Unknown Contacts (Yun)

[Spada Elhow]

Spada covered his kel dor mask with his cloak as he disembarked from the transport ship and onto the cold steel floor of Coruscant. Looking around, he squinted into the sun as he gazed up at the massive towers, a testament to the planet's power. Wrapping the cloak around him and walking down the street, he looked at no one and limped quickly to a nearby diner, called the Coruscani Rat. As he walked to the entrance, a man stuck his arm out as if he was going to clothesline him and stopped him, saying,

“Hand over your weapons…”

Spada opened his cloak, showing that he had no weapons, and also revealing his skin, which showed the scars of electrical burns all over. The bouncer shuddered as he saw this and dropped his arm, letting him go. Spada quickly closed his cloak again and looked around the musty bar, trying to find the man he was supposed to meet with.

Spada had left Dorin after almost being killed by an assassin of the Galactic Empire, and the mysterious woman left many scars in him, emotionally and physically. In the fight, Spada lost his lightsaber to the woman, and was brought to shame. After narrowly escaping, Spada decided that he could not safely exile himself anymore. In his search for a member of the Rebel Alliance, Spada was contacted by a man named “Yun”, whom Spada did not know. He was still in the dark as to what the man's intentions were, but as he looked around, Spada sensed no treachery. Whoever the man was, Spada believed that he could help him exact revenge on the Imperials, and could also lead him to the Jedi.

If any were still alive.

[Yun Tilgraze]

From a darkened corner, obscured through the fog of wafting cigarra and spice smoke, a table's lone occupant set down his drink. He was an unremarkable Zabrak, dressed in disheveled, patchwork clothes and had dark brown skin, pale white horns protruding through short cropped black hair, and red facial tatoos.

He rose from the table with great effort, literally pushing himself to his feet, trying his best not to stumble out of the booth. After taking a moment to steady himself, he shuffled toward the door with a satisfied grunt.

The Zabrak wove his way clumsily toward the door through a combination of drunken footfalls and being pushed by many annoyed patrons in his path. It was near the end of his journey toward the exit that he stumbled briefly into Spada.

"<\Sorry, scuse me\>," he mumbled in Iradorian, apologizing with a pat on the Kel Dor's shoulder as he passed.

He walked out into the street, reeling back and shielding his eyes like a Wroonian cave dweller at dawn. The door of the Coruscani Rat closed behind him, dismissing his presence as every other sentient inside had.

Spada continued to look around the bar for the human he was supposed to meet, but no one else stood out. Turning around the possibilities that he was not going to show for any number of reasons, or that he was on his way, the Jedi eventually headed for a table with a good vantage to wait.

That's when he noticed the small card tucked in his belt, no bigger than a credit chit. With a curious glance toward the front door, he pulled it out and unfolded it. Written in small Basic lettering with a deliberate hand, the card read:


Have a seat at the bar. Order a drink of your choice. Meet level 17 intersection L536: speeder dock 4th floor. Take your time.

[Spada Elhow]

Spada was still looking around when unexpectingly, a drunken Iridonian stumbled through a group of bargoers and headed straight towards him, leaning in which was an indication that he was not in any condition to stop himself. Spada tried his best to switch his footing to his right side, so as not to put too much weight on his injured leg, and the man stumbled upon him, surprisingly not as hard as he expected. The Iridonian placed two hands on Spada's shoulder to bring himself upright, as he patted Spada on the shoulder and incoherently mumbled something to him.

Shaking off the small encounter, Spada looked around the bar for a bit and no one caught his eye. He stood there for another few minutes, and eventually more people started piling in and rudely shoved him in the back. Spada decided to get out of the people's way, and staked out a small table where he could see the people entering.

As Spada sat down, however, he heard a rustling in his robe. Looking down confused, he pulled out a small note and opened it, reading it in his mind several times. Spada was very wary, but eventually convinced himself that this must be a message from his contact. Leaving the booth which was quickly occupied by a group of talkative rodians, Spada limped his way to the bar and sat in a stool, waiting for the bartender to make his way over to him.

'Gimme a Twister.' said Spada quickly as the man nodded and quickly mixed the drink. Throwing down a credit chip, Spada took big gulps of the drink and finished it fairly quickly. Rotating the barstool, Spada rested his elbows on the bar table for a bit and eventually stood, pushing his way through the crowd and stepping outside of the Coruscani Rat. The clouds overhead ominously predicted rain, and spada tied his cloak and hailed a speeder, reading the note and slipping it in his pocket. Spada flagged down a ride and hopped into the back, saying to the driver,

'level 17 intersection L536...2nd floor of the docks. Make it quick and I'll make it worth your while.' Spada was always cautious, and told the driver a different floor in case anything happened. Being a Jedi, he could never be too careful.

The speeder shot off quickly, the driver weaving in and out of traffic and arriving at the speeder dock fairly quickly. Stepping out of the speeder, Spada tossed the fare and a little extra into the passenger seat, and limped off towards the lift. Entering it, he experienced a very short ride and exited 2 floors up, looking around for his contact and to make sure he wasnt being watched.

[Yun Tilgraze]

Yun Tilgraze stood next to a duracrete column in the multi-tier speeder bay at junction L536, level 17. He grumbled slightly under his breath as he scratched his neck. He'd definitely have to talk with the quartermaster in covert operations on Home One. They must have changed the dermal paint they used for Zabrak tatoos.

The rebel went over the initial contact in his mind again. Itchiness aside, he wasn't worried about his disguse. When he confirmed Spada's arrival, he'd made it a point not to watch him too long. That would have tipped off his Jedi awareness. Likewise he was confidant in his theory that planting the card went undetected. There was no malicious intent to set off any kind of preternatural danger sense, and he was too focused on the drunken sailor routine to let his thoughts stray.

His intel didn't suggest Spada was a master, and honestly he could care less. The way Endor turned out made a convincing argument against putting too much faith in Jedi. He just couldn't afford to make assumptions about the kel dor's aptitude with the Force. Given all that, how long it took Spada Elhow to find the instructions and make his way down here would be the first indicator of his potential for the Alliance. How good a Jedi he was had little to do with how good a Rebel he's be, as far as the Captain was concerned.

Yun tilted his head. Spada's limp didn't allow him for much in the way of stealth. Taking one last drag, he popped open a travel dispenser and plunged his cigarra into it.

[Spada Elhow]

Spada looked around, staring into the shadows and expecting some figure to pop up and attack him, and walked in a large circle as he checked the area. Spada was thinking about turning back when he suddenly felt a tinge in his force senses. Reaching out, Spada listened carefully and heard a clicking sound, followed by a very quiet rustling of clothes.

Someone's come to assasinate me! thought Spada as he dashed behind a pillar, looking for the source of the noise. That click sounded like a gun...

[Yun Tilgraze]

Tilgraze narrowed his eyes in confusion. The uneven footfalls that he knew had to be that of his contact suddenly stopped. He eased his squat DL-50 blaster from its holster slowly, stepping around the pillar.

No one was there.

The rebel's eyes shifted from side to side. He knew Spada would be paranoid, hence the extra meeting point protocols. But apparantly even that much extra effort was not enough.

Then again, he hadn't spent his entire adult life in hiding. So who was he to judge?

"Spada Elhow," he said flatly. He remained behind the partial cover of the pillar, waiting to see what happened next.

[Spada Elhow]

Spada remained hidden and crouched behind a pillar when he heard his name coming from behind him. Spada glanced out and caught sight of a figure standing in the garage, but Spada quickly hid behind the pillar again and, using his kel dor extrasensory organs, reached into the person's mind and telepathically said,

"Are you the one who told me to come here? If you are, drop your weapons...and if you are not, leave or prepare to fight."

Spada looked into his unarmed hands and cloak and made two fists with his large fingers, knowing that if push came to shove, he would probably be killed. Spada remained behind the pillar, still wary about giving away his position in case the man was an assasin.

"If you claim to be who I am looking for, give me your name so I can be sure."

[Yun Tilgraze]

Yun thumbed on a frequency scrambler. He was as sure as he could be that they were alone, but listening devices had incredibly long ranges. Even in the durasteel jungle this many levels below the "surface", he was not willing to take chances.

"I'm Captain Yun Tilgraze. And now that I've said that out loud there is no chance of dropping my weapon anywhere. We may need it to get out here alive.

"You wanted to contact the Alliance, Mr. Elhow. I'm listening."

[Spada Elhow]

Spada revealed himself from behind the pillar, showing himself to the figure which possessed the name of the man he was looking for. Still cautious, Spada said,

"I am aware that you are no friend of the Empire, and would like to see its regime fall. Due to recent events..." Spada's scars ached from the battle with the Dark Jedi that nearly cost him his life, and he continued, "...due to recent events, I too would like to fulfill your dreams as well, and I believe that I could aid you in your fight."

Spada approached the man cautiously, saying,

"Also, in helping you, I will be helping myself in the search for those like me..." Spada was still a bit cautious about revealling his being a Jedi to the man, and figured that if the man was who he was looking for, he would know. Spada continued, "I think that if I am able to find others like me, I could help turn them to your cause and could relearn what my exile has stripped from me."

Spada looked around a bit, and said,

"Perhaps I could tell you more, but I think we may need to move and throw off anyone if they are tracking us."

[Yun Tilgraze]

The pair walked a circuitous route through the duracrete labyrinth of Imperial Center, sticking to levels where a zabrak and kel dor would go without turning too many heads. Both sentients remained accutely aware of their surroundings as they put on the appearance of aimless wandering.

Satisfied they were not being followed, Yun led them into a tapcafe on level 24, a few levels closer to the starports, but still far enough down to blend in.

"Okay," the captain said when they had found a fairly remote booth in the sparsely populated cafe. "Understand that after our own recent events, our interest in your associates has waned somewhat. But I would still like to hear more."

[Spada Elhow]

So Spada told him the story about how he had exiled himself to his home planet after being attacked by a Republic Fighter Squadron on the way back to Coruscant. He explained, in detail, the confrontation with the Imperial woman who thought she had killed him and took his lightsaber, leaving Spada near death for several days. After telling the story, he finally finished it, saying,

"...so I took a freighter here, calling a meeting with you because I have heard that the Rebel Alliance helps...my kind..."

Spada looked back, noticing that people around them seemed as if they'd rather not hear the story to avoid interrogation by Imperials.

"I know that with the Alliance's help, I can find more like me who can help retrain me in the force and can help me reconstruct a new lightsaber. If you help me do that, I will pledge my life to the Alliance until the last Imperial is brought to justice."

[Yun Tilgraze]

"Quite a pledge," Yun replied. "And don't worry. You're among friends here. The owner installed whitenoise filters around around several of these booths for meetings like this one. One of many meeting protocols."

Tilgraze regarded Spada. "Yes," he answered the suspected question. "We have working cells in more places than people believe. And that's the way we like it. We're more than bases and fleets. The Alliance is made up of sentients across the galaxy, even here."

The rebel had been sizing up the kel dor during his story, listening for any new information to add to the former Jedi's profile. The Rebellion suffered a hard hit for relying too much on symbols, on the legend of the Jedi. For that alone, he was skeptical of bringing in another one. But at least this one was trained. He wasn't just giving himself the title. Despite his current wounded state, he clearly had the kind of talent that could be used on the battlefield.

Captain Tilgraze produced a datapad from one of the many deep pockets of his jacket. With a quick sequence, it produced a hard-coded plastic chit complete with Imperial Starport Authority and BOSS bar codes.

"This will get you off world," he said as he motioned to a Devaronian waiter. The waiter politely walked up to them, placing a plastine booklet on the table and leaving with a singular motion.

Yun opened up the booklet, revealing their check and a travel ticket, which he picked up and pressed the forged chit into with a snap.

"Your shuttle leaves at 0530 from Pirro Starport, Bay 3605 for Tralus. Check in at the Cordite Inn under the name Kehlon Sparg. You'll receive instructions from there."

Yun slid the travel ticket across the table. "Welcome to the Alliance."