morally_cryptic | [fic/rp] across the galaxy

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[fic/rp] across the galaxy

[ooc: Just prompted by a little mental image of Anakin "stargazing" that popped to mind earlier.]

On Coruscant, it was impossible to see the stars, even if one was looking out from the Council room at the top of the Jedi Temple. An unfortunate side effect of so much light from so many buildings and various forms of transport speeding around the airways. Not to mention that there was simply so much starship traffic, one likely wouldn't be able to tell the lights of ships from the field of stars behind them anyway.

Anakin had discovered this unfortunate fact not long after he came to live at the Jedi temple. He'd thought that, surely, so close to the center of the galaxy, the sky would be full of stars to see that he'd never been able to see before on Tatooine. Instead it turned out that perhaps the only thing that was better about Tatooine than Coruscant was that the desert planet was so sparsely inhabited and that the skies were so clear. Even out on the Rim, the sky was full of stars and the spiral arm of the galaxy could be clearly seen arcing across it.

He didn't try to watch the night sky on Coruscant anymore, but he still kept up the habit of at least looking for a moment whenever he found himself on a new planet. At the center of the Republic, however, he has to content himself with substitutes.

Which is why he can be found in an empty classroom surrounded by a holographic rendering of the galaxy. He's been spending all afternoon, so far, carefully marking off different star systems in various designated colors. Technically the entire exercise could be done by a computer but that wasn't Anakin's purpose in doing it. It requires concentration, but it doesn't require him to spend much effort in actually thinking so the whole activity is almost meditative.

The first batch of colored systems is simple: yellow for those that Anakin has already been to. Naboo might possibly be a subtly brighter yellow than all the rest, as if he'd lingered on that one for a moment longer than the others. He'd once told Qui-Gon he was going to see them all and certainly he had a better start on most other inhabitants of the galaxy, but it was still extraordinarily minute compared to the sheer number of systems represented on the map.

The second batch are green, signifying systems where battles of the Clone War have been fought and the Republic retained (or gained) control. Another group are blue, for the Separatist-won battles.

And finally, there's a sprinkling of red dots across the galaxy, mostly concentrated Rimward, and these are for those systems where battles are currently raging. Places he should be where he could be doing some good and making a difference. Staring at those flashes of red, it was almost enough to have him just commandeering a starfighter and heading out somewhere...anywhere. After making sure orders somehow just happened to make it through the system so that Rex and the 501st would be meeting him, of course.

But it wasn't, quite, enough. Contrary to some people's beliefs, he did have enough self-awareness to recognize that any action along those lines would likely not end well. That didn't mean he didn't still feel the temptation and it's that thought that has him swiping a hand through the starfield and systematically clearing everything out again until only dots of yellow remain on the map. He stares at those longest before they're wiped clean as well.

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Before Obi-Wan can say anything, the sensors draw their attention as a ship falls out of hyperspace nearby. "Well, we'd better made a decision quickly. I say make a show of it. We don't want to look like we're giving up too easily."

"Then I'll make with the evasive maneuvers," not that they've actually started shooting yet.

If said evasive maneuver doesn't actually take them far away at all well...they did want to get caught.

"Easy...let's see what they do."

The comm-board lights up, almost in response to Obi-Wan's comment. Obi-Wan pushed the button, and a female voice responds: "Transport Knytix, prepared to be boarded. Resistance will be met with force."

"Unidentified ship, to what do we owe the pleasure?" He couldn't resist, okay.

Obi-Wan gets an expectant look, "are we still waiting to see what they do or should we be expecting a tractor beam any second now?"

That earns a warning shot across their bow.

"Right, then," Obi-Wan says quietly. "Begin evasive maneuvers; let's see how badly they want us."

"On it," he smiles out the viewport at the other ship and starts putting their freighter through its paces.

"It's not a starfighter, but it'll do."

And certainly he makes a good go of it, though their would-be boarders actually seem to be making him work for it. "Someone's a hot hand with a stick," he mutters and it's actually a little difficult to remember for a moment that he's supposed to let them get caught. A little bit of injury to his ego that he can't make this a real competition.

Finally, though, a shot penetrates their shields and takes out their engines. "Oh no," Anakin says, deadpan, "we're doomed."

"Oh dear, whatever shall we do?" Obi-Wan replies in kind.

As the ship settles into the routine of being hauled in by the pirates - or whatever they are - he slides out of his seat with a tiny stretch. "Well, let's lock the ship down and go see who's captured us. And remember, no lightsabres until absolutely necessary. We have a cover to maintain."

When the inevitable chime at the airlock requests permission to board, Obi-Wan's there to meet it with an appropriate expression that's half indignation, and half frightened. The two men that precede the boarding party are definitely the hired muscle, meant more for show than security.

The woman that follows is around Obi-Wan's height, athletic build, with short, brown hair. She's dressed in black, tight-fitting pants, a black sleeveless, form-fitting shirt, with black thigh-high boots. A blaster is strapped to her leg, and she looks like the type to be highly proficient in its usage. Obviously she likes to make an impression.

"There now," she says in greeting, "that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Who knows, maybe we'll get out of this without using them at all," Anakin drawls as he stands and moves to follow Obi-Wan toward the airlock. Of course he believes no such thing.

Anakin isn't exactly hired muscle, but he does have a good scowl going and enough height to make him register as a possible threat. Just as well he's not carrying any weapons since it might make people...twitchy.

"Not so hard would have been you letting us get on with our business," Anakin retorts.

He crosses his arms and drums the fingers of his mechanical hand against his bicep, "is this the part where you tell us there's a toll?" Being the distraction at least gives Obi-Wan the opportunity to see if he can sense anyone else on that ship.

The woman smiles at him coolly, "if that makes you feel better. I like to think of it as a one-hundred percent tax for the use of this airspace."

Obi-Wan senses an inward reaction to Anakin's mechanical hand from the two guards, but they hide it well. And as far as anyone else being on the ship, he does note at least three others. One seems farther removed than the others, which places him or her as the pilot; the other two are closer, and probably waiting for the signal to start unloading cargo.

"So how does this work, then?" Obi-Wan asks, playing his usual, less intimidating role against Anakin's threatening presence. "You take all our belongings and then let us go? Forcing us to arrive on Taris as disgraced merchants is hardly worth the time and effort."

The woman gives Obi-Wan a side-long appraisal. "Oh, I never said anything about letting you go. One-hundred percent means everything. You, your ship, and your cargo."

Anakin's chin raises slightly as something like actual menace (as opposed to the show he's been putting on) flares in him. "Us?" Not really the best of suggestions to make to him, lady.

Certainly it has at least one of the guards tightening their grip on their blaster.

Their employer has the grace to not look intimidated. "You," she affirms. "I mean what I say, merchant."

Obi-Wan winces inwardly; if he didn't know Anakin as well as he did, he'd be convinced that their cover was about to be blown by the drawing of the younger man's lightsabre. But this woman seems to believe their cover story - or at least is willing enough to play along in front of her subordinates - which means that finding out more information is possible. If they play their cards right.

"Well then, I guess we're at your mercy," Obi-Wan replies, sending a calming wave through the Force in Anakin's general direction. It's the only way he can remind his friend that they wanted this to happen.

The woman gives Obi-Wan a suspicious look, before returning her attention to Anakin. "You'd better start acting like your friend here; I wouldn't want anything...unfortunate...to happen to you."

"We're already beyond unfortunate, madam," Obi-Wan replies. "And my friend doesn't take kindly to threats."

The suggestion of enslavement has never sat well with Anakin and it is likely that both the fact that he knows this is a ruse and they aren't hapless merchants as well as Obi-Wan's steady presence next to him that has him keeping his reaction contained down to the one word. He makes a show of taking a deep breath and letting it out. "He's always been more accommodating than I have, I'm afraid."

Her eyes narrow but she gestures for the guards to flank the two Jedi before she indicates deeper into her ship with a jerk of her chin. "If you two gentlemen will come with us? Not that it's a request.

Obi-Wan starts to move towards the airlock. "If you'd like, my associate here can help you inventory and off-load our cargo?"

The woman snorts. "Never said anything about off-loading anything, either. Save for you two jokers. Now get going."

Well, that was interesting. That would mean the two waiting on the other side were probably waiting to board the ship so they could assume control. Obi-Wan was willing to bet that their charming little freighter was going to be taken to an alternate drop-off point.

A little reluctantly, Anakin follows Obi-Wan off the ship, giving a backward glance toward the hold where the bacta is stored. He could only imagine how much these people were going to sell that for in the middle of wartime. Too bad about the ship, he'd been pretty pleased with the modifications he'd made.

Too bad he hadn't included a self-destruct...

...but he had included a tracking device, all nice and covertly snugged up in the ship's innards and set to piggyback its transmissions off of the comm system to lesson the chances of it being detected.

"Your hospitality is overwhelming," he says dryly as he crosses the threshold into the apparent pirate ship.

As Obi-Wan clears the other side of the airlock, he notes the two crew members casually waiting for orders. Behind him, he can sense Anakin, the woman, and the two brutes taking up the rear.

Once everyone's on board, the crew members approach the woman, who simply says, "You know your orders." The two disappear through the airlock before it's sealed and the sound of the other ship decoupling reverberates through the hull.

"As for you two," she continues, her attention back on the Jedi. "You'll get to see just how overwhelming our hospitality can be. My boys here will see you to your accommodations."

The urge for another smart comment is there, but he also figures he's made his point and certainly drawn enough attention. So he just smiles sardonically in response.

For their parts, each guard takes a Jedi and starts 'ushering' them toward the ship's brig. Though the one who's gotten stuck with Anakin doesn't seem quite certain of how to manhandle him with that metal arm.

Obi-Wan has no sympathy for Anakin's guard. It's rare for the prosthetic arm to be seen in public, but Obi-Wan had to admit, it was doing its job.

"So, do we get shared accommodations, or will we be spending time in solitary confinement?" Obi-Wan asks conversationally. The only reply he gets is a shove in the back from his guard. "Talkative fellow, aren't you?"

From somewhere behind them, the woman replies, "They don't get paid to talk, merchant. Save your breath."

"Since we're apparently staying with you for a while, please, call me Owen."

"Don't really care about your name, mister. Keep walking."

That's what made it so useful, sometimes. People tended to focus on such things instead of on the man attached to it. If they were under cover, Anakin had figured it couldn't hurt.

It's not precisely solitary confinement but when they get to the brig they are indeed shoved into separate cells. The ship isn't large enough for the cells to be of any reasonable size nor for there to be too many of them or much space in between. The unfortunate thing was that for what they lacked in space, they made up for in energy consumption as there were energy shields between the bars.

Glancing at the several other waiting cells, Anakin looked back at 'his' guard, "should we be expecting company?"

The guard just snorts derisively, "nothing you need to know."

The guards actually leave them once they've been locked up. Once Obi-Wan's taken stock of their surroundings he offers Anakin a wry smile.

"That went well. We're in the thick of it now. Thoughts?"

Meaning he'd like an actual answer once Anakin's gotten the snarky reply out of his system.

"Well you know, I thought I'd stretch out on the floor here and take a nap for a while. I'm sure something will come to me..."

Okay, he flashes Obi-Wan a quick grin to let him know he got it out of his system and keeps looking around the brig, pitching his voice lower just in case someone's listening in. "Seems strange they didn't search us. And if they planned on actually using us as slaves they would have used different restraints." You know, like shock collars.

Obi-Wan snorts softly at the snarky reply, then goes into a brief moment of beard-stroking-thoughtful mode as Anakin voices his observations.

"I don't think slavery is what they're after," Obi-Wan replies finally, also keeping his voice low. "It seems a logical assumption given that the ships and passengers are never seen again. But it could also simply be long-term imprisonment. How long-term is up for debate, as no one's been released yet, but that doesn't mean it isn't a possibility."

At this point, he chooses to sit on the floor cross-legged, resting his hands lightly on his knees. "There is also the strong possibility that they have two bases in operation; one for the processing of the cargo they steal, and the other for dealing with their prisoners. The question is, what are they doing with the supplies, and how can we make that knowledge work in our favour?"

Regarding the two bases of operation, Anakin nods, "seems a reasonable assumption. Then again, we didn't see the others actually fly away in our ship." But if they could apparently make ships, their crews, and their cargo disappear without a trace it stood to reason they probably didn't put all their eggs in one proverbial basket.

"They have to be locals...or be working with locals. We're past all the checkpoints and they dropped out of hyperspace almost right on top of us. This close to the planet, that would get pretty tricky."

Hopefully, that suggested they weren't Separatists.

"They might have someone working for them at one of the checkpoints; or they're tapping into the comm frequencies. It's the only way to know when traders are passing through and what the cargo is." That answers part of Anakin's locals-comment.

"And you are correct. They could have another ship waiting for a signal to jump in, take the cargo, and then destroy the ship. But why destroy a ship when you can use it for parts, shelter, or storage?" Because a lot of cargo ships have specialty holds meant specially for whatever it is they're carrying.

"And as for not searching us, how would anyone know to start bringing weapons to fight off pirates? Taris has been keeping this under tights wraps, lest the wrong people try to exploit the situation, and no one's returned to tell their story."

"Destroying the ship seems counterproductive, especially if they're pirates. No profit in it." And not so hard to change a ships transponder codes, fly it somewhere far away from where it was snatched, and sell it for a profit. Particularly in these times where they could steal from the Republic and sell in Separatist space or vice versa. Or in this case, apparently, steal while in neutral space and leave no witnesses behind to cry foul.

"And no...there haven't been any stories but don't at least some merchants carry weapons, especially when they're transporting valuable cargo?" Just in case? If nothing else, it seemed sloppy of them not to check.

He cocks his head suddenly, listening to the thrum of the engines through the body of the ship. "I think we've jumped to hyperspace."

"Regardless of their motives, and their seeming lack of concern for their own personal safety, if they are pirates, then they're hardly typical. We'll have to wait until we get to wherever they're taking us before we can speculate any further."

Obi-Wan frowns at the mention of hyperspace. "What are the odds that Taris isn't our destination?"

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i'm picturing anakin didn't bother to wear a glove for this trip

That would definite cause a stir...Robo Claw to the rescue?

well you know, the robo claw gets to come out so rarely....

Re: well you know, the robo claw gets to come out so rarely....

Re: well you know, the robo claw gets to come out so rarely....

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you know him so well, Obi

Of course he does. They've known each other for far too long.

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oh god, I just imagined Anakin hiding his lightsaber in his arm

Now I'm tyring to figure out the logistics of that....