Cry Turmoil

[Zenas Codrey]

Beginning at a time almost exactly 5 hours before he came into this world, Zenas Cotri has been surrounded by chaos.

***

Tala Cotri was a Togrutan woman, born and bred on the Togruta's native planet of Shili. It was a pleasantly warm evening, and Tala lay in the grass, thinking of the child she bore. The child was due to be born any day now, and she could already envision the happy future of the child, imagining how happy his life would be as she raised him in the safety of her tribe. She laid her head back on her arms, sighing happily at these thoughts, when the unmistakable noise of blasters burst from the foliage on the north side of the camp. She rose to flee, panic and fear clouding her senses, only to be brought down hard again as a bolas ensnared her ankles. Tala struggled to escape, but their attackers were bearing down hard from their cover to take the Togruta that they'd captured. A rough hand turned her over, and she looked into the callous face of a Trandoshan mercenary.

"Please!" she begged him in Basic, "Let me go! My child--"

The Trandoshan slapped her hard across the face, lifting her without a care for the damage he might do to her or her unborn child. Tala tried to struggle as he produced binders and roughly cuffed her hands behind her back, throwing her unceremoniously in a large, boxy transport with several of her other clan members. She was finding it hard to breathe, and an intense pain was spreading from her abdomen. An hour of travel in this uncomfortable speeder brought them to a larger, space-faring vessel, where the captives were unloaded and violently thrust into barred cells. A Rodian, apparently the head of the operation, entered the hall and spoke in Basic, addressing the Togrutans.

"Unfortunate creatures, it is my great pleasure to announce to you that you will soon be sold to the highest bidder as slaves of all kinds. Upon landing, you will be inspected for your strengths and sold accordingly. Your cooperation in this regard is recommended, as deaths detract from my earnings. We will land in approximately one day, so spend that time wisely. It is likely the last day of free time you will ever have." He spun on his heel to leave as Tala's cellmate rushed forward.

"Do you have medics? Please! My friend needs help! She's...she's..." her voice failed as the Rodian left and locked the door to the brig. She knelt next to the mother-to-be, grasping her hand and speaking Togruti. "Oh, hold on, Tala! Do you remember your breathing exercises? Let's try to do them. Come on now, it'll be okay. Just breathe, everything will be fine..." Tala screamed with fear and pain, squeezing down on her impromptu nurse's hand and taking a huge handfull of her own dress with the other. The other captive Togruta began to shout, trying to draw in help, but it was apparent after a while that there would be no help. Tala and her child were, more or less, on their own.

[Zenas Codrey]

The ship travelled for a distance and time unknown the future slaves. Tala's labor seemed determined to last forever, much to the distress of her cellmate and the few whose cells would allow them to watch two women. Tala tried to steady her breathing, but she was finding it difficult. Her ankles were aching from where the heavy weights of the bolas had struck her, and with her hands behind her back she couldn't begin to get comfortable. Her nurse, whose capturer had been too lazy to properly bind her hands behind her back, was trying her best to remove the bolas which had been left biting into Tala's ankles. It seemed all hope would be lost as the ship shuddered violently, drawing frightened murmurs from the rest of the captives.

"I'm going to die!" Tala thought despairingly. "I'm going to die on this ship with my child!" She screamed as the ship vibrated even more fiercely and the sound of laserfire echoed through the brig's doors. "Please someone help my baby!" she cried. "Please, somebody..." she murmured, voice breaking and trailing away, shutting her eyes against the durasteel hell around her.

"Yes, ma'am!" answered a measured, military voice. There was a sound of electricity and the clang of durasteel, then Tala sensed the presence of three people around her. She opened her eyes to see the white, faceless helmets of Imperial Stormtroopers surrounding her. They quickly unmade her bindings and gently turned her to put her back in the corner of the cell. "Take her hands," ordered one, whose armor was marked differently from the others. They did so, each taking a sharp breath as she squeezed their hands with tremendous force. The trooper whose armor differed shucked off his gloves and helmet, slinging off his backpack and pulling from it various medical supplies. He sterilized his hands and took a deep breath to steady his nerves.

"Just breathe carefully," he coached her, brow furrowed as he made what little preparations he could with what he had. "Keep calm, it's okay, you're both going to be just fine. Breathe, breathe...and push." Tala shut her eyes with the effort, biting her lip and nearly crushing the hands of her helpers as they watched their medic assist Tala in performing a miracle in front of their eyes. A few minutes later Tala let go of the troopers' hands and with the help of the medic, held her baby for the first time. His little eyes were shut tight against the light, hands curled into fists as he cried.

"A son," said the medic unnecessarily, packing away his things and wiping the sweat from his brow. "We'll clear out so you can feed him in privacy, and come back in five minutes with a gurney so we can carry you to our med bay and clean the two of you up. Is that okay?"

Tala nodded, crying with her son as the troopers filed out. She could hear the soldiers' voices echo down the hall, a mix of praises for their medic, grumbles over their sore hands, and wonder at the amazing thing this woman had done. She smiled a little as their talk faded away, cradling the infant boy in her arms. As promised, the three returned in exactly five minutes, gently placing her on the rolling gurney for her trip to freedom.

"What's his name?" asked the medic as he navigated his way to the med bay.

"Zenas," replied Tala. "Zenas Cotri."

"Zenas Codrey," repeated the Medic, unable to pronounce the Togruti last name correctly. "A fine name, ma'am." Tala nodded her thanks and nuzzled her baby boy's forehead. Zenas. He was more beautiful than she could have possibly imagined.

[Zenas Codrey]

Tala bathed Zenas half an hour after her arrival at the med bay, which was run by a droid with "knowledge of over one million medical techniques and full comprehensive knowledge of over one thousand species' biology". It fussed and clucked over the little family as it checked their health, recording Zenas's weight, height, and other vital statistics, then instructed her through Zenas's first bath in one of the bay's big sinks. As it did, the Stormtrooper medic who had delivered the child indignantly defended his actions as the droid used the pauses between directions to berate him.

"And would you have had me try to move her in here during the labor? There was enough stress on the poor woman already, what with the capture and all. It's a damn amazing thing the birth went as well as it did!"

"You should have come and taken me to her!" snapped the droid. "I could have given her medicines for pain, nausea, or whatever other ill effects she was feeling. Make sure you continue to support his head, dear, yes, that's it. Not to mention you might have dirtied your uniform with some other diseased creature's blood and seriously infected these two people!"

"I'm a medic. I removed my gloves and sterilized my hands to prevent infection, and brought her up here straightaway to take some extra measures. I probably shouldn't have moved her so early, but here we are, and she's just fine. You're not giving enough credit where it's due, droid!" retorted the poor soldier.

Tala, satisfied that Zenas was clean, picked him up and dried him carefully, settling him carefully on her stomach so she could wash her chest, keeping a watchful eye on the medic to make sure he wasn't looking. His focus was totally on the droid, and the droid's focus on it, until she brought their attention back to her.

"Um, we're done," she announced. "You can put the bed back now."

"And that's another thing!" shrieked the droid. "Re-arranging my med bay on a whim! Where are your common sense and manners?" The soldier simply rolled his eyes as he put the bed back against the wall.

"She has the right to bathe her own child. She can't stand, so this has to do the trick for now. I'm needed for debriefing, enjoy yourself droid." And, with a courteous nod to Tala, he left. The droid made a noise that might have been an aggravated sigh and went back about it's duties, letting the Cotri family sleep. When they woke, the droid was waiting patiently by the bed in case it was needed.

"Where are we?" Tala asked, sitting up carefully to avoid waking Zenas.

"We're returning to our garrison on Naalol," answered the droid. "I have been cleared to tell you the nature of the Empire's actions against that ship, and explain to you the situation you now find yourself in." It paused for a moment to let her get comfortable. "You are aboard the Interdictor Pitfall. Our mission was to capture a Rebel ship that was reported to be coming through our star system on it's way to deliver supplies to other bases. However, this information appears to have been false. We did indeed capture a supply ship, though it does not belong to Rebels, as our informant believed. These slave traders have been using this route for their traffic for months; therefore it is a simple matter to find the points of origin for all the slaves aboard the ship." Tala's face lit up with hope, but the droid quickly stifled it with it's next few sentences. "I am afraid, however, that we cannot fund the return of these people to their homeworlds. You must make your way home on your own time with your own credits."

"But I have almost no money!" she murmured, fingers running gently over Zenas's tiny lekku. "I won't be able to afford transport back to Shili." Her eyes turned pleadingly to the droid. "What am I to do? I have a child to provide for!"

"Yes ma'am," answered the droid. "There are various sources of civilian housing located near the base. When you are off-loaded from the ship you will be given temporary quarters on-base for a duration of two weeks. If you have not found proper civilian housing by then, I am afraid you will be on your own." It moved away, and Tala curled up with Zenas to think. A fold of her dress brushed his tiny nose, making him sneeze.

[Zenas Codrey]

The baby boy screamed at the top of his lungs from the moment his sneeze completed right up to the point where Tala had been ushered off the ship. Once outside, the new sights, sounds, and smells pacified Zenas, making the crowd around him sigh with relief.

"Your names and origins, Miss?" prompted the human officer standing at the bottom of the ramp. He held a large-ish datapad and stood ready to enter information into it. She blinked confusedly, then her mind caught up with her and she answered.

"Tala Cotri, and my son, Zenas Cotri. We're from Shili." She shifted uncomfortably as the officer put in the data, adjusting Zenas to make him more comfortable.

"Ms. Codrey, you will be in Building C. Your room number is printed on your key card--" He handed it to her. "--and you will find it furnished for one adult. You have two weeks to find permanent housing off-base. Good luck."

Tala shuffled away, looking dejectedly at the card in her hand. Around her the world buzzed and swarmed as other freed captives made their way to their own destinations. She looked wistfully at the ones lining up in front of a public transport; they were going to the civilian spaceport, and then to home. She quickly scanned that group for her fellows, but didn't see any of them. She spun rapidly to look through the group who had been stuck on the planet, but didn't see any of them there, either. Had they left before her, or were they still aboard the Pitfall? She waited eagerly, but soon the crowd was gone and the officers had returned to their stations elsewhere. Even the Pitfall couldn't be bothered to stay; it lifted away made for the planet's atmosphere.

Tala turned and began the trip to her temporary home. It was hours to walk there; she had waited too long and no more transports would be going to the landing pad until the following day. It was nearly midnight on Naalol by the time she made it to her quarters, and she fell asleep in the bed with Zenas held close to her chest.

She awoke to Zenas's hungry cries and fed her son as she took in the apartment for the first time. It was all one room, more or less. The common living area was also the bedroom, and the kitchen was also the dining room. These two dual-purpose rooms had no door between them; the only boundary was where the carpet of the bedroom met the tile of the kitchen. At the back of the kitchen was a tiny room, large enough only for the very most basic uses of the refresher. Clearly, the sink in the kitchen was meant to serve as a place to wash her hands, brush her teeth, and make her lekku presentable as well as the place to wash vegetables and dishes.

Tala sighed and set about her business. She bathed herself and Zenas, prepared a portable lunch for herself with what little stock had been supplied to her, and left for the city outside the base. The droid had spoken true; there was plenty of housing to be had nearby. The only catch was that most of it was occupied with the families of soldiers who had been unwilling to live on base, and the remainder was quickly being taken by other rescued beings.

It took her nearly the entire two weeks to find an available apartment. In the end, she was paying 275 credits a month for a space half the size of her temporary quarters, and maybe a third as well kept. The bed was smaller, the floors creakier, and the state of the kitchen and refresher was such that Tala dared not let Zenas in either of them until she had cleaned them thoroughly. It took a week to clean them to her satisfaction, and at last she settled into her bed with relief that the following day wouldn't bring more work.

Zenas was sleeping at that moment, but the baby had been a terror since entering this place. He had been upset every time she had to put him down, and his cries had already drawn the ire of the neighbors. He did not like to be away from her, he did not like sitting on the floor, he did not like being bathed in the sink, and he did not like having his diapers changed. In fact, the only time the baby was ever calm was when she held him, but she couldn't do that and work, too. Then, it hit her.

"I'll need a job!" she said to nobody in particular. Zenas shifted against her, nuzzling his forehead into her shoulder, and she dropped her thoughtful voice to a whisper. "Oh sweetie," she cooed in Togruti, "How will I ever find work, when I barely have the time to take care of you?" The baby made an adjustment to his posture almost like shrugging his shoulders and turned his head to the side, jaw hanging slack and spittle dangling off his tiny chin. She smiled and kissed the top of his head. "We'll come with something, eh?"

[Zenas Codrey]

Coming up with something turned out to be harder than Tala had ever considered possible. During the day the other children in the apartment ran amuck, unchecked by their parents and showed blatant disregard for people and property as they tore through the halls and threw rocks at the windows from out on the grounds. Zenas's naps were constantly cut short, and Tala had to make a real effort to keep him out of harm's way when entering or exiting her room or the building itself.

Nights were no better. The walls were thin, and the sounds of night activity disrupted their sleep. On their eleventh night at the apartment there was a drug bust in the room adjacent to theirs; the family that lived there was arrested for use and trafficking of illegal spices. Tala was grateful that Zenas hadn't had any contact with that family or their possessions, but couldn't help fretting over what hidden danger might lurk in her own apartment, waiting to attack to her newborn son.

The local authorities had been happy to sweep her room for illegal substances that may have been left over from a previous occupant, and luckily found nothing there. Unluckily, they were unable to offer her any form of work at their headquarters. An unruly infant would be a disruption, they said, and this message was repeated at all other places Tala applied.

She simply couldn't make a good impression! Zenas screamed when strangers touched him, flailing and kicking as the alarmed newcomer quickly and politely declined Tala's interest in work. Othertimes Zenas would cry for essentially no reason, and his mother's best efforts to pacify him made her look incompetent in the eyes of those few employers who watched her check his long list of needs.

Five months of attempts had yielded no jobs for Tala, and she'd soon be out of money for rent. As bad as her crumbling apartment building was, being on the streets would be even worse. She made return trips to all of the places she applied, only to be immediately rejected as the employers immediately recognized and rebuffed her questions about any sort of job openings. It made her feel shameful and humiliated, and depression was setting in. Her attitude seemed to be affecting Zenas as well; he clung to her even harder these days, and rarely if ever stopped fidgeting or making upset noises. This was the situation Tala found herself in as she began to go down the list of her final 10 options, and Tala felt more and more unfortunate as the list dwindled. However, her luck took a sudden upswing at her sixth stop.

[Zenas Codrey]

Tala was speaking frantically with the managers, close to tears and nearly begging for a job, any job! She would happily wash dishes, mop floors, take out garbage, whatever she could possibly do while still keeping an eye on her baby boy. The managers stood firm, turning her away with an apology and well-wishes. She was walking dejectedly out when someone reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

"Ms. Codrey?"

Tala looked up, and half-smiled at the Stormtrooper Medic who had saved her baby boy. She looked past him to see who else she was with, and two other soldiers turned and waved, one amending the seating arrangement they had wanted to add an extra space.

"Ms. Codrey," they said as one, nodding politely to her. "You may not recognize us, but you held our hands in that decrepit cruiser we found you in. We were wondering what became of you."

Tala shrugged. "Been trying to get by," she said tiredly. "Zenas is being a handful, my apartment is about to throw me out, and I simply cannot find a job. But that's enough about me, how about all of you? What're you doing here?"

"We're here to eat dinner with our families," answered the medic. "We'll introduce you shortly, they're on their way in now. Actually, I'm not sure we introduced ourselves. I'm Rick, and my associates are Matt and Tony. And, here come our families." They introduced Tala to their wives and children, and together the crowd ushered her to their table in spite of her protests. Over dinner they all caught up, though Tala did most of the talking.

"Well, the big problem right now," she was saying between bites of her food, "Is that I can't find a job. I'm nearly broke and if I don't find work, I'll be out on the street. It's frustrating because I need the job for Zenas, but Zenas is the reason I keep getting rejected." She looked at the boy, who was curled up fast asleep against her. "I just don't know what to do."

"You know that sometimes we fill posts on base with civilian workers?" asked Rick. "Usually we go for people related to enlisted men, just for the sake of familiarity, car-pooling, whatever excuse we can make. We're actually having our last dinner on Naalol; all three of us are being transferred to a new base on Thyferra, so our wives are vacating positions you might be able to fill. We'll put in some recommendations for you and see if it bears fruit."

"Oh no!" Tala protested. "You've already helped me so much! I can never repay you for all that you've done."

"Well, thanks to you and Zenas, we've been rewarded for acts of heroism and been promoted to a more important post, where we can finally advance our careers and help our own families. I'd call us even." The others nod their agreement with Rick, and Tala gives in to their kindness.

"Okay, but don't try too hard. I don't want you getting in trouble."

Tala finished her meal and thanked them, accepting a ride home from Rick's family. She went to bed that night content, placing her faith in her temporary allies. For once her sleep went unimpeded, and Zenas was perfectly still.

[Zenas Codrey]

Six days after the dinner, a sharp knock on her apartment door surprised her as she washed vegetables by the sink. Zenas started and began to howl, hiding against his mother as she scooped him up and carried him with her to the door. Tala opened the door and took a step backward in surprise at the grey-clad officer standing before her door.

"May I come in?" he asked, looking disgustedly at the squallor of the run-down apartment. Tala gestured for him to come and sit on the edge of the bed, the only furniture she had, and stood across from him, pacifying Zenas with a few small pats on his back. "Ms. Codrey, it has come to our attention that you are looking for work," said the officer, coming directly to the point. "We are willing to allow you to work in one of our mail centers, where you will sort packages and run memorandums between offices. We will allow you to keep your child nearby; he shouldn't affect your performance much if you're kept to sorting letters and use the base's public transportation system to move about. We'll expect you bright and early at 0800 hours. Is this acceptable?" Tala nodded, and the officer rose to leave, eager to be out of the dilapidated building. "Your initial pay rate will be 10 credits per hour. If this rate of pay is not to your liking, please speak to your supervisor and he or she will try to accomodate you. Good day." The officer huffed out, and Tala sank onto the bed at the spot he had occupied.

"Now our lives are going to change," she said to Zenas, tapping his nose to make him giggle. "Yes, things are going to change rapidly."

[Zenas Codrey]

Tala's prediction couldn't have been truer. The acquisition of a job skyrocketed her mood into such a happy state that even her awful apartment neighbors couldn't take away. Zenas grew rapidly in her eyes; before she knew it he was walking and talking in both Togruti and Basic. She rapidly taught him to read and write in Aurebesh, and as soon as she felt he was able, sent him out to meet other children his age and make friends.

Alas, poor Zenas couldn't have had a harder time with it. He often spoke Togruti rather than Basic, it being his first language, and other people were short with this odd-looking child who insisted upon speaking gibberish. He was bullied for being different by his peers and ignored or shooed away by other adults, and poor Tala didn't know what to tell him when he'd come running into her workstation, crying rivers of tears.

She did her best to help him get used to speaking in Basic and enrolled him in school so that he might meet other non-humans, but on base there were no non-human children to be had, in spite of the Twi'lek officers she occasionally saw roaming the streets and hallways. Enrollment also did nothing to hinder the bullies who plagued Zenas; in fact, it almost worsened the situation. Zenas was extremely capable with things like spelling and grammar thanks to being bilingual, and while his grades in mathematics and science suffered, he was determined to work hard and make up for his lack of talent in those areas. Jealous students tripped him in the hallways, shoved him into toilets, and stole his toys before beating him up and leaving him a sobbing mess on the playground.

Tala withdrew him from the school as quickly as she could and homeschooled him, teaching him as she worked sorting mail and sending him out to play only when his boredom with being indoors proved to be a distraction. He quickly found a secluded lot to play in alone, and was content to be there for hours, playing with pieces of durasteel pipe he found and pretending to be a swordsman. He also made it a point to exercise regularly, wanting to be faster and stronger than the human children. After a while, the idea of revenge took root in his mind, and he coupled this with his exercise and pretend swordplay in an attempt to try and defend himself. The other adults on base found this activity alarming, but Tala gently encouraged Zenas to get himself into shape and try to learn some self-defense.

Zenas began to ignore the other people on base, focusing in solely on the betterment of himself and his mother, who he considered to be his only real ally. The adults found him to be disrespectful and snotty. The children only built their resentment higher, and set about looking for his hideout. When they found him, it was hell to pay.

In spite of his fitness and control over the duracrete pipe he had played with for so long, the other children mercilessly overpowered him. The older boys were able to steal away the pipe, by the time they were done kicking, punching, and stomping Zenas into the ground, the boy was so far beyond tears that all he could do was lie there, mumbling under his breath in Togruti. He beat his fists impotently on the ground as his tormentors walked away in triumph, streaming curses and threats that he would never be able to make good on.

Tala fussed over him all that night and for several days after, trying to get out of him the names of the children who had beaten him up so badly. Zenas only shook his head and told her it was nothing. He knew she would go to their parents and ask for intervention, and he knew they'd make false promises and do nothing to help the situation. Nobody in this base, on this planet, or in this universe could be trusted. Nobody but his mother.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas's mistrust heightened into xenophobia over the years. By the time he was eight he could barely stand to be in the same room as a stranger, even with his mother's comforting presence. He abandoned his hideout in the lot, which had been taken over by his peers after school and in the summer breaks. Now his only haven was his mother's office, but he was getting too old to stay there for very long. She kept ushering him out with a sack lunch at mealtimes, and often would send him on errands in the evenings before she got off work. He spent this time going far out of his way to avoid anybody he could, hiding in garbage bins and in the beds of abandoned speeders if he saw someone coming and had no side-streets or alleys to turn onto.

Once or twice he had come back from these outings to find his mother very engaged in conversation with a human woman. This intruder (Zenas could think of her as nothing less) was fair-skinned, dark-haired, and held an interest in his mother that he found obscene. In these instances Zenas had clung to her dress or hand, insisting that they go and making such a scene that his mother berated him harshly and punished him by locking his toys away in his closet. It was a small price to pay, however, and soon Zenas found himself actively searching for that woman whenever he was out with the hope of performing a pre-emptive strike and keeping her from his mother once and for all. No opportunities presented themselves, and the situation worsened.

The intruder was invited over for dinner exactly one week before his ninth birthday, opening the floodgates for all manner of things. She helped Tala get a promotion at the mail office, increasing her salary so that the Codrey family could get a newer, bigger, cleaner apartment in a complex closer to the Imperial base. Naturally, their new room was right down the hall from the intruder's.

Zenas, full of desperation, began to go far out of his way to keep this woman from his mother. When the intruder came knocking, he told her Tala was out on a brief errand. If the intruder called, he told her Tala was busy and couldn't be bothered. When Tala announced that she was going to call or visit the intruder, Zenas pulled the power on the commlink and insisted that he go to borrow whatever item was needed instead, or pointed out that there was plenty in the pantry.

In those few instances where he had been unable to stop the two from meeting, he had given them no privacy, sitting close to his mother with his toys and homework, commanding her attention with questions and requests for food, drinks, or whatever else he could think of. He exhausted the intruder's patience, and truly believed himself to be winning the fight for his mother's affection.

"Because that's what it is!" he mumbled to himself one night in his room. "It's a fight because she's an enemy because she's human and she's going to hurt my mother. She can't hurt my mother, I won't let her!" He curled himself into a tight ball, shutting his eyes against the very idea of his perfect mother coming to any type of harm.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas's little war waged well past his 10th birthday. His xenophobia escalated to such a point that he began to trap the hallway to his mother's workstation in her office building using very thin wire, metal cans, and super-bounce-balls that he bought by the handful from convenience stores near his neighborhood. This behavior earned him a permanent ban from Tala's workplace, and so the boy took to hiding out near the entrance, trying in vain to keep the intruder out. Tala absolutely forbade him to trap the apartment, banishing him to his room when her friend would come over.

"Sweetheart!" she sighed exasperatedly one night after a visit. "Why do you hate her so much? She's my friend. She's special to me. Why can't you get along with her?"

Zenas's chest heaved with anger, hate, fear, shame, sadness, and love. His eyes shone with tears that he had managed to keep under control, but his voice shook with the emotions as he spoke.

"People are terrible," he mumbled. His Togruti was so rapid and quiet that his mother had to listen hard to make sense of him. "They just hurt each other and they don't care because they think they're so much better than me and they've never shown me any kindness or respect and they won't show you any either and I hate them! I hate them!" This last sentence he screamed through clenched teeth as he climbed into his mother's lap and sat clinging to her, holding back tears and trying to vent himself anyway. "She's going to hurt you or make you hurt me and I don't want it to happen. I want you to love me best."

She patted his head and stroked his lekku, fingers tracing from the tip of them all the way up to where his montrals were just starting to grow in. "Baby, I will always love you best, no matter what. You're my sweet little son and nobody could ever replace you. Not ever, okay?" she whispered, looking into his sea blue eyes. He sniffed and nodded. "Good. Now run along and get to bed. It's far past your bedtime and you need your rest."

Zenas padded off and brushed his teeth, feeling the weight of his oppressive, negative emotions lift as he went through his pre-bedtime ritual. By the time he had washed his face and hands, put on his pajamas, used the refresher (twice), and snuggled into bed with his favorite stuffed animal, he was feeling happier than he had in years.

Morning welcomed Zenas with soft light, and a pleasant, warm feeling that spread from his chest and through all his extremities as he stretched in bed, remembering his mother's words from the night before. I will always love you best. He said it aloud to himself, testing how the words sounded in his own voice. After a few repetitions he decided he liked it. "I'm going to go tell mother."

He got up and quietly crept down the hall towards his mother's room. He wanted to surprise her with it, and it wouldn't do to have the first sound of her morning be him thundering about the apartment looking for her. He could hear her stretching as he neared the door, but paused as fear choked him. She wasn't alone.

"Mmmm, please stop. You need to get going," Tala murmured to her guest. She gasped and made a noise that provoked disgust and anger in Zenas.

"But why? It's so early. Everything's so quiet and perfect." The intruder. His fury rose, but he clamped down on it. She loves you best! he berated himself, and began to chant it as he listened in.

"Zenas will be up any minute now!" Tala protested. She sounded exasperated a little, in spite of what seemed to be pleasure in her voice. "He'll come in wanting breakfast and he can't see us like this! I talked to him last night, and it seems to have helped, but I don't want him to see us like this."

"I've locked the door, it's okay. He can't get in, and he probably won't even wake up for another hour. C'mon, Tala, please? Let me show you how much I love you." Oh no. He didn't just hear that.

"No! Please--" Another gasp and moan. "I love you, too, but we have to--" Tala's voice faded into a noise muffled by a pillow.

"How much do you love me?" asked the intruder. Zenas picked up something predatory in her voice that made his skin crawl.

"So much!" answered Tala.

"How much?" repeated the enemy. Zenas felt panic rise to bolster it's ally, fear.

"More than anything..."

That was all Zenas needed to hear. He grasped the knob and wrenched it open with a strength that was not his own, breaking the lock and flinging the door wide. The women jump at the sudden noise and try to cover themselves, but it's far too late.

"You." It was all he could say for a brief moment as he watched the women spring apart and try to cover themselves. "You lied." The two adults exchange glances, unsure of who exactly he's talking to.

"Zenas..." they begin, each faltering to let the other speak, but Zenas's angry mumble slides neatly into the gap.

"You told lies and tried to hurt me I know you did you can't do this to me I won't stand for it. You're trying to force us apart and replace me but you can't...you CAN'T! I HATE YOU!"

And before either woman could move, he was gone, carried from the place by fear, anger, and hate.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas's anger had never been so strong as his bare feet thundered across the duracrete streets, carrying him swiftly from his home. He tried to think of a place to go where he could be by himself and try to figure out what exactly he was going to do now. Over the years he had grown to hate, fear, and mistrust anyone who was not his mother, and now such a person had clearly caused her to betray him. Was she also not to be trusted? Mother, the one pillar which supported Zenas's world, the one thing that, no matter what, never failed to love and support him? Did she really love this das't whore more than she loved him?

No. She loves you best. She said as much. But did she not also say that she loved that woman more than anything? Surely he was among the people, places, and things that stood under the broad category of "anything". So which statement was truer? He couldn't be sure, and he refused to entertain the idea of going back to ask her. He wouldn't face her, not while she was with her...friend? That's what his mother had called the intruder-whore. Was a friend more important than family? He'd never had any friends, so he wouldn't know.

Zenas ran toward the civillian spaceport located across the city from the Imperial base. He didn't notice the astonished gawking of motorists as he easily outstripped them on his little feet. In fact, he had not noticed anything out of the ordinary about himself at all. He reached the walls of the spaceport and without thinking leapt over them, landed in a roll on the other side, and ran onward. He had cleared a 20 meter height on his own 10-year-old legs, again, without really knowing what he'd done.

The child fled into the spaceport, zooming around cargo haulers, workers, and ships as he tried frantically to get away from everybody around him. At last, on the south side of the spaceport, he found a platform that was deserted, and sat down beneath the wings of the ancient craft that was parked there. Anger, fear, hate, and shame rolled off him in waves as he sat there mumbling and crying, building as he tried fruitlessly to vent them off. He stood with a scream and punched the side of the ship, denting it in. The boarding ramp lowered and the ship's owner descended it.

He was a human man, with long straggly hair and a face lined with years of bitter resentment. Zenas could feel this man's heart somehow; it radiated with the same turbulence of negative emotion that his did. "You dinged my ship, boy," he spat. "You wanna get killed?"

"I don't care!" Zenas answered. "This das't ship isn't worth the credits you paid for it. It doesn't matter one whit compared to what I had!"

"And what did you have, pup?" questioned the stranger.

"A mother."

The human laughed long and hard at the statement, and Zenas felt his fury swell. "Shut up! Stop laughing! I said STOP IT!" He launched an attack, swinging furiously at this old man. He sidestepped twice, then caught Zenas's fists and lifted him with supernatural ease, throwing him into the hull of the ship and pinning him there with an invisible force. Zenas howled with rage, cursing in Togruti, until the human approached him with a finger pointed in his tiny face.

"Listen to me, pup. You couldn't possibly understand betrayal as I do. I fought hard in a war for people I trusted. People I loved, and who I thought loved me, and in the end what did it earn me?" He unzipped the front of his jacket and pulled it aside, showing a myriad of burn scars that angled away down his body at sharp angles. "Nothing but pain and misery. I've fallen a long way since then. All I have left to me is my anger and my hatred, and the impotent feeling that I'll never avenge or regain my old life." He paced away from Zenas, then asked the boy a question. "What do you mean when you say you had a mother?"

"She betrayed me!" shouted the Togrutan boy. "The whole world has been nothing but horrible to me! Out of all the people in all the cities in all the worlds in the entire universe, she's the only one that ever gave two credits about me! And what does she do? She leaves me for one of them! A das't, dirty human who hates me."

"And you hate humans in return?" asked the man.

"I hate EVERYONE!" spat Zenas. He fell to the ground, and the human moved halfway up the boarding ramp.

"You have no focus," he said, his voice carrying a cold, analytical tone. "You're just venting at nothing, wasting your time and energy. You'll never come to terms with it like that. But..." His voice changed into something cruel, calculating. "I can teach you to focus it. I'm old, and I'll never achieve the vengeance I thirst for. But you're young, pup. You have time, youth, and power on your side. Yes, power," he insisted, seeing Zenas's expression of surprise. "Come. There's work to be done."

Zenas felt a tug. This man's a human! He can't be trusted, couldn't possibly be telling the truth. But this talk of power and revenge...it stirred something inside of the boy. "Have you ever married? Have you ever betrayed family or friend? Do you have children?" He wasn't sure why he asked these things, but there they were.

"I have never done any of those things, pup. Now come on. We're cleared to take off." Zenas followed him up the ramp and they flew off into the stars.

[Zenas Codrey]

The next 10 years were devoted to Zenas's training. The boy's xenophobia didn't lessen as the time wore on, not did his hurt feelings of being betrayed. His new Master, a Dark Jedi whose fall to the Dark Side began mere weeks after the execution of Order 66, cultivated these things and sharpened them to such keen edges that anyone who met Zenas over the the span of his training often said he had "spikes".

Lightsaber combat was at the fore of the boy's training. His hunger for combat was unending, and he learned voraciously the basics of all seven forms of lightsaber combat until at last he chose his specialties; Form V's Djem So variant, and the incomplete Juyo style of Form VII.

Formal training in Force Boost and Telekinesis complemented his combat style, but a raw talent for Pyrokinesis outshone both of these abilities. It chafed his master when he did it, and so Zenas practiced it endlessly, using it whenever they were on a planet to explode fuel cells and sow panic wherever he found people that fit the new definition of what triggered his xenophobia. When at last his Master thought him ready, he set a course for Zeltros.

"Zenas, Zeltros is a planet of hedonism. There's a party going on around the clock, and the cities are so full of hateful traitors it's sinful. These Zeltrons have a natural empathy for emotion. They'll feel your hatred, and they will use their natural charms and pheromones to sway you to their sides. Do not give in. Stand firm, gather your willpower, and assert your dominance. Your very presence will sow discord among the natives, and their distress will ripple through the offworlders like waves in a lake. What else you do here is your own business. Now get the hell off my ship."

With that, Zenas was ejected from the ship he had lived on throughout his adolescence, and slowly he began to move out of the spaceport and toward the public, not turning to look back as he heard his former Master's ship rise into the sky and head for the atmosphere.

[Zeke]

The Curvy Lady set down on Zeltros, cargo bay opening before the transport had even touched the durracrete floor. Zeke's workers began to haul out the goods as he walked out onto the landing platform to meet the spaceport's personnel and go over all the paperwork. Carol and Cassandra were doing their usual good job of seeing off the passengers, and had in fact sent the last of them towards the spaceport's exit, when Zeke felt a jolt of something come over him. He turned and looked around with a sudden expression of concern.

"Is something the matter, Captain?" asked the spaceport official who was now checking off the inventory he was supposed to be receiving against the inventory Zeke was supposed to be delivering. Zeke shook his head.

"Nah, it's nothing. I just felt for a moment like...bad." He shook his head again to shake off a sudden shiver and tried to turn back to his work, but nothing doing. He headed back toward the ship where his family stood chatting up Wei Wu Wei. "Sweetheart, finish this," he said absently, handing off his outsized datapad to Carol. "Wei, can we talk?"

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas had stood at the edge of the spaceport for hours, looking out at the city. The place was only half an hour from the city by speeder (or if he bothered to run it), but already he could see and feel the crowded streets. He chose to walk, feeling an anticipatory fear creep up into him. People. He wished he could use the Force to simply will them out of existence.

His fear mounted higher as he entered the city proper, dodging the crowds as best he could. His hollow montrals (so often called "horns" by his master) allowed him to sense the movements of the people around him with such clarity that he did not even need to touch the Force. Still, it was harder to do as he moved in towards the city's center, where it became readily apparent why Zeltros had earned itself the nickname "Party Planet".

The main square that he had come upon was dominated by hotels, restaurants, and various establishments that offered a myriad of services, all placed under the vast category of "entertainment". Scrolling neon signs in eye-hurting green aggressively advertised everything from alcohol, food, sports, dance, and more "personal" services. He shut his eyes against the foreign light and was knocked sideways into a window that had been so thoroughly clean he could see his reflection clearly, superimposed over the diners within.

He was almost exactly the average height for a male Togrutan, though to anyone who was counting the height of his montrals, he was almost supernaturally tall. He was a wiry sort of man, well-toned and formidable looking when he was angry (which was quite a bit of the time). His red skin, which made him stand out in most crowds, blended him very well with the natives of Zeltros. Long, white and blue lekku descended from the sides and back of his head almost to his waist, where his clothes began. He preferred not to wear shirts if he could help it (too many times in his youth he'd been strangled by someone yanking on his collar), but he rather liked the loose garment he wore around his waist, which fell to his feet and concealed his lightsaber perfectly.

Zenas smiled with a fierce pride at himself, intimidating the diners inside. It was then that noticed a change had overtaken the crowd around him. Many seemed ill at ease, and the Zeltrons had taken their efforts to throw a constant wild party a step further to stave off the foul mood that seemed to be casting over the world at large. As he looked back the way he came, he could see where he'd torn a line of fear and uncertainty in the partygoers, which was healing without his presence to perpetuate the negative emotion. His smile turned predatory as he waded into the thick of the crowd, all fear forgotten as he came into control of himself.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei looked out of the cargo bay towards the city at large. "I guess you have a negative, sour something in your stomach?"

Somewhere in the city there was a distubance in the Force. If it weren't for the incredibly strong feeling of good cheer and exuberant euphoria, he might not have noticed right away. It stood out like a dark stain on a recently pressed white shirt. It bothered him.

"There's something quite nasty out there. What did you want to do about it?

[Zeke]

"Not sure, myself," Zeke muttered, leading Wei off to the side so they could talk privately. "I'd go investigate, but even with Carol processing this shipment it'll be half an hour before I could get away to go investigate. You wanna run ahead as the advanced guard, scout what's going on? I'll meet up as soon as I can."

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas is quite enjoying the frenzy he's stirred up. All he has to do is stand there, and these Zeltrons will attack anyone in sight with food, drink, and their own charms to find and fix the negative vibe he's putting out. He's so entranced by the chaos that he lets his guard down, and a Zeltron woman flings herself upon him, pressing a bottle of brandy into his hand and kissing him with all the passion she can muster.

Zenas is so suprised he drops the bottle, and the sharp sense of anger and hate recedes into an off-center neutrality. She breaks the kiss as the crowd relaxes and smiles up at him in a manner that suggests lust. "There we go," she whispers, running her hands over his muscled torso. "Much better, right?"

Zenas clamps down on the spite rising in him as she brings his attention to her body. Around her neck is a small, bejeweled pendant featuring a picture of herself and two infants. She's a mother! His body shakes once as he also bites down on fear, anger, hatred, and aggression, and his voice is so small she hardly hears him over the noise of the re-started party. "You're a mother?" he asks, as if hoping his eyes had tricked him. She nods, pressing against him. "Are there more of you?"

She gives him that same smile again. "Maaaybe," she offers in a teasing way. "Why?"

"I...I'd like to meet with a few of you...privately." He casts his eyes to the buildings around him, seeking a hotel. She notices and slides a keycard into the waistband of his clothes.

"The hotel name and number are on the card. Meet us there in ten minutes and we'll make sure you have a good time." She kisses him again (it's all he can do to keep from recoiling in horror) and struts away through the crowd. He checks the name (Finest Luxury Hotel) and the room number (236), then hurries off to the designated waiting area, letting a little of his malice slip past the blockade he'd set up to mask his emotion.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"You got it."

Wei stretches his legs for a moment, concentrating on his muscles and how they move as he bends and twists. He focuses on the loose, relaxed feeling in his legs and soon his mind feels like his body. He takes a short jog down the boarding ramp, picking up the pace as he enters the crowd. At the first sign of open space, he allows himself to run wide-open, gaining on freighters and rented luxury speeders.

The open road offered him a certain serenity of mind. The distinct sense of nothingness allows him to relax further, bringing the Force to him like a torrential flood.

15 minutes later Wei reaches the edge of the city. A safety rail rushes into view and Wei flows around it, jumping towards it, grabbing it and flinging himself further into the crowded streets.

Oddly enough, the party looks as though no one had ever been disturbed or upset. Wei knew better than to think that the disturbance was gone for good. He just needed some time to seek it out.

He slows his pace and jogs to the spot where he figured the disturbance had originated. Eyes shut, he breathes slowly in. He holds the breath a moment and releases it even more slowly.

Unfortunately the pheremones of the Zeltros natives were clouding his mind. Where could all that anger have gone?

[Zeke]

It's twenty minutes later and Zeke's business still isn't concluded. The work is in it's final stages, but Zeke's frantic pacing has his crew concerned and pushing harder for a fast finish.

"Ms. Saska," asks one of the men as he pauses to let out another loader, "What's wrong with the Captain?"

"Not really sure," she admits. "He's acting nuttier than usual. He seems to be concerned about something though. Just get back to it. Besides, the sooner we're done, the sooner you guys can move into town."

Zeke stops pacing and goes inside the cargo bay. He goes up the stairs leading to the exit and turns right along the catwalk to where all the lockers are stored. He opens his and gets out his helmet, going down to his speeder bike.

"Be back soon. Can't wait much longer. Don't let the crew go into the city." With these words he kisses his wife's cheeks and forehead, then zooms off toward the city in the distance.

[Zenas Codrey]

When Zenas's contact arrives, she finds him standing at the sink. The hotel room is just one big room; a large, main area for the beds, TV, and dressers, with the sinks off to the side, and a small room connected to that for the refresher. His head is tilted down and his eyes are closed. She gets the sense that he's anticipating something.

The door slides shut behind her as she moves over to Zenas, losing her clothes as she goes so that when she reaches him, she's fully nude. He tenses as she holds him tightly and kisses his shoulders. "They'll be here shortly," she whispers. "Want to wait? for them?"

Zenas shakes his head. "Go lie face-up on the bed. Shut your eyes." His voice is shaking, and it makes her smile as she complies with his command, feeling a bit of anticipation rush through her own body. Zenas moves silently over to the bed, drawing his lightsaber to his left hand and holding it against her hips. She shivers and murmurs something lewd; Zenas barely pays her any notice as he leans down to whisper in her ear. "Das't ruttin' sow." Her eyes snap open, Zenas activates his lightsaber, and in one clean motion has cleaved her neatly into two, symmetrical halves. She didn't even have time to scream.

Her two companions, however, managed to arrive just in time to witness the killing stroke of the lightsaber. They do scream, and Zenas is upon them before they can flee. They stand shoulder to shoulder in the doorway, and Zenas's blade pierces the left one through the stomach. He sweeps it horizontally to her waist and then twists it up at a sharp diagonal, cleaving the right-hand one from waist to shoulder. The bodies collapse and the Togrutan steps into the hall.

Two security guards, both Zeltrons, bear down on him from the left. They can't even draw their blasters before Zenas is upon them, flicking his lightsaber from left to right and removing their heads. He savors the sound of air escaping their lungs through the necks, and relishes the way the glass windows of the hall shatter violently outward as the momentum of his arm brings his saber into them.

Fear and panic are spreading again, and Zenas finds it empowering. He leaps into the square, landing nimbly, and cutting down the tourists to clear an open area around himself. "Cry turmoil," he mutters, watching the crowd flee before him.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei's mind explodes as pain, suffering, and fear erupts into his senses.

A single crimson shaft of light flickers in a hotel window. The window pane breaks into pieces, and a Togruti man jumps through it. He was familiar with Togruti. Shaak Ti was a rather prominent Togruti Jedi before the purge came.

Wei needed to head towards the Togruti, but he didn't need to give away the fact that he was a Jedi. He'd be dead before he even got started finding out the reason behind his family's murder.

He frantically glanced around, looking for something, anything that would help him conceal his identity. Nearby stood a sign for a masquerade ball--show up by yourself, and go home with a stranger. A perfect grab bag of sexy...well, the idea was clear. Next to the sign was a booth with an assortment of masks. Wei ran over to it and picked out a rather plain mask with a jester's grin.

He threw a credit chip at the Zeltron man selling the masks, and put the jester's face on over his own. It was not difficult to see where the Togruti cut his swath of pain and death. One nimble jump sent him soaring over the panicked crowd. As he began his descent onto the Togruti, he ignited his saber and aimed the tip of it at his opponent's shoulder.

[Zeke]

Zeke is forced to abandon his speeder bike a few miles from the center of the city. He can feel the good mood of the city evaporating under the wave of fear spreading from the square. He fixes a few happy thoughts in his mind and starts to work against the crowd, making his way to the center. He can feel Wei's signature there, faint against the backdrop of fear and the strong dark presence nearby. Wei's signature suddenly overlaps with the dark one, and Zeke redoubles his efforts.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas snapped his blade up and to the side, allowing Wei's blade to fall just short of it's intended mark. He spins to face Wei as he lands, taking his lightsaber in a two-handed grip to power a mighty blow aimed for the Jedi's back.

His master had told him he might find people with blue or green lightsabers, people who had also survived the Great Betrayal. Zenas wasn't sure what to make of this encounter though, as he'd never reckoned on having to meet one in combat. He had actually considered them as default allies, but clearly, this is not the case.

"Traitor."

Wei could be nothing else.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei instinctively reached behind his back, as though scratching an itch. His lightsaber flew to his back, protecting his spine from Zenas' assault.

"I'm sorry?"

Wei had either heard or felt the Togruti refer to him as a traitor. He pushed up to standing and twisted his hands around his lightsaber in an attempt to make a stronger grip. He soon found the configuration he wanted and sought to make the blade-lock go his way. He pushed against the opposing light sword with all his Force powered might.

The hum of the lightsaber blades was inaudible in the crowd's shrieking cries. It was setting him off balance. He'd have to do something about that soon. He could focus on the actual saber--to take his eyes of his enemy would seal his own doom.

Wei kicked powerfully with his right foot and drew back a pace. He would regroup and try a different angle.

[Zenas Codrey]

"TRAITOR!" he shouts, glaring at Wei over the saberlock. His eyes pulse with a sulfurous yellow color as his hate fuels his strength to a level that rivals Wei's, but he was unprepared for the Jedi's suprise attack. Zenas spins with the kick to lessen the impact and uses it to fuel his own leg-sweep. He followed up by completing another revolution, letting the motion power his next lightsaber strike.

[Wei Wu Wei]

The Togruti's shout gets the crowd's attention a moment, stilling their startled and frightened screams long enough for them to turn around and see what had happened.

One of them had shouted something. The grand majority of the onlookers were still greatly afraid of the Togruti, but on the party planet, anything could be a show. At least until it got dangerous again. No one dared to get too close, but no one could really step away either.

It was a moment Wei appreciated. He hopped lightly over the leg sweep, pancaked under the follow-up saber stroke, and tightly rolled past his opponent's leg. He stood up out of the roll and turned towards the darksider, swinging the lightsaber like a baseball bat, generating his power with a twisting motion that started from his toes and moved up into his shoulders. A classic Form V lateral strike.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas rises with a matching strike, bearing his sharp teeth as he locked sabers with Wei once more. This man knows Djem So?

"Not nearly so well as I, betrayer!"

Zenas slides his saber down Wei's, nearly to the hilt, shoves it aside and spins again to put the momentum behind an elbow strike aimed for the chin. Zenas is better than this das't human, he knows it!

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei moves, a moment too late. The elbow clips his jaw, but fails to dislodge teeth. It does manage to make his vision blurry. Immediately after all these years he can still hear the Jedi maxim:

Your eyes can decieve you. Don't trust them.

Wei shuts his eyes. I don't know who I have betrayed, but I'm not so sure you really are better than me."

Wei decides to change tactics. Wei moonsaults over Zenas, as he had done to Zeke when they had practiced earlier in the cargo hold. His deep blue blade stays pointed towards Zenas, tracing the arc of Wei's jump and making it deadly.

Wei's feet hit the ground and the former Jedi bends his knees, soaking in the force of the landing. His legs freshly coiled from the landing, Wei makes small squatting hops, rotating on his vertical axis and circling Zenas at the same time like a planet in orbit, with each rotation threatening to cut off the Togruti's feet at a new point in the revolution.

[Zenas Codrey]

The young Togrutan tries to follow his elbow with an immediate stab, snarling as Wei leapt out of the way in a long arc. He traced the motion, letting his montrals sense out the safest place for his body to go. He avoids the lethal moonsault and meets Wei's first strike with one of his own. "Das't it!" He makes a stab that would've been perfect if his opponent hadn't bent his knees, then takes to parrying Wei's ridiculous looking jump-attacks. He spins in place, tracing the arcs of his leaps and spins, then finds his opportunity. He leaps an attack, landing in a low crouch as Wei had done, then forces his lightsaber into the ground to get under Wei's next low attack. From here he shoves upward, moving the blue saber, and follows after with a shoulder tackle.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei felt, rather than saw, the opposing blade come up beneath him and strike his lightsaber. He jumped back, and as he straightened he took Zenas' shoulder tackle fully in the chest. He breathed out as the shoulder plowed into him, but it didn't help much.

Wei was running out of ideas. Again. He really needed to get back into this lightsaber thing.

Wei jumped backwards as high as he could, making as much distance as he could between him and the Togrutan.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas coiled his legs and leapt after Wei, slashing at the Jedi as he gains on him. The strike goes wrongly as Zenas overshoots his opponent, and Zenas fires a string of angry Togruti as he turns in air, throwing his lightsaber down at Wei like a javelin.

[Zeke]

The saber is dragged out of line by an unseen force, falling rapidly past Wei and past a new combatant; a helmeted humanoid who was propelled through the air not by muscle, but by telekinesis. He reaches down to where the saber is falling and makes a fist. The saber slows, turning 180 degrees, then snaps up towards Zenas as if on a tether. He slaps Wei's hand as the other man begins to fall, zooming up in the wake of the saber towards the dark signature above. Under his helmet, Zeke lets a smile onto his face. Now he's a hero again.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas snaps his head to the side as he begins to fall, neatly dodging his own lightsaber and catching it handily without looking over his shoulder at it. His eyes are focused on the rising opponent, who he intends to cleave in two. Zenas holds his lightsaber in his favored two-handed grip, shouting as he rushes on towards Zeke. Just as they're about to collide, Zenas allows a contemptous smile to grace his features.

"All too easy."

[Zeke]

Zeke's sabers fly from his pockets of their own accord, hissing to life and stopping Zenas cold. He laughs as he feels the Force growing stronger within him, reaching out to take the hilts of his sabers as he finally lands. Zeke circles Zenas, lightsabers held in a somewhat sloppy stance. He lunges to strike at Zenas's left side with his right hand, dropping the one in his left as if by accident.

[Zenas Codrey]

"Stop laughing!" Zenas mutters, knocking away Zeke's attack and spinning in to punch at Zeke's exposed torso. This man's mistake has opened him up to a full assault. Zenas will kill him in two or three hits, and he's laughing. "I SAID STOP LAUGHING!" Zenas shouts, adding a knee to the assault. "I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

[Zeke]

Zeke uses his free hand to block the two attacks, but barely (still no good at Force Boost!) and Telekinetically brings his falling lightsaber up and around to stab at Zenas's back. As this happens, he slides his lightsaber around Zenas's and cuts in for the Togrutan's neck.

"Well that's too bad," Zeke says, his voice light with good cheer. "I'm happy to meet you, sir." The fun thing is, Zeke really is genuinely happy to meet Zenas. He has never ever met a Togrutan before, though he's heard plenty about them. Idly he wonders how he managed to never cross paths with Shaak Ti way back in the day. He'd wanted to ask her something, what the hell was it? Maybe this guy will know the answer.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas sways to dodge each attack, stabbing at Zeke before he's straightened back up into a proper stance. His anger mounts higher as he fights his light-hearted opponent. It's infuriating to be taken in such a fashion. Plus, Zenas has never been capable of handling sarcasm with much grace.

"SHUT UP!"

If he screams it any more, it'll become a mantra, but he can't think of anything else to say. He makes five attacks before his voice fades from the square; the first two are broad, powerful strokes, but the following three are faster, stronger, more tightly controlled. "I'm going to enjoy the silence!" he thought, focusing on that single goal.

[Zeke]

Zeke has remembered his question.

"Are you poisonous?"

Zeke easily swats aside the first three attacks, but the last two score his leather jacket--they're just that close. He backs up, takes a steadying breath, and takes a risk. His lightsabers float just half a meter in front of him, shifting a little as if a light breeze were influencing them. He hasn't had time to practice his old telekinetic defense, and he's not sure how he'll mount an offense without his Force Pike, but hey...it could be worse.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas doesn't answer the question. He just keeps coming, his strikes moving so rapidly that his blade and arms appear as one sweeping red blur. He has stopped making any noise whatsoever; his boots don't scrape the ground, his clothes don't rustle, not even his breath can be heard. There's only the steady advancement as he takes one implacable step after the other, eyes locked on his enemy. He will not have these two jokers insult him. The last thing he will hear from either of them is the sound of air rushing out of their lungs as their heads roll away.

[Zeke]

Zeke's combined Sense and Telekinesis defense is hardly a match. He's not in the same kind of mindset he used to be in; Zenas keeps getting in centimeter by centimeter as Zeke's doubts bubble up through his happy thoughts. It really doesn't look like he'll win, and as the minute this thought occurs to him his lightsabers fly away after repelling a particularly vicious attack by Zenas.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas crouches, spins, and leaps at Zeke with a mighty spin-kick, catching the Jedi in the chest. The impact of it is magnificent. There's a resounding crack, the whoosh of air forced from his chest, and to top it all off, he flies back at least 5 feet before skidding to a stop near his ally.

He smiles cruelly, advancing slowly, confident in his win. The jester will be no match. Even if his Juyo isn't quite up to his master's par, it will be more than enough to establish him as a power player to these unfaithful people.

[Zeke]

Zeke slides painfully to a stop to Wei's right. His chest feels like it's on fire; every single breath hurts him. He tries to focus, bringing a happy thought to bear on Zenas, but feels it fade in pain and a little fear as he sits up. Zeke tilts his head and looks up at Wei through one eye, holding up his hand.

"Tag?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Tag? How about we try just getting out of here. This isn't going well. But he's pretty intent on defeating us. Maybe if we can get back to the ship in time and jump out of the system, he'll be too blinded by his rage to stick around and take it out on these people. It's very likely he'll chase us until he loses us."

Wei hefts Zeke onto his back. "This might hurt your chest some. That kick didn't do you much good and I've only really got one way to get us through this crowd and stay ahead of our angry friend."

Wei's legs coil beneath him and he bounds from the open area and onto the roof of a parked speeder. Another bounding leap sets him precariously on a guard rail on the edge of the causeway. The third bound sets them down next to Zeke's speeder.

[Zenas Codrey]

Zenas senses them as they make their escape, feels them pause, and deactivates his lightsaber. There's nothing to be gained from killing more Zeltrons, as he's pretty sure this is a retreat action, not a "let's move the fight" action. He is satisified with the display of ability he made, and decides to move on. He buries his Force Signature and starts to head toward the spaceport.