Darth Thura tapped her black leather boot impatiently as she searched through her wardrobe for the cleanest black robes. She believed firmly that her status as Sith Lord constituted the most dramatic costume that she could find and was reasonable for her station.
After donning a hooded robe, the woman stepped gracefully over to her console. Her face was a mask of apathy as she summoned her most recent dark apprentice. “Darth Olden!” she called out commandingly over her personal comm system.
The boy, for all of his flaws, responded within two seconds, his voice eager to please. “Yes, m'lady?” His voice echoed off of something steel and solid. He probably was already running through the storage units toward her chambers, knowing that she had important information to share with him.
That she did. And she had a present for him.
She had just drawn the dark hood over her blond hair as the door hissed and slid open. “Welcome, Olden. Please come here.” He did so, and she pointed with her scarred left hand at the console, where a diagram appeared in an instant. “That is Smuggler's Moon. Also known as Nar Shaddaa. That is where our Chosen One is.”
Olden's face split into a smile. Foolish boy. Show your exuberance later. “That's excellent, my lady. I'm assuming that we shall be moving in to take him in?”
Thura refrained from slapping him across the face. Her words were like poisoned honey as she replied, “No, you young fool. I've already made my move. I sent my most trusted servant in to capture him.” Olden did not look hurt. He was used to being insulted. He had accustomed himself to taking abuse from those who thought themselves better.
And it was for that reason that Thura had to give him his present.
He nodded respectfully. “I see then, Master.”
“Mistress.”
He acquiesced. Young fool. “I see then, Mistress. What is our move to be?”
She fingered the lightsaber in her left hand as she said, “We will do nothing.”
“But... why?”
She smiled; the grin crept across her face like ice-water. “I will be moving our fleet in toward the center, toward Bespin and that system, which will be our next target. And you...” She swung the lightsaber, activating it simultaneously, and slashed it across his chest; he fell to the floor, eyes still wide and staring in his last grimace. “You won't be joining us.”
Daena d'Ardeneta
The Padawan woke up. She didn't like flying much; it disturbed her internal clock far too much. She couldn't sleep. And eating was a bad idea, since she ended up losing anything she consumed.
Fortunately, the planet Nar Hutta loomed bright in the near distance. And, of course, its inhabited moon Nar Shaddaa followed it, a dark younger brother. Though her master had told her before not to be too excited to be in such a dangerous place, she couldn't help but feel exhilarated by the prospects of an adventure.
She, Daena d'Ardeneta, had been chosen for an actual mission!
Of course, she didn't try to fool herself too much. It wasn't as though she was the reason that she was on this assignment. It was her Jedi Master, Axel Talon. He was talented and wise. He would know how to accomplish this mission without too much strife.
Daena decided that it was time for her to gather her things and prepare to leave the ship. Grabbing her yellow lightsaber and the small satchel with her credits and med-packs, she skipped toward the front of the ship. “Master!” she sang out in her loudest voice. “Master! We're almost there!” She didn't even think about the fact that he might scold her for being so silly, no matter how close the two were.
Zhotar Zhan
Zhan didn't dare leave the apartment. Not at this time of day, when crime was at its peak for the day. Five o'clock in the afternoon. One would think that the most dangerous time would be late at night, or at least after dark; not so.
The abandoned apartment that she and Marrix had found was not exactly the safest place in the world. At least it was in the upper part of Nar Shaddaa. She didn't know much about the moon, but it seemed that it became more dangerous at the bottom of the large towers, which were miles tall. And no one would dare descend to the bottom levels of the planet, where it was said that strange monsters lurked in the dark.
The half-Nebari dusted off her robes as she stretched. “Marrix? Where are you, child?” she called out, concerned for her young charge. Though he might not be the most desirable youngster to take care of, he certainly was within her care, and she loved him. Not in a romantic way, since that would be creepy. But he was like the child she had never had, and so she acted as the mother he should have had.
That was the way it was.
