Child of the light part 4
Rising from the booth, he made his back towards the bar, the bartender seemed to catch his approach from the corner of his eye and turned to face Christie, his hand already reaching for a fresh tankard.
"Another one?" he asked in a gruff-sounding voice, his fingers starting to work against the inside of the tankard in what could only be described as some sort of cleaning method?
"Please"
Christie responded and the bartender turned away from him to scoop up a fresh tankard, this giving Christie pause to muse that politeness was the way to get a clean drinking vessel around here.
While waiting for his drink, he turned once more to take a careful look around the bar, this time he moved his head a little slower and tried to do so with a more casual motion, he did not want to upset any of the blaster-holding thugs at the Sabacc table, so slow and steady was the way to win this race.
His head turned slowly from left to right, this time sensing no real danger, not even a feeling of apprehension until he turned enough to look towards the Cantina's entrance, his mind suddenly screaming out a warning as he looked directly at Two imperial Stormtroopers standing in the entrance way.
Their white armour was something that stood out against the grim of the doorway, their blaster rifles head in both hands and pointed downwards but ready to be called into action if they were needed to be.
They seemed to be taking in the surroundings of the cantina, perhaps looking for something or someone, a feeling of dread gripped his stomach as he thought about that, were they there for him? but how could they even know he was here?
He had held no position on the council or any such place within the Jedi order, He was long past the rank of Padawan and had escaped the purge of order 66, but still, nowhere on the list of high-profile targets.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself, he had been hidden for a long time, a long time to dwell on the past, but also time to find some peace and grow in the force and try to find understanding.
Christie without thinking reached into his shirt, the rough material against his hand caused it to itch for a moment before the sensation passed, if he had to fight his way out of here, then he would, whatever reason had made him come to this place was too important to ignore.
The choice of the fight was taken from him a moment later as the two stormtroopers seemed satisfied with their cursory look into the cantina and were now turning to walk back out the way they had come,
This was enough to kick Christie into action as he let his hand slip back from where it rested inside his shirt, with a quick turn and a forward movement he was heading towards where he saw the back door from the cantina as his mind began to ponder as to why there were imperial forces here.
Christie weaved his way through the crowd, his sights set firmly on the exit and escape into the town beyond, he needed to get clear of this place in case the stormtroopers came back, his plan clear in his mind and working perfectly as he found an opening in the crowd and quickened his pace towards the exit.
Suddenly one of the thugs from the sabacc game stepped in front of him, .his path now blocked, Christie, looked down and saw the blaster pistol hanging from the locals hip and stopped in front of him.
"Excuse me please" Christie exclaimed, his focus drawn away from the blaster pistol slung to one side and back to where the thug stood before him, both men now looking at each other face to face.
The man before him gave a wicked-looking grin, some form of intimidation perhaps, men like this liked to pick the weak from the flock and scare and take whatever they could, oh how he did not like bullies he thought to himself, but this was not the time to give any lessons on etiquette.
"No, No. you're not welcome to drink in here, this is a private place for members" he said his words twisted into some guttural form of the basic tongue, perhaps not his first language? but the man did look human to Christie.
The words seemed to draw some laughter from behind Christie and he could not sense the three other men behind him with similar hostile intent.
"Look, I was just leaving," Christie said and tried to sidestep and move around the man before him, the action a futile gesture as his movement was mimicked by the thug and he found himself facing the man once more.
This was enough to make Christie silently curse himself, the trap sprung and him having walked into it and now needing to find a way to make his escape with as little attention as possible.
Captain Tarquleth stood by the entrance to the shuttle, his back hurting slightly from the travel and inactivity of space travel. his commanding officer still standing half beside the left-hand side of the ramp and just looking into the distance, his attention was seemingly lost on nothing but still, he continued to stare outwards.
Tarqueleth considered turning his attention in that direction, but he was not sure what he could find this time that he had not seen the other three or four times he had stared outwards and tried to find what had his Commander's attention so focussed that way.
He heard a click in his helmet and clicked his commlink open as one of the units was now reporting back to him.
"Checkpoint one is in place, Sir," the voice said into his helmet and he nodded silently to himself before responding with a simple "Acknowledged" before he closed the link and a second signal came through and then a third.
The second told him that the second checkpoint was in place and the third quickly informed him that the Cantina was clear and they were about this move on, he acknowledged both messages with another simple "Acknowledged" and then turned to face Commander Jaramon.
"Sir" he began, his voice pausing for long enough to break the Commander from whatever had drawn his attention into the distance, the taller man turned his head to look to where Captain Tarquleth stood and nodded towards him.
"The checkpoints are in place and our third team is sweeping the town as ordered" The stormtrooper responded and waited for a response from the other man, a response that did not come, Jaramon still seeming more focussed on his thoughts than the conversation between the pair.
"Sir, what are your orders now?" Tarqueleth finally said to break the silence between them, he wanted to know what was to happen next, so he could at least give his men something to focus on and not stand aimlessly, as he was doing.
Commander Jaramon did not speak for several seconds and Tarquelth opened his mouth to speak again, the action hidden by his helmet but it seemed enough to make Jaramon turn to look towards him.
"We wait now, we wait"
"Another one?" he asked in a gruff-sounding voice, his fingers starting to work against the inside of the tankard in what could only be described as some sort of cleaning method?
"Please"
Christie responded and the bartender turned away from him to scoop up a fresh tankard, this giving Christie pause to muse that politeness was the way to get a clean drinking vessel around here.
While waiting for his drink, he turned once more to take a careful look around the bar, this time he moved his head a little slower and tried to do so with a more casual motion, he did not want to upset any of the blaster-holding thugs at the Sabacc table, so slow and steady was the way to win this race.
His head turned slowly from left to right, this time sensing no real danger, not even a feeling of apprehension until he turned enough to look towards the Cantina's entrance, his mind suddenly screaming out a warning as he looked directly at Two imperial Stormtroopers standing in the entrance way.
Their white armour was something that stood out against the grim of the doorway, their blaster rifles head in both hands and pointed downwards but ready to be called into action if they were needed to be.
They seemed to be taking in the surroundings of the cantina, perhaps looking for something or someone, a feeling of dread gripped his stomach as he thought about that, were they there for him? but how could they even know he was here?
He had held no position on the council or any such place within the Jedi order, He was long past the rank of Padawan and had escaped the purge of order 66, but still, nowhere on the list of high-profile targets.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself, he had been hidden for a long time, a long time to dwell on the past, but also time to find some peace and grow in the force and try to find understanding.
Christie without thinking reached into his shirt, the rough material against his hand caused it to itch for a moment before the sensation passed, if he had to fight his way out of here, then he would, whatever reason had made him come to this place was too important to ignore.
The choice of the fight was taken from him a moment later as the two stormtroopers seemed satisfied with their cursory look into the cantina and were now turning to walk back out the way they had come,
This was enough to kick Christie into action as he let his hand slip back from where it rested inside his shirt, with a quick turn and a forward movement he was heading towards where he saw the back door from the cantina as his mind began to ponder as to why there were imperial forces here.
Christie weaved his way through the crowd, his sights set firmly on the exit and escape into the town beyond, he needed to get clear of this place in case the stormtroopers came back, his plan clear in his mind and working perfectly as he found an opening in the crowd and quickened his pace towards the exit.
Suddenly one of the thugs from the sabacc game stepped in front of him, .his path now blocked, Christie, looked down and saw the blaster pistol hanging from the locals hip and stopped in front of him.
"Excuse me please" Christie exclaimed, his focus drawn away from the blaster pistol slung to one side and back to where the thug stood before him, both men now looking at each other face to face.
The man before him gave a wicked-looking grin, some form of intimidation perhaps, men like this liked to pick the weak from the flock and scare and take whatever they could, oh how he did not like bullies he thought to himself, but this was not the time to give any lessons on etiquette.
"No, No. you're not welcome to drink in here, this is a private place for members" he said his words twisted into some guttural form of the basic tongue, perhaps not his first language? but the man did look human to Christie.
The words seemed to draw some laughter from behind Christie and he could not sense the three other men behind him with similar hostile intent.
"Look, I was just leaving," Christie said and tried to sidestep and move around the man before him, the action a futile gesture as his movement was mimicked by the thug and he found himself facing the man once more.
This was enough to make Christie silently curse himself, the trap sprung and him having walked into it and now needing to find a way to make his escape with as little attention as possible.
Captain Tarquleth stood by the entrance to the shuttle, his back hurting slightly from the travel and inactivity of space travel. his commanding officer still standing half beside the left-hand side of the ramp and just looking into the distance, his attention was seemingly lost on nothing but still, he continued to stare outwards.
Tarqueleth considered turning his attention in that direction, but he was not sure what he could find this time that he had not seen the other three or four times he had stared outwards and tried to find what had his Commander's attention so focussed that way.
He heard a click in his helmet and clicked his commlink open as one of the units was now reporting back to him.
"Checkpoint one is in place, Sir," the voice said into his helmet and he nodded silently to himself before responding with a simple "Acknowledged" before he closed the link and a second signal came through and then a third.
The second told him that the second checkpoint was in place and the third quickly informed him that the Cantina was clear and they were about this move on, he acknowledged both messages with another simple "Acknowledged" and then turned to face Commander Jaramon.
"Sir" he began, his voice pausing for long enough to break the Commander from whatever had drawn his attention into the distance, the taller man turned his head to look to where Captain Tarquleth stood and nodded towards him.
"The checkpoints are in place and our third team is sweeping the town as ordered" The stormtrooper responded and waited for a response from the other man, a response that did not come, Jaramon still seeming more focussed on his thoughts than the conversation between the pair.
"Sir, what are your orders now?" Tarqueleth finally said to break the silence between them, he wanted to know what was to happen next, so he could at least give his men something to focus on and not stand aimlessly, as he was doing.
Commander Jaramon did not speak for several seconds and Tarquelth opened his mouth to speak again, the action hidden by his helmet but it seemed enough to make Jaramon turn to look towards him.
"We wait now, we wait"
