Rising Dawn

Ord Mantell.

This place was rotten to the core, just like every other fringe planet out there. However, if you needed information, a good hand, or even just a drink, planets like these were absolutely perfect. Not to mention it was very easy to lose yourself in the milieu of the crowds. However, there was another reason that this kind of planet was perfect: the fact that out here, everyone was a nobody. Even the somebodies.

The Defender-class corvette touched down on a landing pad in the capital of Worlport, right near a couple of good cantinas, casinos and hotels. A little more classy than some of the other cities of this planet, anyway. In fact, a ship like that-- especially in Old Republic red-- hadn't been seen in a very long time. The colours attracted the right amount of attention, but it was probably some crazy old junker or collector who liked it the way it was. Whatever.

What people didn't know was that its sole occupant was a Jedi Master, now taking a seat in the cantina to order himself a ruby bliel and sit back, trying to find some information, some companionship... or just a distraction from the exigencies of life. This was his first real moment of downtime in more than a year. Something that wasn't a treasure hunt or teaching Padawans would be very welcome.

Ord Mantell sucked balls.

If pressed, that was how Gideon would describe the planet. He would, of course, phrase it more diplomatically, but the intent would remain the same. Ord Mantell was a hole. If he could wipe its location from the navcomputers of every starship in the Galaxy, he would. He'd be doing the Galaxy a favour.

Unfortunately, Gideon Rawne was in fact on Ord Mantell. This did not make him happy.

"Fuck Ord Mantell."

Ord Mantell was technically still under Imperial control, though resistance groups were pushing to remove the Empire from the planet. They still hadn't come to a decision on what to do afterwards, however, with some in favour of joining the New Republic and others in favour of complete independace. One small group wanted to turn the planet into a giant amusement park, but the others mostly ignored them.

"Seriously. Fuck the place."

New Republic Intelligence had decided to sent a covert team to link up with pro-NR resistance groups and see what kind of aid they needed to kick the Empire's arses. They had put Lieutenant-Colonel Rawne in charge of this group. This may not have been the greatest idea.

"Fuck it in the ear. With a... I dunno, a rusty fucking bayonet, or something."

"With the greatest of respect, sir," Sergeant Vek growled, "shut the hell up. Sir."

Gideon shot him a dirty look. "Fine. Now where the hell are these people we're supposed to be meeting?"

"They might have been delayed."

"No shit they've been delayed," Gideon snorted, "they're fucking late! You know what I think about this place?"

"You said. A number of times. It involved the word 'balls'."

"And I meant every word."

At least the Mantellian resistance group had picked a cantina as a rendezvous point, which meant that to keep their cover as merchant spacers Rawne and Vek had ordered drinks and were sitting at a table with a few empty glasses on it. They'd been waiting far too long.

"Screw it," Gideon announced, "ten more minutes and we assume the whole thing's a wash and fuck off."

"So you'll be wanting another drink, then."

"Good man. I'll have another of the same, thanks."

Now, when the NR agents had entered the cantina, Tethis had spied one of them and thought instantly to himself stars and galaxies, is that who I think it is? For as the avid followers of multiverse theory would know, in another universe, that guy was his apprentice. In this universe, he conveniently resembles an old friend of his that was also a CorSec agent. And when he heard some of the choice words they were uttering-- thank you Force Eavesdropping-- he was so sure this was a related mission.

However, something still felt wrong. The Jedi Master just could not be sure. Instead, he went the safe path and went up to the barkeep, credits in hand and slid along the bar, motioning for the boozemaster to come closer.

"Whatever those guys are having, give them another round each, on me. Give them my compliments."

He looked over to Gideon and gave him a nod, then sat down and waited, back to his own carefully-nursed ruby bliel.

Sergeant Vek was unamused to find that the drinks had already been paid for. He was sick of people trying to pick up Gideon in bars. On the other hand, at least he didn't have to pay for them again.

"Turns out the person over there paid for our drinks," he informed Gideon as he placed them on the table.

"Nice! Is she hot?" Gideon asked, trying to look past Vek so he could begin ogling.

"I'll rephrase that: the man over there paid for our drinks."

Gideon facepalmed. "This keeps happening to me. What is it about me that sets off peoples' gaydar?"

"It's the hair," Vek deadpanned over his drink.

"You be quiet." Gideon glared at him. "It does occur to me that this might be a way for our contact to make him or herself known to us. We'd better at least make sure."

"And if not, you can get his number."

Gideon studied the man for a few moments. "Nah. Not my type. You stay here."

Drink in hand (a cheap, but surprisingly good locally distilled dark rum), Gideon wandered over to the generous patron's table. Now was the time to find out if he'd actually memorised the damn code phrase correctly. It was one of the most stupid sign/countersign routines that NRI had ever come up with, and that was saying a lot. How had the Rebel Alliance ever survived? "Thanks for the drink. So... looks like it's going to rain today."

Tethis finally noticed the man approaching but had not heard the words spoken beforehand. After all, he was rather interested in his idenity - if it really was Jay, then this was going to be an interesting moment. That said, he didn't have the usual loud-mouthed Jay response, nor did he even seem to recognise Tethis upon approach.

What he said, however, actually put a look of disappointment on Tethis' face. Probably slightly rude of him, too. Not only was that the most awkward way to say hello ever, his voice was different. He didn't sound like Jay whatsoever and the Jedi was crestfallen. He was so excited by the prospect of actually being able to see his old friend that the disappointment from not being able to was showing through. With good reason. Jay had been a pretty pivotal part of a certain point of his life... not like that, you assholes.

However, Tethis also had enough mental presence to notice when he was being rude. He almost jolted before looking up at Gideon with a smile. "Oh! Uh, hello. I... don't think it's going to rain today, though? What a strange way to start a conversation."

Tethis motioned to the seat and decided that he could at least explain his reasoning before making a complete and utter ass out of himself. "I'm sorry. I honestly thought you were a friend of mine who's with CorSec. You look exactly like him. The only way I could even tell you apart was your voice. My apologies for the rudeness and the intrusion away from your friends. I'm Tethis."

So this pretty definitely wasn't the contact, seeing as he hadn't replied with the correct phrase. All that had happened was that Gideon now kind of looked like an idiot. Which he was used to, to be perfectly frank. He just looked like a specific kind of idiot this time.

"Gideon." He mentally cursed himself for giving out his real name before remembering that his cover identity's name was also Gideon. NRI had really outdone itself in laziness for this assignment.

He took the offered seat and raised his drink in thanks. "We weren't really doing anything... supposed to be metting someone, but he's late. Or she. We weren't given many specifics. Our boss kind of sucks."

Ah, that explained it. This guy had to be some kind of operative. Surprisingly, that reminded him just as much of Jay as anything - he would've expected his old friend to be undercover on some kind of assignment for CorSec, busting up some smuggling ring starting from Ord Mantell and running out to Corellia. However, that voice just couldn't be faked. No way in the entire Galaxy could this guy be Jay despite their unbelievably striking similarities. A shame, too. Jay would've made an awesome ally for the Jedi.

Really, he didn't mind Gideon screwing up like that with a valid reason. After all, Tethis was kind of undercover, too. He didn't know how much he could reveal about himself, in case anti-Jedi sentiment was still high... so he had to be careful. However, he got the idea of what Gideon was doing just by his feelings... and his bitterness. "Ah. Security work, then? Understandable. My job can be fairly tiring, travelling around to find new recruits. It's not easy scouring every corner of the Galaxy, y'know?"

Leaning back in his seat, Tethis smiled. "You know, if you'd like, I could help you locate your contact?"

While that was a very kind offer and might considerably cut down the amount of time Gideon would have to spend on this shithole of a planet, he had a few concerns. "No offence, but I just met you about a minute ago. It was very kind of you to buy us a drink, but do I trust you? Do I fuck."

He shrugged. There was probably a more diplomatic way to phrase that, but he'd really had enough with all this shit.

"And when you say 'new recruits' I can't help thinking you're into something shady here." Gideon grinned. "Even shadier than what I'm here for. This place is still technically Imperial-controlled, and I don't want the Boys in White coming down on me like a ton of bricks. That kind of thing really puts a crimp in a man's day."

"I guess that's a lot of valid concern..." Tethis had to admit. His youthful impetus was his real major downfall here. He'd almost forgotten the Empire was out here and that they owned this place. And that was going to be a problem.

"Don't worry. The Empire's already hunted my kind to extinction. I... now that I'm trying to rebuild my order, it's very difficult. I guess I need to be more mindful of Imperial presence, even if the Empire was more or less defeated over Endor."

That was Tethis' hint. Most people knew the Empire had annihilated the Jedi almost thirty years ago, and that they were a supposedly evil presence. If this guy worked it out and didn't mind this would probably be a good thing, considering the fact a budding Jedi Order would be in support of a budding New Republic...

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? If you need a hand against the Empire's agents, I can definitely help you out."

Despite outward appearances, Gideon had a rather sharp mind. His apparent disorganisation and easily-distractedness (if that's not a real word it bloody well should be) was mostly a mask. Mostly. So when Tethis laid out a bunch of hints he strung them together to come to the conclusion that this young man was a Jedi.

In a puddle on the table where a patron had spilled their drink long before either he or Tethis had entered the cantina Gideon scrawled the word JEDI with his finger and raised an eyebrow in a silent question.