Star Wars: A Thing Of Beauty

In Pieces

Miles and miles away from the Kurp estate there is a cheap motel by an old speeder road that hardly gets used anymore. Jinang is laying in a bed, staring at the dingy ceiling. He hardly slept at all last night, or any night through the last week he's spent wandering Intuci endlessly. The motel provides a complimentary breakfast for each night you pay for. The food is cheap "just add water" meals, but he ate it nonetheless and then left the motel. So incredibly broken and lost. He travels on the road for several hours, just walking almost subconsciously. He doesn't even know where the road leads. There aren't anymore tears, he's not shivering anymore. He's just completely empty inside... But suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, his commlink started to buzz. Slowly, like he's in a stupor, Jinang pulled out the communicator and answered the call.
"Hello?" The vaguely familiar voice of a young woman says. "Hello - is anyone there?"

"... Yeah.." Jinang muttered. "Yeah I'm here."

"Is this Jinang Iang?" She then asked.

Jinang falls backwards, making a little thud as he hits the ground.
"Are you alright?" The woman then asked, actually sounding concerned. "Hello? Hey, are you there?"

"This is Jinang..." He says, speaking more clearly.

"Jinang, what's going on?"

"I'm just... I'm tired..." He answered. "... I'm just very tired..."

"Is this a bad time?" She says, still sounding concerned but a little irritated as well. "I can contact you at another time."

"No." Jinang says, taking a deep breath, snapping out of it a little. "No this is fine. ... What do you want? And who is this??"

"Oh! My bad - I'm Ahsoka Tano."

Jinang knows that name. She was the padawan of Anakin Skywalker and falsely accused for a terrorist bombing. He also remembers her from something else... The memories are vague, but Koga knew her, somehow...
"I'm with the Harrowers on Jugo." She continues. "And I was hoping to meet you."

"Right. Jugo." Jinang says, standing up, continuing his walk. He's never heard of Jugo before. "Where's that again?"

Ahsoka explains that Jugo is the moon of Dromund Kaas, and it's going to be the new Harrowers base since the Rutandan one was compromised and apparently destroyed. Jinang hadn't actually paid any attention to the city when Tanner died, but he didn't think it was that messed up from the Republic attack.
"Alright. I'll head there." Jinang says, looking around. He's in the middle of nowhere on Intuci, which is several jumps away from Jugo. "It'll take me a while to get there. ... I'm stranded... But there's a city about a couple day's walk from where I'm at. I'll get a ride there."

"I'll just come get you." Ahsoka said, chuckling slightly, Jinang could practically hear her eyes rolling. "Give me your exact cords."

After giving Ahsoka his coordinates, they ended the communication and Jinang just sat down in the grass. The air is chilly, but Jinang was lucky enough to get stranded here in the summer so he won't freeze. Ahsoka arrived in about five hours, flying a very silly looking, cube-shaped ship that has one huge wing on one side and a second wing on the bottom that folds up as the weird vessel lands. Ahsoka Tano exits the ship on a ramp underneath it. She is of course, taller than Jinang, and wearing form-fitting, sleeveless, dark grey tactical gear. And she has a huge tattoo on her left arm and shoulder of a strange, robed, skeletal figure with wild hair. Ahsoka started to speak, but it all came out like her words were muffled by water. And suddenly, Jinang blacked out...

When he woke up, he was in a bed, presumably on Ahsoka's ship. He sits up, still wearing all of his gear. Feeling that dreadfully deep sense of longing that never goes away... Like he's searching for something he lost, but doesn't know what it is. Jinang stands up out of bed, and suddenly lurches, falling to his knees, and pukes in a trash bin he was just fast enough to grab. Coughing and gagging and sweating. This is miserable...
Ahsoka must have heard him, and enters the room and immediately helps him up and has him sit on the bed. And then she grabs a chair and sits in front of him.
"How are you feeling?" She asked, sounding like she knows something.

"It doesn't matter..." Jinang answered angrily, worked up. But he doesn't want to lash out at this stranger who's helping him, so he simmers himself down. "I'm... I'll be fine... I just had a bad night..."

He realizes that he's not just feeling terrible but he must look terrible too. Jinang is covered in dirt from running around in the forest all night and then he must look exhausted having had very little sleep while he was working up a sweat with his little mission.
"I made a scan using a standard med kit," Ahsoka explains calmly. "And your brain is behaving abnormally... I'm not a doctor but... I can tell something is wrong."

"I have a chip in my head." Jinang answered, exhaling, motioning by his temple. "It... It's a really complicated story as to why I have it, but the chip filled my brain with a lot of memories that aren't mine. The result is that my brain moves way too fast, and I can't stop thinking about... Everything, from two different lives... All the time."

"Oh, wow..." Ahsoka said sympathetically, shocked. "I'm sorry you're going through that. Is there some way I can help?"

"I don't think so." He says, sighing. "It helps when I can distract myself. Something to focus on. To occupy my thoughts."

"Well, we could talk about a mission?" Ahsoka said, sitting back in her chair. "I was hoping you might help me with something. It's... It's really, really important."

"Alright." Jinang says plainly. "Let's hear it."

As it turned out, Ahsoka Tano is a member of the Harrowers but she was never at their Rutanda location which is why Jinang's never met her. And she wants to enlist Jinang's help for what could be the biggest heist of the century. And she, and other Harrowers, chose Jinang specifically because Ahsoka knows he's force sensitive and he has an Isogu. He also just broke into the Kurp estate which is itself extremely impressive. Especially since he did it very casually, without proper prep and all by himself. But this heist is to break into the most secure prison in the Galaxy and rescue a single prisoner. And that prisoner is the former Sith lord, Maul. Ahsoka seems to be very keen on breaking him out, and it's not like she is coming off as pathetic to Jinang or desperate, but it seems to be like her life depends on it. He can feel it with the force that this mission is important, not just to Ahsoka but many, many others... He doesn't normally have feelings like that, but something almost seems to be compelling him to do this... Maybe it's just his intuition.
"So... Will you help?" Ahsoka asked after explaining. "I won't lie - it will probably be the most dangerous mission you've ever been on."

"Count me in..." Jinang answered, surprising the Togruta with how quickly he answered. "But I'll need a lightsaber and some top-notch gear."

She didn't answer immediately, slightly stunned by how Jinang just agreed to break into a maximum security prison with her. She snaps out of it quickly though.
"I can help you with one of those things." Ahsoka said, smiling with devious excitement, as if she's been waiting to give Jinang a really nice Life Day present. "C'mon. I'll show you. ... Do you need help to stand?"

"No, I'm fine." Jinang answered, standing up as Ahsoka does. "What have you got?"

Ahsoka beckons Jinang with a head motion and he follows her into the ship's cockpit. The ship is pretty spacious, with a couple of starhawk speederbikes easily fitting inside of a cargo hold, and it is clear that the ship has needed dozens of repairs. One after another. But it appears to be flying well enough. In the cockpit, Ahsoka shows Jinang to a table with a metal case set there, and she let's him open it up himself. He side-eyes her, wishing he could relax enough to feel excited... But he opens the case - and inside, he sees his Jedi lightsabers, set in squishy, violet foam. The older saber is made from a Nexu's fang and hardy, matte durasteel. And the other is a shiny, sky-blue saber that looks like a sword handle, made out of chromium.
"Where the hell did you get these??" Jinang said, his eyes locked on these precious items.

"A member of the Harrowers found them on Felucia." Ahsoka said, and from her tone, Jinang can tell that getting them is a long, probably complicated story. "She says that she found them on your grave memorial and had to use them to survive a sticky situation."

"Whatever..." Jinang says, grabbing both sabers, exhaling with relief he didn't know he needed. Though, he is offended that someone else used his sabers... "Thank you for bringing these, Ahsoka... I didn't think I'd ever see these again."

"You're welcome." Ahsoka said, smiling. "If you want to practice with them, you can train with me a little bit. We'll have a few weeks before we head out to Gaole."

"I think that'd be fun..." Jinang says, feeling a little fire in his heart. Getting back his sabers was a boost in confidence that he really needed.