mission just fine on my own, I certainly don’t need Jedi help.”

“Our esteemed ACB commissioner feels otherwise.” The Jedi Guardian turned Obelisk closed his eyes and rubbed his temples in irritation, “Look, you’re a smart kid, I remember you from Lyspair. You’re book smart, but you lack street smarts. Like it or not we’re a team for this one, let me get us inside and then you can use your talents for field interrogation.”

Lexiconus exhaled deeply in resignation to the inevitable, “Very well, just don’t hold me back with your Jedi sensibilities. This could get ugly.”

“Lex, I was roughing people up on these streets before you were born.”

“So what’s the plan old man?”

Turel handed the Torgruta his newly constructed lightsaber, “Don’t lose this, I just built it.”

The Krath looked puzzled, “Why are you giving me this-” he noticed the Arconan symbol on the hilt, “-and what happened to your Jedi lightsaber?”

“I had to leave my first one on New Tython, but that’s not important. There’s a weapon check at the front door and you can smuggle two lightsabers in easier than I can. You’re better at the Jedi mind trick than I am.” The Obelisk smiled.

Lexiconus shook his head with an unamused ‘I see what you did there’ look on his face as he secured Turel’s lightsaber under his cloak. “So, we get past the weapons check then what?”

The ex-gangster put the marcrobinoculars into his bag and pulled out a datapad to show to his mission partner. “We go in together, you remember our cover stories right?”

“Yeah, I’m a xenobotanist here to study the post-Vong plantlife and you’re a local I’ve hired as my bodyguard.”

Turel nodded with satisfaction, “Once we’re inside you go to the bar and act naturally for a few minutes while I inspect the security measures as your ‘bodyguard’ and case the place. We create a diversion up front then sneak into the back with our lightsabers to find the target. You won’t have much time to interrogate him before his entire gang shows up to the club.” He tapped his lip for a moment in thought. “Oh and one more thing, there’s an open bounty on all Jedi, so try to keep as discreet as possible with the lightsabers and using the Force outside the club.”

“I’m not a Jedi!”

“You think some two-bit wannabe bounty hunter cares which side of the Force you fall on? You carry a lightsaber and use the Force, that’s all he cares about.”

“Fair point.”

The two Knights made their way down to the club entrance where they were greeted by the two bouncers, a Cathar with golden fur and a pale green Gammorean. The Cathar put up his hand to stop the Arconans and inquire their identities in Huttese. “No entrance unless you’re on the list”

Turel looked both ways in a sly manner before replying in Huttese, “Look man, I’m trying to show my client here a good time.” He decretely slipped the bouncer some credits and reached out with the Force to make the bouncer think the bribe was far larger than it actually was. “I’m sure our names are on the list.”

The Cathar gave a knowing nod to his Gammorean partner before slipping the credits into his pocket. “It seems your names are on the list. No weapons allowed, you’ll have to check them here.”

Turel removed his combat belt containing his pistol and grenades before handing it to the Gammorean. “Of course.”

The Cathar pointed to Lexiconus. “Him too.”

“Oh he’s just a scholar, he doesn’t carry any weapons. Which is why he hired me.” Turel switch to Basic to address his ‘client.’ “You don’t have any weapons on your person do you?” He decretely tilted his head toward the bouncers as a signal.

The Krath took the hint and waved his hand in front of the bouncers. “I don’t have any weapons.”

The Cathar replied with questionable certainty, as if he were just remembering something. “You don’t have any weapons.” He shook his head. “You are both clear to go inside, stay out of trouble.”

The two Knights entered the crowded club and made their way to the bar. Turel ordered the pair drinks and turned to Lex with a whisper, “Ok, I’m going to go have a look around, just stay here for a bit.” The Togruta rolled his eyes in reply and returned to his drink. Satisfied, Turel slipped back into the club crowd.

The Krath grew impatient waiting for his Obelisk partner to return and stepped away from the bar with a fresh drink in his hand. As he attempted to traverse the club floor a mustard skinned male Devorian bumped into him spilling his drink all over his black cloak. Lex looked down at his now soiled cloak in disgust. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!” As he started brushing at his cloak to disperse the excess drink, the Devorian caught a glimpse of one of the Lightsabers on his belt through Lex’s now shifting robes.

The Devorian patron’s eyes grew wide and before the Krath realized what was going on he pointed at Lex and shouted, “He’s a Jedi, this is a bust!” before running toward the back of the club.

Turel was on the back side of the club when he heard the commotion. “Oh you have got to be kidding me!” He pushed his way through the crowd toward the source of the commotion.

Lex found himself in the middle of the club with all eyes on him. Several patrons backed away and several more stood up from their tables and moved toward the young Arconan in a menacing manner. He didn’t speak Huttese, but he knew something had just gone terribly wrong. When three guards rushed into the club with weapons trained, a emerald lightsaber came to life in response.

By this point most of the patrons began to flee in a panic while the gang-affiliated patrons slowly encircled the now exposed Krath. Nobody seemed to want to make the first move in the tense stand-of.

“Kriff it!” Turel rushed the nearest guard with Force-enhanced speed, tackling him to the ground and struggling for the guard’s blaster. The two remaining armed guards opened fire on Lex who blocked both opening shots while shifting around the room to keep the guards in front of him. The unarmed thugs rushed to the weapons check at the front of the club to arm themselves.

Having subdued his opponent and taken the guard’s blaster, Turel flipped a nearby table and began trading shots with the two armed guards. “I’d like my lightsaber back now. If you’re not too busy.”

Riled and feeling on edge by this new company, Lexiconus decided to keep his ground and grip his toes into the cold and flat metal floor. His eyes fixed keenly behind the viridian glow of his blade, his fury had developed. From here, his mind sought out to kill them all and he was unshaken from his objective. Agreed, Lex could deflect their attempts, but only until they learned his tactics.

“Kid! What are you doing? Give me Celestia!” Turel shouted from his treasured cover.

With a whip of his fingers, Lexic pulled the lightsaber with the Force from his holster and in a quick arc across the air, landed it into the Aedile’s hand. His fiery red eyes never left his enemy throughout these tense seconds. Feeling a sense of security, the Human sparked up his blade and grinned. He felt nostalgic to begin a Nar Shaddaa brawl. Lexic then made the judgement to find cover. He slowly began to back away from the gang that formed at the entrance of the club. The flashes of red and pew-pew sounds of the blasters filled the room once the Togruta moved, and he took this moment to sit on a table, roll backwards and fall behind it. With a swift kick his his foot, he launched the table onto it’s side before the blaster fire could meet him.

“Good work genius, now we’re both stuck. Got another plan?” The Aedile said, curling his lips in regret.

Black burn marks and pieces of metal flew across Lex’s table as he sat in worry, with his lightsaber clenched tightly. Then as if a light turned on inside the Togruta’s mind, he quickly turned to face the table on the spot and began to heave the table across the floor. He groaned and grunted as the table screeched closer to the gang, their blasters continued to bounce off this moving shield. The hysterical laughter from guards echoed in the room as they watched this table crawl.

“Great now what Lex? You got a blaster?” Turel shouted over, it was clear Lex didn’t think this far.

Silence began to fall and the steam from the blaster shots was the only sound in the club. With some curious, Lexic slowly peered over the table with his lightsaber armed and saw the gang watching in anticipation. He frowned softly as he returned to his cover, only to be disturbed by his partner’s screaming.

“Jump kid! Get outta there!”

Lex quickly looked at his nearest foot to see a small, black device beeping a red light. The skin on his back of his spine shivered with dread. In a state of rushed adrenaline, he jumped into a backflip and rolled over the bar as he was caught in a cloud of fire and smoke. The sea-blue body was knocked from the top bar along with several glasses and bottles, that smashed onto the ground. The laughter of the guard increased as they revelled in the apparent murder of a Jedi.

As the Aedile kept his head down in safety, he noticed from the edge of his cover that a whiskey bottle slowly tipped over and began pouring onto the bar floor. Waves of shrieking and agony echoed and filled the room from behind the bar. Blood curdling sounds and frantic kicks against the bar was all they heard until the alcohol stopped pouring. Satisfied in the ‘Jedi’s’ death, the gang turned their attention to the Human and blasted his cover with waves of firepower, laughing all the time. Courage and fury began to sweep over Turel as he took out Luna and prepared for his final fight. The blaster fire ended and he waited for a couple of seconds longer to take a breath in, then turned forward and stood with two hand clutched to the blaster.

Not a soul in sight. The club was empty and looked like a bad storm past through. Turel sheathed his lightsaber, then replaced his hand back on the hilt. Slowly shifting from his cover, he peered over the bar staff door to see no Lex, lots of alcohol and a pool of blood.

“Kid! Where are you? We need to leave!” The Human shouted around. Then a sense of dread blanketed Turel.

He peered back at the door to find the gang were outside and double in numbers, some with heavy plated rifles that needed two hands. There was also one gang member with a vibroknife and thermal goggles. The worried Aedile quickly ran to the back of the cantina and booted up another table for cover. Knelt behind the precious base, he pulled out all his ammo, his thermal detonators, a grenade, Luna and Celestia all on the ground before him. Then with a soft sigh, he reloaded Luna and picked it firmly up. His keen eyes peered over his cover and contemplated the outcome.

“Well, here goes nothing. I guess Nar Shaddaa never leaves some people.” He chuckled to himself. Then from the corner of his eye, the gang marched into the cantina.

Even after recovering his personal weapons, Turel still didn’t like the odds. A dozen or so thugs armed with heavy blaster rifles had just rushed into the front entrance. The club was too enclosed for thermal detonators, the concussion alone would injure him, assuming he didn’t burn. He was supposed to be watching out for Lexiconus but had failed at that. The only sign of the Torgruta was a pool of blood by the bar. In short, things were bad.

The Aedile could hear the distinct sound of thermal goggles activating and several blaster rifles clicking from safe to fire at the front of the club. The silence of the wrecked club was further disrupted by an apparent gang lieutenant shouting commands in Huttese. “Sweep the club front to back. Flush em’ out!”

Turel didn’t need to peer out from cover, he’d been an enforcer long enough himself to know this drill. The gang would fan out and corner whomever was holed up inside the bar. The rear area was sealed tight so there was nowhere to go, like shooting womp rats in a cage. The thug with the thermal goggles wouldn’t help matters either, he’d be able to spot where any hostiles were hiding. Plus the vibroknives meant he was some kind of specialist, an assassin perhaps?

The ex-gangster’s train of thought was interrupted by the would be assassin shouting to his comrades. “I see two in the back, one behind a table and another in a booth on the left side.”

Turel focused his attention on the bank of booths indicated by the assassin and noticed some blood on the floor leading to one of the booths. Lex was alive, or at least had been when he crawled into the booth. Hang in there kid. The ex-gangster readied Luna, all he needed was one clear shot to take out the assassin. The gangsters had gone eerily quiet, they must have switched to hand and arm signals. He didn’t need the Force to sense them drawing closer to him.

Time slowed to a crawl for the Jedi turned Obelisk as a combination of adrenaline and the Force augmented his senses. He raised himself over the table and identified his target moving across the center of the room. The assassin had spotted Turel raising up through the thermal goggles and began to instinctively dive for cover. He wasn’t fast enough, the Knight called on the Force to augment his aim and clipped the assassin mid-air in the shoulder sending him spinning to the ground. Turel returned to cover behind the table.

“Light him up!”

A hail of blaster fire came his way, the table wouldn’t hold up long against blaster rifles. The Knight holstered his blaster and transitioned to his lightsaber. With a flick of a switch the azure blade sprung to life with the unmistakable hum of a Jedi’s weapon. Turel waited for a lull in the blaster volley then lept to his feet, saber at the ready.

For a moment the thugs hesitated, they hadn’t expected to face a second Force user. One brave soul took aim with his rifle and fired. Three of his compatriots followed suit and rained blaster bolts on the Knight. Celestia flowed from one bolt to the next in an elegant dance barely visible to the organic eye. The darting saber formed a blurred turquoise shield in front of Turel which harmlessly deflected the blaster bolts.

The Aedile began slowly moving toward the booth where believed Lexiconus was, deflecting a torrent of blaster bolts as he moved across the club. He knew he didn’t have much time, even a Jedi trained in Soresu as he was couldn’t hold off a squad’s worth of armed thugs indefinitely.

As he Turel crossed the club he passed through the dance floor. The gang lieutenant took aim at a mirror ball directly above the Knight’s head and took a shot. For a moment the Aedile was confused and then he got the familiar warning through the Force from incoming harm. He dove out of way as the mirror ball shattered. The gang members were emboldened, the Jedi was vulnerable after all.

Turel had dove into the direction of the booth and quickly crawled the few remaining meters to the booth. Inside the booth he found Lexiconus propped up, and coughing up a small amount of blood, clearly injured from the prior blast. The Aedile moved into the booth and checked on his charge.

“You alright kid?”

“I’ve been better.”

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

Turel pulled the glop grenade from his belt and knelt to the side of the booth facing the gang. He popped over the edge and threw the grenade, diving for cover after he released it. The grenade found its mark, freezing most of the gang in place. The Aedile the pulled his blaster out, popped up and dispatched the two gangsters not frozen by the grenade.

With all the foes immobilized or dispatched, Turel helped Lexiconus up and carried him out of the club on his shoulder.

“I’m going to let you explain this to Celevon.”