Corellian Crime: A Short Star Wars Story

[Arax Dorn]

(Ambient Here)

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CORELLIAN CRIME: A SHORT STAR WARS STORY​

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The muffled rumbling of dozens of voices echoed throughout the halls. Shadowy figure and elegant dress alike moved in between the huge fossil displays that hung from the roof, or held up by plasteel supports for visitors to see. The mildly cold, recycled air smelled somewhat of the familiar stench of terraforming agent, as certain conditions had to be upheld for the centuries-old bones of many a beast to stay intact and not weather to dust under Planet Corellia's harsh, dry, urban-jungle air. Protocol droids ghosted from clique to clique of people, offering wines and spirits as everyone seemed to have something to say on anything - whether on the exhibit, or on whatever business transaction or pretentious affair they may have claimed to be engrossed in.

Arax kept her head low, feigning preoccupation with one particular fossil display as by the edge of her peripheral vision she struggled to maintain a visual on a group of three - three near-humans who seemed to be discussing something more cryptic than mere archaeology.

Gren Gallamby.

Arax whispered the name under her breath, her eyes now discreetly honing in one the more aged man in the middle - an older face wearing the familiar Mandalorian battle armor that had tried to hunt her down since she'd left the Taris planetside. The two others with him she didn't recognize, but at this point she couldn't care less. Gren Gallamby was the right hand of the infamous Haly Blen, a senior enforcer in the Exchange - the notorious galaxy-spanning syndicate. Weeks ago the Twi'lek, a real who's who in the criminal underworld, had put a 1 million-credit bounty on Arax's head after she brought his lavish Taris Lower City apartment crashing down into the Undercity after a botched break-in. In the end, she was forced to leave after Blen sent Gren Gallamby, a seasoned Mandalorian mercenary, to the Dorn estate where her family was killed like dogs as payback for the destruction of his abode.

Deep down, the acolyte knew that if she followed the Mandalorian long enough, it'd lead her to the Twi'lek, who, as a recent lead tipped her off on, was planetside for a major 'business meeting' with enforcers of local gangs on Corellia. The human knew she'd only have one shot at this - a window of only a few days before he disappeared off the grid again, back into the seedy underworld.

Now that she'd confirmed visual of her target of the day, she slipped away into the far corners of the great hall, went up the stairs and from a distance waited. As she stood over the orchestra below, along with the ground-floor displays, small groups of visitors, bustling protocol droids and polished flooring, she couldn't help but wonder:

Was anyone else also after the Syndicate on Corellia?

[member=Ember Farseer]

 

[Zef Halo]

Corellia.

Not a place Ember usually found himself onto. Heck, he evaded the Core ever since he left the New Jedi Order. The Jedi Knight had been spending much more time in the lawless fringes of the Galaxy, be it the Outer Rim, Wild Space or even the Unknown Regions. His visit to Corellia came after an old acquaintance of him called him to help out with deciphering communique between two powerful criminals of the Exchange. It surprised him considering the fact that Ember did not consider his skills with communication systems and all that jazz to be that good.

So there he was - tossed in an undercover operation against one of the biggest criminal syndicates in the galaxy. How? He was a Jedi, he could not refuse to help in locking up cutthroats and the likes. Besides, he owed one to his CorSec acquaintance - Kan Verip.

Ember remained unsure to why he was the undercover agent with the amplified recording device attached underneath his tunic focused at three's conversation. He really wasn't good at this and that's softly said. He was terrible.

The Jedi couldn't help but blatantly give obvious glances towards the three, almost trip and at one point was close to running through a large fossil exposition. He couldn't help but wonder whether CorSec had done this deliberately, part of a greater plan they had in mind or were they just here for comedy gold?

Nonetheless, he proceeded with this clearly obvious charade.

[member="Arax Dorn"]​

 

[Arax Dorn]

The older Mandalorian had just been in the middle of telling an old war story when they noticed [member="Ember Farseer"], standing out like a square peg in a crowd of round holes. Seasoned by many covert ops and even more shady business transactions, Gren Gallamby had over the course of time learned to err on the side of caution rather than blow deals valuing millions of credits. And so with a quick grunt, he and his two companions discreetly dispersed, non-verbally concluding transactions for the day. They had every reason to be overly cautious as well; no doubt the Corellian authorities had their own leads on why the Exchange, more specifically his boss Haly Blen, was here. With a zip of his bomber jacket, the Mandalorian began making way for the exit, first taking a glancing look around to make sure Corellian security forces weren't closing in.

Almost by sheer bad luck, his grey eyes locked on @Arax Dorn, and almost on instinct drew his Westar blaster pistol and fired off a shot at one of the hanging chandeliers above, immediately causing a stir and shorting out the lighting.

"We've been followed!" Up there!", Gren yelled as the two others, still close by, looked up and right away popped out blaster fire of their own. Screaming visitors made for the exits in a panicked stampede as a small firefight broke out in the now darkened museum main hall. As the green emergency lights came on and dimly illuminated the place, the familiar hum of a lightsaber being activated buzzed amidst the confusion. A bright, red blade danced about the balcony above, deflecting four blaster shots before Arax took off her coat and jumped down onto the main floor, moving from display to display for cover as she tapped into Shii-cho fundamentals to parry and deflect incoming blaster fire. Sparks flew from both blaster fire hitting the environment, bouncing off Arax's weapon, or her lightsaber in turn hitting either nearby displays or scraping against the tiled floor, tracing it with black burn marks. Moments later, one of the employees hit the alarm.

"Finish it, Gren", one of the two other gunmen cried, "the police'll be all over us before long!"

Neither they, or Arax were yet aware of Ember's presence.

 

[Zef Halo]

Abruptly the trio he was following broke into different directions with Ember clearly trying to figure out where to go and who to follow. Was he exposed? Most likely, considering his skills in stealth and undercover were below zero. The Jedi considered his next options when the Force began beeping at the back of his mind. The feeling of trouble gradually rising. His eyes shuffled all around the place for any threats. It'd be a nightmare if he ended up with a sniper's round in his gut.

The threat level alert spiked and before he knew it all hell broke loose in the museum...

...but all the firepower went elsewhere.

He raised an eyebrow behind a cover he found realizing the bolts weren't even grazing his cover. Did CorSec go totally nuts or was it something else? Ember refused to ignite his blade just yet. The reluctance of drawing his lightsaber quickly diminished when he tossed a glance over cover to witness...a red lightsaber. The Jedi quickly hit the button for CorSec reinforcements before dropping the device on the ground and moving out of cover.

Snap-hiss.

The blue blade, the symbol of the Jedi, lit up from the opposite direction of the red blade.

"Halt your fire and surrender!" Ember shouted out to both goon and possible Sith but he was perfectly aware his words would not be heeded. Perhaps he could disable them or keep them within the museum until the law enforcement arrived.

As expected, blaster bolts came his way either but the Soresu form he mainly used kept him safe for now but his attention seemed completely apprehended by the appearance of the red lightsaber wielding woman.

There were greater issues than the Exchange at play here, he contemplated.

Another bolt came his way and subconciously he reflected it towards the lightsaber wielding woman.

[member="Arax Dorn"]

 

[Arax Dorn]

"This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them!" Argh!!!

A red beam of light burst through the near-human's, a Hapan most likely, as he screamed in horror before his eyes rolled back into his eyelids and the rest of the body finally went limp. A clean tug from Arax's wrist and the heated red blade left a searing hole in the man's torso. She had little to no time to even realize there was another lightsaber in the AO before a blaster bolt coming straight her way - a quick tilt of the head sideward and the bolt collided with the wall behind her in a small spark.

Jedi?

Arax seemed to be just about to say something before she was forced to duck her head again and hide behind a plasteel barrier as Gren fired off a couple of shots at her again, himself leaning by the far side of one of the building's columns by the corner of the area. A quick moment of silence seemed to dawn on the three remaining people in the building - an eerie calm amidst the building's alarms and the echoing chatter of fleeing visitors down far corridors. The other accomplice had since fled, and now the Mandalorian leaned to his side again, exposing the small of his shoulders as he stuck his live hand out again, this time at Ember, and unleashed a small flurry of blaster fire, seeming to say something under his breath, presumably taunting and cussing. Against the green bursts of light from his sidearm his aging face seemed to convey nothing but a blended expression of spite and disdain for either of the lightsaber wielders before him. His steel eyes were that of a killer's. a man who'd long since only been a shell of what Mandalorians at their best could be - against the paragons of honor his people were known to strive for at times, he was but a husk: mercenary.

Arax kept low, not even raising her head above the surfaces of the broken displays, tables and elevated plasteel counters as she made her way around the far end of the room, letting Gren keep himself busy with the Jedi as she retracted her own lightsaber for now to help her get around.

"Surrender? Do you know who you're talking to, boy?", Gren taunted Ember in a raspy, older voice as he let out a small huff of a laugh, and then rolled a grenade at the Jedi's feet before turning on his heels and making for the nearest doorway, taking cover by the other side before looking out again and this time focusing back on Arax, who'd disappeared against the dark environment.

[member="Ember Farseer"]

 

[Zef Halo]

Ember watched in distaste as the woman near perfectly punctured the man with her red blade leaving him dead on the ground. His initial mission to observe, report and apprehend if given proof was immediately torn to pieces at the appearance of the force wielding girl who had some sort of bone to pick with the criminals. While not the most observant person in the galaxy, Ember noted the woman's movements did not really fit that of the famed Sith Assassins. This could possibly mean the plot was not connected with the Sith Empire.

Whoever that was, though, had some sort of martial training in their past. There was a certain finesse in that short amount of time he saw her move before she disappeared.

Alarms blared all around them as the atrium remained the battleground between the Jedi, the criminal and the mysterious Force user. Despite his subpar sensing abilities, Ember could feel the man's disregard of life emanating. A man unfraid of death, ready to take his life to take much more lives in return. The same feeling Ember had felt in the caves of Utapau during its defence against the Mandalorians.

The Jedi Knight might've replied to the man's taunt had a grenade not been lobbed at his position. Instinctively, the Jedi called the ethereal pushing away the grenade from him. It exploded midway and the glassed roof rained down upon them. He found himself lying on the ground for cover with his blue blade deactivated. A loud thud came next and a barrage of shouts followed as a special police unit of CorSec stormed from one of the doors into the atrium.

"Hold! Drop your weapon."

"Stand down or we'll shoot."

Among other scripted shouts, Ember found his lightsaber hilt half a foot away and reached for it. While the cordon armed with personal shields slowly pushed towards Gren, Ember snuck into the darker corners of the hall seeking the woman with the lightsaber. Finding her might not be easy but the Force seemed to thrust into him the necessity of finding her.

Not deliberately his thoughts echoed through the Force: Who are you?

Whether the woman knew that or not remained a mystery to the Jedi, what she probably knew was Gren's vulnerable position.


[member="Arax Dorn"]