Trying to Prevent Disaster
Zarabi's Hunt
Kiast Orbit
39 ABY
Neza-Rem Zarabi read the message on his data pad once more before stowing it in a side compartment. Then he eased the Jumpmaster 5000 out of its orbit.
As the craft entered the atmosphere it jolted slightly. Nez adjusted his angle of entry once more before he turned to input the coordinates into his navigation computer. A short silver furred humanoid creature stumbled its way thru the cockpit door and came to a stop behind Nez.
"Mornin Tig, sorry for the bumpy ride." Nez apologized to his Ewok friend.
"What's going on big man?" The Ewoks slurred statement was heavy with fatigue.
"The SeNet reached out with some intel." Nez handed the datapad over to Tig. After a quick read a creepy smile crept across the Ewok's face.
"These folks are dumb." Tig shook his head. "Back in my day pirates were smart enough to steer clear of Jedi, now they want to kidnap the big cheese. Dumb."
Nez shrugged at his companion before hitting a few more buttons. A sudden thought occurred to Nez.
"What do you mean 'back in my day'?"
Essadan Spaceport
Kiast
39 ABY
Upon landing in the city the SeNet had identified, Nez paid the Portmaster his docking fee. He left Tig to deal with the refueling and maintenance crews and with a wave he was gone. The Jedi disappeared in the crowds, moving smoothly thru the crowd as he went.
Nez arrived at the meet up location for the SeNet operative early. He scoped out the small office building and identified three escape routes. Two doors and one large window that wad covered by a roll down shield.
The Jedi reached out with his senses and with the assistance from the Force could tell there were no lifeforms in the building.
After checking that the building was clear he reached out to his surroundings in the same manner. Aside from the normal passerby there was nothing out of the ordinary. The mystic sat and waited for the meet up time to arrive and pass.
Nez was not a patient man so in a nonchalant fashion he made his way to the door and entered the corner office building. The shop was pretty unassuming with trinkets on the shelves all over.
The entire room was also all covered in a thick layer of dust. On the floor small tracks could be seen. Nez followed them to a corner where an R3 astromech sat plugged into a power supply.
Nez turned to head back to the front of the store when the Astromech powered on. Nez turned to the custom painted black and orange Droid only for it to roll up to him and start an audio recording.
"Mystic Neza-Rem Zarabi of Tython Squadron, call sign. Warpath." The voice was augmented by a voice changer but it was definitely a prerecorded message. "This astromech is R3-D6. He will take you to the Pirates base and get you an audience with their captain. Beyond that it's up to you to do what you see fit. Good luck."
The recording abruptly ended and the audio recording device ejected out of the Droid and sparked as it destroyed itself.
'Freaking spies always have the best gear.' Nez thought to himself.
Nez followed the Droid out of the door he entered thru and the pair made their way to the outskirts of town.
Nestled into the side of a small Spaceport of the floating island was a pilot bar. Two security guards stood out front with blaster rifles strapped across their chests. The boisterous noise from inside the building roared out of the single open bay door.
Nez and the R3 Droid approached the two guards and were stopped and asked for identification. R3 provided the credentials illiciting a stare from the two guards who looked the man behind the R3 in Mandalorian armor up and down. One if the two radioed in to some unseen security who, after a few moments, replied to allow them access.
Nez entered the loud hangar bay, turned bar, and gave a glance around. His eyes rested on the leader of the Pirates. He wore old republic commando armor with no helmet. His brown hair was streaked with Grey around his ears and his tanned skin was pristine. None of this man's visage surprised Nez. He had many dealings with all sorts of scoundrels. What piqued his curiosity was the lightsaber hanging off his hip next to a blaster pistol.
A runner snaked his way thru the crowd to the man who was laughing with his men. Whatever was said startled the leader and caused him to pass a worried glance over the armored figure standing with his Droid. With a wave of his hand all the noise in the establishment quieted except for one unfortunate Twilek. The pirate leader pulled his blaster and shot the twilek in the head silencing his cackled forever.
The tension in the room skyrocketed as everyone stated at the corpse and then their leader who was still staring at Nez.
"What may I ask is the reason for the untamed visit. We told the collective representative they sent that we would get it done and tomorrow we plan to launch ournoperation."
'Well now I know why they are so brave to go after Revak.' Nez thought to himself. He had to think on his feet.
"I don't know what the Droid told your guards but I'm not from the collective." Nez let the words hang in the air as he readied himself for a fight. "I am actually here to see if we can't persuade you to our side."
"Who is we?" The pirate leader leaned forward in his chair as his curiosity was piqued.
"Clan Odan Urr." Nez flatly blurted out. The pirate captain sat up in his chair and the color drained from his face as he rested his hand on his blaster. For a few tense moments Nez kept his mind on pulling g his Saber to his hand but the fight never came. The leader raised both hands and chuckled to himself.
"Your famed Sentinel Network really is good." The pirate waved his hands at the crew to sit back down. In the moment Nez had not noticed that every person in the bay laid their hands on their blasters. "So what is you counter offer?"
"Well first you don't start and all out war with Odan urr on a planet you can't keep with a political entity that isn't beholden to any government on this planet." Nez paused as he thought, "Second the Vitali don't come down on whatever routes you run and third I don't have to kill anyone."
The room went nuts with cursing and yelling and laughter.
'I guess if you don't get results asking nicely use a little force.' Nez reached out into the group around him with the Force and into their mind. He pulled one emotion from the depths of their mind. Sheer terror. The ones who were not accustomed to the intrusion fell to their knees or off their chairs while the stronger minded ones stood slowly and back away. The captain sat very still. The look on his face never changed.
"It's a neat trick Jedi but you folk are peace keepers and aren't violent without provocation."
"You threatened to abduct my Mentor and friend, I ask you to test that assumption at your earliest convenience." Nez's lightsaber appeared in his hand and ignited. Not a hair on anyone's head moved after the whizzing activation of the lightsaber. All eyes were on the Jedi to see what he would do.
"I suggest you disappear from this sector before you are removed violently." The growl in Nez's voice was enough of a threat but his words drove it home. The pirate captain just nodded as sweat dripped down his temples.
Nez deactivated his Saber and canceled his connection to their fear. The building let out a collective sigh as the Jedi walked out of the building and vanished into the crowd.
"What do we do boss?" The first mate was the first to speak.
"The collective already paid us right?" The pirate captain kept his eyes on the door.
"Yes bossman."
"Then I suggest we fuel up and make ourself scarce." The pirate captain downed his drjnk and left thru the hangar bay doors to the adjacent hangar.
Aboard the Zarabi's Hunt
Essadan Spaceport
Kiast
39 ABY
"Hey Tig have they hit hyperspace yet." Nez was reclined against the bulkhead as the Ewok watched the monitor.
"Theg just jumped," Tig looked at Nez, "to Tatooine. What did you do to get them to leave the planet?"
"Oh just some persuasion tactics I picked up." Nez chuckled.
"You threatened them didn't you?" The Ewok retorted flatly. Tig was more stating a fact than he was asking. He knew how his fellow Jedi operated and he wasn't surprised when Nez smiled back at him.
"Alls well that ends well." Nez replied as he took another pull from his drink. "Send my report to the SeNet along with their ship identifiers. I want to know if they ever approach orbit again.
"Yes big man."