Curios and Cozenage

[Sadie K'Vesh]

The best part of ill-conceived plans were when the stars went and aligned themselves and things actually worked. Sadie hadn't never been to Ossus before, no where near the system it was part of, neither, and truth were, she only knew one word associated it with: Jedi. If she'd been on her onsies she probably could have used her dad's name for a bit of leverage, maybe an in without having to go through heavy rigamarole, but as Sadie looked back towards the individual sharing the cockpit with her, she knew she just about rather die than let that slip. Even if the Imperial Knight - one Lady Matatek Sel Vissica - were dressed like a regular sort of spacer, Sadie knew damned well just what the Selonian were capable of and what sort of secrets Sadie had avoided letting out into the open that needed to stay well and truly hidden.

There were all sorts of risk coming to Ossus, Sadie knew that. It was Alliance space for one, and she knew folks there thanks to a stint of saving the 'verse from some big ol' angry lizard folk way back when. One of them heroes had been a Jedi, hadn't he? Well, all Sadie could do was go and hope her luck held out and they didn't go and run into one another. Not while she was here trying to sell the Jedi back a piece of their own tech - a holocron at that - at the behest of formerly said Imperial Lady.

Still, the planet weren't closed off to wanderers, and Sadie had manged to get clearance to rest at the modest little landing pad. Landing a whole new lesson in and of itself. First time to a Jedi planet, first time ever seeing a Jedi holocron never-mind selling it off, first time having her own ship, and first time ever setting the Lancer-class pursuit craft down. If Sadie was downright honest with herself, she was damn nervous.

She set about starting the landing sequence, still some good distance in Ossus' atmosphere and glanced over at her cohort.

"Given th' change in gear, guessin' you're comin' with?" She questioned, already prepared to get some sort of cryptic reply; Sadie weren't the only one who could hide the truth without outright lying.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

"No."

Vissica's ears pushed back slightly against her head.

"You have your mission. I have mine. Continue your course. When the time is right, I will contact you."

The Selonian strode to the back of the ship, hitting a control switch to drop the gangplank. A loud rush of air filled the interior of the cabin. Below, the mesas, brush, and trees of Ossus passed by in a blur. Vissica watched the landscape pass as she opened herself to the force.

Finding her moment, Vissica jumped and began to freefall.

[Sadie K'Vesh]

For one of them dizzy maddening moments as the hatch closed and Sadie was left on her lonesome, she had a real stupid thought. The Knight was gone, off to do Frak Knew What on the planet and she was alone, on the ship, that hadn't landed yet. Sadie could punch it, get the frak away from Ossus and hit hyperspace and... what? Run the rest of her life? Even if she could no doubt disable any sort of tracking tech that the Imp had possibly put on the ship, something told Sadie it weren't gonna be enough. There'd never be enough of anything she could go and put betwixt herself and that Selonian to ever make a clean getaway. Even with the Exchange, even with the Broker's help... Nah, she'd chosen this course, stayed on it way too damned long already and was now gonna have to live with decisions made.

Was a sigh to move all the stars and planets that left her as Sadie returned her attention to the view-port instead of down the hall and the back of the ship that Vissica and vanished from. She glanced to where the holocron sat, all perched and glowing from where it sat on the console.

As the landing pad came into sight, Sadie hoped, not quite prayed that this was gonna work, that whatever she got for the silly thing, that it'd be damn worth it.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Vissica was a missle, hurtling towards the ground in freefall, her sleek Selonian features offering little resistance to the air as she plummeted. The ground passed in a blur, but foresight through the Force allowed her to see her place of landing before her eyes could. She suddenly tucked, rolled, and splayed both forepaws ahead, driving into the ground with all of her concentration a force push to counteract her inertia, bleeding into rapid deceleration so that when she landed in a crouch, the only violence of the impact was a small plume of sandy dust beneath her feet. On all fours, the Selonian watched the distant shape of the Lancer pursuit craft as it made final approach to Sanctuary.

It was now the Knight's turn to make her own way there - taking a long and careful path.

[Satkia Beltrak]

"No! Don't plug the red wire into the yellow port... Shit!"

Satkia groaned and promptly closed the distance with Askor, the young mechanics. At least the boy had been smart enough to wear gloves and without hesitation the redhead yanked the wire away with a tweak of the Force.

"It's okay, it's okay. You're fine," she reassured the teenager who seemed horribly embarrassed. For what she knew, he was an orphan from some alliance world who had been taken in to be trained on Ossus. While Askor hadn't exhibited much potential in the Force, at least not much interest for what she had gathered, he loved helping and liked machines.

The Nar Shaddaa-born Jedi was going to go back to her home world in a few days; but she had decided to linger around and help with a few things before refueling and leaving Ossus for the time being. That had included helping with the docking crews, and also teach a few padawans how to fly.

She patiently went over the explanations again for the satellite dish and the shield units; and watched Askor as he did everything correctly this time around.

A ship was coming in to land at a nearby pad, catching the redhead's attention. She felt something in the Force, echoes from a long-gone past, but whoever was aboard this craft, she knew them.

Once she was certain that Askor was okay, she wiped her hands cleaned and hopped down to the ground, heading in the direction of the new arrival.

[Sadie K'Vesh]

Sadie was sweating the whole damn time the - Mairan? Yeah, that had a nice damn ring to it. Was missing something though... some sort of leading adjective... aw well - was touching down. Not on account of what was before her, strangely enough, but more making sure that the ship didn't crash into nothing. True, most of the landing sequence was all automated like, something Sadie could appreciate fullheartedly, but still, it would have made for a downright wretched first impression if she'd clipped a wing or something on the way down. Thankfully the ship settled and Sadie breathed a hell of a big sigh of relief before reaching up and snatching the glowing Jedi tech and shoving it into a handy thick canvas bag.

Right. Time t' make face. At least, that's what she told herself. The person on the comms she'd spoken with had been suitably political and only assured her that she'd have a chance of meeting with a representative of the Jedi. No real time schedule or exactly who that representative might have gone and been. With her luck? She'd get stuck with some blundering adept who had only just arrived planet side and thought themselves all high and mighty since they could finally call themselves among the Jedi. Well, joke's on you, arsehats, Sadie was a Padawan herself - dubbed so by her own flesh and blood. So there.

Frak that was a right skrag attitude to have. One that didn't suit her anyhow. She wasn't here to see who had the biggest Force-thing. She was here to hawk a holocron.

This little tumult of thought ran through her head as Sadie shoved the small canvas bag into her larger shoulder slung one that held her personal effects and headed down the Something Mairan's gangplank. She stopped at the bottom edge of the ramp and tilted her head back on her shoulders until her neck gave a satisfying pop.

As Sadie let herself go and return to neutral her eyes fell on a red-haired figure making strides towards her. She weren't certain but damned if the face didn't look halfway familiar.

And that right there? Well that should have been enough cause for worry that was making itself suspiciously scarce.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

The arid landscape of Ossus offered cover in both broken terrain and the occasional gnarled evergreen, and Vissica used both carefully as she took a circuitous path towards Sanctuary. The Knight took a path that would give a degree of elevation - and offer a vantage she could use to plan her approach. A trail switched up between Sanctuary and another village, offering command over the valley. Mindful of the sparse foot and cart traffic that occasionally passed, Vissica approached a promontory, dropping to all fours as she approached with a low profile. The Knight drew a set of micro quadnocs from her belt, pressing them against her eyes as she zoomed in on the Jedi settlement. The landing field could be plainly seen, as could Saidra's landed vessel. Good, good.

Panning to the right, Vissica caught sight of the ancient Jedi temple. Even from a distance, she could see clear signs that the new Jedi had begun to renovate the structure.

[Satkia Beltrak]

The uncanny tremor in the Force gave Satkia brief pause as she headed towards the other ship that had landed. There was something at play, more diffuse than she could pinpoint. She knew to focus on what she could rather than let her mind aimlessly wander, so she decided to be fully present here and there in the Enclave's hangar for now.

The black-clad redhead didn't take long to make her way to the nearby landing pad, as a figure emerged from it, a young woman whose face was familiar. Not wanting to be rude, the vision of the other woman caught her by surprise and she quirked a brow for a brief moment, memories flashing before her mind's eye of her early adolescence on Nar Shaddaa.

She had been working for her father's workshop that fixed travelers, legal or criminal ships from a young age. Even though she and her late twin had been close, they both followed in either of their parents' footsteps, and Satkia had been the gearhead.

That had also meant she got to know many people, including a bunch of street rats as her mother called them. She loved those kids, a bunch of younger siblings to her. She wasn't necessary the exemplary big sis by any means, too wild and too stubborn and ready to pick fights with whoever threatened people she cared for; but she had cared about all of these adopted siblings, whether she saw them often or for years, or just a few passing times.

All those memories and dot-connecting only took a few instants; but Satkia knew.

"Sadie?" she inquired in a quiet voice as she stood close enough to the brunette.

"I'm Satkia Beltrak."

[Sadie K'Vesh]

Satkia...

"Aw frak."

Okay, so Sadie didn't mean to let that go and slip, it just kinda had an accord of it's own right then and there, but it happened. Surprises abound thanks to the damn Force or Fate or whatnot. She had half a mind to pretend like a decade or so hadn't gone and passed since the last time she saw the other redhead. Hey, how's tricks? Y'know I ran into Vhi th' other day... he's still a damn arse who was shtuppin' m' new boss till he spaced. Nah, it couldn't form. Her head was too gorram slow versus her tongue - for a damn change, which was a blessing and a curse at the time, really.

Truth was, all Sadie's head was doing was trying to merge past and present and it came into one heap of a glob of jumbled dreg considering where they were both standing.

Was a whole heap of memories that had poured upon her as soon as name met face and the connection came together; the least of which was listening all eager like to two twin sisters who knew what was what. They were good junk folks, mechanics, could get stuff, and Sadie'd been young and impressionable and running with... Frak, was that before or after The Family? Didn't matter. Not in the long run. The Beltrak's hadn't been part of that mess, but they'd been kind and good to the kids like her on Nar Shaddaa. Food had come when it was needed, a roof to sleep under when things got real dicey... Weren't like an every day occurrence or none of that, but when trouble hit, it was good to know who you could run to to wait it out. Sadie'd made those few and far betwixt contacts... a body had to. Trouble was, the verse was suddenly tossing them all back at her... and these were folks who well and good should have had the sense to stay in her past.

Before she could stop it, a hand shot up into her hair and ran through the tangled slightly curled mess it was. "Don't go tellin' me y' an' Sarya are Jedi nowadays, that there seems a right shame."

[Satkia Beltrak]

She had seen her share of crazy stuff in her life, even before unexpectedly becoming a Jedi; but it didn't take anything away from her surprise of crossing paths with Sadie again, on Ossus out of all places in the galaxy. It was even more uncanny, or just the Force being at play yet again, that Satkia would be the one running into her. Hell, she hadn't even planned to stay at the Enclave as long as she did. It was nothing against the Temple, and she was delighted that the Jedi could live more in the open; but she had been used to keep a low profile for too much time for things to change.

She smirked at Sadie's reaction. She definitely didn't disagree with that "aw frak" statement. Crazy shit, really...

She tucked her hands into her pockets when the brunette mentioned her late twin. Had it really been that long? Yes, it had.

"I buried Sarya many years ago, and then a Jedi weirdly decided I had it in me to be more than a gear head and bar brawler."

She didn't know what to make of the fact that mentioning Sarya's death had become much easier over the years. It had been extremely rough; but life had gone on and Satkia had built a life for herself.

"Last time I was on Nar Shaddaa my father actually mentioned you. He was wondering how you and some of the rest of the bunch were doing after all this time."

Orian Beltrak might be a foul mouthed and hardworking pilot and mechanics, much like his remaining daughter, but he had a heart of gold and was always happy to help.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

From her perch, Vissica plotted her approach down to Sanctuary, noting the switchbacks she could afford to take, and the ones that were too exposed to dare. The Selonian negotiated the descent, staying fast to four feet as she stayed as low as she could manage. The force informed her of her approach, occasionally wiling her to pause, stop short, and adjust. The greatest virtue in this task was patience, and it was a virtue that her hot-blooded passions clashed against. She wanted confrontation. She wanted what she'd prepared for, but it would serve her no purpose to be caught short of that moment. So, Vissica swallowed her eagerness and took her time.

Finally descended from the promontory, the Selonian watched the few figures in the distance carefully. She reached out with her senses to discern if there was any undue attention to her encroachment. When there was nothing, she stalked ahead, passing the outlying prefabricated structures of Sanctuary itself. From here on, she would have to be careful.