[color=gold][h3][b]Gin'ibak'aosame[/b][/h3][/color]
[hr][h3][color=gold]The Arrival[/color][/h3][hr]

Gin breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the loud crack from his sternum finally giving way. Closing his eyes, the chiss continued, rolling his head around while feeling distinct pops coming from the bones in his neck. The motor powering the drop ramp of the light freighter screeched, cutting his relaxed feeling short and overpowering the sonorous goings on of The Bitter End’s main port. It was a surprising achievement to be sure, especially considering that the docks sat directly under the factories of the city.

Unsurprisingly, however, the engine overheated not a moment later, stopping the ramp in its tracks halfway down from the ground. Gin took a break from stretching to side eye the ship's captain who was standing next to him. The human smiled weakly, taking a single long side step over to the motor and giving it a hard hit with the side of his fist. Without breaking eye contact the captain gave a small, yet forced, chuckle.

“You know how these things go, the Imps don’t like to inspect ships that [i]look [/i]like rust buckets.”

Gin pursed his lips, raising his eyebrows and giving a short set of nods in feigned agreement. Another punch and the engine screamed back to life, managing to bring the loading ramp all the way down without further incident. The smuggler slid his way back over to the chiss like a hutt to a banquet, extending out his hand expectedly.

Long gone were the days of people being honoured to have a Jedi passenger; free rides in luxurious ships, entire rooms to themselves, no hassles with crew and so on. Those were the times. Not that anyone from the Order was supposed to enjoy such things but look at where that had gotten them.

[i]We will each be challenged. Our trust... our faith... our friendships. But we must persevere.[/i]

Obi-Wan’s final message echoed throughout Gin’s mind as he wondered if the Jedi Master had ever been stuffed in a smuggler’s ship's crawl space before.

A clearing of the captain's throat returned Gin to reality, watching as the human slicked back his greased hair. The chiss smiled back, staring into the smugglers eyes as he clasped the humans shoulder. The former Jedi let out a long breath through his nose before taking in another just as deep, his chest visibly rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern. 

The smuggler opened his mouth to talk but his tongue failed him, refusing to utter even a single word. All he could do was cock his head to the side and give a faint look of confusion. Soon his breathing fell in time with Gin’s, as the Sentinel allowed the Force to ebb and flow between them. Like wind passing gently through reeds, he used the Force to venture back behind the captain's eyes. A sense of calm swept over the human as his eyes glazed over, allowing Gin to fill his mind with fog.

“Captain, walk with me a minute would you?” Gin kept his voice low and soft, letting the Force carry it into the smugglers mind.

“Walk with you a minute.” The captain repeated, mimicking Gin’s tone.

Together the two strode down the ramp, Gin continuously beaming a smile to all who walked past while keeping a hold of the humans shoulder. Once formally off the ship, Gin turned the captain to face him once more.

“Now, you don’t really remember seeing me before do you? In fact, you can’t be sure you’ve ever seen a Chiss in person, let alone smuggle one out of Hutt Territory, right?”

The captain nodded slowly as his jaw flopped open. A single strand of drool spilled out from his mouth, falling onto Gin’s boot.

[i]Whoops, a little too much.[/i] The chiss thought, holding back a disgusted look.

Slowly, the former Jedi removed his hand from the human’s shoulder, flipping up his hood and bringing his skin tight scarf up from around his neck to cover the lower half of his face. The captain's eyes fluttered to life, raising an eyebrow as he quizzically studied his surroundings, his head whipping back and forth.

“Hey!” Gin shouted, throwing the captain off balance.

“I [i]said[/i], where is the local cantina? Are you deaf or something?”

The captain's eyes snapped to the hooded figure in front of him.

“I… er… it’s over that way.” The smuggler pointed weakly towards a large elevator off to the side of the port, unable to wipe the puzzled look from his face.

“But…”

“Thanks!” Gin cut him off, pushing past the human and blending into the crowd. A knot twisted through his stomach as he glanced back one final time at the bewildered captain. There was a time where such a technique was used to help reveal information about a target, cut through dishonourable liars, help prevent assassinations and bring criminals to justice. Now it was just a cheap trick, employed to hussle an innocent man out of his credits and cover the former Jedi’s tracks.

[i]Well,[/i] Gin reasoned, [i]considering what I saw in his mind, he wasn’t all that innocent.[/i]

The Force crescendoed in a place like this, reminding Gin of the smuggler’s moon, Nar Shaddaa, or the lower levels of Coruscant, so much life sandwiched tightly into such a small space. Market stalls skirted along the sides of the port, their owners desperately rushing out and attempting to drag customers in for a closer look at their wares. Hulking four legged creatures shuffled carts of goods, grunting and growling their way up and down the loading bay. Buildings hung high above them from the ceiling, ironically imitating stalactites, while layered on top the rumbles of factories and a much larger cityscape could be heard.

Gin ducked and weaved his way through the diverse crowd, zigzagging through at a decent pace. Artfully, he managed to avoid a particularly keen looking quarren gesturing towards his stand before steering back into the bulk of the rabble, dancing around a couple of colossal weequay. Together they flanked a rather regal looking Falleen, shooting harrowing looks at any who dared to step near their boss. 

It wasn’t until Gin stopped at the foot of the towering elevator shaft that he noticed his blood was racing. Adrenaline surged through his body causing his breath to shorten to a pant, like a dog hungry for a meal, while the muscles in his limbs screamed at him for action. As the elevator doors opened to trade loads of aliens with the port, Gin couldn’t help but be reminded of his time hunting Callidus in the Unknown Regions.

True, this place was almost as off grid as you could get but the trail had been too easy to pick up. All it had taken was a few credits here and there to some seedy characters, hidden in plain sight in Hutt Space, to find out that Callidus was [i]supposedly [/i]here. Really? A man with the might of the Core Worlds bearing down upon him, an entire galactic Empire on the hunt and the secrets of his whereabouts could be found with the scum of the galaxy? No, Gin knew better than to underestimate the former Jedi Master, something was afoot here.

The chiss had gone over this during his time cramped up in the smugglers crawl space and there were only three possibilities he could think of. 

One. Pissing off the most powerful being in the galaxy had left Callidus with so few friends that attempting to cover his tracks was near impossible. 

Eh, maybe, but least likely. 

Two. An acolyte had made a mistake. The Jedi Council had once feared the pull of the Dark Jedi’s teachings and they were right to. Gin had seen it first hand, his followers were fiercely loyal, following Callidus with a religious like fervency. His teachings jacked the acolytes up, winding them so tight that killing and dying for the man came as easy as breathing. But they were also the only fault in his plans, in fact, they were the only reason the chiss had cornered the former Master in the Unknown Regions. If it was a mistake on their part then at the end of this trail there would be a dead body, another lamb led to the slaughter.

Three, and the most likely of the possibilities, this was deliberate. Callidus was really here but it was an intentional ploy. Maybe to recruit more followers, maybe to bring those hunting him out of the dark, who knows, his past plans had been too intricate to bother with guessing. 

The elevator jolted as it moved over bumps in the metalwork. Deep under his cloak and clipped to his belt, Gin felt his lightsaber rattle against his backside. The chiss’ fists tightened as a long drawn out breath caught the back of his throat. No, this was the reason, it had to be, and justice for the Order would be served.