It was warm, muggy even as Jax Eros made his warm through the jungle, brushing aside leaves nearly as large as himself, attached to plants that dwarfed him despite his tall frame. He couldn’t say that he was really a fan of the jungle, but it was where his duty had brought him, so he would no complain. His current mission involved tracking—which was essentially a nicer way of saying hunting—individuals who had betrayed the Jedi or who were otherwise connected to the Sith Empire. It was not a task he felt well suited for, as he tended to be more of a gentle person who would have preferred peace to war, however, despite this he had become a powerful duelist. That coupled with his ability to use Psychometry made him a uniquely qualified for such a task, although he would have much preferred hunting for artifacts or something rather than people.<br/><br/>Nonetheless, he had done his duty without question. Luckily for his current target, he had some intel that the Council wanted to get their hands on, Jax had no need to kill the man. Instead, he had rendered him unconscious and now carried him easily over his left shoulder as he made his way back to the ship. Once on the ship, he bound the man and locked him in the cargo hanger as they headed back to Coruscant.<br/><br/>The trip was a relatively long one, so he spent much of it meditating while the autopilot handled the trip. This made it easier to keep his calm during his captive’s long curse-filled rants. It seemed that the only time the man was quiet was when he was eating the food Jax provided him. After repeating this routine for days, the man must have either ran out of things to say, lost his voice, or decided that it was pointless to yell at someone who seemed entirely unbothered by whatever you had to say, because he finally stopped.<br/><br/>It had mattered little to Jax, who had managed to pick up some useful information from the rantings, as well as the surprisingly unguarded mind of the man. He supposed that not every officer who served the Empire had formal training to increase their mental fortitude. That, or perhaps this one simply did not have the presence of mind to realize the need to maintain his guard even if the enemy your faced was not directly in your sight.<br/><br/>When they finally neared Coruscant, the Jedi switched off the autopilot and took the ship down, landing in one of the Jedi’s hangers, where he was met by several others who collected the prisoner and took him off for interrogation, another task for which Jax had no interest. Instead, he headed towards the Council chamber to give his report. As he neared, he felt a familiar presence and soon the matching figure came into view, sitting outside of the chamber.<br/><br/>“Hello, Jek, ” he greeted his old friend, “Yes, it has been quite some time since we were last together,” he recalled the last time they had seen one another as he took the offered hand in a firm grip and shook it briefly, his deep blue eyes meeting the warm brown gaze of the other. It was true, one they had been like brothers. They had not been the only two who had been close, of course. There had been others, however, Jax chose not to dwell on their memories, as they had left the Jedi years ago, along with many others who had joined Revan. “How have you been?” he inquired, looking back at the door to the Council chamber and guessing they were meeting, “I hope life has treated you well.”<br/><br/>A few moments later, the door to the Council chamber opened and a thin, middle-aged female Miraluka emerged from the chambers, “Come. The Council wished to speak with the two of you,” she instructed them with a soft, almost melodic voice. Jax looked to his old friend briefly before nodding to the woman and following her into the chamber. Upon entering the chamber, the woman took a seat in one of the chairs which formed almost a complete circle along the outside of the room, several of which were empty, but most of which hosted a Jedi Master. Jax came to stand in the center of the circle, bowing his head to the members of the Jedi Council.<br/><br/>“Jax Eros and Jek Roh, welcome,” they were greeted by an older human male, “We called you here because we have a mission for you,” he explained. “We have learned that the Empire is putting together something that may very well tips this war in their favor. To this end, it seems that they are increased their recruitment efforts. It seems that they are particularly interested in Force Sensitives, as there have been reports of disappearances. Unfortunately, we have yet to gather and truly useful information that could help us to piece together their plans,” he continued with a grave look on his face. “We would like the two of you to join their ranks. Infiltrate the Sith and try to find out whatever you can,” he finished, tasking them with their mission.<br/><br/>Jax frowned just a little after hearing the details, few though they may be, of their mission. “That’s a very risky plan, isn’t it?” he asked, his blue eyes scanning the room, observing the Masters in the room as he spoke. He didn’t need to say anything else or to further voice his concerns. The fact that he questioned the mission at all spoke volumes to how dangerous this was, and how he felt about the idea. After looking around the room, his gaze fell on Jek. He wondered how the other Jedi felt about the matter, even as another member of the Council spoke up to explain how important it was, despite the danger. Would he approve of this? Would he agree to it?<br/><br/><br/>------------------------------------------------------------<br/><br/><br/>Unlike her friends, who seemed to have moved on, Aeris Leneer felt as though some part of her was still trapped in the past. Perhaps it was because she had always struggled with strong emotions, or perhaps because the bonds she formed were stronger and not easily broken. Whatever the reason, her past continued to haunt her, creeping up in her thoughts if she let her guard down, and almost always visiting her in her dreams. It was exhausting and frustrating, especially when she thought about the fact that in all likelihood, she was the only one who still suffered in the wake of these lingering bonds.<br/><br/>Because of this, she had become even more restless than she had already been. She was always on the move, traveling all over the galaxy, completing whatever missions she could, from finding and recovering Sith artifacts to fighting in various skirmishes to hunting down enemies, either to capture or kill. In general, the only times she really stopped outside of missions were those stops necessary to deliver any fruits of her labor, whether that meant goods such as artifacts or captured enemies. Even these stops tended to be brief, only lasting as long as it took to unload the ship, get paid, and purchase any necessary supplies. It was rare that she would stay in a port overnight unless it was part of a mission or to receive a new mission.<br/><br/>To be fair, she rarely slept nowadays, so she had no need to stop and stay in a proper bed, nor did she have a home to return to or anyone dear to her that she needed to visit. When she slept, the nightmares came, so she often avoided sleep, choosing to get her rest through various meditation rituals meant to restore and revitalize. Perhaps it was not something expected of a Sith, but she hardly cared. It allowed her to sleep much less often, and most of the time it was more restful than sleep, so it was worth it.<br/><br/>Perhaps owing to this meditation, her continued connection to her past, or both, her appearance showed no signs of Dark Side corruption. In fact, she looked pretty much the same as she had years ago, if a bit more mature and battle worn. She wondered to herself what her old friends might look like now, as she had not seen them in years, with the exception of An-Lok, who she had only seen once or twice in the past few years. This train of thought was a slippery slope, however, so she chose not to dwell on it as she stepped off of her ship and into a docking bay on Nar Shaddaa. She had come to the moon both to deliver an old Sith artifact she had picked up to an imperial agent, and to begin her next mission. Efficiency was important to her, after all. The fewer boring stops like this, the better.<br/><br/>As she exited the ship, she pulled the hood of her dark cloak over her blood red locks, swung a bag over her shoulder, and exited the hanger into the crowded port, where she mixed in with the diverse crowd and made her way out of the port and onto the streets. She remained one of the faces in the crowd as she traversed the dim streets on her way to her destination, keeping her senses open, always vigilant. When she neared the meeting place, she slipped out of the crowd and into the shadows unnoticed, ducking down a dark alley and quietly entering an apparently deserted old building, where she met her contact and exchanged the artifact for a lead on a new mission. Unfortunately for her, she would have to wait for the contact to reach out to her, so she was stuck here for at least a few hours, most likely overnight. Worse, she felt as though the Force was guiding her, telling her that this was where she was meant to be for now.<br/><br/>She felt uneasy and restless, almost as though there was an itch inside that she couldn’t scratch and it kept growing, making her want to crawl out of her own skin to escape the feeling. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an option, nor was getting on her ship and getting as far away from here as possible, which was precisely what this impulsive side of her wanted to do. No, she had learned to trust in the Force. If this was where she was meant to be, then this was where she must stay. No amount of running would cure this feeling. She accepted the information he offered and then left the building as silently as she had come.<br/><br/>Deciding to stay busy, she used her time to restock her ship and do some repairs and maintenance. Once she had run out of things to do around the ship, she cleaned herself up and headed to the cantina where she ordered something small to eat, along with a drink, and listened in on the various conversations going on around her for any useful information. Once upon a time, she wouldn’t have been able to handle a place like this. It would have been sensory overload between the already loud and bustling environment and her Force Empathy, which had once been hard to control, which meant that she basically felt every emotion experienced by anyone nearby. Now, however, she had a lot more experience and control, so she should be much more selective about what she let in and when.<br/><br/>At this particular moment, as she sat here biding her time, she had no interest in feeling anything, so she left herself open only enough to sense any malicious intent. Of course, this entire planet was covered in so much malicious intent that it was almost palpable, so she had to narrow it down to pick up only that which was strong and likely to be an immediate threat. Otherwise, taking in all of those dark emotions would be overwhelming, which would be a recipe for total disaster. After all, appearances aside, she was a Sith Lord.