Bounty Hunter's Log - 2804

Remember what I said about needless bloodshed?

Sigh.

The lightsaber wielding men simply started mowing down the crowd. I thought it might have been a move on Thrace's part, but he looked as baffled as the rest of us, and was yelling into the crowd before he retreated beyond sight on his balcony.

The people milling about made it hard to move, but I managed to get to one of the disabled security droids in short order. Security got my weapons, but fortunately they didn't touch my toolkit. A quick minute of fiddling, and the droid started to power up, before shutting right back down on me.

I muttered under my breath as the slaughter began. A man was spouting off something about Knights of the Old Republic before changing to a language I didn't recognize. I fiddled with the droid some more, and this time, it didn't power down. I was tapping my foot waiting for its boot sequence when I got the sudden urge to sidestep. A lightsaber stabbed where I was a moment earlier.

I spun around, taking stock of the situation. Another of the madmen was chasing the devaronian, who was running for the balcony. The one who attacked me lifted his lightsaber to swing again. I met him with a Force slam, and he went down.

I quickly snagged his lightsaber and started running for the stairs, shouting to the droid that we're under attack. I don't know if my efforts did anything, but I wasn't going to hang around. I hit the stairs just intime to see the leader who was spouting nonsence slash Zaragoza. She went down like a Twi'lek with a 1k tip, and the man turned to start on another group who had just showed up on the stairs on the opposite end of the balcony.

I stopped over Zara. I didn't know if she was alive or not, but I wasn't going to just let her stay there and die. I lay my hands over her and channel the force...I couldn't feel anything at first, but slowly I found the weakest thread of life, and urged it to strengthen with a touch of my own.

Sorry, it's hard to describe the Force and its useage without going all zen.

Anyhow, after I was certain she would live, I got up, lightsaber in hand. Thrace was half the man he used to be, the leader had saw to that. Now the man was attacking what looked like an executive, his bodyguard, and his escort. I'd frankly ran out of patience with the man, and running forward, I threw the lightsaber.

It spun in midair, and just as he started to drawback for deadly swing, the blade cut him in half at the shoulder, killing him instantly. The lightsaber traveled onward, burning its way out of sight.

Everything was calm for a moment, and then, as one, the doors unlocked and security filed in.

- Naveed Stryker

Naveed's Log - The Kor'ti-sho

The Kor'ti-sho are a force using order dedicated to the improvement of sentient life. The core is composed mostly of two alien races, while they draw in practicing recruits (i.e. subjects) from any number of sources.

Much of the Kor'ti-sho is a secret I can't really divulge at this point, but sum it up to say that they blend a philosophy of genetic modification, technological development, and Force awareness in their aims.

What I can divulge is a bit about their 'Force Centering' technique. Basically, it's about depriving someone of what the Kor'ti-sho determine to be their key...mm, I don't know exactly how to convey this in basic. The key thing that binds you together, basically.

It doesn't have to be a major thing, either. At least not in the grand scheme of it all. There's one out there who's bound by bracers that restricts their reflexes. Another simply isn't allowed to return to his home planet. And on the other end of the spectrum, one is fused into a machine, rendered a thinking node binding parts together in a symphonic being that really is probably better off broken or scattered. She's there because her key was her individuality.

This invariably works...the reasons it works are actually a topic of debate amongst the order itself. Some say that losing this part of yourself allows you to establish a strong connection to the all that is the Force. Others say that simply being able to excercise that level of discipline is what unlocks the ability to do what we do. No matter what it is though, everyone who is chosen by the Kor'ti-sho become exceptional force users.

The light at the end of this tunnel is that this isn't neccesarily permanent. When they construct their devices to cut off the key component of a sentient, they leave it to destiny and the force to decide when the time is right to give back what they have taken away. This happens, though not often. Somewhat more frequently, the subject snaps, and the sentient so stripped will remove the device in whatever way possible. When that happens, they retain all of their force powers, but invariably fall to the Dark side.

What they stripped from me? Well, that should be obvious...